If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And if it has "Broke" in the title, review it. That's the theme today. I promise to get you reviews for King Kong (1933, 1976 & 2005) and both versions of The Producers as well as other reviews -- including Hostel. But in the mean time, enjoy a small dose of a post. Keep on coming back.




Brokeback Mountain
Review by Jon Waterman

***

Two young cowboys are desperately looking for work to sustain them through the summer. Jack and Ennis both get roped into watching a herd of sheep up in Wyoming’s Brokeback Mountain. Their duties will technically be illegal, but it’ll put food on their plates and all they have to do is sleep in a tent and shoot at any predatory creatures that might wander by. The new duo head off and end up learning a lot about each other. They become quick, close friends. Then one rainy night, instead of heading back up to his camp site at the top of the mountain, Jack stays at base with Ennis. It’s then they discover just how deep their bond has become. How can life ever truly be the same after that fateful summer? Or do they even want it to be?

I knew director Ang Lee still had the ability to make good movies left in him, and this one is a diamond in the rough. Of course that means the film still needs a bit of polishing. For instance, the main narrative thread of the love story between Ennis and Jack had me scratching my head. It seemed to move too quickly in the beginning because every shot of them made it seem like they were either longing for a distant lover (if they were on different parts of the mountain looking towards where the other would be) or undressing the other with their eyes (if they were in the same physical space). But despite those glances, the physical relationship seemed too unnatural and forced.
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++++++++++


Broken
Review by Jon Waterman

**1/2

“A gun blast, a flash of light, [sic] and a young woman awakens to the comfort of her own bed. Bonnie Clayton has it all, a great relationship, a challenging career, and the burden of a dream that grows more vivid and disturbing with each passing night. But when Bonnie is abducted by a sadistic stranger and his colorful entourage, she discovers that the key to her survival lies within the familiar realms of her recurring dream.”

This hardly describes the film I saw. Sure there was a captured girl named Bonnie, and the sadistic stranger did have an eclectic crew, but I honestly don’t remember anything about this supposed back story, nor do I recall a point in the film where she uses any aspect of her dream to overcome any obstacles. Perhaps that all flashed by too quickly. The movie contains a few sequences with rapid-fire montages of what we can only safely assume is a flashback. The work is somewhat David Fincher influenced in that respect (and the end credits are straight-up stolen from “Se7en”). The Fincher feel also permeates the atmospheric set which contains a good blend of colors and tones within the dank space.
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