SOLARIS (2002)

Buy it! Watch it now!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Sadly, no. While I can say that this remake of the 1972 original is a more entertaining film than the original, I can't say it was entertaining.


Technically any good? The characters were vaguely drawn and nothing they did made me care about them one way or the other. The relationship Clooney's character has with his wife is boring and unspecial and, as you watch, you wonder why they were together at all. FX-wise it was amazing--great space footage, but sadly, that's all there is to like about this film. It is nice to see Clooney in a scifi setting, but that's not enough to make this a scifi film worth seeing.


How did it leave me feeling? Disappointed. I used to be a fan of director Steven Soderbergh's but after seeing this and The Limey I can't help but wonder where the mind-bending stuff he did in Schizopolis went. Is Out of Sight even worth Netflixing?


Final Rating? DNS - Do Not See - I was really hoping for something mind-bending, but all I got was a very predictable (even if you haven't seen the original) 99-minute episode of The Twilight Zone. The thing is, Rod Serling could have made this premise work really well in a 30-minute structure. A movie just seems a bit much for this premise. (SPOILER ALERT: If you've seen Forbidden Planet you've seen a more dynamic and entertaining interpretation of the premise of Solaris.)

LIMEY (1999)

Buy it! Watch it now!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Terence Stamp is always fun to watch, even when I don't like his choices, so, yeah, in a sense this movie was entertaining, though the whole thing falls a pretty flat.


Technically any good? The premise is simple enough, but the director manages to play around a bit too much with structure to the point where it's downright distracting as hell. I found the script to be a bit wandering and virtually none of the characters to be likable or even resonant. I also felt that Stamp's performance felt forced. I guess you could say I just didn't care for this movie (DO YA THINK?). I suppose on a strictly technical level it holds together, but when an audience member doesn't give a crap about the characters or the story, there must be something wrong with it on a technical level.


How did it leave me feeling? A big fat "meh." I'd like to see this film remade as a gritty, noir thriller without the structural weirdness and with a more intricate mystery to solve. The Limey unfolds like the most boring origami ever.


Final Rating? DNS - Do Not See unless you're just a huge fan of Stamp or Soderbergh. I thought I was both, but I'm starting to wonder about Soderbergh. Again, this movie was a big fat "meh" for me.