Review of Return to Me (2000) by ?Elle Starkiller?? — 24 Jun 2008

Cloverfield is vaguely like Blair Witch meets Godzilla. A group of young people are at a going away party when suddenly the power goes out in all of Manhattan and there is an earthquake. The rest of the movie is about several of those people trying to get off the island while something destroys the city. I heard it was annoying, and the camera work was nauseating, and the cause of the terror was lame. I don't know, I really enjoyed it. I got sort of attached to the characters even though there is little to no development, I was terrified and frozen with anticipation most of the entire film, and I thought everything was really well done. I think the sort of oblivious, cool, sometimes funny character of the voice behind the camera mixed with only the briefest glimpses of what is actually threatening the city for most of the film really added something unique. I don't know, maybe I'm just a sucker for JJ Abrams (I love his show, LOST).

Royal Tenenbaums was great, and this has some similar themes; some eccentric, lost family members struggle with the death and/or insanity of their parents and interact strangely with one another. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for the sort of meandering, depressing pointlessness of Wes Anderson when I watched this. It was very well done, the dialogue was great, it was well acted, it looked great. The short film at the beginning was excellent. I guess I just kept waiting for this film to give some sort of resolution, or to make me feel satisfied in some way, but it didn't.

Drugstore Cowboy is the kind of feel-good movie you want to watch when you are down. Not really. This is about a group of hopeless drug addicts who rob pharmacies to stay afloat of their high. Matt Dillon is excellent in this. There is even an appearance by William S. Burroughs. Watching this is a little like being on the drug trip with the characters. Its really well done, really depressing, great script. I might normally rate this an 8, but maybe I've been too depressed to handle something like this very well lately.

Ben-Hur is an epic from 40 or 50 years ago that surprisingly stands up pretty well to the decades passing. It chronicles the life of a jewish prince in Israel as he struggles against the Roman Empire during the time of Jesus. Some famous scenes here, like the oar-men in the hull of the battleship ("ramming speed!") and of course the chariot race. I just kept thinking how this must have blown away the original viewers back in its day. Its got great characters, sadness, thrills, adventure, tragedy, miracles. Very good.

Return to Me is a romantic comedy that I missed back in my projectionist days, but finally caught up to. A guy's wife dies in an accident, but her heart is donated to a woman who needs it. Then the guy falls in love with THAT girl. Kind of a strange premise, but there are lots of really good, genuine moments mixed in with some nice comic relief, and it doesn't seem all that far-fetched. Its great for what it is; I'm not a huge fan of this genre, but this is one of the better ones.