Let's get some discussion going on here again guys with recent watches and some quick thoughts. You know the drill.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
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20 comments:
Once again...
21-more fun than I was anticipating. The concept of counting cards fascinates me, but they don't do a great job explaining it. Maybe for legal reasons. Enjoyable lead. Forgettable supporting players exept for Fishburne. Still found myself having fun.
Ruins-interesting film with a ending that left me wanting to know more, but in a bad way. Still the cast is game and the FX are gruesome if too torture porn-esque. Story is supposedly much scarier. Wouldn't surprise me. Has the making of a great horror film, but much was lost in the execution.
Smart People- I have to see something else from Ellen Page besides this snarky character she does here just as she did in Juno. Its kinda grating my nerves a bit now. I liked Dennis Quaid though as well as Thomas Hayden Church who is underutilized. Enjoyable enough, but never anything more.
Street Kings- hated it. Stupid cop film about cops killing cops over and over again. Apparently there is not a decent cop in the system at all.
Harold & Kumar- I loved the first one. I liked this one. It wasn't as funny, but I think I was more invested in them as characters though since they don't portray them simply as stoners. The movie in essence says there is nothing more American than these two minorities. Its hit and miss, but I would like to see these guys again. They are endearing and charming, plus that would only mean more NPH. When will he get his own TV station.
Omega Man- cheesy sure, but I was never bored. It was interesting comparing it to I Am Legend. Heston is not nearly as good as Will Smith and the villains may be even worse too (which is hard to accomplish), but I liked the ending more here than I did during Legend.
Andromeda Strain- this one appeals to the science nerd in me. I just liked seeing how we would handle a alien bacterium on our planet that caused instant death. Seeing just how everything plays out is fascinating to me. Others may find it boring and probably useless info, but not me.
Talk to Her- what a weird film...and a marvelous one at that. Lyrical and poignant like I wasn't expecting. Tales about men who bond as there lovers remain in a coma. Whatever you think will happen is probably nowhere near right. Really unique and special film. I'm loving Almodovar.
Bad Education- Another mind bender from Almodovar as we learn the tale of two boys who were molested by their priest and the consequences that arise. Identity is key here. We also get a story within a story within a story, so it defiantly screws with your perception. Not a perfect final act, but certainly worth a visit.
Wicker Man- the original...and now one of my favorite "horror" films. I'm not sure I would classify it as horror, but it sure is creepy. Great concept that hasn't created numerous clones. Great cast including Christopher Lee. Fascinating film showing the dichotomy between two very fundamentalist points of view. Must see masterpiece.
And lastly, I recommend more than anything else that you guys visit HBOs the Wire at some point. It is perhaps the greatest drama ever and it never got the awards of the viewers to reflect that. Absolutely riveting and so true to what life is like. We see just how the checks and balances work within our system as drugs, the ports, the schools, Capitol Hill and the news media all affect the complex city that is Baltimore. Perfect Cast and nearly perfect plots (Season 5 takes a bit of suspension of disbelief in order to go along with it). Drop whatever it is you want to see. Nothing will be as rewarding as this show. Nothing...
Posting a lot but making it short cause I have neither the time nor patience and neither do you.
88 Minutes - not altogether terrible but essentially a waste of time. Pacino needs to choose his roles more carefully. And Leelee Sobieski bothers me. Despite the time crunch intended to heighten the adrenaline, I was pretty bored for most of it.
King of California - Turned out to be a sweet film. Douglas is refreshingly kooky and comedic and Wood compliments him nicely. Nice story to pass some time on a rainy Sunday if you will.
Iron Man - Everything that has been said, I say "ditto". Stay through the credits!
10,000 B.C. (the first 30 min at least) - Everything that has been said, I say "ditto". Haha worth the free movie ticket I got out of it.
27 Dresses - I was surprised at how fun Katherine Heigl was to watch in this. She was truly the heart and soul of the film and I'd say rescued it even. Plus I'd watch James Marsden butter toast for an hour and a half so...
La Mome (La Vie en Rose) - Brilliant. Marion Cotillard deserved every ounce of that statue. Such a heart wrenching and devoted performance...it was clear this story was handled with care. I highly recommend watching it.
I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With - a.k.a. a complete waste of time. Thought it had potential since Jeff Garlin did it and Sarah Silverman and Bonnie Hunt joined the cast. It was bland and boring and rendered few laughs. Skip it for sure.
Win a Date With Tad Hamilton - the buttering toast rule applies to Josh Duhmel as well.
Chachi, you do it to me every time. You’re the only person I know that can make me feel like I don’t watch enough movies.
Yep, I haven’t seen a single one of your recent watches. Not a one. Damn you.
