You're monthly posting section for recent watches is back. I'm going to try to continue to post mine in the format that I did with Gone, Baby, Gone instead, but I realize not everyone wants to make an entire post out of their recent watches, so you can just list them here with some brief thoughts if you so choose.
My recent watches (that will hopefully receive their own posts soon enough) include American Gangster, Shoot 'Em Up, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Mr. Brooks (the next MTTM article), Factory Girl, Big Trouble in Little China, 3:10 to Yuma (2007) and, finally, the four hour long version of Once Upon a Time in America.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Recent Watches: November 2007
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19 comments:
Factory Girl: This film is pretty dark. It is clearly biased in the sense that it sympathizes with Edie Sedgewick as the victim of the cruel cruel world of elitist 60s socialites and icons, not to mention the ever villainous media. But it truly is a sad story. While there were some questionable casting choices (notably, Mena Suvari and an Olsen twin), Sienna Miller fortunately holds this one together. I would recommend seeing this once if the subject is something you'd be interested in and you are feeling particularly depressed and pessimistic about people and life.
Year of the Dog: Horrendous. I can't say one nice thing so I'm not going to say anything at all.
Hairspray: The remake that is. I haven't seen the original but I liked this one very much. It was cute and bubble gum-y and I didn't hate Amanda Bynes in it (and I loathe Amanda Bynes). Good family movie.
Fun With Dick and Jane Forgive me father for I have sinned.....It must have caught me in just the right mood cause I really enjoyed this movie *gasp* I know, I know. I liked Jim Carrey toned down and I don't care what you think, Tea Leoni is cute and funny in this (at least I thought so that fateful night I saw this). Come on, when she flies over the counter and eats it!?! Hilarious. Alright, I'm going to go crawl into a hole now.
I know this is a film forum but I want to make mention of an excellent, quirky, fun, light hearted and painfully hilarious dead pan series called Flight of the Conchords (I believe it's still on HBO, gearing up for season 2). It may take more than one episode to acclimate to the style but once you do, you'll be entertained. I rank it up there with Arrested Development and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia for originality, satire and great fun. Check it out.
This is the first time I have decided to put my two sense in and share my thoughts on movies even though I'm engaged to a person who always wins at "Scene It," writes film reviews with such ease and poignancy, and could honestly own a video store to prove his passion for all genres. Although I don't possess any of the above qualitiies, I have developed an interest in movies moreso than ever before, how could I avoid not to? I don't think Brian would have proposed otherwise. Haha=meaning I'm serious. ;)
I also realize that I could never truly write a solid review because I'm not a prolific writer nor do I see the aspects of films that most critics do, such as art direction, camera work, etc. However, I think adding another woman's opinion on the blog may make it more interesting, maybe stir up some more creative thoughts. I hope that by having yet another point of view will shed some light on some things.
Brian and I are watching "Love Liza" tonight and I will write a short synopsis on it by Thursday.
Hope there's room for me and I learn even more about movies aside from my first teacher. :)
Welcome bridetobe, so nice to finally hear from you. Personally I don't know what you see in Brian. I mean the guy gave Babe a B+. If there is any film that can't be critiqued, it is Babe. Any who,..ummm...happy for the both of you. :)
So I got a long list of films, many of which I probably should have left for later and rented something worthwhile, but I get in free at the theater. I don't get free rentals. Once again here we go.
30 Days of Night- I had some mild hope for this since it was done by the guy who directed "Hard Candy." I read the graphic novel right before the viewing and I did not care for it at all. So surprise that I thought much the same about the film. I did like the film more though for a few reasons. It is a slick looking film, the concept is still pretty cool, and their take on vampires is pretty fresh, speaking of Danny Huston as the lead. But the ending is done right absurd and idiotic, it falls into cliches and just goes on too long and routine.
Nightmare Before Xmas 3D- the 3D was quite subtle here since the movie itself wasn't made with 3D in mind, so there are no "lets throw things at the camera just to test the 3D capabilities," but I liked that. It is digital 3D, which is a thousand times better than the crappy red and blue glasses treatment. Regal is getting Beowulf in 3D too, which makes me now mildly intrigued to see the film. Oh and this is perhaps my favorite animated film so I loved it.
