Couple films worth seeing...

I caught a couple flicks in the past couple weeks that I think are worth considering!

The Merchant of Venice Very lushly filmed, faithful (as far as I can tell) to the original play in every respect. The story is relatively familiar. A somewhat poor but aristocratic man wants to marry a princess. However he needs money, he talks to a wealthy merchant, who says he doesn't have the money in hand, but has some ships coming in soon, and will give the young man the money by taking out a loan with Shylock, a Jewish lender, with a pound of flesh for collateral. The young man gets the girl, but the merchants ships are wrecked, and the lenders daughter runs away, causing him to decide to take the pound of flesh. All is worked out pretty well later on, through intrigue and false beards and such.

The story is a good discussion of justice and mercy. The money lender wants justice, and has no interest in mercy. When the tables are turned, the judge give him mercy. It is dated, for instance the view of Jews is pretty... harsh? But that was normal for Shakespeares time. Al Pacino gives a wonderful performance as Shylock, getting at the pathos and the heart of the character. Shylock is tragic, and seems very real. Jeremy Irons does well as the merchant, and Joseph Fiennes is the young Brisanio (sp?). The only thing I didn't really like was the homosexual overtone they gave to the merchant and Brisanio's relationship. I think you can see it there, but at the same time I think the screenwriters saw what they wanted to see, and they didn't understand the "love" of the time period wasn't always sexual.

None the less, for Pacino and for the power of the play, I recommend this one. Beware, there is some totally unneeded nudity in the film, and it comes up at wierd spots, so watch with caution.

Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior I really wanted to see this ever since I saw the trailer. And it was awesome. I won't even try to explain the story (something about rescuing a statue from the evil villian) because as a story, it is pretty stupid. But when Tony Jaa starts fighting (which he does alot of) or is chased through the streets the film is rapturous. The fights are brutal, although not terribly bloody. They are really well choreographed, and shot well (lots of longer wider shots so you see the action) and the editing is well done, repeating a move from different angles several times so you can really see it! And the style of fighting is really awesome! So, go see this if you love martial arts fighting. And remember, as you watch, there are no effects, no computers, and no wires holding anyone up or anything. This is real fighting!

Riding Giants I have wanted to see this for a few months, and I finally borrowed the DVD from a friend. Awesome film, especially if you like surfing, but even if you don't (I like it, but am not a huge fan or anything, never done it...) it is really neat. A documentary to show the story/history of surfing, specifically big wave surfing.

After seeing the film I know more about surfing, and I am almost ready to start doing it! If you have seen Blue Crush, or any other surfing film, you havn't seen ANYTHING. There are shots of Mavericks up in Northern California, a huge, fast, dangerous area that has claimed at least one pro surfers life. Massive waves, 30 to 60 feet high... and Wimea in Hawaii, big waves in alot of places, the birthplace of big waver surfing. Jaws, or Peahu, 90 foot waves... and Tahiti where they have these freakishly fast, steep waves... the footage is awesome, the storys are fun and engaging and the music is great too. I highly recommend this. It does lag a bit as it gets toward the end I thought, but it is fun, and you learn alot about surfing! And there are alot of times where you go... HOLY COW, you have to be CRAZY to go near that wave!

So, there you go. Merchant of Venice and Ong Bak are in mostly small indy theaters around the country, but Riding Giants is probably at your video store. Check them out!

Soon, I will post my Oscar predictions and wish list!