Really funny. A must see if you are a Tracy Jordan fan; Bruce Willis suffers a bit in comparison. And dang he is looking old (seems much older here than in Die Hard 4, although that’s partly the character).
I didn’t love it quite as much as my Dad, (I felt like there were times when you could tell Kevin Smith only did the directing, and not the writing, it was missing a bit of his usual charm) but it was definitely worth the $11.
Oh so very arty, Tom Ford.
But unfortunately not enough plot and sense to back that art up. Pretty to look at. But lots of holes. (Every gay male is an adonis. Oh wait, that’s true, right? Haha. The bar down the street has the same bartender now that it had 16 years ago. Colin Firth ages but his partner doesn’t. Etc, etc.) And the whole “he’s grey with misery” but “now he pinks up, alive with life” camera/film technique got old, pretty fast.
But there was lots of nice grain and soft light. And pretty pretty boys. Mmmmmm Matthew Goode. (I highly recommend the film “Imagine Me & You” (available on DVD. a very favorite.) if you want to see him get to do more than he does here.)
It vaguely reminded me of the book “The Line of Beauty” by Alan Hollinghurst (read back in 2004 so my memory of it is quite vague indeed) but that may just be b/c of the whole gay melodrama more than anything else (set in totally different times).
It was entertaining and fun and weirdly action-packed and RDJ and Jude Law have nice bromantic chemistry and the steampunk-ness of it all was visually stimulating.
But it had little to nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes. I mean, my god, people, if you’re going to make a movie about Sherlock Holmes, a GREAT PLOT SHOULD BE THE POINT. This movie really falls short there.
So you know, go to it to have fun. But not to find yourself intellectually challenged. As the real Sherlock Holmes, at his best, always does.
I loved it. It’s creepy and icky and SUPER GORY and it actually kind of ANNOYED THE FUCK OUT OF ME when some Zombie-dressed people (I’m not joking about that) laughed at stuff that was super gory when it clearly was NOT funny. It’s super imaginative and interesting and totally worth seeing in the theater. And Ethan Hawke is actually pretty good in it and so is Sam Neill. The dude who plays Ethan Hawke’s brother is yummy. FYI. If you, say, need for there to be a yummy boy for you to be interested.
I had read all the books, but I hadn’t seen the movie, and then I had a date planned with a school friend to see the second one. So I watched the first one on the plane to Georgia so I could see the second one with her when I got home.
Twilight
Admittedly a very cheesy book so you know a somewhat cheesy movie. But well-done nonetheless. I mean, if you are going to make a movie of a cheesy book, you have to treat the cheese with respect. Treated the romance like it was more romantic than it was…thus making it romantic. And lordie, where they filmed this is just plain drop-dead gorgeous. Gorgeous forests, gorgeous house (the vampire house, of course). Lovely. Cheesy. Laughable at times, but not a horrible movie. Honestly.
New Moon
Not good at all. Basically felt the entire time like the director was saying “this is so cheesy! and I’m not cheesy! so here’s a cheesy movie! I can’t do more with this material! I’m NOT like it!” Yes, the Volturi stuff was pretty excellent. But honestly the rest of the time I just felt like he was cutting off dialogue/conversations too fast, not letting it Be what it IS and be OK with that. Still filmed in lovely places. But not as well done as the first AT ALL in my opinion. I hope they don’t have this guy doing the third one. (I’m sure I could already find out if I cared enough to do a search. But I guess I don’t.)
And also: They made the wolves WAY too big. They were supposed to be BIG like surpisingly big for a wolf but just enough that someone who didn’t know could still kindof believe they were a wolf. Not supernaturally ridiculous big. If they’re that big why would it take even one to kill a vamp let alone five.
Ah, the CIFF. One of my very favorite things about living here. So easily accessible. The previous year I saw 15 flicks there. (I KNOW! NUTS!) The year before, six. This year, I was busy with school and skeered to spend much money so I only saw four. And three out of the four were FANTASTIC. So I was extra happy I made good choices!!!
SPY(IES) [ESPION(S)]
Super! Sexy! Sleek! The main dude looked like a French Patrick Dempsey. Loved this movie. Believed in the frustrations and the attractions. Very nicely done.
