About Double FeatureDouble Feature is the title of a column that I write for the newsletter of Lehigh Pocono Mensa, the local group to which I belong. It gets published monthly in "Magniloquence." I used to belong to Central PA Mensa, so I offer the column to the editor of "Penn Central" and it shows up there pretty regularly. As the title implies, each Double Feature column features brief reviews of two movies that I have seen. I try to find a connection between the two films - subject matter, stars, awards, etc. - but, since it's my column, I reserve the right to occasionally choose two films that have no connection to each other at all. The reviews found in the Movies section of this Web site serve as the basis for Double Feature. I try to keep each column somewhere around 500 words (which fills about one page in the newsletter), so I usually have to edit the original reviews to fit into the space allotted. If you'd like to read the individual reviews for the films mentioned in Double Feature, you can do so here. The rating scales are a little different. The conversion chart is as follows:
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Latest ColumnJanuary 2012 - The New Year is now upon us, but let's take one last look at 2011. Director David Fincher's version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo hit theatres in mid-December. The movie, starring Bond boy Daniel Craig and relative newcomer Rooney Mara (The Social Network), is based on the first book in the trilogy by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson. The Swedes have already turned all three books into films. I'll talk about the first one this month (balancing out the three movies in December's column) and cover the others in February. The Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was released in Europe in 2009 under the original title of Larsson's book, "Men Who Hate Women." It's the first book of the author's so-called Millennium trilogy, published after his death in 2004. The actors are Swedish; the dialogue is Swedish; the subtitles are English. The movie opens with the libel conviction of journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist). He worked for a magazine called Millennium and published an exposé that accused a business tycoon of illegal dealings. Blomkvist is sentenced to six months in prison, but he has six months of freedom before he must report. During the trial, elderly shipping magnate Henrik Vanger hired a security firm to check out Blomkvist. The check showed Blomkvist is a good guy so, when the trial ends, Vanger invites Blomkvist to the island that serves as the family homestead. Vanger asks Blomkvist to look into the disappearance of his favorite niece, Harriet, 40 years ago. Harriet was only 16 at the time and Vanger suspects that someone in the family killed her. Blomkvist takes the job and moves into a cottage on the island. One day, he receives an email containing a vital clue from someone who has clearly been hacking into his computer. The email address leads Blomkvist to Lisbeth Salander (the excellent Noomi Rapace), an emotionally-damaged punk computer hacker who works for the security firm that Vanger hired to check out Blomkvist. It seems she continued to track him even after she filed her report. Blomkvist recognizes Salander's brilliance and convinces her to go back to the island with him so they can continue the investigation together. As their personal relationship develops, so does a picture of one mightily messed up family. Overall review: Loved it! I hadn't read Larsson's books, so I really had no idea what to expect in the summer of 2010 when I went to see this movie on a whim. But, after watching this film, I couldn't wait to see the next two in the series. The characters are fascinating. Despite their many differences, Blomkvist and Salander complement each other and make a good team. The film has some very disturbing scenes involving rape and torture, but they're central to the story and are not exploited. Be prepared for them and be prepared to sit for a while because the film runs about 2:30. In my opinion, it's time well spent. |
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| "No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough." »» Roger Ebert | ||
