"Terence Malick's 'Days of Heaven' has been praised for its painterly images and evocative score, but criticized for its muted emotions: Although passions erupt in a deadly love triangle, all the feelings are somehow held at arm's length. This observation is true enough, if you think only about the actions of the adults in the story. But watching this 1978 film again recently, I was struck more than ever with the conviction that this is the story of a teenage girl, told by her, and its subject is the way that hope and cheer have been beaten down in her heart. We do not feel the full passion of the adults because it is not her passion: It is seen at a distance, as a phenomenon, like the weather, or the plague of grasshoppers that signals the beginning of the end." (Roger Ebert)But is it boring? Yes.
"Kiss Me, Stupid is not likely to corrupt any sensible audience. But there is a cheapness and more than a fair share of crudeness about the humor of a contrived double adultery situation that a husband-wife combo stumble into." (Variety)But is it boring? No.
"In its mixture of the quirky and the downbeat, 'Ceremony' aspires to be a hybrid of Noah Baumbach’s 'Margot at the Wedding' and Wes Anderson’s 'Rushmore' but falls far short. For one thing, the Zoe-Sam connection is preposterous on any level. The movie hints that Zoe has an impulsive wild streak, but because it devotes more time to her insufferable stalker, her character remains only a sketch." (NY Times)But is it boring? No.
"'In the Mood for Love' is probably the most breathtakingly gorgeous film of the year, dizzy with a nose-against-the-glass romantic spirit that has been missing from the cinema forever, a spirit found in F. Scott Fitzgerald, the best Roxy Music and minor-key romantic movies like the forgettable 1956 'Miracle in the Rain,' where the lovers' suffering is sealed because of the chasteness of the era. Sex scenes couldn't be spelled out, and as in Mr. Wong's film, yearning becomes the epoxy that holds the material together." (NY Times)But is it boring? Yes.
