title
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
2010 Movies: #23-21
What's the worst date you've ever been on?
I know mine. The year was '99, and I was a high school senior. We went to Madison's Eastgate Cinema and saw the Usher Raymond-captained Light it Up, in which he and some comrades including Rosario Dawson and Onyx's Fredro Starr take a school under siege. I just read on imdb that it was called High School Jack in Japan.
I think we may have held hands at one point. I remember the movie being pretty bad, and I have no idea why it was that one that was decided upon. The last thirty minutes of the movie, I was starving, and trying to contain my gurgling stomach. I asked if she wanted to get some food on the way home. She said she wasn't hungry, but it'd be fine if we stopped. Being relatively out of money following the film, my options were more or less the fast-food gauntlet on East Washington Ave. I chose Taco Bell.
I didn't want to look like a glutton; rather, I didn't want to make a bad impression by pulling out my usual 3-4 item order that I would get late nights on weekends with the boys. So I got a chili-cheese burrito and I purchased her some cinammon twists that she picked at while I tried to eat as civilized as I could for it being the eatery at a local Taco Bell.
No such luck on the civilty thing--I took too big of a bite and liquid-hot chili and cheese exploded out of the back of the burrito, landing on my hand and my shirt. My date was very friendly and cordial, willing to help with the clean-up and all that. I waved her off with a "that's okay, it's not necessary." But as I ducked into the bathroom for a brown paper towel and water clean-up session, I knew it was basically over. We never went on another date, and she ended up in a long-term relationship with a good buddy of mine not too long after that. Maybe it was the choice of movie, maybe it was the choice of the cuisine. Either way, I blew it. Clearly, I was quite the charmer in high school.
And now, the three BEST date films of the 2010 year.
#23 Date Night
No matter how bad the burrito incident date was, I can't imagine it or any date being worse than the one embarked upon in Date Night. Fey and Carell are Claire and Phil Foster, a suburban mom and dad that are too exhausted to make time for dates. Phil wants to change that, so he tries to take her to trendy NYC joint Claw. They're packed to the gills and scolded for not making a reservation first. So he does something out of character--he takes another couple's; they become the "Trippelhorns". Little do they know, the Tripplehorns are in just a little bit of trouble with a corrupt D.A. for stealing information on a flash-drive, which Claire refers to as a "computer-sticky-thing".
Hilarity ensues as the Fosters fight for their lives and attempt to track down the Tripplehorns (Franco and Kulis, using aliases). Their wild chase takes them through Central Park, puts them a flashy sports car, sinks them in a harbor and eventually into a rather ridiculous adult club. Their chemistry is of course great, maybe at its best in there moments of cute sincerity. A good trick that they do a couple of times is have discussions in the voices of other couples they see out at dinners.
It was only a matter of time for the two of them to work together. When I read that theThursday night juggernauts were teaming up on Date Night, my first reaction was "Why did it take so long?" Clearly, a lot of other people thought the same thing, because this movie features everybody. Leighton Meester is their babysitter, Mark Ruffalo and Kristin Wiig are friends whose relationship is rocky, It-girl Olivia Munn is a bitchy hostess, James Franco and Mila Kunis are low-level thugs, Common and It's Always Sunny's Jimmi Simpson are "cops", Taraji P Henson is a by-the-books detective, Curb Your Enthusiasm's J.B. Smoove is a cab driver, and Mark Wahlberg is a millionaire playboy that helps them along the way. Quite a supporting cast, no?
#22 Going the Distance
Guy-meets-girl and girl moves out of town (or vice-versa). This format is of course not new, but in Going the Distance it's pulled off in a really great and engaging way. A lot of it has to do with the script--it was penned by newcomer Geoff LaTulippe--which feels very real and is a lot of times outrageously funny. The other thing is that for as good as Drew Barrymore and Justin Long are, the supporting cast one-ups them at each chance, that being Long's pals Jason Sudekis and Charlie Day (the latter is his roommate) and Barrymore's sister and brother-in-law, played by Christina Applegate and Jim Gaffigan.
Barrymore is Erin and Long is Garrett. They meet at a bar, plugging quarters into Centipede. They hook up, but he comes to find out she is only in town for the summer as a journalist intern at a New York paper; she's back to San Francisco at the end of the summer. She shocks him with cool-girl wit and good taste in music. He makes her laugh. So of course when it comes time for summer to be over, it's not an easy break. It never is. But because of the whirlwind nature, they decide to give it a go, which is of course super complex and exhausting. Going the Distance is much more vulgar than you would expect, but here it works because both the relationship and the dialogue come across (with a couple of exceptions) as pretty realistic. Granted, I didn't have too many expectations for this one to begin with, but whatever ones there were got blown out of the water.
#21 Easy A
The clever double-entendre' employed by Easy A ("this class is an 'easy A'" and "this girl is an easy piece of A") works well in this modern day teenage comedy re-telling of The Scarlet Letter. This is Emma Stone's first leading role, and she carries it well as Olive, the girl at the epicenter of the gossip column. She creates a lie about losing her virginity--a funny scene in which she and a friend make animal noises and jump up and down on a bed at a party--and suddenly, everyone wants a piece.
Maybe that's not a bad thing, Olive thinks to herself. She turns her newfound "slutiness" into a profit-making machine, asking anywhere from 20 to a hundred bucks just to say she hooked up with high-school losers. She wears an "A" sewn onto her scandalous tops in homage to the scarlet letter, a move that her teacher (Thomas Haden Church, great as always) and her counselor (Lisa Kudrow) consider to be a little bit misguided. It's all working for now, but when will her scheme catch up with her?
The script of this movie is fresh if not a little farfetched--her family, with Patricia Clarkson and a dynamite Stanley Tucci as her parents, basically talk to her like she's an adult and let her get away with just about whatever she wants as long as it's what she wants. Amanda Bynes leads a crew of hardcore Christians that pray for her and simoltaneously look to take her down, staging protests and the like. And Penn Badgely is Woodchuck Todd, the school mascot, maybe the only one in the whole bunch that really gets her, and their relationship develops nicely. Really enjoyed this one.
Back later with the top 20, or essentially, the 10 oscar nominated films and 10 other ones mixed in...
Friday, February 18, 2011
2010 Movies: #25 & #24
#25 Cyrus
"Come on, man--you really just popped a wine cork into an urn of cremated ashes?"
"Don't tell me that fire is spreading and that--oh, yep, that ingrate just burned down the altar that Owen Wilson spent several days creating in his woodshop. Nice job, idiot."
-Are a couple of the things that ran through my head the first time I saw Meet the Parents. That, to me, is still probably the most uncomfortable piece of cinema I've ever seen. I get the whole idea, all right? Deniro is a psycho, and it's always a nerve-wracking experience to meet your in-laws, but much more so if you're a male nurse who carries out several ill-advised schemes at your fiancee's childhood home.
I mention Meet the Parents because Cyrus is also cringe-worthy and painfully awkward at times. The difference is, the mayhem stops when it's supposed to.
