I'm putting in another vote in favour of
Casanova.
In fact, some time ago I wrote a review-in-brief of all the Heath films I've seen to date in my LJ; they're listed in consequtive order from "best" to "worst". I figured I might post it here. Gives my view of Casanova too, which is positive. Remember though if you decide to read this - I love Heath as an actor even if I think some of the films he's acted in are less than stellar. (I've not seen "I'm not there" yet but it premieres next week so I'll get to see it soon!! Yay!)
My reviews-in-brief - ranked by best to worst in my entirely subjective opinion:Brokeback Mountain - Well duh. My favourite film. My favourite Heath role. I love love love love love and admire his Ennis. I love and admire everything and everybody in the film or involved with its making. I could go on and on for ever, here, about every aspect from the overall message via acting and characterization to the perfect little details of the set decoration. Jack and Ennis are my favorite romantic film couple and it seems they’ll remain so; - the film has the most passionate film kiss/love scene
*ever*. In my *slightly* biased opinion, that is. ;-) Both Heath and the film were robbed of their respective Oscars. Nuff said.
A Knight’s Tale – Big Fun, and *stays* fun upon repeat viewings. The only film of his I'd seen prior to Brokeback. A real feel-good'er. Lots of lovable hilarious sidekicks, lots of Paul Bettany at the top of his form and much of the time in the nude to boot. The kind of sappy story that lets the hero win the princess and half the kingdom in the end after lots of setbacks and still makes you like him. Heath’s William Thatcher is a nice character that it’s easy to cheer on. Good stunts and action, a nasty evil villain you love to hate, lots of fun anachronisms starting with everyone belting out “We will rock you”. On the downside the heroine is not given much to work with, poor dear, - she’s supposed to be feisty and independent, but evaluating guys and falling in love seems to be pretty much all she’s ever on about, and her various quips and comebacks are the lamest *ever*. Fie, fie on the scriptwriters!! And on the costume makers too, as her costumes are the only truly *silly* anachronisms. (Medieval ladies *surely* wore diaphanous flimsy gowns that they were in constant danger of falling out of). William would have done *much* better hooking up with his independent, bright and inventive lady armour-maker. And William’s scenes with his father (both in past and present) are more than a tad over the top sentimental & cheesy.
Casanova – Venice is lovely in this. It's worth watching for that alone. The comedy never takes off into wild gales of laughter, but it’s a relaxing, endearing romp and keeps making me chuckle all the same. It’s cute. Did I mention that Venice and the sets are *gorgeous*? Heath looks adorable whenever he’s
sans those very silly wigs, and he certainly looks as if he’s having a grand old time. Some really good and fittingly funny supporting - as well as lead - characters. One or a couple really, really miscast actors and somb totally dumb characters. And absolutely
NO TINY SMIDGEN OF CHEMISTRY WHATSOEVER between the two leads makes the rather crucial "Romantic" part of the Romantic Comedy suffer a sad and silent demise early on. (The love interest is played by Sienna Miller.)
Monster’s Ball – I’m struggling where to place this one on the list, because I think the film overall is unsavory, and the main characters and their development, as played by Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton, are either disgusting or completely unrealistic. Or both. And there’s a horridly embarrassing sex scene between them that seems to take up half the film. Yuck. But Heath is stunning in this, his Sonny is a wonderful and heartbreaking and sad and perfectly acted role, and on that basis the film gets its high placement. Even better, all Heath’s scenes are early on in the film and he’s only in it for the first third or so, so one needn’t watch it all to see his story arch. Given the rest of the film that’s a big plus in my book.
Candy - Another very good role and intense and gripping story. Sad and extremely painful. Certainly not an ad for the benefits of heroin addiction. Definitely not a film to watch on a down day. The film presents its leading, very-much-in-love couple mainly as addicts, not mainly as individual human beings, from the very first scene, and that diminishes the impact some. Who were they, before they started their heavy using? *Why* did they start? How did they meet? Getting a bit about that back-story before we see the first overdose would have made their characters more real as people, less symbols of addiction-ruined love and ditto damaged lives. But both lead actors are so good that they manage to make you care for them and worry over them and suffer with them anyhow.
The Sin Eater – Heath walks around in this looking absolutely stunning and smoldering and conflicted and angsty and glowering.