Kingdom- not sure if I talked about this one or not, but here goes. I liked it. Not great, but entertaining and the ending was quite a moment that spoke volumes about any of these terrorist films. Good cast if sometimes underutilized, but fun all the same.
Saw IV- I'm done. I wash my hands of this franchise. I've always somewhat admired them for making new horror films and not simply remaking, plus they do there best to have the story be continuous, but this was a mess. Let it go already.
Across the universe- Once Bono comes on screen, leave and you will like this film lot more. The first half was good. I thought the music suited the story as opposed to the story bending backwords to suit the music. But once Bono and Eddie Izzard come on is is atrocious. The last half becomes what I feared. They try to make it to where the story suits the songs and it doesn't work. The "plot" is little more than what you can create from the songs titles. Visually it can be quite wonderful, but they can also be quite annoying. I admire the attempt, but I hope they learned a lesson or two along the way.
Game Plan- I had some time to kill and thought why not. To my surprise it was one of the best family films this year. The Rock has built quite a charismatic persona that really works. The kid here is adorable. The intentions are sincere and honest and it really worked for me. Fun for the whole family. Oh god did I just type that.
Bee Movie- The nonstop promotion of this film really turned me off, but luckily they made a good film. Bright creative visuals, really unique "plot," and it is pretty funny. Naturally there is a lot of puns and Seinfeld humor, but there were a couple moments that had me in tears. And I didn't hate Renee Zellweger in it, which says a lot.
Dan in Real Life- Oh Mulligan you should never doubt Steve Carell, just because he slipped up with Evan Almighty, which I still maintain isn't awful. This film isn't perfect, but he gives a great performance here as does the rest of the cast including Dane Cook. Man that hurt to say that. Honest portrayal of a widower who has been burned and can't find happiness since. Really sweet without being sappy. Also pretty funny. I really liked it and hope you will be able to retract your words some day. Kind of a "Last Kiss" quality about it, which I know you and I loved.
Fred Claus- god a year ago I would have said that this would have been a sure thing with this cast and the concept, but what should have been a PG13 film is made into a PG film that feels completely fenced in and never allowed to run rampant as it wants too. The best stuff is stuff that kids won't get. There is one scene that had me laughing so hard, but no kid will get it. Outside of that scene, which is only really funny due to some inside jokes among me and pengin, there is only a few scenes that made me laugh. However, while it may not be funny, I do think there is a rather strong and sensible message at the end here that actually made me care for what was going on, so that did surprise, but all the same...rental if that.
And for any closet fans out there..
Battlestar Galactica: Razor- TV movie that I managed to find a copy of before it actual airing, I love this show. This show is wonderful in so many ways from the fantastic acting to the amazing sets to the earth-shattering reveals to the poignant reflection of our own war, this is the best drama on TV second only to Lost. Hands down. This TV movie didn't blow me away, but it still was the best dramatic TV I've seen since the Lost 3 finale. God I can't wait for season 4...and the final one at that.
Ok now I'm going to avoid playing Guitar Hero tonight and hopefully manage to fit in some others. This should hopefully free me up so I can catch up with our Spotlight reviews, since I still haven't seen Sense and Sensibility. Until then...
Also how can you hate Amanda Bynes, Rebecca. She is just about the only teen star that I can stand. Her choice in films suck, but she always elevates it for me. I've seen "Hairspray," "She the Man," "What a Girl Wants," "Big Fat Liar," her TV show "What I Like About You" and of course "All That!" so I think I'm qualified. Only Hairspray and yes Big Fat Liar are any good, but still she is quite a good physical comedienne and think she has great potential if she got a better agent. Count me a fan of her, not here films.
I just wrote the single longest post in "The Film Script's" history (yes, even longer than Tyler's recent post) only for this crappy E*Trade computer to screw it all up and delete EVERYTHING. ARGH. I'm so furious right now, I want to destroy every piece of computer equipment in this place and see if I can somehow make the stocks drop any further on this cruddy company.