Still, I’m not exactly interested in catching up with 21 or The Ruins, but Smart People intrigued me (where did you see this, D.C.?), Street Kings I’ll catch up with at some point because it’s a James Ellroy story (L.A. Confidential), Harold & Kumar I enjoyed the first one and will catch up with the second one, as I did the first, on DVD. Then you get into the Filmspotting Sci-Fi and Almodovar Marathons and I just get bombarded with films I need to see. Omega Man all the way through your closing comments about “The Wire.”
I feel shamed.
Then there’s Rebecca’s list, of which I have seen a few.
88 Minutes is terrible. Sorry. I saw this so long ago, but I still remember it seems like it could have been made on a shoestring budget with the director pocketing the rest of it. It’s awful and completely ruins any and all hope I have for the Pacino-De Niro reteaming in Righteous Kill by the same director. Yuck.
King of California I’ll agree is a sweet film, although it’s also largely absurd (that’s the point, I understand). I think it’s mostly an acting vehicle for Douglas to show he can still do it. It’s not really a heartfelt story, just more a quirky independent film that isn’t exactly sure what type of story it wants to tell. Not bad, not great either.
Iron Man I’ll get to my review soon, hopefully.
10,000 B.C. I doubt I’ll ever see.
I’d say Marsden and Greer are the reasons 27 Dresses didn’t suck, but Heigl was good as well. Really surprising, since I expected the film to blow as much as Edward Burns did in it.
La Vie en Rose I think it’s a brilliant performance, not necessarily a brilliant movie (although a good one). I’ll echo that Marion Cotillard deserved her Oscar, even though I still prefer Julie Christie’s minimalist performance more. The comparisons to Daniel Day-Lewis’s also Oscar-winning performance are certainly apt. It’s a movie actor’s leave with scenery still stuck in between their teeth. Grand performances.
I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With is not as bad as you make it out to be. At least this one was genuinely sweet. Sure, it’s “slower than molasses in January” as Kelly likes to say, but “a complete waste of time?” Nah. The direction was awful, I’ll give you that (Garlin should stick to acting) but otherwise? Sort of enjoyable on the whole. Not one I’ll go back to probably, but never regretted seeing it either.
And haven’t seen Win a Date With Tad Hamilton… although I’ve considered it because of Topher.
Brian, there's no way in hell you'd watch "win a date with tad hamilton." those are movies you totally look down upon as dirt. seriously??!! but since you've shocked me, "i double dog dare you" to watch this movie.
(name that movie quote if you can ;) it's easy...
Whoo hoo! A Christmas Story!!! :)
yeah, christmas story! haha! i love this movie, but for some reason brian's the only one i know who doesn't. it's a classic, come on! Am i right or what?
i say keep up incorporating movie quotes in another film reviews. :)
Holy crap...Mulligan, you don't care for "Christmas Story." Guess What? Neither do I. I thought I was alone. I didn't grow up with it like so many others, and it is a nice cute film, but I hardly think it is the quotable masterpiece that so many others think. It probably wouldn't even make my top Xmas films. Wow mom can finally let me out of the basement now, for I am not alone.
Yeah, it's not something that I advertise, but A Christmas Story is hardly a favorite of mine.
It's okay, but I don't get the appeal either. A spoiled brat kid wants a B.B. Gun for Christmas so he can shoot bandits in his backyard. Other hijinks, including a leg lamp ensue.
I think the film gets a lot of people through the adorableness of its lead Ralphie, its voiceover narration and the naivete of it and its time period. But yeah, most people feel like I'm crapping all over their childhood when I protest it... like I started making fun of The Goonies again or something.
Oh and I said I "considered" watching Win a Date with Tad Hamilton back after I saw In Good Company and became a big Topher fan. Since then, he's made P.S. and Spider-Man 3 and I've lost the majority of my interest in it.
I didn't grow up watching it either but it's just irresistible. It's so funny! Come on...it perfectly captures what it's like to be a kid at Christmas time! Clearly, I'm with you Kelly on this one.
Tad Hamilton isn't bad at all Mulligan. Sure its chock full of cliches and the story is predictable, but the cast makes up for it and I found myself enjoying it. Watch it with Kelly once. I'm sure you make her watch numerous artsy films that you can stand Josh Duhamel shaven chest.
Corina Corina: Good ol Whoopi...she and Ray Liotta show racist people in the 50s that love is colorblind. Haha yeah, this was a cute movie and very PG. Pretty refreshing.
Godspell: Yuck. I did not enjoy this at all. I'm pretty sure it's because 1. I know nothing about the Bible really and 2. I wasn't on any psychedelic drugs when I watched it. From a sheer musical stand point, not even the songs grabbed me...can't see why it's such a hit. But that's just he heathen I am.
The Dead Girl: A very Crash-like story telling process except it revolves around the discovery of a dead girl (weird) and then reveals several female characters that are involved in some way. Kind of interesting...mostly sad and depressing.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Truly a fun movie. Steve Martin and Michael Caine are a great duo and their constant besting of one another is entertaining alone. The twist at the end is the icing on the cake.