** Fans self** That and that alone earns the film its place on this list. Mystic-religious, strange and darkly enigmatic drama. Plot and storyline very weird and not by any means intellectually *or* emotionally engaging, and point of same near to completely incomprehensible to me. Annoying and silly. Maybe it makes sense to devout Catholics though I sincerely doubt that. Then again, Heath’s character ends up as some self-sacrificing sort of demi-god/angel, who is destined to suffer on others’ behalf (and therefore will look stunning and smoldering and angsty etc. etc. *all* the time!!) and who will continue his existence for centuries upon centuries, looking just the same. So that’s clearly a bonus development in the middle of the muddle.
10 things I Hate About You – The first half of this one is all good, happy and innocent fun. Another spin on the US High School comedy genre. Based on "The Taming of the Shrew", the nasty Kate is sufficiently bitchy and her comebacks have some bite, Heath’s Patric is a sufficiently devil-may-care bad boy with a good heart, and the various supporting roles are funny (I’m especially partial to Allison Janney’s constantly smut-writing school counselor. Could easily be parodying various fanfic writers I know, as she struggles to find the right, non-repetitive words for one male body part and certain physical activities. Heh. Anyway..…) And Heath sings, very sweetly! But all the air just goes out of the film balloon midway through or thereabouts, and after that it’s a loooong dry spell to get to the end, as the characters suddenly lose all their charm and kick and spark in favor of dreary droughty roooomance.
Ned Kelly – The kind of film that wants so much more than it manages. It seems made with honest and good intent, and the Kelly Gang story, its tale of social injustice and repression, is well worth telling. (As certainly demonstrated by the Peter Carey “True History of the Kelley Gang” Booker-prize winning novel.) And in the film the tale’s definitely being decently told. It’s just so….. documentary, like. Doesn't manage to establish any real connection with the main character(s). Storytelling keeping its distance as if afraid to seem too engaged and enraged by the story it’s telling, - and with a love story tagged on that seems purely contrieved.
"He's the hero, so he's *got* to have a beautiful love interest, I tell you!!!" The story never manages to reach and grip the *heart* of the viewer (at least not mine.) And is it ever muddy! Lots of grit and sand and dirt. Which is realistic, but nevertheless distracting. And sadly, though the film has not only Heath but also Orlando Bloom in a leading role, the dirt and mud and greasy hair and those massive beards every guy is sporting soon enough hides all the eye candy completely from view!
Brothers Grimm – Good, inventive and dark SFX. Some cool scenes and imagery, a few wow! moments, and interesting premise for the film i.e. What if fairy tales were actually true? Heath’s character is really *very* cute and endearingly ditzy. And sweet. Heath nearly kisses Matt Damon. That’s it on the plus side. Story convoluted and increasingly difficult to make sense of, inconsistencies and red herrings all over the place. Images and eye-rolling scenery-chewing characters and SFX and audio are jumbled together and keeps pouring incessantly and massively into every frame to create über-hectic visuals and loudness that come across as
NOISE. Visual white noise. Without pause or breathing space. Plug your ears, plug your eyes. The film gave me a horrible headache. I haven’t much of a clue what it was actually trying to convey.
Lords of Dogtown – Heath looks dreadful. Teeth and hair from hell. Though his role is good,- really really good, yes, - his acting is
great - I’m so shallow that I can’t get past his looks in this one. And the story of the film – about a group of more or less troubled kids who revolutionized skateboarding - is interesting but would have been better served in a shorter and purely documentary version.
The Four Feathers –I struggle to find anything positive to say about this film. The love story and the love interest are utterly silly and just horribly
SHALLOW while purporting to be loving and meaningful. Heath over-acts and, you know;
EMOTES and exaggerates like never before or since in the lead. The whole story is poorly told, and there’s nary a likable - or likely - character to be seen. Whenever the possibility of a really interesting or exciting scene presents itself, the film decides to skip it. Inconsistencies and plot improbabilities abound. Sentimental pompous cheesiness likewise. Glorified patriotism even more so. The tale's premise of the definition of true courage doesn't at all ring any bells with me, except historic ultra-nationalistic alarm bells. Scenes that are supposed to be tear-jerkers are nothing but unintentionally funny. And again with those dreadful *beards!* Nope. I can’t recommend this one. No wonder it bombed at the box office and took flak from reviewers.
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