Screening Log
This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.
March 2008 activity
Total Log Entries: 17
- Adam (2)
- Chet (0)
- Chiranjit (1)
- Cullen (0)
- David (3)
- Eva (0)
- Evan (3)
- Ian (0)
- Jenny (0)
- Katherine (0)
- Leo (1)
- Megan (2)
- Rumsey (1)
- Teddy (0)
- Thomas (3)
- Victoria (1)
Total Comments: 5
- Snow Angels (0)
- The Wrong Man (0)
- Notorious (0)
- Shriek of the Mutilated (0)
- The Most Dangerous Game (0)
- Escape 2000 (2)
- Superchick (0)
- Absolute Wilson (0)
- Troll (0)
- Berlin Alexanderplatz (2)
- The Invasion (0)
- Evening (1)
- Berlin Alexanderplatz (0)
- Atlantis Interceptors (0)
- Stryker (0)
- Women’s Camp 119 (0)
- Blood & Chocolate (0)
Full Archive
The Invasion / USA / 2007
Further proof that studio-heads know absolutely nothing about good filmmaking. When Oliver Hirschbiegel, the director responsible for The Downfall, completed The Invasion, it was unceremoniously handed off to James McTeigue and the Wachowski Brothers, three people of dubious artistic skill and creativity. Add some frantic editing, a pointless car-case sequence, and an unbelievably anti-climactic dénouement, and you have a final product that deserved its cold reception.
Which is a shame, considering the original is actually very good. In the many instances in which Hirschbiegel’s intentions push through, such as the Cold War mentality—the clothes and hair, the dichotomy between American and European characters, the representation of China and Communism—transplanted to contemporary politics or the brilliant contrast between blue (good) and yellow (bad), we’re witness to a work made with full competence—Herschbiegel knew what he was doing. McTeigue and the Wachowski Brothers did not.
I’m not someone who fully believes in director’s cuts. They tend to add very little and clarify even less, and most of the time they’re released for either added revenue or the appeasement of ego; the version that comes to theatres should be the version, as idealistic and implausible as that sounds. But in the case of The Invasion, should Herschbiegel ever wrestle a copy of his original from the grips of Warner Brothers, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a copy.
by Adam Balz | Source: DVD
11 Mar 2008 11:37 AM | Submit Comment
