lucis

Three movies I saw over the past month but didnt find the time to write about here. Two were OK to bad, and one was surprisingly good.

Edward Norton is what made me watch The Italian Job. Surprisingly bad acting all around. Poor direction. OK, but overused story. Some nice photography was the only saving grace. Disappointed.

Philip K. Dick prompted me to watch Paycheck. An excellent example of a great story thrown away by extremely poor acting and some very ordinary direction. The action scenes were fine but could be much improved. Had some pretty good scifi fundas though. The whole idea of erasing memory seems quite intriguing. The movie makes a great case for Open Source, and against Intelectual Property and patents. Note to self: Check out some books by Philip Dick.

Peter Hedges’ directorial debut Pieces of April was unexpectedly good though. Unlike the first two, this is a small budget, inde movie with no big stars. Though the story is not all that great, good acting, music, and direction transform it into a great movie. It is a perfect example of making a good movie by getting the basics right. I particularly liked the background music. Unfortunately the much touted iTunes Music Store knows nothing about it…