dvanhouwelingen

Steven Soderbergh's FULL FRONTAL is an interesting film, with moments of brillance, humor and insight. It also has absolutely terrible moments. It's not altogether successful, but I admire Soderbergh for taking so many risks. I was pleasantly surprised by David Hyde Pierce. He is great in this film and delivers the best single performance in the film. Mary McCormack is also wonderful and Nicky Katt is hilarious as a devoted actor playing Hitler (which provides the films funniest scenes). The scenes that didn't work were all the Blair Underwood/Julia Roberts stuff. They are uninspired performances and drag on far too long. They're garbage. Another problem is Soderbergh's choice to shoot on digital video. Unless you know what you're doing on video (like Harmony Korine or Lars von Trier), it's not a format that should be used. Parts of FULL FRONTAL are so dark and blurry you can't tell what's happening. Maybe this was Soderbergh's intention, but it's distracting. I like movies that take risks, even if all the risks don't pay off. FULL FRONTAL is a movie like that. It has inspired moments, but put together they don't all add up. This is closer to SCHIZOPOLIS than any other Soderbergh film. He takes risks that will infuriate many viewers, but I admired it.

K-PAX is a enjoyable, thought provoking movie. Kevin Spacey plays a man who might be an alien, or he might be insane. Jeff Bridges plays the doctor whose job it is to cure Spacey of his delusions. Every scene between these two great actors is perfect. They have interesting, intelligent conversations, so much more thought provoking than most mainstream films. The problems with K-PAX lie in the subplots. I am so tired of seeing men's wives in movies whine about how their husbands are never home. It's annoying. Cut out every scene with Bridge's wife whining and the movie is much better. The other patients in the mental ward with Spacey are cookie cutter characters. These are the same people we have met in every mental ward since ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. Cut down on those scenes. Despite these flaws, K-PAX is still a very good movie. Spacey and Bridges are perfect. They have fun playing off each other. The ending is sure to confuse some people (I know one guy I work with told me he thought K-PAX sucked after I told him to go see it, because he didn't get the ending). The ending is the type of ending I love. It lets the audience decided what to think. I wish more movies trusted their audience as much as K-PAX does.

Given the level of talent working on THE ONE, I was disappointed. James Wong and Glen Morgan are responsible for some of the very best episodes of THE X-FILES ever and their first film, FINAL DESTINATION, was quite good. THE ONE on the other hand is not. I like Jet Li. His early films like ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA (and its sequels) and FIST OF LEGEND rank among the best action movies of the last decade. I quite enjoyed KISS OF THE DRAGON, an extremely violent action film from earlier this year. That one had preposterous logic, but at least it was consistant logic. THE ONE is not quite sure what it believes. It goes back and forth on what will happen if there is only one Jet Li left. The action scenes look cool, but still I was disappointed in them. They use special effects to slow everything down. When I watch Jet Li kick someones ass, I want to see him do it at full speed (although I admit I liked the motorcycle thing). THE ONE does not succeed on any of the levels it is trying to.