Flight of the Incredible Strangers
This Week’s DVD Releases / The Pajiba Staff
DVD Releases | October 21, 2008 | Comments (9)
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed: We didn’t bother with a review, but friend of the site, Chez Pazienza, did offer up some commentary on the film, writing: “Creating controversy where there is none is positively pedestrian by now, but taking it to the lengths that this new documentary does, and doing it with such a salient level of panache, borders on genius. The “SNL” writing staff, circa 1977, couldn’t have created a more audaciously comical premise than Ben Stein — a man so square he craps cubes — writing “I Will Not Question Authority” on a blackboard while dressed like Angus Young. Stein is a Dangerous Mind only if you see mark-to-market accounting as a ballsy show of defiance, which makes him the perfect impertinent hero for the God-said-it-I-believe-it set.”
Flight of the Red Balloon: In her years here at Pajiba, Ranylt gave this movie her first all-out rave, writing: “To put it another way, Flight of the Red Balloon is the first new movie I’ve reviewed in which I wouldn’t change a gorram thing. It’s as perfect as an egg and as self-contained as an ecosystem. It has fathoms of feeling but no sentiment, no pre-digested platitudes (however much its title may suggest otherwise). It’s dangerously absorbing. It takes risks in its crafting that pay off, particularly with its static long takes and its meandering camera, which pushes across skies and walls and city streets like a bulldozer shoving aside debris to clear a path towards wisdom.”
The Incredible Hulk: John gave The Incredible Hulk a so-so review, writing, “This Hulk looks more organic than Ang Lee’s version, but given that Lee’s looked like a giant lime-green kickball, that’s not progress enough. Portraying this creature is a problem that other super-movies don’t have. A flashy latex costume won’t do the trick. And since even a brief look back at the days of Lou Ferrigno should be enough to dissuade anyone from just painting another dude, we may be left to sadly conclude that the Hulk is just unfilmable.”
The Strangers: Agent Bedhead was a huge fan of The Strangers, writing: “The Strangers isn’t a perfect film, for it suffers along with the rest of the genre by containing protagonists who seriously lack basic survival skills. They do some really dumb things, but if they didn’t, we wouldn’t have this film. In fact, for most of the movie, the injuries that the couple suffers are a direct result of their own actions. Of course, their weaknesses aren’t necessarily shortcomings on the part of the film, for Bertino has slyly woven some complexity into the fold that will, long after the closing credits, keep some audience members replaying certain scenes in their minds. Also excellent are Speedman and especially Tyler, whose Kristen is clearly losing it by the end of the film but still manages not to become pathetic. If one thing spoils the realistic nature of the film, it is, ironically, the “inspired by true events” opening, which has become such a movie cliché that it almost distracts from the realistic tone that Bertino so carefully creates. Small flaws aside, this film really fucking works.”
Comments
Posted by: Che Grovera at October 21, 2008 8:52 AM
Oh, to hell with it. I don't know squat about any of these movies, but I'm still awake in Japan and it's an easy opportunity to call "first"...