Cyrus follows John (John C. Reilly), a lovable loser who still gets unannounced pop-ins from his ex-wife (Catherine Keener). When she invites him to a party in an attempt to get him out of his recent, largely-caused-by-her-so-easily-moving-on funk, he gets hammered and completely bombs at talking to women. Until, while outside pissing in a bush, he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei). They bond over the lyrics to The Human Leagues "Don't You Want Me" (he belts it out to the party through a beer-bottle microphone), and take each other home. In the morning, she tries for the quick getaway. After what seems to be an okay resolution, she doesn't return his calls. It's not looking good for John, but it's not because she doesn't like him; it's because of her inappropriately close relationship with her 21-year old son, the titular man-child played by Jonah Hill.
He plays it cool at first. A few minutes after they meet, Cyrus plays John one of his electronica songs he has been working on, which is funny in and of itself, but hysterical because of the way he stares blankly at and thrusts slightly towards John. Eventually the jealous nutjob in Cyrus comes out, manifesting itself in things like shrieking "night terrors" when John spends the night. In the fight for Molly's love (Cyrus considers them close enough to not call her mom), Cyrus fights dirty as hell, and it of course brings out the meathead in John. Their interactions and threats to one another are great, and in fact, the whole cast is fun to watch. But no one is as talented and expressive as John C. Reilly. He's one of my current favorite actors because he's seamless in combining comedic and dramatic. I think he should have at the very least been in the discussion for an actor prize or two--he really seemed to get the vulnerability of his character. If you can stomach some awkward moments, it's worth seeing for Reilly at the top of his game.
#24 Despicable Me
In lieu of what's happening in my home town of Madison, Wisconsin, I think the best way to approach this write-up is to draw comparisons between Gru, the Steve Carell-voiced protagonist bent on taking over the world, and our new Governor, Scott Walker, whose recent actions can really only be described in one way: Despicable.
GRU WALKER
Hometown: Unknown Delavan, Wisconsin
Political Aspirations: World Domination Mass Evacuation of WI Residents
Campaign Contributors: Bank of Evil (Formerly Lehman Bros) Wal-Mart, US Oil Co. (not kidding)
Inventions/Weapons: Shrink Ray (for use on moon) Anti-Union Rhetoric
Job Title of Staff: Minions Minions
Achilles Heel: Love for Foster Daughters Little Debbie Zebra Cakes*
*As of press time, this fact was not fully confirmed
I don't want to get too deep into this; there's nothing I will say that hasn't already been said by tens of thousands of Wisconsites. I will say, however, there are many members of my family and friends that will be and HAVE BEEN directly affected by this looming legislation. People are very unhappy. My father will lose 10% or more of his teacher's salary. My step-parents are both State employees. My siblings haven't been able to go to school because their teachers aren't there. The city's best nurses (all unionized) are threatening to leave town if these laws are passed. I don't need to be scathing. I don't need to sling mud, or re-hash the obvious problems. Just for all of their sakes, all of the Madisonians and Milwaukeeans and the rest of the state residents, I hope Scott Walker really re-thinks what he's planning to do.
And now, onto Despicable Me.
The voice of Carrel's Gru in the film drove me insane for the first five minutes or so; it was as if he was trying to pull off Schwarzenegger without the muscle. But he settled into it, and from there I started to enjoy myself. Gru tries to secure a loan so that he can finance an operation to steal the moon. He's rejected, and from there he and his minions steal a shrink ray from a secret lab. But his arch-nemesis, the younger, more savvy Vector (voiced by Jason Segel), intercepts the plot, takes the ray, and shrinks his ship. Bummer.
He needs to get into Vector's lair and get his shrink ray back. He tries numerous hair-brained ideas with funny results--no luck. Finally he gets an idea. He and his assistant Nefario (Russell Brand) hatch a plan to sell Vector some girl scout cookies, only the cookie boxes will actually be robots. So now he needs the girl scouts. He goes to an orphanage, procures the girls and the outrageousness begins.
Gru's transformation from fiend to surrogate father is a slow and often funny one. At one point, he is trying to deliver one of those classic big-screen villain messages to his enemies, and the girls are jumping around asking for stuffed crust pizza, and he yells "I'll stuff YOU in the crust!". That one really got me. That and his minions, who are hundreds upon hundreds of yellow creatures (some with one eye, some with two) in overalls and goggles. They are the physical comedy of the film and they are hysterical to hear talk, some sort of hybrid between Fraggle Rock creatures and the Pillsbury Dough-Boy. Carell does a good job of executing Gru's character arc, and Jason Segel is a fun and aloof antagonist. The animation is good, the concept is original, and it's pretty damn funny.
Now if only we can get Governor Walker moving towards a change of heart...
I'm off on a mini-vacation to Duluth. Back to writing by Monday--a President's Day special!
Stand strong, Wisco. My thoughts are with you.
"Come on, man--you really just popped a wine cork into an urn of cremated ashes?"
"Don't tell me that fire is spreading and that--oh, yep, that ingrate just burned down the altar that Owen Wilson spent several days creating in his woodshop. Nice job, idiot."
-Are a couple of the things that ran through my head the first time I saw Meet the Parents. That, to me, is still probably the most uncomfortable piece of cinema I've ever seen. I get the whole idea, all right? Deniro is a psycho, and it's always a nerve-wracking experience to meet your in-laws, but much more so if you're a male nurse who carries out several ill-advised schemes at your fiancee's childhood home.
I mention Meet the Parents because Cyrus is also cringe-worthy and painfully awkward at times. The difference is, the mayhem stops when it's supposed to.
Cyrus follows John (John C. Reilly), a lovable loser who still gets unannounced pop-ins from his ex-wife (Catherine Keener). When she invites him to a party in an attempt to get him out of his recent, largely-caused-by-her-so-easily-moving-on funk, he gets hammered and completely bombs at talking to women. Until, while outside pissing in a bush, he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei). They bond over the lyrics to The Human Leagues "Don't You Want Me" (he belts it out to the party through a beer-bottle microphone), and take each other home. In the morning, she tries for the quick getaway. After what seems to be an okay resolution, she doesn't return his calls. It's not looking good for John, but it's not because she doesn't like him; it's because of her inappropriately close relationship with her 21-year old son, the titular man-child played by Jonah Hill.
He plays it cool at first. A few minutes after they meet, Cyrus plays John one of his electronica songs he has been working on, which is funny in and of itself, but hysterical because of the way he stares blankly at and thrusts slightly towards John. Eventually the jealous nutjob in Cyrus comes out, manifesting itself in things like shrieking "night terrors" when John spends the night. In the fight for Molly's love (Cyrus considers them close enough to not call her mom), Cyrus fights dirty as hell, and it of course brings out the meathead in John. Their interactions and threats to one another are great, and in fact, the whole cast is fun to watch. But no one is as talented and expressive as John C. Reilly. He's one of my current favorite actors because he's seamless in combining comedic and dramatic. I think he should have at the very least been in the discussion for an actor prize or two--he really seemed to get the vulnerability of his character. If you can stomach some awkward moments, it's worth seeing for Reilly at the top of his game.
