So much average

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

When one sees all the talent that came together, you'd expect a really good movie. There is a premise with much promise, which was written by acclaimed British screenwriter Peter Morgan, directed by respected director Fernando Meirelles, and features some top acting talent from around the world, notably Anthony Hopkins. It's beautifully photographed in various parts of the world. So why didn't it work? Mainly because no one was given anything interesting to say or do. It's one of those connections movies with an ensemble cast, which had been done so effectively in movies like "Short Cuts" and "Magnolia", and it's hard to say how disappointing this film was. It wasn't a terrible movie, but it's so shallow, uneventful, and mediocre that I spent some two hours just waiting for something interesting to be said. I could have spent two hours at the airport observing various people and come up with something more interesting. As one critic put it, "It's a dull world after all."

This, and the previous few reviews I've looked up, have (sadly) convinced me that IMDb is no longer a credible source for judging 'review scores'.This films absolutely nails it! If you've reached 45yrs old, (as I have), and made a life, and ruined a life...and made others' lives...and ruined others' lives... then your rating is valid. If, aged 45, you choose to rate this film less than 9 then you've wasted your one single life of 45yrs.I haven't wasted mine. I've stared down loaded gun barrels into the cold eyes of drunken robbers. I've loved. I've dashed myself against the madcap rocks of tear-soaked love. I've hurt. I've laughed at those who have been weak enough to dare to dash themselves against my steel resistance...and, in time, life has taught me through my heartfelt pain, my utter, utter, folly.I've had it all whilst blocking what I deep down knew was love. Yes, true friendship survives and matters...but the beating heart of true love has fallen...NO!... been pushed... through my, cursed angry fingers. It is my curse and one I will take to the grave.Every scene in this film is acutely 'spot on'. The acting is without fault. The interwoven lives are 'spot on'. The tale is without fault....as I said, if you rate it less than 9, the weakness is your lack of "life experience". The failure is yours, and yours alone.

The idea of narrating different linked stories of characters is certainly not new and the material in this picture is quite abundant: a lot of complex characters, a lot of deep and tense backgrounds. The limit was that the director probably wanted to explore too many characters and too many situations, and the result is that no single story or character is sufficiently developed and seem to be more kept separate than interconnected. The idea that people's lives are connected comes out as banal and evident, as part of any person not living secluded at home, and the fact that in the picture the links go from Europe to the US to Brasil is simply because it deals with dynamic people who move across the world. Some story lines, such as Hopkins' search for his lost daughter could have been explored more deeply, on the contrary it remains faded like the other stories.Nothing to say against shooting, the use of split scenes is effective and tries to underline the idea of interconnections, and the subtle use of camera tries to make the characters' personalities come out, but in the end do not make up for a general underdevelopment. Nothing to say against the talented, but a little wasted cast, who give depth to the characters, although in the end we cannot but miss some more insight and deepening of both characters and stories.

360 (2011)In many ways this is a fabulous movie--complex, warm, chilling, even poignant. It's meant to be an almost serious look at contemporary relationships, including sexual ones with prostitutes, affairs with fellow workers, quickies with someone new, and long term loves between married husband and wife. It works overall, sometimes really well.Because of its seriousness you might notice a few scenes where things are pushed a little hard. The main one of these is when a Brazilian girl comes on hard to a recently released sex offender in an airport after moments before being put off by him and having plans to meet someone else for a polite drink. At first it's improbable, then the writers decide to push the encounter harder and harder until it becomes extreme and sensationalist. Too bad, because in other parts of the movie the extremes--such as a prostitute getting started through sleazy photographer listing her on the web, even though she has zero experience--get pulled off with conviction. Not that most of us know the ins and outs of that world.There are too many characters to make things clear here, but it's worth saying that Anthony Hopkins again shows how he can command a scene like no one else in the film. His monologue at an AA meeting is a short masterpiece, and his performance in general is almost enough to justify seeing the film all by itself.Other characters are excellent, including Jude Law in a restrained part as a married businessman looking for some action on the road. (His wife has her own affair in full swing.) Yeah, come to think of it, there is a lot of infidelity going on here. The one sincere relationship is another unlikely moment, with a sweet girl going off with a somewhat mixed up Russian in a Mercedes (and she leaves her bag on her park bench for no good reason, she's not in a hurry). But hey, all of these things are happening so rapidly and with so much overlap, who knows? It even includes many cases of split screens reaching three or four simultaneous panels at times.You start to see how the world works for some people in a contemporary way. It's sordid on some level, filled with deceit and sadness. But it's also believable, at least for this certain urban, footloose set. I assume the title means that it all comes around full circle somehow, that we're all in the same big boat. Watch with attention. The characters are all distinctive but there are a lot of them. The director, Fernando Meirelles, is ambitious, for sure, but he made of the most highly regarded films of recent years, "City of God," so this is worth watching even just for that connection. "360" is limited and flawed by comparison, but it's better (I think) than its rating might let on.