Hosive

at the movies is obviously movie reviews with homage to the original mass market movie reviewers siskel and ebert. thumbs up, thumbs down became a powerful marketing device but what made the two successful was insightful criticism that betrayed a love and understanding of the nuance of film. this is what i fed on as a youth and beyond.

my attempts will be more modest…pointing out some basic plot and themes WITHOUT giving away anything…i hate when reviewers do that so casually especially when they are only writing to showcase their cleverness.

i conclude the review using my personal measures of whether a movie is good: watch again? own? rental or theatre? and the more nebulous ‘magical’ rating. that’s how i communicate whether i really love a movie. i may also include whether my wife, theresa liked it. we have different tastes in movies and you can figure out who you’re more like. ps:watch the trailer at your own discretion…these advertising guys don’t care about blowing the plot for you.

che will be released in theatres in january in the states as not one but two movies. together, the movies are about four and a half hours. so file this under (almost)only in nyc: for one week only in ny and la, the two movies were presented back to back with a half an hour intermission….that’s five hour of movie epic bliss. or not.

the movies follow che during two military operations…the successful cuban revolution and the failed and fatal bolivian revolution. it details how a revolution is run in the day to day…and how it comes apart. the great lines of the film are in the trailers…..i’ll paraphrase: a true revolutionary is motivated by love….love of(insert idea or people)she is fighting for…without that love, it is empty. a true revolutionary does what is needed, goes where he is needed….its not just glory but its a lot of the dirty work.

these themes are shown in both movies…with love and true revolutionary fervor in the first and the lack of both by many of the fake revolutionaries in the second.

the power of these films is experiencing the day to day life and at close to five hours, it will feel like you are in the jungles with them for weeks. this is a unique experience…and not for everyone. in some respects, this is a true war movie and i think it only works on the big screen where you are forced to digest it all at once. the power and feel of the struggle is likely lost in translation to a viewing on television.

i doubt that i will watch this again but am glad i got to experience it at the ziegfeld. it was a phenomenal and brutal experience…with parallels to real war. if i did watch it again, it would be the first part only primarily to catch the quotes. i will likely fast forward the war and day to day operations.  i also doubt that i will purchase this movie. but i won’t forget it.

theresa would have hated this movie…which is why i kept her away. double or triple boring from theresa!