re: Under the Skin (2013) Scarlett Johansson

To be honest, I was a little disappointed when I watched this movie, primarily because the opinions of people I generally respect led me to anticipate more that the move actually delivered. The mistake the movie-makers made was taking a good premise and excellent cinematography (even if the latter was almost painfully European in execution) and trying to sustain it as a set piece over the space of one and a half hours. I very much appreciate thoughtful, moody, intelligent movies -- you should see my movie collection -- but only if I don't feel like the people involved are taking advantage of my appreciation by offering me less than meets the eye.

It wasn't a bad move, mind you. Far from it. But it made one of the gravest errors a movie of its ilk can make -- blatant self-indulgence. The same movie could have been compressed into a half-hour without an loss of fidelity, to use a technical metaphor. "Under the Skin" definitely had promise, but it ultimately came across as having pretensions toward being an art-house film without the substance to back said pretensions up. It's always a risk you're going to take when elevating style over plot/dialogue, and if you choose to take that risk, you'd best be damned certain your style repays the audience's patience with you.