Wolf Creek: Apparently based on true events (I always take this with a grain of salt), this is an Australian outback horror story. 3 young people road trip to Wolf Creek crater where their car and watches break down. They are then tortured by a Crocodile Dundee-esque person who hunts people instead of animals. Gruesome and scary especially if it IS true. I won't be venturing into that area of the outback, that's for sure.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence: I was actually surprised with how good this was. I very much liked the premise and was pleased right up until David gets trapped underwater in the chopper...from that point until he gets to see his mother again, I felt like the writer(s) were just making shit up cause they didn't know how to get from those two points. The FX were pretty good too and can't deny how perfect Haley Joel Osment was for that role.
Normally, I'd wait til I had a few more movies to post about but I just had to comment right away on this one.
Michael Clayton: Okay, I'll hand it to it...pretty good idea for a story. Pretty good execution of it as well. Pretty good acting and pretty good directing...Oscar nod worthy? I don't think so. Especially when you've got films like Eastern Promises in the mix. I was really surprised after I saw this that it had been nominated. It just didn't strike a chord with me for as much acclaim as it received. And on that note, Tilda Swinton's performance won the Oscar?! I wasn't impressed at all. I'm not saying she's not an actress deserving of an Oscar...I'm saying just not for this. I didn't see I'm Not There but I have a feeling that Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Bob Dylan just might have been a little more inspiring and impressive?? Clearly this was a good movie...but I'm perplexed as to why it garnered so much appraisal and attention.
Tilda Swinton is so creepy looking. Her performance was not memorable at all. I always think Clooney does a great job no matter role he's in, but definately perplexed by all the oscar hype the film got as well. ??
"Win a Date With Tad Hamilton" was what I expected. I hate movies though where you're supposed to be rooting for the girl to get with the guy who's loved her all along just because that's supposedly what was "meant to be" when clearly they just aren't. I mean come on..who takes 22 years or whatever they said to realize you love someone?! Not ONCE did she consider him in a romantic way? Too lame. It was obvious there was not one scene where she looked at Topher the way she did Tad. You don't change over night, am i right?
Brian and I both agreed that she made a better couple with Tad Hamilton who didn't add or take away from the movie in my opinion. Eh, he was just there to take up screen space. I don't see the sex appeal.
Plus, it's okay to have some predictability, but when I can pretty much guess how each scene will play out throughout most of the movie, you gotta wonder if you could have written a better script or maybe it's that this person has no creativity because clearly they're doing what every other romantic comedy does: Guy wants girl. Girl likes someone else. Guy gives up on her. Girl realizes she's made a terrible mistake. Guy and girl live happily ever after.
Originality please!! C-
Hope Sex and the City movie has been worth the anticipation!
A few thoughts on Rebecca’s most recent watches –
You’ve already explained why someone would be willing to watch both Wolf Creek and Corrina, Corrina so I’ll let those go with only a passing comment… two films I doubt if I’ll end up ever seeing in my lifetime.
The Dead Girl interested me, but I just haven’t gotten to it yet. That’s the one with Brittany Murphy, right? What piqued my interest though was actually Josh Brolin’s inclusion in the cast. His No Country performance made me feel like there were some previously untapped performance gems in his filmography and this was one that I singled out. Still, I’m too busy recently watching old science fiction movies like Soylent Green and Starman apparently.
I’m a big Dirty Rotten Scoundrels fan as well, although I haven’t seen it since high school. I remember it being a very enjoyable one-upmanship story about two con men and I loved both Michael Caine and Steve Martin in it. Every time I think of it I imagine Martin at the table with the pitchfork though.
Godspell I’ve heard of in passing, but I haven’t promised to watch it like Jesus Christ Superstar, so I doubt I’ll be seeing it any time soon. Your take on it doesn’t make me feel like I’m missing anything.
As for A.I., I was glad to hear you liked it. Most people seem to have issues with it but I thought it was fantastic. I’ve seen it three times now and the whole thing just fascinates me. The split feeling of a Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick film, the visual storytelling, the performances (Haley Joel deserved an Oscar nom for Best Actor). It has both a childlike sensibility (what Spielberg film at least partially doesn’t) but coupled with the oppressive pessimism of a Kubrickian fantasy. Okay, so I agree that ending is a little far out there…
Michael Clayton I liked. Liked pretty much everything about it. Just didn’t love much of any of it. Hell, I helped lead the booing chorus at Ted’s Oscar Party when Tilda Swinton won Best Supporting Actress (Amy Ryan or Cate Blanchett were far more deserving). It’s a solid, craftmanlike film. But the reviews for it were just outrageously positive and I’m still stunned by its Best Picture and Best Director noms (its standard direction was the weakest aspect of the film). I will say though that Clooney was great and given some excellent lines, he totally came through on the delivery.
