casamartinez01

Yes, a tragedy in so many different ways. A tragedy that serious professionals will embark in this phony story exploiting the real tragedy of 9/11. Everything is hysterical, like the boy at the center of this pastiche. Spoil brat of a kid and we're suppose to care. I did care for Max Von Sydow but that was too little too late. Perhaps, the biggest problem is the child. Impossible to warm up to him, not even in the midst of this terrible circumstances. I remember weeping when I read the book but the film made me cringe and look at my watch, again and again. Stephen Daldry, a very lucky director, falls off the deep end here. Billy Elliott was a one off miracle.

Endless, unbearable. Italian actors overacting shamelessly and Spike Lee losing track of his own talents. The self indulgence mixed with the confusion made this "epic" one of the most difficult films to sit through in long, long time. During my visit to Los Angeles I was invited to a few screenings but this one was the one I longed for. Terrible let down. It's been a long time since "Do The Right Thing" and I have the feeling that it has to do with Spike Lee's vision of himself as a filmmaker. There is a lack of humility that blurs everything he does and "Miracle At St Anna" is a perfect example of that. In a way "The Inside Man", his genre commercial outing, was more honest and disciplined than anything his done of late. I can't imagine this film making any money so maybe Mr Lee will have the space to reflect. I certainly hope so because I'm sure he still has some aces up his sleeve.

It was difficult to root for Julia Roberts. It would have been like rooting for Joan Crawford in "Queen Bee" or Gene Tirney in "Leave Her To Heaven" She's a latent nasty piece of work. A woman, we're told, intelligent, successful, but her feelings are of the lowest most ignorant kind. I didn't believe it, sorry. Not believing spoiled the whole fun for me. I though the premise was tapping into the worst in us and that in a comedy is really frightening. I'm sure the director, producers etc didn't do it on purpose but they obviously didn't think the whole thing through. The success of the film is another frightening aspect. Frightening on two counts - or audiences are blind and unaffected by the potential evil here or I'm raving mad and I'm seeing things. Whatever the case, I saw it and it frightened me. Two major saving graces, maybe three. The cuteness of Cameron Diaz's performance, the beauty of Dermot Mulroney and a smashing Cary Grantish turn by Ruperet Everrett. Go at your own peril.

Damn shame if you ask me! Jodie Foster refused to be the president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival to do this. Maybe it looked good on the page and it certainly looks good on the screen, specially the opening credits but there is very little else to recommend. David Fincher does some dizzying things with the camera but the script by the very rich David Koepp is just plain amateurish. I was so frustrated by the waste of everything here. The characters seem a facsimile of characters from other, better, movies without being able to nail that extra dimension that could make them, at least, watchable. The husband, the cops even the baddies are all laughable. Jodie Foster has a couple of moments and she's one of my heroes anyway but that's maybe why I felt so annoyed by this movie, so much so that I decided to vent my frustration writing this comment. If you love Jodie Foster, avoid this for her sake.