#24 Despicable Me
In lieu of what's happening in my home town of Madison, Wisconsin, I think the best way to approach this write-up is to draw comparisons between Gru, the Steve Carell-voiced protagonist bent on taking over the world, and our new Governor, Scott Walker, whose recent actions can really only be described in one way: Despicable.
GRU WALKER
Hometown: Unknown Delavan, Wisconsin
Political Aspirations: World Domination Mass Evacuation of WI Residents
Campaign Contributors: Bank of Evil (Formerly Lehman Bros) Wal-Mart, US Oil Co. (not kidding)
Inventions/Weapons: Shrink Ray (for use on moon) Anti-Union Rhetoric
Job Title of Staff: Minions Minions
Achilles Heel: Love for Foster Daughters Little Debbie Zebra Cakes*
*As of press time, this fact was not fully confirmed
I don't want to get too deep into this; there's nothing I will say that hasn't already been said by tens of thousands of Wisconsites. I will say, however, there are many members of my family and friends that will be and HAVE BEEN directly affected by this looming legislation. People are very unhappy. My father will lose 10% or more of his teacher's salary. My step-parents are both State employees. My siblings haven't been able to go to school because their teachers aren't there. The city's best nurses (all unionized) are threatening to leave town if these laws are passed. I don't need to be scathing. I don't need to sling mud, or re-hash the obvious problems. Just for all of their sakes, all of the Madisonians and Milwaukeeans and the rest of the state residents, I hope Scott Walker really re-thinks what he's planning to do.
And now, onto Despicable Me.
The voice of Carrel's Gru in the film drove me insane for the first five minutes or so; it was as if he was trying to pull off Schwarzenegger without the muscle. But he settled into it, and from there I started to enjoy myself. Gru tries to secure a loan so that he can finance an operation to steal the moon. He's rejected, and from there he and his minions steal a shrink ray from a secret lab. But his arch-nemesis, the younger, more savvy Vector (voiced by Jason Segel), intercepts the plot, takes the ray, and shrinks his ship. Bummer.
He needs to get into Vector's lair and get his shrink ray back. He tries numerous hair-brained ideas with funny results--no luck. Finally he gets an idea. He and his assistant Nefario (Russell Brand) hatch a plan to sell Vector some girl scout cookies, only the cookie boxes will actually be robots. So now he needs the girl scouts. He goes to an orphanage, procures the girls and the outrageousness begins.
Gru's transformation from fiend to surrogate father is a slow and often funny one. At one point, he is trying to deliver one of those classic big-screen villain messages to his enemies, and the girls are jumping around asking for stuffed crust pizza, and he yells "I'll stuff YOU in the crust!". That one really got me. That and his minions, who are hundreds upon hundreds of yellow creatures (some with one eye, some with two) in overalls and goggles. They are the physical comedy of the film and they are hysterical to hear talk, some sort of hybrid between Fraggle Rock creatures and the Pillsbury Dough-Boy. Carell does a good job of executing Gru's character arc, and Jason Segel is a fun and aloof antagonist. The animation is good, the concept is original, and it's pretty damn funny.
Now if only we can get Governor Walker moving towards a change of heart...
I'm off on a mini-vacation to Duluth. Back to writing by Monday--a President's Day special!
Stand strong, Wisco. My thoughts are with you.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
2010 Movies: #26
#26 Tron: Legacy
My conversations leading up to this film usually went kind of like this:
Homie A: "Dude, I'm soo fired up for the new Tron. You remember in the first one, where-"
Me: "Actually...I've never seen the original Tron."
Homie B: "you've never seen Tron? What the hell is wrong with you?"
Homie A: "Seriously...what kind of sheltered, pathetic childhood did you have? I suppose now you're going to tell me you never owned a G.I. Joe, much less stopped Cobra from infiltrating the Pyramid of Darkness."
Me: "I...er...uhhh.."
Homie B: "Nooooooo!"
Yes, Tron was one of the staple 80s upbringing things I missed out on. I had ninja turtles, thundercats and he-man action figures, but no Joes. I saw Goonies and the Princess Bride umpteen times but never Tron. Some people take umbrage to that sort of thing.
So having no basis for comparison, I thought Tron:Legacy was, at the very least, visually and sonically fantastic. We jump 25 years or so from original Tron times to the present. Sam (Garret Hedlund) moves in with his grandparents after his video-arcade mogul pops (Jeff Bridges) goes missing. Fast-forward to a little while later; Sam is now a leather-jacket rocking teen with a motorcycle and a piece of his father's company. When douchebaggery begins being implemented by the higher-ups, Sam and his fathers partner launch a plan to taken a portion of the software public. Then he goes on the run, ending up in his father's old arcade. A couple of quarters pumped into Tron leads to an office opening up that just so happens to portal him inside the video game, where he will take a shot at tracking down/bringing home his estranged father.
The script is of course Disney-cheesy as is the acting (even though his dudeness brings his inner Lebowski to alternate universe land), but it's still a blast to watch. The action scenes are off the hook, particularly the one where Sam fights the video game drones.
The video game mainframe is full of neon suits and lit-up neon discs and Olivia Wilde and loud techno provided by our favorite robot dj techno duo Daft Punk--a highlight being the single, "Derezzed". The length and the crap dialogue are certainly pitfalls, but let's be honest-you weren't there for the writing. I was impressed at how well the movie was able to computerize a young Jeff Bridges, shown at the beginning as a much younger father and throughout as the nemesis of the mainframe. I suppose I should have expected impressive computerization-it's a dang movie about computers!
***
I'm halfway there! Now comes the back end of the Top 50-get excited...
My conversations leading up to this film usually went kind of like this:
Homie A: "Dude, I'm soo fired up for the new Tron. You remember in the first one, where-"
Me: "Actually...I've never seen the original Tron."
Homie B: "you've never seen Tron? What the hell is wrong with you?"
Homie A: "Seriously...what kind of sheltered, pathetic childhood did you have? I suppose now you're going to tell me you never owned a G.I. Joe, much less stopped Cobra from infiltrating the Pyramid of Darkness."
Me: "I...er...uhhh.."
Homie B: "Nooooooo!"
Yes, Tron was one of the staple 80s upbringing things I missed out on. I had ninja turtles, thundercats and he-man action figures, but no Joes. I saw Goonies and the Princess Bride umpteen times but never Tron. Some people take umbrage to that sort of thing.
So having no basis for comparison, I thought Tron:Legacy was, at the very least, visually and sonically fantastic. We jump 25 years or so from original Tron times to the present. Sam (Garret Hedlund) moves in with his grandparents after his video-arcade mogul pops (Jeff Bridges) goes missing. Fast-forward to a little while later; Sam is now a leather-jacket rocking teen with a motorcycle and a piece of his father's company. When douchebaggery begins being implemented by the higher-ups, Sam and his fathers partner launch a plan to taken a portion of the software public. Then he goes on the run, ending up in his father's old arcade. A couple of quarters pumped into Tron leads to an office opening up that just so happens to portal him inside the video game, where he will take a shot at tracking down/bringing home his estranged father.
The script is of course Disney-cheesy as is the acting (even though his dudeness brings his inner Lebowski to alternate universe land), but it's still a blast to watch. The action scenes are off the hook, particularly the one where Sam fights the video game drones.
