After a recent bout of TV shows this week I finally started to watch some movies again... :-)
- The Big Red One (Reconstructed version) ****
I guess everybody on these here boards have seen this flawed low budget masterpiece, so no explanation needed.
- Dogma ***
My least favorite of all Kevin Smith films, apart from Cop Out and Jersey Girl, which I don't even take into account. Uneven but still highly enjoyable. It's about two fallen angels Loki and Bartleby (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) who've been stuck on Earth (in rural Wisconson for that matter) for millennia but finally found a loophole in the bible that can bring them back into heaven. Metatron, the voice of god (Alan Rickman, brilliant), sends out Jay & Silent Bob as prophets to help The Scion (Linda Fiorentino) stop them.
It's as sharp and witty as Smith's other works, but somehow the movie feels uneven. Although the way he intertwines the biblical themes into his usual View Askewniverse is done pretty well, it somehow feels like Smith is trying too hard. And, at roughly 2 hours, it's way too long to sustain its premise.
But good, solid writing and great casting win out, although as hot as she is I still think Salma Hayek is miscast, or under-written, as The Muse. Her part just falls flat, with hardly any jokes or useful stuff to do.
By the way, check out Red State if you're interested in Kevin Smith's darker statement against organized religion.
- The People vs. Larry Flint ****
One of the great movies of the 90s, imo. Mixing biopic with politics, this movie seems even more important and topical now, than when it got released in '96. Woody Harrelson plays Hustler Magazine founder Larry Flint and the movie depicts his legal battles against shortsighted and narrowminded established America.
A career-best performance for Harrelson (and Courtney Love too, although playing a drug-addled careerjunkie is far from a stretch for her I guess) and a great story about freedom of speech.