Stolen Face
Terence Fisher, 1952
My, what a fantastically disturbing story we have here. A plastic surgeon falls in love on holiday, is crushed when he finds out the woman he has fallen for is going to marry someone else, and decides that he may as well perform plastic surgery on a criminal in order make her look like his lost love and then marry her. One could make an awfully compelling movie out of that story, but this isn’t it. The plot unfolds in a very straightforward, even plodding fashion, and rather than explore the moral and psychological issues at the heart of the story, we are given a struggle between the “good” doctor and his villainous new wife. And the last line is a real howler.Terence Fisher, best known for his re-imaginings of classic horror movies with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, does his best with a very weak script, adding several nice, moody elements that make the movie seem better than it is. A key montage at the midpoint, contrasting the reconstructive surgery with a concert tour, manages to be both aesthetically interesting and thematically relevant, when most such montages (especially at the time) struggle to pull off one or the other. Unfortunately, it’s just not enough.
3/10
300
Zack Snyder, 2006
I may have gone into this with the wrong attitude, expecting that there was no chance that I would like it. The thing is, though, that despite that, I really did want to like it. I want to like Zack Snyder. I think his heart is in the right place. It’s just that his literalist style of adaptation doesn’t really work. What we wind up with here are plenty of images that, while perfectly pleasing on their own, don’t flow together to make a successful whole. He can recreate panels from the comic book, but he can’t bring them to life.The source material doesn’t help, either. Frank Miller is a solid artist, but not much of a writer. With Sin City, he found a way to use his weaknesses as strengths. Here. . . not so much.
3/10
West Side Story
Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins
It’s not secret I’m not a fan of musicals, especially after the 1-2 punch of On the Town and Bye Bye Birdie. West Side Story, however, is in a completely different world from those two films. Unbelievably, it’s an actual, honest to god movie, with characters and plot and everything! Not only that, but most of the musical numbers actually accomplish something beyond shouting out “look at me, I sing and dance!” The opening dance number is particularly good in this regard.In fact, the weaknesses of this movie generally stem from the source material – and yes, I’m referring to Shakespeare’s most well-known play here. Romeo and Juliet has never been one of the bard’s strongest works and is, on the macro plot and character level, pretty terrible. It just happens to get by one some fantastic writing on the micro level. Wet Side Story actually manages to improve on the plot by turning that late-act cosmic coincidences that drive the conclusion into character-driven choices.
All told, this is not a great movie. Much of the dialogue is corny, the central love story is unappealing, the supporting characters steal every damn scene out from under the leads, and it’s a little long. But I have to commend it for not being terrible, as I would expect a musical based on the nadir of Shakespeare to be.
6.5/10
The Secret of NIMH
Don Bluth, 1982
This is one of those magical little movies that probably never should have existed, but I’m pleased that it does. It’s a beautifully animated movie based on a wonderful premise that unfortunately peters out into unexplained mysticism toward the end. It vacillates wildly between disturbingly adult humor and horror and typical childish animated antics, which must have confused the hell out of any kid that watched it. This is, of course, a good thing.All told, The Secret of NIMH has a lot going for it, but doesn't really add up to much. Still, it's something unique and ridiculous, which is very endearing.
7/10
Progress: 29 (Par +1)
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