The video game mainframe is full of neon suits and lit-up neon discs and Olivia Wilde and loud techno provided by our favorite robot dj techno duo Daft Punk--a highlight being the single, "Derezzed". The length and the crap dialogue are certainly pitfalls, but let's be honest-you weren't there for the writing. I was impressed at how well the movie was able to computerize a young Jeff Bridges, shown at the beginning as a much younger father and throughout as the nemesis of the mainframe. I suppose I should have expected impressive computerization-it's a dang movie about computers!
***
I'm halfway there! Now comes the back end of the Top 50-get excited...
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
2010 Movies: #28, 27
#28 Four Boxes
Haven't heard of this one? That's okay-I hadn't either. My ladyfriend is buddies with a woman who helped finance this Minnesota-bred indie flick. Its biggest star is MN native Justin Kirk (Nancy's brother on Weeds) and beyond that, there's really only two other actors-Sam Rosen and Terryn Westbrook, both of whom are unknowns but up-and-comers.
Rosen and Kirk play Rob and Trevor, small-time liquidators who have set up camp in the house of a man who just died in order to get footage of his stuff and sell it over eBay. Westbrook's character is engaged to Rob and dated Trevor for quite some time. She's ever present and it drives Trevor Four Loko. Creepy things start happening around the house--in particular with a typed, fragmented note that Trevor puts together. Beyond that, the trio (trevor in particular) become addicted to a website called fourboxes.tv, which is a voyeuristic look into the life of a masked man they know only as "Havoc". Havoc lives in some weird kind of cave-like apartment, and the four boxes refer to the four rooms that are on a live feed. Before long, things take a turn for the insane as they witness Havoc destroy an animal and put what appears to be a giant bomb together. With that knowledge what will they do? The script was weak at times, but this was a digital-age thriller done right, that throws many curveballs at the viewer right up until the twisted final ten minutes, and shows us the exact pitfalls of voyeurism. See it if you get the chance.
#27 Scott Pilgrim v. The World
I'll be the first to admit--I'll see just about anything Michael Cera is in. However, There was a little while there in which I was pretty sure Michael Cera would be typecast his entire life, playing the same goofy youngster well into his mid-30s. Though Michael Cera's awkward teen schtick (still maybe at it's best in Arrested Development) is still intact, he spent this year adding a little bit more range with his roles in Scott Pilgrim and Youth in Revolt (more later). It goes without saying that if you've seen this movie, you'd know that even with a good effort from Cera, it's the aesthetic and originality of Scott Pilgrim that makes it worth seeing.
Scott is a bass player in a Toronto punk band who lives in an efficiency and shares a bed with his gay roommate, also Scott (Kieran Culkin). He has a cute little girlfriend named Knives Chau who lets him hold her hand every now and then; when he meets Ramona at a party, he flips for her and he leaves poor Knives in the dust. In the middle of a big performance with his band, a shrieking goth dude flies in and challenges Scott to a battle, causing Ramona to reveal why maybe it has been a little to good to be true: in order to win her love, Scott will have to physically conquer all of her 7 evil exes. From there the film takes a unique turn in which his survival depends upon live-action battles that are visually one part anime and one part video game; when he defeats a character they turn into coins, and he receives "power-ups" throughout. It's a good showcase of special effects, and it marks the first pseudo-action role for superdork Cera--a small step in a different direction.
Haven't heard of this one? That's okay-I hadn't either. My ladyfriend is buddies with a woman who helped finance this Minnesota-bred indie flick. Its biggest star is MN native Justin Kirk (Nancy's brother on Weeds) and beyond that, there's really only two other actors-Sam Rosen and Terryn Westbrook, both of whom are unknowns but up-and-comers.
Rosen and Kirk play Rob and Trevor, small-time liquidators who have set up camp in the house of a man who just died in order to get footage of his stuff and sell it over eBay. Westbrook's character is engaged to Rob and dated Trevor for quite some time. She's ever present and it drives Trevor Four Loko. Creepy things start happening around the house--in particular with a typed, fragmented note that Trevor puts together. Beyond that, the trio (trevor in particular) become addicted to a website called fourboxes.tv, which is a voyeuristic look into the life of a masked man they know only as "Havoc". Havoc lives in some weird kind of cave-like apartment, and the four boxes refer to the four rooms that are on a live feed. Before long, things take a turn for the insane as they witness Havoc destroy an animal and put what appears to be a giant bomb together. With that knowledge what will they do? The script was weak at times, but this was a digital-age thriller done right, that throws many curveballs at the viewer right up until the twisted final ten minutes, and shows us the exact pitfalls of voyeurism. See it if you get the chance.
#27 Scott Pilgrim v. The World
I'll be the first to admit--I'll see just about anything Michael Cera is in. However, There was a little while there in which I was pretty sure Michael Cera would be typecast his entire life, playing the same goofy youngster well into his mid-30s. Though Michael Cera's awkward teen schtick (still maybe at it's best in Arrested Development) is still intact, he spent this year adding a little bit more range with his roles in Scott Pilgrim and Youth in Revolt (more later). It goes without saying that if you've seen this movie, you'd know that even with a good effort from Cera, it's the aesthetic and originality of Scott Pilgrim that makes it worth seeing.
Scott is a bass player in a Toronto punk band who lives in an efficiency and shares a bed with his gay roommate, also Scott (Kieran Culkin). He has a cute little girlfriend named Knives Chau who lets him hold her hand every now and then; when he meets Ramona at a party, he flips for her and he leaves poor Knives in the dust. In the middle of a big performance with his band, a shrieking goth dude flies in and challenges Scott to a battle, causing Ramona to reveal why maybe it has been a little to good to be true: in order to win her love, Scott will have to physically conquer all of her 7 evil exes. From there the film takes a unique turn in which his survival depends upon live-action battles that are visually one part anime and one part video game; when he defeats a character they turn into coins, and he receives "power-ups" throughout. It's a good showcase of special effects, and it marks the first pseudo-action role for superdork Cera--a small step in a different direction.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Catch-Up Time: #33, 32, 31, 30, 29.
Whoa! I had a super busy weekend as it turned out, but now I'm going to try and play catch-up. I got re-certified in CPR, watched live hockey, split a huge beer with a couple of friends, played music with my band and saw Swedish pop-star Robyn. All of these things were great, especially the latter.
As a result, these will be shorter reviews, but that's ok.
I wanted beforehand to quickly address the hardships of a ranking system.
Every time I put a year-end list together, whether it be for music or films, I find myself wanting to make adjustments as soon as it gets done. Sometimes my rationale for a particular ranking will change; with music it's sometimes the fault of either playing a CD too much or else discovering a song or batch of songs too late. If I could do it again, I would definitely make a couple of alterations to 2010's music list.
Another problem is that people tend to drop some serious knowledge on your ass and make some pretty decent points when they don't agree. Take for example mulhernmovie loyalist Al, who had this to say:
"Ondine at #38? You are really dumb, fo real. That movie was awesome. There is no way that Ben 'my sh*t don't stink' Stiller movie was better. What's next? You trying to convince anyone that Black Swan is worth watching? Crazy-ass mo-fo..."
