
Jeremy_Urquhart
Joined May 2011
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Jeremy_Urquhart's rating
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Jeremy_Urquhart's rating
Soldier of Orange is interesting tonally, because I come away from it feeling like it did indeed showcase war as bleak, but it was also very entertaining. Verhoeven is no stranger to doing things that are tonally unexpected and a bit all over the place, but I feel Soldier of Orange is far more balanced than most of his films.
As a result, this is my favorite of his that isn't RoboCop, which I don't care about being an obvious pick for "favorite Verhoeven movie." This is really strong as a film about resistance fighters, a thriller, and an anti-war film (it's a lot of things at once).
Though I struggled to keep track of every single character at times, I have to give the film this: it was never boring. If anything, it might've been a tad too short. 2.5 hours flew by pretty fast.
As a result, this is my favorite of his that isn't RoboCop, which I don't care about being an obvious pick for "favorite Verhoeven movie." This is really strong as a film about resistance fighters, a thriller, and an anti-war film (it's a lot of things at once).
Though I struggled to keep track of every single character at times, I have to give the film this: it was never boring. If anything, it might've been a tad too short. 2.5 hours flew by pretty fast.
Be careful what you wish for. I was wishing for more free time recently, because I haven't had as much of it for movie-watching lately. Catching up on work throughout this week and being mostly productive gave me a few free hours this afternoon. I decided to use those hours to watch something very long I'd always been morbidly curious about. I used those hours to watch Camelot.
My experience with this involved laughing at it for the first half, unsure whether it was supposed to be funny or not. I've seen it described as camp, so maybe some of the hokiness and silliness was intentional. But then the second half rolls around, and it became pretty boring. I was looking forward to whenever it would end, and it just seemed to take so long. I don't think this film earned its runtime of three hours.
I'd liken the experience of watching this to another dud of a musical from around the same time, Paint Your Wagon. There's some funny stuff to be found in both, whether that humor's intentional or not. And with Camelot, at least the costumes and production design were done well. I don't think the filmmaking really made use of them, though.
Richard Harris does his best, and is almost good, but no one's truly good here. Most of the songs annoyed me. You get flashes of wonderful goofiness here and there, and some of Camelot's technical qualities can be admired, but it's otherwise an overlong slog.
My experience with this involved laughing at it for the first half, unsure whether it was supposed to be funny or not. I've seen it described as camp, so maybe some of the hokiness and silliness was intentional. But then the second half rolls around, and it became pretty boring. I was looking forward to whenever it would end, and it just seemed to take so long. I don't think this film earned its runtime of three hours.
I'd liken the experience of watching this to another dud of a musical from around the same time, Paint Your Wagon. There's some funny stuff to be found in both, whether that humor's intentional or not. And with Camelot, at least the costumes and production design were done well. I don't think the filmmaking really made use of them, though.
Richard Harris does his best, and is almost good, but no one's truly good here. Most of the songs annoyed me. You get flashes of wonderful goofiness here and there, and some of Camelot's technical qualities can be admired, but it's otherwise an overlong slog.
An early Akira Kurosawa film that fits in nearly with the other social dramas he made around this time that don't quite stand out.
Scandal is just a bit too unfocused to work as something coherent. It's about media and celebrity, then it's about getting old and feeling existential, and then it's kind of a courtroom drama. It's interesting to look at and compare to Ikiru, regarding those quieter and more despairing moments, and the way it touches upon justice a little can be compared to the better - and more focused - Rashomon, but I don't think it's a particularly interesting film on its own.
It's mostly just okay. The acting is good and it's solidly directed. It's just a bit a scattershot and never really coalesces in a striking way.
Scandal is just a bit too unfocused to work as something coherent. It's about media and celebrity, then it's about getting old and feeling existential, and then it's kind of a courtroom drama. It's interesting to look at and compare to Ikiru, regarding those quieter and more despairing moments, and the way it touches upon justice a little can be compared to the better - and more focused - Rashomon, but I don't think it's a particularly interesting film on its own.
It's mostly just okay. The acting is good and it's solidly directed. It's just a bit a scattershot and never really coalesces in a striking way.