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SOLARIS

I’ll be honest with you, by the time I went to see Solaris, I had no interest in seeing it. But I felt a sort of obligation to seeing another collaboration between George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh. And I was a little curious that the missing in action James Cameron was somehow involved as well.
Just how much he was actually involved with, I’ll never know.

I was still in defensive mode as I sat down for the 10 AM showing (I had the entire theater to myself…I truly am a loser). At first, I thought I was gonna hate it. It just felt like it may become some artsy-fartsy throw away. But I started warming up to it.
I have to say, this has to be the best performance I’ve ever seen from George Clooney. It’s his most stark, powerful role. In fact, I almost felt like I was watching a Shyamalan film, since Soderbergh pulled such a great performance out of Clooney, not unlike Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson in Shyamalan’s movies. I’m not saying Clooney’s gonna win an award or anything, but it’s definitely his deepest role and most noteworthy performance yet.

I was surprised to see Jeremy Davies here. I had no idea he was in it. Actually, I knew very little about the movie going in, often a good thing. Anyway, Davies is almost exactly how he is in every other movie I’ve seen him in. It’s weird how that always works out that way. Viola Davis is also in the film, and although I only remember her from a TV show where she guest starred as a crooked cop, she gives a very powerful performance.

And then there’s Natascha McElhone.
You know how you should never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry?
Well, you should never watch a movie with an attractive woman in it when your lonely and horny because my God but she’s a magnificent creature. I was so captivated by this woman in this role and in the movie in general…it was almost scary.
I’ve seen her plenty of times before, including the recent flop, FEAR DOT COM, but I’ve never been blown away like I was today. She displayed every single look and emotion that a woman can display and with each one I was more and more compelled. I know Clooney’s gonna get a lot of praise for this movie, but I hope Natascha (yeah, we’re on a first name basis…sigh) gets some too.

Solaris is basically a very, very cerebral love story. Almost too cerebral for a simpleton like me. And it sometimes feels a little bit like a ghost story too. It’s a remake of a Russian movie from the Seventies, which in turn is based on a Russian novel. Seeing this version doesn’t make me wanna run out and see the original, or read the novel, but it’s a good movie. Deep. Kinda trippy. Not really sci-fi, but a little too close to that for my comfort. Still, it’s solid entertainment.

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