And you know what? He's probably right, which brings me to my final point: Oftentimes the feelings I have for the movies I watch do end up directly affected by the situation and/or the time of day. When I saw Ondine I was super tired, so the fact that the movie had kind of a sleepy and quiet feel made me nod off even further. I watched Greenberg in the exact same spot--my couch--but I was more alert at the time so I took it in a more engaged fashion. Because of movie theaters being less comfortable than home and having less distractions, the movies I saw in the theaters almost certainly had a distinct advantage. Unlike Matt Damon's Green Zone, in which I fell asleep 15 minutes in and consistently woke up to sounds of gunfire and shouts of "Go! Go! Come on, let's move! Go!" I thought for sure my basement was under siege by some sort of terrorist faction.
So apologies Al, I owe Ondine another viewing, but if you think I'm not going to recommend Black Swan, you are the one who is "really dumb, fo real."
Onto the countdown:
#33 Hot Tub Time Machine
Just about exactly what you'd expect--no more, no less. Low-brow and at times slapstick comedy about four friends being shot back in time to 1980s ski-bum Colorado territory via magical hot tub. They all are in a middle-age rut, wanting to change the future by altering the past (a new twist on not necessarily new film territory). John Cusack tries to test the fates by trying to re-ignite an old love; The Office's Craig Robinson jumpstarts a music career; Rob Coddry plots revenge on a former bully; Michael Cera pal Clark Duke just tries to make sense of the whole thing and oh yeah--not erase his conception. Laugh-out loud funny at times with good performances by all, but certainly not uncharted waters.
#32 The Other Guys
Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg star as two cops relegated to the office after a couple misunderstandings. When the balls-to-the-wall and revered duo of Sam Jackson and Duane "The Rock" Johnson die leaping from a building, the precinct is looking for new blood to step up. Ron Riggle and Damon Wayans, Jr. (there's a Damon Wayans Jr. ??!?) are their competition who will stop at nothing to humiliate them, including daring Ferrell to do an "office pop", ie, shooting his gun off in the office, and picking a hysterical silent fight during Jackson and Johnson's funeral. Eva Mendes is Ferrell's astonishingly hot wife and Steve Coogan is his usual relaible self as the white-collar criminal they aim to expose. Pretty funny throughout--better than Semi-Pro and Ricky Bobby but eons short of Anchorman and Step Brothers as far as Ferrell vehicles are concerned.
#31 MacGruber
The SNL skit-turned-movie isn't always a succesful venture, is it? For every seminal Wayne's World, there's another Night at the Roxbury around the corner--yes, an entire movie about the guys who ram their crotches into women to Haddaway's "What is Love". I wasn't sure how the ridiculousness of MacGruber would translate to the silver screen; there's only so many times Will Forte' can blow up mid-sentence. For the most part, it actually worked for me. I was surprised at the amount of cursing and over-the-top violence that they couldn't pull off on SNL used here. Will Forte', along with Bill Hader, are two of the best tv-to-movie exports the show has produced in recent history. Ryan Phillipe and Kristen Wiig are good sidekicks, but it's Forte's show as he gets people accidentally blown apart, curses out military men and montages his way towards an encounter with nuke-wielding villain Dieter (Val Kilmer). Crude and fun.
# 30 She's Out of My League
Oddly enough, this one was ALSO written by the duo responsible for the aformentioned time-warping jacuzzi. In yet another re-hashing of schlubby guy pulls off amazing girl, Judd Apatow (the king of schlubby guy pulls off amazing girl) alum Jay Baruchel stars as Kirk, an airport worker whose ex-girlfriend Marnie happens to live at his house with his parents. Not ideal. In a "out of all the gin-joints in the world" moment, Molly (Alice Eve) walks through his security line and forgets her phone. She calls it, he picks up, they meet, inevitable fireworks begin. T.J. Miller is outstanding as Kirk's co-worker and best friend Stainer, who tells Kirk over and over again that there's no way in hell it'll happen--"She's a hard 10 and you're only a 5." So Kirk tries to hold onto the impossible while all the while dodging his crazy ex. Funny stuff.
#29 Morning Glory
Rachel McAdams is a rising journalist with horrible bangs who takes a job producing a morning show that is ranked a distant last among the major networks. It's the same stale bullsh*t each morning anchored by Diane Keaton and Modern Family's Ty Burrell (who I think is fantastic on TV but less appealing here). She cans Burrell and goes after journalistic idol emmy-winning Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford). He is cranky, stubborn, and war-worn, but he eventually agrees to it, sold by McAdams to "bring integrity back to the morning news". He of course despises Diane Keaton, and hilariously chastises her at every possible chance. Soon the show's makeover begins to catch popularity despite the mayhem behind the scenes. She does everything she can to keep things together. Ford is at the top of his game and his scenes with McAdams work as his tough persona ever so slightly softens and they become a team--albeit a dysfunctional one.
...Til next time...
As a result, these will be shorter reviews, but that's ok.
I wanted beforehand to quickly address the hardships of a ranking system.
Every time I put a year-end list together, whether it be for music or films, I find myself wanting to make adjustments as soon as it gets done. Sometimes my rationale for a particular ranking will change; with music it's sometimes the fault of either playing a CD too much or else discovering a song or batch of songs too late. If I could do it again, I would definitely make a couple of alterations to 2010's music list.
Another problem is that people tend to drop some serious knowledge on your ass and make some pretty decent points when they don't agree. Take for example mulhernmovie loyalist Al, who had this to say:
"Ondine at #38? You are really dumb, fo real. That movie was awesome. There is no way that Ben 'my sh*t don't stink' Stiller movie was better. What's next? You trying to convince anyone that Black Swan is worth watching? Crazy-ass mo-fo..."
And you know what? He's probably right, which brings me to my final point: Oftentimes the feelings I have for the movies I watch do end up directly affected by the situation and/or the time of day. When I saw Ondine I was super tired, so the fact that the movie had kind of a sleepy and quiet feel made me nod off even further. I watched Greenberg in the exact same spot--my couch--but I was more alert at the time so I took it in a more engaged fashion. Because of movie theaters being less comfortable than home and having less distractions, the movies I saw in the theaters almost certainly had a distinct advantage. Unlike Matt Damon's Green Zone, in which I fell asleep 15 minutes in and consistently woke up to sounds of gunfire and shouts of "Go! Go! Come on, let's move! Go!" I thought for sure my basement was under siege by some sort of terrorist faction.
So apologies Al, I owe Ondine another viewing, but if you think I'm not going to recommend Black Swan, you are the one who is "really dumb, fo real."
Onto the countdown:
#33 Hot Tub Time Machine
Just about exactly what you'd expect--no more, no less. Low-brow and at times slapstick comedy about four friends being shot back in time to 1980s ski-bum Colorado territory via magical hot tub. They all are in a middle-age rut, wanting to change the future by altering the past (a new twist on not necessarily new film territory). John Cusack tries to test the fates by trying to re-ignite an old love; The Office's Craig Robinson jumpstarts a music career; Rob Coddry plots revenge on a former bully; Michael Cera pal Clark Duke just tries to make sense of the whole thing and oh yeah--not erase his conception. Laugh-out loud funny at times with good performances by all, but certainly not uncharted waters.
