2014 Film Log
will appear when listology starts working again!
Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989, Howard Brookner) 5/10
I'd never heard of this before, despite its memorable title and starring several recognisable faces (from Jennifer Grey to Matt Dillon to Madonna). It's a period comedy with glitz and gangsters (if you could call these low-rung characters that), made in the Hawksian tradition of constant movement, with enough personality and action to keep you moderately engaged during its 80-something runtime, but lacking laughs and depth or anything worth actually caring about. Based on four Damon Runyon stories, I expect its something of a commodification of its source material. (24 Aug)
Metro (1997, Thomas Carter) 5/10
I bought this thinking it was an '80s movie, being an action film about Eddie Murphy as a wise-cracking, rule-breaking cop combating almost comically nefarious criminals, but it's actually from 1997, painfully out-of-date and more than a little convoluted. For a comedy, it's woefully short on laughs, the most ridiculous parts actually being the parts that are treated by cast and director as if they had the most levity (this includes the bafflingly elaborate endgame set up by Michael Wincott's vengeful diamond thief). Still, it moves along at a decent pace and is never as bad as its critical reception would lead you to believe (24 Aug)
Ashes of Time Redux (2001, Wong Kar Wai) 6/10
Probably the most difficult Wong Kar Wai film I've seen so far, an elliptical film about the overlapping fate and fortunes of swordsman, bounty hunters and unlucky lovers. I couldn't make heads nor tails of it half the time, but as with other films by this director, whatever creases exist in the story or structure are somewhat ironed out by its richly satisfying imagery, easily the high-point of what I think is the least of the Kar Wai films I've seen. (26 Aug)