Amsterdam: My First Movie Review (WARNING: No spoilers, just opinion ahead)
Karen brought to my attention that she really wanted to see the movie Amsterdam. It was produced and directed by David O. Russell, with an ensemble cast led by Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington. The word “quirky” is sometimes used to describe some movies. “Quirky” appeals to me. The use of this word in movie reviews often intrigues me enough to suspend all judgment; so one evening last week we headed over to the neighborhood theatre to watch it.
If I feel movie reviews may bias my thinking I’ll abstain from reading them until after I’ve seen the movie; yet sometimes I read movie reviews beforehand, as I did with Amsterdam. Yes, the movie bombed at the box office. Yes, it’s lost the studio well over ninety-seven million. Well, I loved the movie, critics be damned.
I’ve learned over the years that reviews and box office popularity one way or the other do not guarantee for me either my enjoyment of a movie or my evaluation of its worth as art. This is especially true of movies reviewed by American audiences, which tend to favor “high concept” movies – i.e., movies that don’t have convoluted plots or require viewers to do too much intellectual heavy lifting.
The protagonists witness a murder, become suspects themselves and uncover a dastardly plot in attempting to clear their names. This is a common movie plot trope. Amsterdam is also characterized as a romantic comedy. I tend to dislike common tropes as tired and clichéd, and romantic comedies don’t usually interest me. Despite these misgivings I recognize that every genre of story has been done before. The creative aspect of writing, filming or even visual art such as mine is that the story that’s been told before has to be told again uniquely. I especially like it when they’re “quirky”.
Since teen years when I first took a course in cinema, I’ve been a movie buff from the standpoint of cinema as art form. I view as artists the actors, writers, directors, cinematographers, costumers, music composers, editors and most of the crews involved in making movies - some better or worse, but artists. I often check beforehand who’s involved in particular movies, including who’s producing. Movie production is a financial investment. Are the producers invested in making thoughtful, thought-provoking and beautiful art; or does does their track record bespeak of their simply wanting to make money off a blockbusting common denominator crowd-pleaser?
Since it is a box office bomb Amsterdam won’t be in the theatre much longer. It may be gone by the time I post this. I‘d recommend rushing out to see it before it’s gone, or surely have a view when it comes out on DVD or available to stream.
That’s it for my review of the movie itself - except for one last thing the reviewers I’ve read haven’t yet mentioned: this film set in the period between World War I and the 1930s has immediate political relevance that may lead me to dismiss its detractors as MAGA Republicans. Hint: it involves a plot to overthrow a legally elected president.
Robert De Niro’s character, U. S. Army veteran General Gill Dillenbeck, is based on the real-life U.S. Marine General Smedley Butler. During the end of the film Amsterdam, a clip of Dillenbeck speaking before the congressional committee is played alongside footage of Butler's actual testimony, revealing it to be the same speech.
(photo in the public domain)
Additionally though, in contrast to the Amsterdam movie we found enjoyable, we had another theater experience we found distasteful. Prior to the feature screening, our senses were assaulted by the most god-awful previews of movies to come, one loathsome trailer after another.
If you’re not into “quirky”, or convoluted plots that force you to pay attention to details, or thoughtful, thought-provoking acting by an ensemble cast; if on the contrary you’re into loud explosions, bullets flying, fists-slamming-into-faces action and over-the-top assaults on all your senses, then maybe you might want to see Violent Night, and you might want to pen a complaint about how you hated Amsterdam. Violent Night was followed by previews for John Wick (the fourth installment in the franchise), and the Super Mario Brothers movie.
In my Artist’s Statement I make the observation:
“Much of what passes for popular culture today is devoid of ideas. Digital technology has increasingly enabled spectacular sensual experiences of sight and sound in popular entertainment. Over successive generations this sensory bombardment contributes to inducing attention deficiency in large sectors of the population. Sensation without ideas over four decades contributes to numbing and dumbing down the population to intellectual shallowness - and often to emotional cruelty. Large sectors of the population become desensitized to the pathos of social injustice and to the hydra of existential threats facing our civilization and planet.”
In this context the arts and entertainment bandwagon I’m seeing artists jump on lately is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in creating visual art works. Stay tuned, as I’ll weigh in on this at some point soon.
By the way, Violent Night is being billed as a “Christmas fantasy black comedy action movie”. A team of mercenaries versus Santa Claus. I can’t imagine from the preview anyone bringing kids to see this when it’s released before Christmas. Well, on the other hand unfortunately I can.
