Serpico - 1973

Chandler - 3/14/13

Great movie starring Al Pacino as a young undercover cop in NYC, who is disgusted with the corruption in the police force. Serpico is based on the biography of Frank Serpico, who was the first officer in NYC to uncover the scandalous activity.

There's not much to say about the film. It's well done, and you can clearly see how influential it is. Also... Al Pacino is pretty badass, which is to be expected since he filmed this between the Godfather movies.

Watch it.

Rating - 3

A Separation - 2011

Chandler - 3/12/13

A Separation is an Iranian film about a wife who files for divorce, and the issues it causes their immediate family and acquaintances.

It was a well done and honest story, which seemed to provide a good view into Iranian culture. The class, legal and religious institutions all play a key role in the conflict and resolution of the characters, just as you might imagine they do in Iran.

Good movie... good story... very insightful...

But probably not entertaining enough for most American viewers.

Rating - 2

The Host - 2006

Chandler - 3/11/13

The Host is a South Korean monster movie about a mutated fish in the Han River. The US poster has three quotes on it:

• "One of the greatest monster movies ever made."
• "On par with Jaws."
• "A knockout monster movie."

Upon its release, it set a South Korean record by selling 10 million tickets in just twenty one days. It won best film at the Asian Film Awards and Blue Dragon Film Awards. It made over $80 million dollars profit, more than 700% the cost of the film. It is critically acclaimed by the movie industry,  including Quentin Tarantino.

And... it's a waste of time.

The film doesn't know what it is. On one hand, we're led to believe it is a scary monster movie... but that fails miserably. The melodramatic acting, music, gags and fart jokes make you think it's a comedy (maybe even a self-aware movie like Gremlins)... but The Host provides more eye-rolls than laughs. And the movie is filled with examples of pollution, bureaucracy failures, American military occupation, Western arrogance, South Korean youth protests and lower-class poverty... so maybe it's a political satire? Perhaps... but it really comes off making South Koreans look stupid. I can't imagine this is what the director was trying to achieve.

The production value was high, but the CGI moster looked like crap. Basically, I'm not better off having watched this film.

Rating - 1

Argo - 2012

Chandler - 3/4/13

I saw this movie in the theater last year, but now that it won Best Picture, I imagine they'll add it to The List in the next revision.

Argo was OK. Ben Affleck did a great job as director and a mediocre job as the lead character. The problem with this movie is they didn't have much to work with. It's an excellent real-life story that is better fit for a History Channel special. Almost every interesting aspect (outside the initial embassy raid) was stretching the true events of the operation. You know how this movie ends, and the way they show it is overly desperate for some drama that didn't exist. It made me roll my eyes.

John Goodman and Alan Arkin are excellent, and really save the film.

But if you want to watch historical non-fiction about Muslims kidnapping white people... watch Munich. It's a much better story with actual conflict. Argo is a poor man's Munich.

Rating - 2