Betty's Nickel Movie Reviews

So, like I said earlier, I actually went out and rented some movies this weekend, something I do very infrequently these days, given that I'm so backed up on watching the stuff that I actually own. But, hey, sometimes it's good to just see something different.

So, yesterday I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Interesting movie, intriguing premise, some good cinematography... But, I dunno, maybe it was just a little too low-key, in that art-movie kind of way, or maybe it was over-hyped to me a little, because, while I thought it was pretty good, I didn't really enjoy it quite as much as I'd expected. It was really interesting to see Jim Carrey playing an emotionally subdued introvert, though. It's a performance that's light-years away from his usual comic mugging, enough so that I honestly didn't even recognize him until his name flashed up on the screen some ten minutes into the movie, and even then I had to stare at him for a while before I was really convinced it was him. And I just can't help but think, man, the guy really can act. Why on Earth does he waste himself on the stupid cartoony shit he's known for? And then I remember that he's made millions doing that, and I can't honestly say that if I were him I would have done things any differently. So, hey.

Today I watched Kill Bill, Pt. 1, and I'm honestly not sure what to say about it. Yeah, it really is basically an orgy of violence. And it's violence that's almost cartoonishly stylized one moment; eerily, balletically beautiful the next; and just plain horrible and disturbing the moment after that, until the three begin to blur together and it's difficult to tell which is which. I'm not sure there's any redeeming moral value to it, but fortunately I'm not the sort of person who believes movies have to have redeeming moral value, and artistically it's amazing. It's also strangely compelling. I'm half-tempted to go on to part 2 right now, but I think I'll probably save it for tomorrow.