I'll have to rewrite the post throughout the day now instead, seeing as how I wrote a response to every one of these recent posts that have popped up in the past day. Check back...
Without further ado, the second trial at the LONGEST POST IN FILM SCRIPT HISTORY...
Here goes take two for my response to everyone's messages (and this time I'm saving it in a word document so I can't possibly lose it.).
Anyways, as I was trying to say before... I turn my back for a couple of hours and suddenly the site fills up with posts yesterday. I love it! The site is always more fun with the increased interaction and the more people posting the better. Plus, my own laziness has kept me from posting the past week or so but with everyone posting, I feel more inspired to do so as well. So although I'm well behind in my posts (where is "Month of Movies: November" for instance?), I'm gonna post this response and then throw an American Gangster review up on the main page. Tomorrow I also hope to have something about "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" before the season 3 finale.
Without further ado though, let's get to the reactions:
bridetobe - First of all, awww, welcome sweetie! It's always nice to get another voice on here and I'm looking forward to reading every one of your posts. Obviously I've always enjoyed talking through the movies we see together, but it'll be a little different to read your thoughts after you put them down. It's one thing to discuss a movie with someone and it's entirely different to read them delve into it further in a review.
That said, "The Film Script" is not entirely about critiquing movies. You can write about television or really anything that involves the entertainment industry. Actors, actresses. Upcoming shows. Things that bother you. Heck, I even have a post where you can discuss anything you want to... CDs, books, or whatever else that piques your interest (doh, another post I'm behind on for this month but will be up soon).
Oh, and sorry for being partly responsible for the delay in your debut review of Love Liza due to my need for sweets (rice krispie treats, mmmm) and comedy (more "Curb Your Enthusiasm" over the suicide dramedy). We'll get to it tonight though definitely. I'm already responsible for constantly delaying my own posts... I don't want to be to blame for delaying yours as well. Haha.
rebecca - Well, we've already talked about how I'm on the other side of the fence on Factory Girl. The casting was awful (you left out Jimmy Fallon whose screen presence alone makes me nauseous) and I don't know what casting director in their right mind would line up Hayden Christensen to portray Bob Dylan - although I will admit that Hayden's puppy-dog-like approach to playing the music legend eventually started to humor me. Cool he is not, but he does pull off the sincerity. And the further this movie got from Andy Warhol, the better it got (I still don't understand director George Hickenlooper's attempt at painting Warhol as mentally challenged?). Edie's an interesting character but tragic I don't think so. She had the gleam of Hollywood and the high class lifestyle in her eyes and couldn't stop herself from making poor decisions. Sienna Miller does an admirable job in the role, but I think she's also better in Interview. A flawed film.
Year of the Dog was a movie I had some interest in seeing but after your non-recommendation and the fact that Kelly's parents hated it as well, maybe I'll hold off. Eesh.
Fun with Dick and Jane was harmless entertainment. Like I said, not worth the money I paid to see it in the theaters... but probably something that would be somewhat entertaining on DVD (especially if it's free). Not great, not bad.
Meanwhile, Hairspray I'm right in the middle of (although that one isn't looking too great either)... so far I have absolutely no idea how it received 93% positive reviews from critics. That's higher than Into the Wild, Zodiac and probably an infinite amount of other, better films from this year alone. I'll withhold any real judgment until I finish it... but 93% positive? Come on.
And I'm not even going to acknowledge the "Arrested"/"Sunny" comparisons to "Conchord." That's INCREDIBLY high praise in my book. I'll definitely have to check up with that show sometime and see if it holds up to that.
(that post was so long it needed to be split in half just so it would allow me to post it)
chachi - Good lord, you've been backlogging your recent watches as well. And out of that laundry list of films you mentioned, I've seen all of... 1?! And that's A Nightmare Before Christmas (and I haven't even seen the 3-D version). Anyways, my thoughts...
I had very little interest in The Game Plan even though I generally like The Rock's persona in anything, even bad movies like The Game Plan looked to be. Your recommendation surprises me since it seemed like The Pacifier-bad to me. Saw IV should be absolutely no surprise that I lack even the smallest hint of interest about. I subjected myself to two of those films and Hostel and have next-to-no inclination to go back for more.
