#62 of 2010: Bram Stoker's Dracula

i have to start by calling out the use of the author's name for any publicity of this movie. it would have been more appropriate to call it "Coppola's Shitty Dracula". i'll follow that with what i saw as the movie's strengths: sweet costuming for the Vlad preface; decent acting (however wasted on the film as a whole) by Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman (guaranteed by the screen actors guild to astound as an over-the-top villian while introducing a faint glimmer of humanity), and [surprise!] Tom Waits; and financially conservative effects (including camera positioning, aesthetically pleasing fades, and interesting editing), which i always appreciate for their resourcefulness and creativity. now for the weaknesses. in my perfect imaginary world, any time that someone tries to turn a piece of innovative and culturally important literature into a porn that is not even a good porn, they should have to apologize to everyone who watches it all the way through. i won't bother waiting for that, since this is not my world and Francis Ford Coppola's iteration of this horror story already achieved blockbuster status. besides the performances mentioned, the rest were either totally bland or (accidentally, i hope, for the sake of any respect i might in the future have for this director) unentertainingly comical. if you feel you must watch this, try to focus on the mystery of dracula's shapeshifting and centuries-long history. the movie got this right while it let all of the other great suspense-building plot-points from the novel fall apart. ff when Winona and Keanu are on screen together to avoid going into a bored coma.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula_(1992_film)

#54 of 2010: Leon: The Professional

Sure, it's an action flick, plus a kid-in-trouble-saved-by-reluctant-loner storyline. that hybrid in itself is not what makes this film incredible. what DOES, is, well, it's frenchness: this is the international version of what was released in america as "the professional", and is, intact, much more emotionally rewarding than the puritanized iteration. yes, it is disturbing to watch a reedy preteen girl participate in contract killings. yes, it is somewhat uncomfortable to hear this young girl engage in a conversation with her older, male guardian which amounts to her asking him to sleep with her. but this movie is not an example of the creepy oversexualization of young girls that takes place in american media and retail. this is a 12-yr-old girl character in a crazy situation acting like a 12-yr-old girl in a crazy situation (p.s. i would be in love with Leon, too). that the movie had to be cleansed of this character's chance to demonstrate her inner thoughts (and learn from the response she gets) for the american release is a perfect example of the hypocrisy and oversimplification that have always allowed good, accessible, human art to take a backseat to low-brow feel-goodism in this country. thank you, The French, for being so ok with puberty, and for being willing to present uncomfortable images so that all the bad we bring to the table as viewers may be swept aside by the excruciating (and redemptive) depth of your characters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Léon_(film)