I’ll try to get to my own thoughts on Soylent Green, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (I know everyone’s dying for this one), The English Patient, The Bank Job, Rashomon and Iron Man as soon as I can. Starting to fall behind again, I realize.
I recently bought a shirt inspired by He-man and Masters of the Universe...if you recall He-man had Battle Cat and Skeletor had Panthor the latter of which the shirt was modeled after. Anyway, I was thusly inspired to catch up on those glory days of yore and decided to download Masters of the Universe for a little 80s throwback fun. And I was rewarded.
Hahahaha oh man. It is everything you could ever want in a cheesy 80s flick. Dolf Lundgren, Star Wars-esque laser beams, terrible acting, Courtney Cox back in her Pepsi commercial days....ahhh nostalgia. Definitely watch this with a friend and some beer. It's a great movie to make fun of.
P.S. I Love You: K, my room mate came home with this yesterday. It was never going to be a movie I was going to watch. But it wasn't too bad. It was entertaining enough I suppose. Gerard Butler definitely is the glue of this film. He is charming without being cheesy and frankly pretty irresistible in that sort of way that you know there are only guys like that in the movies. Hil Swank is neurotic and kind of boring actually. She has moments of cuteness and is likable but I never really fully got behind her in this one. The supporting cast is decent but forgettable.
My room mate bawled her eyes out. I laughed at her the whole time. It's your call.
Well, I started writing my own thoughts on P.S. I Love You a couple weeks back when Kelly and I had originally seen it...
You having seen it gives me an opportunity to post my thoughts here and avoid having to delve any deeper into its overly dull, straightforward story.
P.S. I Love You. There’s really nothing noteworthy about this film. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen it and I’ve already almost entirely forgot I ever did. Nobody’s particularly bad, but every plot point reeks of familiarity. Doesn’t Hollywood ever get tired of making the same film with the same tone for the same audience? Maybe Hilary's trying to find out how much mileage 2 Academy Awards will get you? C-
Well oddly enough I've seen a lot of bits and pieces of movies recently...which doesn't allow for much commenting...yet. But here's a few.
Romance & Cigarettes: This one was a bit odd. I grasped the basic story but I had a hard time feeling like a musical was the right way to go with it. It was as if someone took their favorite music and their favorite story and mashed them together. I'm just not sure what to make of it as a whole?? Whenever I see a film with lots of big name actors in it it's usually a cue that it should be something great...but I'm not sure there is anything here. Perhaps one of those films that looks great on paper but doesn't work once it's filmed?
Walk Hard: John C. Reilly is like that guy you'd never expect to be as comical as he turns out to be. Lucky for us. It's a great spoof on Walk the Line right down to "The wrong kid died!". Didn't know Jenna Fischer was in it but it was nice to see her outside of her Pam role. Also love, love, LOVED Tim Meadows.
An American Crime: I think it was Chachi (?) that made a comment about wanting to see more from Ellen Page than her snarky Juno character (which, really, who doesn't at this point?)...well, this is it. There's no hint of that here. I was a little bored at first but it really gets going when Sylvia starts getting into "trouble". Just a really sad story made even sadder by the fact that it actually happened. Makes you marvel at what "civilized" humans are still capable of.
Radioland Murders: Another one I thought would be better simply because of the roster of notable actors involved. Not a bad movie, certainly more solid than Romance...but lacking some punch. And WTF is Joey Lawrence doing on the same stage as George Burns and Rosemary Clooney?
That's a couple of interesting titles I've been meaning to catch up with. Romance & Cigarettes in particular I've been lugging around in my DVD case for the past two months but keep finding other films to throw in before it. The reviews for it were mixed-at-best, as yours appears to be (although leave it to Roger Ebert to give the film 4 stars). Still, that cast and the general oddity of it has me intrigued.
Ditto for Radioland Murders, which the only thing I know about is that George Lucas had a hand in the script (generally not the best idea). Another big cast full of recognizable faces. At some point I'll have to sit down and see this as well.
An American Crime I'll admit to not even knowing about. Intriguing, but I've still yet to see Hard Candy and that's probably gonna be my next Ellen Page film.
And finally one I've seen... Walk Hard which had a number of funny bits, a great leading performance by John C. Reilly and a hilarious couple of Tim Meadows scenes... but on the whole still came across rather flat to me. I was not a fan of that "the wrong son died!" line which was repeated constantly, Reilly's character literally cutting his brother in half with a sword, Reilly's penchant for ripping sinks out of the wall and what was Jonah Hill's purpose for being in this film? Still... the songs are great (the parody of Dylan being my personal favorite for obvious reasons) and seeing John C. play a 14-year-old who's getting married and has like 6 kids? Priceless. Some pretty good stuff, but very hit or miss.
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