Thursday, April 2, 2009

The Black Dahlia

Day 78 - 3/19/09 - Movie #75

BEFORE: Let's stick with the theme of crime in 1940's Hollywood - it's a magical time when men all wore fedoras, women were all bombshells, and everyone smoked...return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear...

THE PLOT: Two policemen see their personal and professional lives fall apart in the wake of the "Black Dahlia" murder investigation.

AFTER: This sort of wasn't what I expected - I thought I'd get a murder mystery, cops tracking down a serial killer... Instead there were housing construction scandals, stag films, corrupt cops, and I think some meat loaf recipes thrown in... Josh Hartnett's character manages to boff both Hilary Swank and Scarlet Johansson and still look depressed. For me, the pieces never really came together, no one's motivations were entirely clear - this movie SO wanted to be "L.A. Confidential", but it just wasn't. Brian DePalma finds a way to overdo everything, and make it more complicated than it needs to be, without ever explaining anything. Was this some sort of homage to "The Maltese Falcon", minus the MacGuffin? And hookers all have hearts of gold, but lesbians are evil? Come on... And what's with all the face-slashing? I didn't get it...

RATING: 4 out of 10 Ming vases

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