#32 The Other Guys
Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg star as two cops relegated to the office after a couple misunderstandings. When the balls-to-the-wall and revered duo of Sam Jackson and Duane "The Rock" Johnson die leaping from a building, the precinct is looking for new blood to step up. Ron Riggle and Damon Wayans, Jr. (there's a Damon Wayans Jr. ??!?) are their competition who will stop at nothing to humiliate them, including daring Ferrell to do an "office pop", ie, shooting his gun off in the office, and picking a hysterical silent fight during Jackson and Johnson's funeral. Eva Mendes is Ferrell's astonishingly hot wife and Steve Coogan is his usual relaible self as the white-collar criminal they aim to expose. Pretty funny throughout--better than Semi-Pro and Ricky Bobby but eons short of Anchorman and Step Brothers as far as Ferrell vehicles are concerned.
#31 MacGruber
The SNL skit-turned-movie isn't always a succesful venture, is it? For every seminal Wayne's World, there's another Night at the Roxbury around the corner--yes, an entire movie about the guys who ram their crotches into women to Haddaway's "What is Love". I wasn't sure how the ridiculousness of MacGruber would translate to the silver screen; there's only so many times Will Forte' can blow up mid-sentence. For the most part, it actually worked for me. I was surprised at the amount of cursing and over-the-top violence that they couldn't pull off on SNL used here. Will Forte', along with Bill Hader, are two of the best tv-to-movie exports the show has produced in recent history. Ryan Phillipe and Kristen Wiig are good sidekicks, but it's Forte's show as he gets people accidentally blown apart, curses out military men and montages his way towards an encounter with nuke-wielding villain Dieter (Val Kilmer). Crude and fun.
# 30 She's Out of My League
Oddly enough, this one was ALSO written by the duo responsible for the aformentioned time-warping jacuzzi. In yet another re-hashing of schlubby guy pulls off amazing girl, Judd Apatow (the king of schlubby guy pulls off amazing girl) alum Jay Baruchel stars as Kirk, an airport worker whose ex-girlfriend Marnie happens to live at his house with his parents. Not ideal. In a "out of all the gin-joints in the world" moment, Molly (Alice Eve) walks through his security line and forgets her phone. She calls it, he picks up, they meet, inevitable fireworks begin. T.J. Miller is outstanding as Kirk's co-worker and best friend Stainer, who tells Kirk over and over again that there's no way in hell it'll happen--"She's a hard 10 and you're only a 5." So Kirk tries to hold onto the impossible while all the while dodging his crazy ex. Funny stuff.
#29 Morning Glory
Rachel McAdams is a rising journalist with horrible bangs who takes a job producing a morning show that is ranked a distant last among the major networks. It's the same stale bullsh*t each morning anchored by Diane Keaton and Modern Family's Ty Burrell (who I think is fantastic on TV but less appealing here). She cans Burrell and goes after journalistic idol emmy-winning Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford). He is cranky, stubborn, and war-worn, but he eventually agrees to it, sold by McAdams to "bring integrity back to the morning news". He of course despises Diane Keaton, and hilariously chastises her at every possible chance. Soon the show's makeover begins to catch popularity despite the mayhem behind the scenes. She does everything she can to keep things together. Ford is at the top of his game and his scenes with McAdams work as his tough persona ever so slightly softens and they become a team--albeit a dysfunctional one.
...Til next time...
Friday, February 11, 2011
2010 Movies: #36, #35 & #34
#36 Wall Street II: Money Never Sleeps
Oliver Stone is a director who has been known for taking chances throughout his career. Oftentimes he takes controversy head-on, whether it be the gonzo stylized violence of Natural Born Killers, having Josh Brolin portray the president that still happened to be in office in W., and of course the "always to soon to question" topic of the Kennedy Assassination in JFK. Themes of politics, violence and greed are often at the forefront of his films. Which is why I was surprised that the Wall Street sequel was lacking in cojones.
I get the impression that the movie was meant to act somewhat as a time capsule, ie, how did people in the middle of the storm react to the financial crash? And I also get that it would be kind of a thrill for viewers and young businessmen who worshipped Gordon Gekko's every move to see Michael Douglas reprise the role. I have to admit, when he got released from prison and received his 1980s "cell phone" as part of his belongings, it was pretty funny.
Thing is, no one wants to watch Gordon Gekko as a broken man. That's not the purpose he serves. He's a souless entertainer, a caricature. When he befriends Shia LaBouf as a way to reconnect with his daughter, you see the gears start to turn and his need to get her back in his life. Daughter (played by Carey Mulligan) is not interested, but Shia still wants him as a mentor, now that his old boss (Frank Langella) is dead after watching his company free-fall. With LaBouf getting promising offers from the smarmy Josh Brolin, he needs someone to help him navigate the shark-tank atmosphere of the New York financial world. Gekko agrees to work with him, and it proves to be--just as girlfriend Carey Mulligan predicted--a mistake.
Pros: Good outfits, awesome LaBouf v. Brolin crotch-rocket race scene, good hubris displayed by Mr. Langella, lifestyles of the rich and famous. Cons: Not enough time spent on the actual market crash, hokey ending, and a held-back Michael Douglas/Gordon Gekko.
#35Get Him to the Greek
Russell Brand nabs Katy Perry and a spin-off movie renewing his Forgetting Sarah Marshall character in the span of months. Well done, sir.
I was under the impression Jonah Hill would come back as his Marshall character as well, the obsessed and socially inept resort waiter who admits his love for Aldous Snow (Brand) with the classic line "I just went from six to midnight" as he watches him perform. Instead, Hill plays a record exec that his boss (P. Diddy) tasks with somehow bringing the erratic, drugged-out frontman from England to L.A. to play the Greek Theater. He has 72 hours. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?
Aldous Snow has just destroyed his band's reputation--so Diddy and co have put the show together to re-hab his career. Snow doesn't think he's done anything wrong to effect the future of Infant Sorrow; he thinks that "African Child" (complete with a hilarious video) is ingenious, while one magazine calls it "the worst thing to happen to Africa since apartheid." He doesn't see the need to go stateside--instead, he coerces Jonah Hill's character to get blackout drunk and make bad decisions. Eventually, Hill gets him to not only agree to the performance at the Greek but also open up about himself, which Brand actually does with the melancholy sincerity of someone who has actually been through the Aldous Snow lifestyle.
From the UK to the Greek Theater, dozens of mishaps occur, ranging from disgusting (Hill agreeing to smuggle heroin in his butt for Snow, Hill vomiting all over everything when he takes Snow's drugs to keep him sober) to hilarious (Snow forgetting the words to "African Child" on the today show and performing "The Clap" instead, Hill smoking some sort of drug concoction known as a "Geoffrey"). Aldous Snow's path to redemption is a sloppy one, but it's good gross fun if you're in the mood.