Love and Savagery
The one of the four that I didn’t think was great. It was beautifully filmed (in Ireland, where it’s set, I presume) but the storyline and most of the acting were really below par. Particularly compared to the others.
Girls on the Wall
A documentary about girls in an IL juvenile facility who put on a musical/play for their families / guardians / etc. based on their own stories. So good. Really intimate look at their lives. There are so many places one’s life can go wrong. So many times the wrong choice can turn into a terrible mistake. And then there are the ones who fight and fight and eventually rise above that. Really powerful.
Fish Tank
Kinda hard to watch. Super yicky subject. Super fantastic (FANTASTIC) acting. I think this one is now being released wider (saw a review of it in EW) and I highly recommend seeing it. I mean, the subject matter is tough. But the acting is so good. And there’s a lot to like here. It really tied me up emotionally. And the main dude, Michael Fassbender, was also fantastic in “Hunger” that I saw last year (and he also plays the Scottish soldier in “Inglorious Basterds”). Dude has fantastic RANGE.
Hilarious, good fun. Somewhat spoofing all those zombie / apocalypse movies (“28 Days Later” and the like) but came up with some original stuff to fill it out. Quite enjoyable.
So much fun!! I loved it just as much as my dad did. Sucks that more people didn’t see this because you really missed out on one of the most fun evenings at the movie theater all year. ALL YEAR, PEOPLE.
Loved how un-Juno-like Ellen Page was in a role that could have felt very similar. Loved her interactions with her parents; loved the teams, the camaraderies vs. the rivalries. Loved the music and the boy. LOVED IT.
I’ve already told you how much I loved Hurt Locker (twice). Dad loved it too.
OMG!!Fabulous!! Will James was so intense!! And how they’d freak out when they didn’t know what was happening!! You can see why the guys in Iraq just blast away. Super.
I include the following paragraph for hilarity’s sake, perhaps you need some humor in your day. No, we are NOT going to become bomb defusers.
But hey: when I came out I wondered: am I too old to do this shit? Because I would LOVE to do this shit!!!! What do you think? Look–the UN must need people to defuse all those minefields around the world, no? LET’S DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Research it! We’ll do it together. (As your Mom said when I mentioned this, “You’re probably too old–but, on the other hand, nobody would care if you died.” Exactly!!) So let’s do it!!
ETA: More musing on The Hurt Locker. Funny: Your mom really put off by it–something about the guy disturbed her. But I’m sitting there thinking: I could be that guy!! In fact, it reminded me of some of the calls I went out on when i was with Temperature Control at Purdue*–you’d walk in alone to these insane situations–steam pipes busted , heat going wild, animals freaking out in their cages, HUMANS (worst animals on earth) freaking out, and: WOW! what a buzz you’d get from the challenge!!! Just the challenge to be focused while all this chaos was around you. I mean, I so get that: that it could be your happiest time on earth.
That little smile on James’ face at the end, when he’s gone back for another tour and he’s walking out to deal with whatever’s out there. Yeah, yeah….
Oh, reminds me: one of my favorite movies is about another bomb disposal squad–called Juggernaut, w. Richard Harris, David Hemings. Seen it? Worth a look. Richard Lester, of all people, directed.
*Note he has a PhD and an MDiv but yes there was a time when he had two young kids and a wife and worked at Temperature Control to pay the rent.
It gets my award for most JOYFUL movie of the year. Grinning the whole time. The mod. story (about the blogger) has been sort of carped at by reviewers, but I thought Adams and the guy were v. believable and funny and neurotic–I mean, the stories, eras, women are different but, boy I’d say Adams held her own with Streep. Of course, Streep is getting the praise and she is super–esp. playing such an outsized, well known drama queen like Julia Child. Great impersonation, but she’s in the character–you laugh and cry with her, fight with her.
I thought all the humor was very character driven and not contrived (as in the romcoms of the summer–TheProposal and themoviethatmustneverbenamed), and I thought both lives were very gently led to the paths they took. Back and forth between the eras very good too–and interestingly, both eras have a grim background: 9-11 with the mod story and the McCarthy witchhunt in the Child story.
So you get this genuine search for joy in ordinary life, no matter what the world’s doing, which is of course how we all live. And the movie takes you to the joy. Highly recommended.