Then there's Fred Claus, 30 Days of Night, Dan in Real Life (whose prospects are growing on me), Across the Universe and Bee Movie which all seemed like rentals to me. Some more than others. I'll probably get to them all eventually. Well, maybe not 30 Days of Night...
The only film you mentioned that I really feel like I missed was Peter Berg's The Kingdom. Berg directed the very good, very enjoyable The Rundown and Friday Night Lights and was definitely a director I had interest in watching. Plus that cast, you're right, looked great (although I can see how they might have little to do acting-wise cloaked out in combat gear and dodging bullets).
I did really want to see "Battlestar Galactica" as well... but I haven't seen a single episode up to this point so I feel like at this point I might as well wait until the show is over and run through the whole series beginning-to-end. I've heard nothing but good things though.
The most surprising thing in your post though chachi came in your follow-up when you readily admitted to having seen this lineup of Amanda Bynes films... She's the Man, What a Girl Wants, "What I Like About You" AND Big Fat Liar. Good God man, why?
Also, when did I miss the Guitar Hero revolution? Apparently everyone is in on it. I gotta make a run to Game Stop...
My ex loved those stupid type of films so that is why I was dragged to seeing them. I've also seen most of Hilary Duff's films, I saw "Ice Princess" the day it came out, and I was also forced into seeing "Yours, Mine and Ours." God awful. Now I think you know why the relationship didn't last. My current girlfriend likes horror films more than any other so not likely I'll have to see any more teeny bopper crap. After all I missed out on having to see Amanda Bynes latest "Sydney White." Aw Shucks!
Was this the same girl who dragged you to such classics as Aquamarine, Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet? My God man, either that girl likes EVERYTHING or she has the worst movie tastes imaginable. That must have been torturous...
(and if I just accidentally insulted your new girlfriend, I humbly apologize. Hahaha.)
Dear god chachi....I'm so sorry. (Although I will admit that I somehow watched almost an entire 12hr Lizzie McGuire marathon in college. I must've gotten roofied by an eleven year old....?) Horror flicks are a much better genre to have an affinity towards but there's just as much opportunity for terrible film making and it's only slightly better in that you likely get to see the terribly acted brainless female lead get slashed (=often wonderfully satisfying!) as opposed to suffering through a sappy happy ending(=often excruciatingly boring). I'll take horror over Sydney White any day thank you very much--especially if it has zombies. :)
Speaking of terrible horror movies I just watched Captivity with Elisha Cuthbert. I mention her name only because she is the ONLY famous person in the film. Which isn't a problem per se, but her rep is clearly the only way this movie got made/marketed. Gah, I had much higher hopes for her. I've watched a few episodes of 24 and was amused by Girl Next Door but what gave me hope for her as a serious actress was a little independent film called The Quiet. Good solid flick right there. Anyway, I'm all for sorta bad horror movies like Wrong Turn but, seriously, skip Captivity even if it's free. Just everything about indicates they wrote, rehearsed, filmed and edited it in about a week. Maybe less? Bad bad bad bad bad movie all around. Wrong Turn at least had some decent "make you jump" scenes. And man eating inbred hill billies.
Aquamarine...god I can't believe you brought that up. I thought I had finally pushed that out of my memory until you had to remind me of that piece of...[insert whatever you care to].
As for Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet, that was me hoping for escapism. Ultraviolet was done by Kurt Wimmer who did Equilibrium which I loved, so I had some hopes for that one. Too bad it was just a disappointment though not as bad as everyone else made it out to be. When you get to see films for free, you will see just about anything.
Okay guys, what the hell? Amanda Bynes movies? Captivity? Ultraviolet? It seems to me we're making some pretty poor film choices here. Hahaha.
Ty, I'll let you slide because Equilibrium was decent enough, but Rebecca... 12 hours of "Lizzie McGuire?" Really? Although I will admit to having never seen an episode - I don't think it much matters. I'm almost positive "Lizzie" doesn't have any of the charm of a "Boy Meets World" or even my buddy Chris's choice of "Even Stevens." Still... that line about being roofied by an 11 year old? Priceless. Hahaha.