#34 How Do You Know
All hail the return of Reese Witherspoon! I first saw Reese's acting chops in 1996's Freeway, when she was just 20 years old. It was a bizarre retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in Los Angeles, starring her as the heroine and Kiefer Sutherland as the disfigured wolf-esque villain. She is an ultimate badass as she prepares to clash with him, at one point fashioning a shiv out of a toothbrush!
In How Do You Know, her character is significantly less badass, but that's okay. She's an Olympic caliber softball player who puts motivational post-it notes all over her apartment and lives out the athlete's credo. When she ends up getting cut unexpectedly, every part of her life becomes up for re-evaluation. As she's mulling over her fling with Washington Nationals pitcher Owen Wilson (he has pink velour Nationals sweatsuits at the ready for co-ed sleepovers!), she ends up going on the worst date of all time with Paul Rudd, who plays a businessman amidst professional crisis. But something about him sticks, and thus the How Do You Know-ing begins as she tries to make decisions about her life.
Reese Witherspoon does a great job as always, Paul Rudd does his "American Hugh Grant" befuddled schtick, and Owen Wilson has some good moments (when he reads aloud "When you left, I was so mad-I broke a lamp," as his speech to Witherspoon, it's just classic). Director James Brooks does good work making his film feel sincere--none of us really know, we just have to give it our best guess.
Oliver Stone is a director who has been known for taking chances throughout his career. Oftentimes he takes controversy head-on, whether it be the gonzo stylized violence of Natural Born Killers, having Josh Brolin portray the president that still happened to be in office in W., and of course the "always to soon to question" topic of the Kennedy Assassination in JFK. Themes of politics, violence and greed are often at the forefront of his films. Which is why I was surprised that the Wall Street sequel was lacking in cojones.
I get the impression that the movie was meant to act somewhat as a time capsule, ie, how did people in the middle of the storm react to the financial crash? And I also get that it would be kind of a thrill for viewers and young businessmen who worshipped Gordon Gekko's every move to see Michael Douglas reprise the role. I have to admit, when he got released from prison and received his 1980s "cell phone" as part of his belongings, it was pretty funny.
Thing is, no one wants to watch Gordon Gekko as a broken man. That's not the purpose he serves. He's a souless entertainer, a caricature. When he befriends Shia LaBouf as a way to reconnect with his daughter, you see the gears start to turn and his need to get her back in his life. Daughter (played by Carey Mulligan) is not interested, but Shia still wants him as a mentor, now that his old boss (Frank Langella) is dead after watching his company free-fall. With LaBouf getting promising offers from the smarmy Josh Brolin, he needs someone to help him navigate the shark-tank atmosphere of the New York financial world. Gekko agrees to work with him, and it proves to be--just as girlfriend Carey Mulligan predicted--a mistake.
Pros: Good outfits, awesome LaBouf v. Brolin crotch-rocket race scene, good hubris displayed by Mr. Langella, lifestyles of the rich and famous. Cons: Not enough time spent on the actual market crash, hokey ending, and a held-back Michael Douglas/Gordon Gekko.
#35Get Him to the Greek
Russell Brand nabs Katy Perry and a spin-off movie renewing his Forgetting Sarah Marshall character in the span of months. Well done, sir.
I was under the impression Jonah Hill would come back as his Marshall character as well, the obsessed and socially inept resort waiter who admits his love for Aldous Snow (Brand) with the classic line "I just went from six to midnight" as he watches him perform. Instead, Hill plays a record exec that his boss (P. Diddy) tasks with somehow bringing the erratic, drugged-out frontman from England to L.A. to play the Greek Theater. He has 72 hours. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?
Aldous Snow has just destroyed his band's reputation--so Diddy and co have put the show together to re-hab his career. Snow doesn't think he's done anything wrong to effect the future of Infant Sorrow; he thinks that "African Child" (complete with a hilarious video) is ingenious, while one magazine calls it "the worst thing to happen to Africa since apartheid." He doesn't see the need to go stateside--instead, he coerces Jonah Hill's character to get blackout drunk and make bad decisions. Eventually, Hill gets him to not only agree to the performance at the Greek but also open up about himself, which Brand actually does with the melancholy sincerity of someone who has actually been through the Aldous Snow lifestyle.
From the UK to the Greek Theater, dozens of mishaps occur, ranging from disgusting (Hill agreeing to smuggle heroin in his butt for Snow, Hill vomiting all over everything when he takes Snow's drugs to keep him sober) to hilarious (Snow forgetting the words to "African Child" on the today show and performing "The Clap" instead, Hill smoking some sort of drug concoction known as a "Geoffrey"). Aldous Snow's path to redemption is a sloppy one, but it's good gross fun if you're in the mood.
#34 How Do You Know
All hail the return of Reese Witherspoon! I first saw Reese's acting chops in 1996's Freeway, when she was just 20 years old. It was a bizarre retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in Los Angeles, starring her as the heroine and Kiefer Sutherland as the disfigured wolf-esque villain. She is an ultimate badass as she prepares to clash with him, at one point fashioning a shiv out of a toothbrush!
In How Do You Know, her character is significantly less badass, but that's okay. She's an Olympic caliber softball player who puts motivational post-it notes all over her apartment and lives out the athlete's credo. When she ends up getting cut unexpectedly, every part of her life becomes up for re-evaluation. As she's mulling over her fling with Washington Nationals pitcher Owen Wilson (he has pink velour Nationals sweatsuits at the ready for co-ed sleepovers!), she ends up going on the worst date of all time with Paul Rudd, who plays a businessman amidst professional crisis. But something about him sticks, and thus the How Do You Know-ing begins as she tries to make decisions about her life.
Reese Witherspoon does a great job as always, Paul Rudd does his "American Hugh Grant" befuddled schtick, and Owen Wilson has some good moments (when he reads aloud "When you left, I was so mad-I broke a lamp," as his speech to Witherspoon, it's just classic). Director James Brooks does good work making his film feel sincere--none of us really know, we just have to give it our best guess.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
2010 Movies: #39, #38 & #37
#39 The A-Team
This is one of the strangest things that's happened to me involving a movie in a long time: The A-Team was a movie that I'm almost positive I enjoyed. But when I tried to remember what happened--a single plot event, even--the only thing I could recall was a parachuting tank, and Jessica Biel walking out of a tent looking angry. That's it. I know who all the stars were, I remember thinking that Bradley Cooper was good, as was Sharlto Copley (the lead in District 9), and that Quinton Jackson did well with the Mr. T role. Other than that...nothing. I looked at the plot summary online, and nothing rang a bell. I talked to the people I saw it with to see if they could help jog my memory, and what they said wasn't the least bit helpful. A couple of still-shots looked familiar, but nothing Pavlovian. I can say I liked it, but I can't give it a higher rating than this if I've completely forgotten just about everything about it.
So in conclusion, I recommend the fun action-romp provided by the A-Team reboot...I think?
#38: Ondine
When I was just a wee-movie blogger, I remember very vividly the controversy surrounding Neil Jordan's The Crying Game. It was 1992, so I would have been 10 years old. I don't want to give anything away in case you have not seen it and are planning on it in the near future, but the taboo surrounding the film involved a big twist that some loved and some found to be dangerously inappropriate. I also remember hearing Boy George's smoky ballad of the same name at every turn. Although most of the general public didn't, BG claimed through pained vocals to "know all there is to know about the crying game." And I believed him.
