Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)

[See discussion under “My Diary” for June 11, 2014 Discover more from James Bowman Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email. Type your email… Subscribe

The long-awaited film version of the s-f classic from the 1970s proves a disappointment — mainly because the 1970s are just so over

Wholesome Middle America once again refuses to be corrupted by Tinseltown — but then Tinseltown’s powers to corrupt aren’t what they used to be

Chris Rock’s adaptation of — of all people — Eric Rohmer is often funny but morally and dramatically incoherent.

Down to Earth, Chris Rock’s remake (directed by Chris and Paul Weitz) of Heaven Can Wait (1978)—itself a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)—is a disappointment. Though there are some very funny things in it, its glib message about being oneself turns out to be a cover for being self-indulgent, in the style (I’m…

Drop Dead Gorgeous, directed by Michael Patrick Jann, is intermittently quite funny, but ultimately doesn’t work because it is offensively patronizing to the people of small-town Minnesota whom it sees through the eyes of New York or Los Angeles—or some even more fabulously sophisticated place. In this view of the American heartland, the people are…