I know I was supposed to write a short synopsis on "Love Liza" but after contemplating it for days now I've come to the monotonous conclusion that it's going to be pretty tough considering there's not much to say about it. There wasn’t any important idea or lesson of morality that generally a dramatic role will try to accomplish. In fact, I couldn’t take much away from the film other than that Philip Seymour Hoffman portrays the part undoubtedly well. He exhibits emotions that would strike anyone who suffered from the unexpected and tragic loss of a wife. When writing a script in which death and regrets is the main focus, I find it a necessity to enable your audience to connect with the characters by providing us a window of opportunity to see how such an event would change your life from one minute to the next. You go through the movie wondering what this suicide letter says---hoping it gives some logic reasoning or glimpse of who his wife was, but instead we are left with unanswered questions and confusion as to why this man’s life deserves to be told. Simply stated, I was left feeling empty and unsatisfied because a performance that was done well was not given a chance to breathe life into a story that desperately needed it.
That was a very nice encapsulation of the shortcomings of Love Liza sweetie. It’s an excellent performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman drowned out in a movie that has absolutely nothing to say about tragedy. It presents a man struggling through the loss of his wife and unable to bring himself to read her suicide note (actually a very intriguing, believable and heartbreaking idea)… but the entire movie is Hoffman sniffing gasoline, getting high and passing out. He sniffs while driving. He sniffs while crying. He sniffs and sniffs and sniffs. He even manages to meet a couple of kids who sniff too. And in the meantime he takes an interest in remote control airplanes, gets robbed (twice), ruins his career and burns down his house. All with no real purpose. Its best scenes are Hoffman working alone – looking at pictures, sleeping on the floor instead of in their bed, celebrating a motorized boat race victory (the one moment of levity in the entire film). But without anything to say, all the director is offering is the chance to watch Hoffman emote. And he’s a powerful actor, but it isn’t enough.
I'm jumping back on here to bang out some of my recent watches (others, including Mr. Brooks and No Country for Old Men I hope to elaborate on further a la American Gangster but for now I need to get some of these out of the way).
As Tears Go By. My latest visit to the wonderful world of Wong Kar-Wai. It was his first film and you can tell because it's a little rough around the edges (it's the least impressively visually and also probably in its writing). Still, it's a good film. I can see how Wong Kar-Wai delved into assassins in Fallen Angels because he started out here in the mob. Of course with Wong Kar-Wai there has to be a relationship at its core... but this one is unique as it deals with a man's relationship with a woman and also with his sometimes eccentric Mafia "brother." There isn't a Wong Kar-Wai film to date that I haven't liked and this one is no different.
Masked and Anonymous. One of the damndest movies I've ever seen. It makes largely next to no sense. It's pretty horribly photographed. And I'm still gonna recommend it. I don't know if anyone outside of a Bob Dylan fan could enjoy it... but that's me, so it doesn't matter. I recommend it for the performances of Jeff Bridges and John Goodman (two actors playing their own personas to perfection), the songs of Bob Dylan and the philosophical nuggets of writing that come here and there throughout the dialogue. It's not anything special or revolutionary and it's hard to make heads or tails of but for a Dylan fan, that's what I'd expect.
And some more... nope still not caught up.
Big Trouble in Little China. Another film that I wish I had seen a decade ago, when I would have been young enough to appreciate it. It’s a Kurt Russell camp classic performance but these type of gimmicky films (the ones that rely on constantly winking at the audience) tend to irritate me after a while. It’s okay, but I can’t help but feel I would have enjoyed it more if I had some childhood affection for it.
Crimes and Misdemeanors. My favorite Woody Allen movie thus far, besting out both Annie Hall and Manhattan, Crimes is the story of an affair gone sour and the lengths a man will go to protecting his life from falling to shambles because of threats to reveal it. This was Match Point 15 years ago, with better characters and more depth to it. This one meditates on evil decisions and what that does to your soul, whereas Match was only interested in killing as a means to get ahead.
