Babel

Alright, so this was going to be a blog about "Pan's Labyrinth", "Smokin' Aces" and "Babel", but as I was writing the first two reviews, my computer got accidently shut down and so I'm not going to start over again. I will say that "Pan" has nothing to do with Peter Pan, and although it was visually interesting, I can't reccomend it. "Aces", well if you liked the preview, you'll like the movie, if you didn't like the preview the movie has nothing for you.

Now on to Babel: It's been out for a while, and I must admit I only went to see it because of the Academy Award nomination. Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu (the director) also made "21 Grams", which I really liked. From the previews for "Babel", the style of storytelling looked exactly like "21 Grams", that's not bad, it's just one of those things that once you've seen it done well, you don't need to see it again. Also the Brad Pitt/Cate Blanchett combination, it just didn't seem appealing to me, so when the movie first came out I didn't go. I was wrong on both counts. First off, the stroytelling style was not the same as "21 Grams". There was some overlap (backwards and forwards) in the multiple storylines, but there wasn't an elaborate effort to tie the stories together. Actually, the fact that all the stories were connected was completely unnecessary. I thought about it later, that there could have been the same four, strories without any connection, and the movie would have been exactly the same. Perhaps the interconnection was a little distracting, but I understand why Alejandro did it; audiences want one big movie. He made four little movies, and had to make them work together with more than just the same message. Some people might not get the message, so need the traditional interconnection. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett only were in one quarter of the movie. They worked really well together, I think especially Cate Blanchett. For the limited time and movement that she was allowed, I completely understood her character and point of view. Nate and I were talking about this movie just fifteen minutes before I saw it. He had observed that Brad Pitt reminded him of Pop. His greying beard, his face, and his movements and body language. Although I like Brad Pitt, he usually has very similar performances from one movie to the next, which has led me to question his acting ability. Nate was right, and I must admit that Pitt is a great actor. I think it was an understated approach, very thoughtful and somewhat laid-back. That combined with his eyes especially, but his beard too that would make me agree with Nate. I was reminded of a younger Pop in Tom Hanks perfomance in "Saving Private Ryan" and now we get the current Pop in "Babel" Do you think Pop will get any royalty checks?