Schizo reviews from Venice fest: Hey, are these pix good or bad?
Here's further proof that Hollywood is crazy. Variety and the Hollywood Reporter continue to have opposite views of the same flicks debuting at the Venice Film Festival. (See blog item below on "In the Valley of Elah" — or CLICK HERE.)
Variety swoons over Brad Pitt's "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," while Hollywood Reporter blasts it with two barrels.
Sizing up Brian De Palma's "Redacted," Variety says, "The bullet veers far off the mark." But Hollywood Reporter calls it "sensational."
Variety doesn't hate writer-turned-director Tony Gilroy's "Michael Clayton" starring George Clooney, but its reviewer moans that it "lumbers forward assiduously" in parts. However, Hollywood Reporter calls it the work "a solid chemist (that) should perform well above average" at the b.o.
OK, let's take this pic by pic, review by review:
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Variety: "A ravishing, magisterial, poetic epic that moves its characters toward their tragic destinies with all the implacability of a Greek drama, 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' is one of the best Westerns of the 1970s, which represents the highest possible praise. It's a magnificent throwback to a time when filmmakers found all sorts of ways to refashion Hollywood's oldest and most durable genre. (Brad Pitt gives) a layered, continually interesting performance." READ MORE
Hollywood Reporter: "Smothered in pointlessly long takes, repetitive scenes, grim Western landscapes and mumbled, heavily accented dialogue . . . . The film's pedigree probably means a solid opening week, However, word of mouth may kill the movie faster than Robert Ford killed Jesse James." READ MORE
"Redacted"
Variety: "The bullet veers far off the mark in Brian De Palma's 'Redacted.' Deeply felt but dramatically unconvincing 'fictional documentary' -- inspired by the March 2006 rape and killings by U.S. troops in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad -- has almost nothing new to say about the Iraq situation and can't make up its mind about how to package its anger." READ MORE
Hollywood Reporter: "Veteran director Brian De Palma's filmmaking skills have seldom been as razor sharp as they are in his sensational new film about members of a U.S. Army squad who rape and murder a 15-year-old Iraqi girl and slay her family." READ MORE
"Michael Clayton"
Variety: "Spare and unhurried, writer Tony Gilroy's directorial debut 'Michael Clayton' features strong performances and a solid story, drawn from the familiar well of faceless corporations grinding ordinary people through their profit-making machinery. Yet Gilroy's fidelity to his script comes at the expense of the pacing, which initially lumbers forward so assiduously as to feel like a throwback to an earlier era." READ MORE
Hollywood Reporter: "As with the Bourne films, Gilroy has a knack for creating strong characters and situations that resonate with tension. It may be formula, but the guy is a solid chemist as he crafts excellent set-ups and payoffs, and he has mastered those "ah-hah" moments when everything locks into place. With newly Oscar-anointed George Clooney heading a cast who love to roll up their sleeves to dig into their roles, 'Michael Clayton' should perform well above average for Warner Bros." READ MORE
(Photos: Warner Bros. / Magnolia)
