Taking Woodstock
Some good performances and Ang Lee's style really makes it feel like you are there. The acid trip sequence was pretty close to as real as it gets. That being said, Dimitri Martin is a horrible, expressionless actor and couldn't relate to him at all. Of course, he is also a closet homosexual and the film never really addresses this head on, just has some extremely awkward scenes.
3/5
Too bad. That looked good. But oy, I am tired of movies trying to recreate drug trips.
It doesn't dwell on it and doesn't last too long. This one doesn't have any crazy cartoon character visuals or fireworks, just a gentle blurring of colors and that awkward tripped out distraction you get when trying to focus on anything.Emile Hirsch was good as the Vietnam vet, but some of the flashbacks backs were over the top and his character didn't have much of a purpose. Liev Schreiber is great playing a cross dressing ex-Army Ranger body guard. He plays the role completely straight faced, he's just dressed in full drag.
Its a beautiful film and a lot of parts are like watching archive footage, but it doesn't touch on the music at all, they never even get within a half mile of the stage. I don't even think they use the word "Woodstock" in the film, I had to research a little to make sure they were telling the story of Woodstock and not another festival set around the same time period. That was kind of weird for me. Also, a little too "Brokeback Mountain" for me tastes if I can say that without coming across as a complete homophobe.