Only Human
So as I sit watching Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on USA, I am reminded about how good things once were, and how bad they became. The first was such a clever, well done film, and the second was, well shit. It's sad that this happens ever so often. Another perfect example, the movies playing on TNT. The Matrix parts one and two. Great movie in number one, then shit in the second. So if history continues, the third Pirates movie should be slightly better than the second, but still bad. Oh well, at least we'll always have the first one.
Which brings me to another movie point. Well it doesn't really bring me there, but I'm gonna jump to it anyway. When I review movies it might seem like I'm all over the place sometimes. And I know that I am. The thing you have to consider though is how you rate movies. In my mind you can't really compare a good drama to a good action flick. They are similar, but two different beasts. That is why I appreciate the MTV Movie awards more. They understand that the best movie of the year can be something other than a intense drama. Then again, I still think that idea of "movie of the year" is a bad category to begin with. It's far too subjective. That's like naming "food of the year!" It just doesn't work. So taking that into consideration, let's look at my latest viewing.
Only Human is a nice, but played out story, of a girl bringing her new boy friend home to her family, who will undoubtablly hate him. This time she's Jewish, and he's Palestinian. Nice twist, and a nicely funny family with some comic moments, but I've come to expect much more from foreign/indie films. The family may be disfunctional in many ways, but I've already seen that this summer (Sunshine), and it was done much better in that film. And the story, while having its moments, isn't unique enough to make it stick out. Plus, with a movie focused so strongly on a family unit, I never felt like I got to know any of them. Maybe it would work if there was some sort of previous backstory, but seeing as how this movie wasn't that engrossing to begin with, I doubt I'd want to really watch the back story.
Basically the movie boils down to the "family pet", the small wounded duck. He's kind of oddly funny and cute, but we never really get to know him. Plus, he sort of wanders off at one point, there's a small comotion about him being missing, but then he's sort of forgotten about. Very much like the film as a whole. It's cute and funny, but we don't get to know the people very well, and in the end it's very forgettable.
RATING: Worth a really cheap ticket, with a Netflix rental when most of your list is up.