Cure (1997)

Cure (1997)




A detective tries to solve a series of mysterious murders. The more he becomes involved in the case, the more personal it feels. Kurosawa sets a deliberate pace and allows his mystery to unfold very gradually.

The image above reminds me of Eraserhead, and other shots in the movie reminded me of Lost Highway. Once you take into account the way the director, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, uses sound, it becomes hard to ignore David Lynch's influence on his work. Kurosawa also shares Lynch's tendency to make the viewer work to make sense of what he's watching. In both cases this is rewarding work. But in Cure, the director seems to be attempting to put forth some philosophical ideas which should have been expressed more clearly. Because of this muddiness, the film doesn't fully engage the mind, even though it succeeds as an emotional experience.

Batman Forever

Batman Forever (1995)



In an unintentionally hilarious scene designed to showcase the future Robin's awesomeness, here is Chris O'Donnell taking care of some laundry.

Batman must confront foes Two-Face and The Riddler in this sequel, which was meant to revive the franchise after the dreary, unpopular Batman Returns. So the visuals are candy-coloured, and the tone mostly upbeat. Batman Forever actually does a better job of managing its many characters than its predecessor did, but the stupid, stupid dialogue and undistinguished action scenes are too steep a price to pay for a more coherent structure. Tommy Lee Jones is given nothing to do as Two-Face and ends up as merely a dull rerun of Jack Nicholson's Joker. Jim Carrey, who was born to play a comic book villain, is more fun as The Riddler. Val Kilmer barely registers in the title role.