The Fountain. Second viewing. (The first.) I think I have to bump this up to my favorite Aronofsky. Izzy’s lines drive me a little nuts. Thematic bludgeons. But the visuals, the score, acting, tone, mood, and everything else that’s supporting the themes: on point. Filed under: Darren Aronofsky.
The Mummy (1999). Why did we ever stop making solid, pure adventure films? These old movies always have a bunch of lazy exoticizing that doesn’t age well, but I miss the spirit of the whole thing.
Complete Unknown. It seems so unfair that a perfectly-fine-but-not-great movie like this gets saddled with a terrible name. Weisz and Shannon are top-notch.
The Lobster. Oof. This is brutal. Deadpan funny and dark as can be. Seems like so it’s fully thought through and considered. I need to find more by this Lanthimos guy.
The Fountain. The score is such a big part of the emotional impact here that it almost hurts the movie’s case. In other words, I found it distracting. Absolutely beautiful to look at, though. I like Aronofsky’s restrained sepia/golden/silver palettes, and smart use of the macro lenses. I wonder how it would have turned out if the first, fully-budgeted version had gone to completion. I liked Black Swan just a bit more. Pi and Requiem for a Dream are also good, but The Wrestler is the best. I think it’s fair to say I respect his work more than I enjoy it. But he makes movies you should watch. Can’t say that about many.
The Bourne Legacy. If you tend to like the Bourne movies, you’ll like this Bourne movie. Favorite moments: the wolf rivalry, the climb from basement to upstairs window and the con to enter the factory. We even got a little fruit cart cameo. I’d love to see more more movies that show how insane and terrifying drones are.
Mark Larson 