Mallrats. Kevin Smith’s dopey, but somewhat endearing, love letter to comic books and teenage hangouts. Smith was obviously trying to bottle up what worked in Clerks and transport it to the mall, but with it came an excess of lame gags and over-the-top characters (played poorly by Ben Affleck, Jeremy London and Michael Rooker). Luckily Jason Mewes has a surplus of lazy stoner charm that the movie manages to almost coast by on. If the Weinstein’s had gotten their way and replaced Mewes with Seth Green… this could have been a total trainwreck. C+
Shoot ‘Em Up. Speaking of dopey… here’s an action movie that has Clive Owen portraying Bugs Bunny, Paul Giamatti leaving huge bite marks in the scenery and Monica Belluci as a lactating hooker (and obvious surrogate mother choice for a baby being tracked down by the mob). It’s completely over-the-top, refuses to make any sense whatsoever and prides itself on staging gunfights around a baby delivery and during sexual intercourse (stopping neither even when the gunfire starts). It’d make a great, ludicrous thirty minute short film, but leaves terrible stretch marks trying to make it to feature length. C-
Saw Blood Simple again. One of the best debuts ever. That ending is a work of art with its use of light and sound (or lack thereof). The cast is all very good though not up to par with there later casts. M. Emmett Walsh oozes slime, both literally and figuratively. No Country and Blood Simple have a lot of the same stylistic choices including there profound use of silence.
The Mist is one of the most depressing film ever. Okay that is a lie. IT IS THE MOST DEPRESSING FILM EVER!!!! I mean "Grave of the Fireflies" kind of depressing. Much like No Country, on the surface it is simply a monster flick, but dig deeper and you find so much more. It shows mankind at its cruelest, its most primal, at its most desperate. There are two scenes here that had my jaw dropped. I could not believe what just happened. There is also a moment here that had my stand up and cheering more that if I found out I won the lottery.
This film angered me throughout because I was a bystander who witnesses basic common sense dissolve into anarchy. Since I was not a participant, I found it hard for me to relate to their situation, but yet it is believable one in as much you have to believe there are supernatural monsters in the mist.
Thomas Jane is forgiven for the Punisher.
Any film that evokes a response has to be a worthwhile one. I have problems with what Darabont is saying, but I still think it is a ballsy film that deserves recognition for not giving in to cliches and never takes the easy way out.
Before we cross into December (and I watch too many more movies) here's some more for ya.
Dreamgirls: Well, this was certainly a long movie. It was entertaining and I really enjoyed Jennifer Hudson's INSANE singing. That girl has mad vocals. However, I don't really think it was, as a whole, an Oscar worthy performance. Overall the cast was pretty strong and the storyline was engaging enough. I mostly liked Eddie Murphy's performance and will even consider forgiving him for Norbit......nope, I can't do that. Anyway, this falls under my "only need to watch once but don't regret seeing it" category.
Death to Smoochy Hmmmm. This was definitely an atypical movie. And for that, I liked it. I wouldn't say I loved it though. Robin Williams was great, as was Ed Norton.
Beowulf I REALLY wish I had seen this with 3D glasses. It would have been that much better. This was interesting. I was unsure about it at the very beginning because the animation was kind of weird to my eye, but by the end I was totally into it! All in all the story was pretty good although a little outside research shed some light on the fact that a lot of creative license was taken. Still it was a nice take on it. I really liked the "sins of the fathers" theme. See it (and get 3D glasses!)
Grindhouse: Death Proof This movie was a little slow and kind of ends on a really random note but I've got a weak spot for Tarentino and Kurt Russell is pretty much perfect as Stuntman Mike.
Grindhouse: Planet Terror Certainly the more blatantly graphic of the two films as well as the more blatantly ridiculous story of the two. This was was a lot more fun though. Just a lot of squimish moments and laughing out loud at the incredible cheesiness. I really had fun watching it! You gotta take it for what it is though--no taking it seriously!
Lastly, I finished watching all the episodes of Freaks and Geeks last night and I have to say that it was really an endearing little show. I really wish it had lasted longer. Ahh well, only the good die young (YAH Billy Joel!). I really want to know where they found Bill. That kid is AMAZING. So great.
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