Neil Jordan's latest stars Colin Farrell as an Irish fisherman named Syracuse who very early in the film, ends up trapping a young woman (Ondine) in his fishing net. He is convinced from the get-go that she is a Selkie (in Irish lore, a seal-woman) and has her stay with him on the boat. As she comes to stay with him, she forges a sweet relationship with his daughter from a past marriage, who also happens to be handicapped. As Farrell falls in love with the mystical Ondine and her siren song (which, incidentally, brings him a sh*t ton of fish each time she sings it) his daughter hopes for her to stay long enough to become fully human and heal her. But as the movie goes on, a creepy, ominous man shows up and as they try to protect Ondine from him, the truth is revealed about her.
So yes, much like The Crying Game, there is a big twist involving one of the protagonists. Here, it doesn't pay off in all that exciting of a fashion. It gets kind of an "Oh...okay, I guess," response. The movie has a quiet and dark aesthetic that still manages to be gorgeous--Ireland as a backdrop will do that. And although the plot is engaging, it tends to drag and almost sing you to sleep, much like Ondine herself does. If you like Neil Jordan's previous work--Crying Game, Interview with a Vampire, Michael Collins--it's worth checking out. Interesting concept, anyway.
#37 Greenberg
In 2005, a little Indie by Noah Baumbauch called The Squid and the Whtale blew me out of the water. It was a quirky story about the aftermath of a Brooklynite family's divorce, and apparently it's based somewhat on his childhood. It definitely feels personal and it's hilarious, tragic and real. The cast is just dynamite with Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels as the conflicting forces/opposite personalities, and a pre-Zuckerburg Jesse Eisenberg as the teenager caught in the middle.
The last half of that last sentence may have been the most Jewish thing I've ever seen.
And speaking of Jewish, Ben Stiller stars as the titular character in Baumbach's latest effort Greenberg. He's a total disaster; he takes over housesitting for his rich brother in Los Angeles after recently being institutionalized--the circumstances of which are not altogether clear. But what is clear is that it probably makes sense being that his neuroses and offensive demeanor are on constant display. Early on in the film, the family dog gets sick, and he screws it up. He cooks up an awkward relationship with the family's housekeeper, and screws that up. He spends a lot of time with an old bandmate played by Rhys Ifans, who's band Greenberg was of course responsible for screwing up.
But besides that, Roger Greenberg mostly complains. He complains as much as he possibly can. Some of this is quite entertaining--an ongoing theme are his thought-out complaint letters to various businesses--but most of it is brash and annoying. All the viewer wants to do is to tell him to shut up. For every funny sequence, another painfully awkward one was right around the corner. The supporting cast is pretty good and I laughed wholeheartedly a few times, but the story basically goes nowhere-we just watch Greenberg talk and think himself in circles as he tries desperately to connect with anyone and anything.
Til next time...
This is one of the strangest things that's happened to me involving a movie in a long time: The A-Team was a movie that I'm almost positive I enjoyed. But when I tried to remember what happened--a single plot event, even--the only thing I could recall was a parachuting tank, and Jessica Biel walking out of a tent looking angry. That's it. I know who all the stars were, I remember thinking that Bradley Cooper was good, as was Sharlto Copley (the lead in District 9), and that Quinton Jackson did well with the Mr. T role. Other than that...nothing. I looked at the plot summary online, and nothing rang a bell. I talked to the people I saw it with to see if they could help jog my memory, and what they said wasn't the least bit helpful. A couple of still-shots looked familiar, but nothing Pavlovian. I can say I liked it, but I can't give it a higher rating than this if I've completely forgotten just about everything about it.
So in conclusion, I recommend the fun action-romp provided by the A-Team reboot...I think?
#38: Ondine
When I was just a wee-movie blogger, I remember very vividly the controversy surrounding Neil Jordan's The Crying Game. It was 1992, so I would have been 10 years old. I don't want to give anything away in case you have not seen it and are planning on it in the near future, but the taboo surrounding the film involved a big twist that some loved and some found to be dangerously inappropriate. I also remember hearing Boy George's smoky ballad of the same name at every turn. Although most of the general public didn't, BG claimed through pained vocals to "know all there is to know about the crying game." And I believed him.
Neil Jordan's latest stars Colin Farrell as an Irish fisherman named Syracuse who very early in the film, ends up trapping a young woman (Ondine) in his fishing net. He is convinced from the get-go that she is a Selkie (in Irish lore, a seal-woman) and has her stay with him on the boat. As she comes to stay with him, she forges a sweet relationship with his daughter from a past marriage, who also happens to be handicapped. As Farrell falls in love with the mystical Ondine and her siren song (which, incidentally, brings him a sh*t ton of fish each time she sings it) his daughter hopes for her to stay long enough to become fully human and heal her. But as the movie goes on, a creepy, ominous man shows up and as they try to protect Ondine from him, the truth is revealed about her.
So yes, much like The Crying Game, there is a big twist involving one of the protagonists. Here, it doesn't pay off in all that exciting of a fashion. It gets kind of an "Oh...okay, I guess," response. The movie has a quiet and dark aesthetic that still manages to be gorgeous--Ireland as a backdrop will do that. And although the plot is engaging, it tends to drag and almost sing you to sleep, much like Ondine herself does. If you like Neil Jordan's previous work--Crying Game, Interview with a Vampire, Michael Collins--it's worth checking out. Interesting concept, anyway.
#37 Greenberg
In 2005, a little Indie by Noah Baumbauch called The Squid and the Whtale blew me out of the water. It was a quirky story about the aftermath of a Brooklynite family's divorce, and apparently it's based somewhat on his childhood. It definitely feels personal and it's hilarious, tragic and real. The cast is just dynamite with Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels as the conflicting forces/opposite personalities, and a pre-Zuckerburg Jesse Eisenberg as the teenager caught in the middle.
The last half of that last sentence may have been the most Jewish thing I've ever seen.
And speaking of Jewish, Ben Stiller stars as the titular character in Baumbach's latest effort Greenberg. He's a total disaster; he takes over housesitting for his rich brother in Los Angeles after recently being institutionalized--the circumstances of which are not altogether clear. But what is clear is that it probably makes sense being that his neuroses and offensive demeanor are on constant display. Early on in the film, the family dog gets sick, and he screws it up. He cooks up an awkward relationship with the family's housekeeper, and screws that up. He spends a lot of time with an old bandmate played by Rhys Ifans, who's band Greenberg was of course responsible for screwing up.
But besides that, Roger Greenberg mostly complains. He complains as much as he possibly can. Some of this is quite entertaining--an ongoing theme are his thought-out complaint letters to various businesses--but most of it is brash and annoying. All the viewer wants to do is to tell him to shut up. For every funny sequence, another painfully awkward one was right around the corner. The supporting cast is pretty good and I laughed wholeheartedly a few times, but the story basically goes nowhere-we just watch Greenberg talk and think himself in circles as he tries desperately to connect with anyone and anything.
Til next time...
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