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Posted: |
Feb 26, 2011 - 3:37 PM
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By: |
mastadge
(Member)
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The Expendables (2010) dir. by Sylvester Stallone -- Well, the concept was fun. On the surface, it's a movie about a bunch of aging action stars and wrestlers showing that they've still got it. It also thinks it's a movie about restoring the soul of the action film. Unfortunately, despite this, it has very little soul and very little joy. Stallone's Rambo was, surprisingly, a quite good action movie: simple, straightforward and brutal. Here, Stallone doesn't seem to know how to handle an ensemble cast, and keeps coming up with ways to have only one or two characters doing stuff at a time; he also doesn't convince that these guys, as a team, are a well-oiled machine who know how to function together rather than a bunch of quirky guys who happen to have been thrown together. And the violence, while still occasionally brutal, is often too dark to make much of an impact -- which makes sense from a spec-ops point of view, but doesn't make for compelling cinema. Also the pacing seems a bit off: the centerpiece of this film about overthrowing a regime takes place in . . . suburbia. Seriously. The two most fun characters, Terry Crews and Mickey Rourke, have the least screen time; as much as I'd like to see more Charisma Carpenter, her subplot could have been substantially trimmed to the benefit of the film; and Stallone's relationship with Giselle Itié's character is unconvincing as the heart of the movie. A few decent scenes in a movie that could and should have been really, really awesome.
Read My Lips (Sur mes lèvres) (2001) dir. by Jacques Audiard -- A superior thriller from Audiard? You don't say! Vincent Cassel is a parolee who's trying to go straight but who owes more than he can pay; Emmanuelle Devos is a deaf secretary who's trying to move up in her firm. Both are marginalized; he because of his history, she because of her disability. They end up in each others' orbit, each seeing something of him or herself in the other, each owing something to the other, and they use each other to attempt to achieve their goals. There are a few bits where suspension of disbelief becomes difficult: the movie tries to pass Devos off as homely, which she very much isn't, and it takes a few liberties with her ability to read lips as a plot point, but overall it's a very above average psycho-sexual thriller about power dynamics and relationships. Not Audiard's best, but better than most of its ilk, and recommended.
Get Low (2009) dir. by Aaron Schneider -- An offbeat comedic drama that starts better than it ends. Robert Duvall plays an ornery old man, a crazy hermit type, in rural 1930s Tennessee. He is not, as they say, well-liked. When he is made aware of his mortality, he decides that he wants to have a funeral party . . . before he dies. All are invited, provided they have a story to tell about him. The movie is funny and beautiful and nicely offbeat. Duvall is perfect; Bill Murray is great as the funeral home owner, and Lucas Black is as good as he's ever been (which may not be saying much). As the movie goes on, we learn more about the motivations behind Duvall's life of solitude and the reasons that he wants such an unorthodox funeral party. Unfortunately, the movie comes to a very conventional conclusion; it opens feeling fresh and fun and closes like any number of films before it. Still, it's not bad at all and it's more fun than not.
Still Walking (Aruitemo aruitemo) (2008) dir. by Hirokazu Kore-eda -- A masterpiece of a family drama from one of the most empathetic directors alive. Kore-eda has a perfect eye for catching the small moments, the relationships between people, the humanity of his characters. It took me a while to get around to watching this one, because the description sounded boring, but I've felt that way about all of Kore-eda's films so far: on paper, they sound boring; on film, they sing. They're heartbreaking and beautiful, and this one's no exception. Highly recommended.
John Tucker Must Die (2006) dir. by Betty Thomas -- From the cover and the title, I thought that this would be a dark comedy, a Heathers or Jawbreaker sort of thing. But then, I only watched this because of the cover: I was at my mother's house, and my sister had this movie out, and sometimes I'm exactly shallow enough to watch a film because it's there and there are attractive girls on the cover. Turns out it's not the dark comedy I thought it would be, but a pretty standard, slightly above-average teen comedy. It's not Mean Girls or 10 Things I Hate About You, maybe more on par with Bring It On, but it's not quite as bland and instantly forgettable as innumerable others in the genre. Brittany Snow seems to be channeling a young Reese Witherspoon, and Jesse Metcalfe does okay as the strutting, narcissistic guy who earns the ire of a bunch of his girlfriends. It's all pretty predictable, and a number of the jokes simply aren't funny, but it's occasionally amusing and only rarely completely obnoxious. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but you could do worse.
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Posted: |
Feb 26, 2011 - 4:34 PM
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By: |
DeputyRiley
(Member)
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The Social Network (2010) -- 3/10
Once again I differ from the majority of the populace. What a dull, uninteresting, flat story. I was curious about the evolution of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook and what happened, unfortunately what actually did happen it turns out I couldn't care less about. The course of events that make up the film, for me, just are not interesting in the least. The main characters are not likeable or interesting, nor are their motives, their actions, their personalities, or anything. I found it hard to hang onto a film with a main character that was such a relentless dick...I know that's the reality and the film was making no apologies about it, but it was not for me. Truth be told I made it 54 minutes into the film and I just had to turn it off, I couldn't come anywhere within 10 miles of the vicinity of even being close to being interested. There are too many other films and television shows that are calling my name; I tried to give this one a fair full-length shake but life is too short. Kind of a bunch of brats acting like brats and I'm supposed to care? Yes, the result of their strife echoes in the cultural zeitgeist, but I never even gave a damn about the cultural impact of their creation, let alone the ingredients of said creation. I just found this true-life story so boring and even talents like Fincher and Sorkin couldn't inject much life or compelling drama into, in my opinion, a fundamentally unappealing series of events featuring people I just don't care about and a cultural phenomenon I never cared about to begin with. The movie gets 3 points for its look and ambition, but the score was very ill-advised and poorly-spotted, the dialogue was overrated and extremely proud of itself, the acting was horrendously subpar, and the pacing was set at the slowest mark on the dial. Anyway, that's just my opinion. I'd recommend 127 Hours over this inanimate historical footnote anyday!
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Posted: |
Feb 26, 2011 - 6:19 PM
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By: |
DeputyRiley
(Member)
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Dinner With Schmucks -- 4/10
Sigh...so stupid. Admittedly, very funny at times (I'm referring only to Steve Carell) but ultimately stupidity trumped funny. Please, give me some basic semblance of a plot to hang onto. It felt like a few hours of improvising and mugging for the camera and strung-together silliness, which can be okay sometimes, but three quarters of the time I was just looking at the screen, head tilted, brow furrowed, like "What? Umm...okay..." Paul Rudd's talent was wasted. Ron Livingston's talent was wasted. Jemaine Clement's talent was wasted. Zach Galifianakis's talent was wasted (yes I do believe he has some sort of talent -- the guy can make me laugh -- but not here). Four very funny men doing absolutely nothing funny for two hours. Steve Carell is so gifted at line delivery and facial expression and idiocy that he pulled off his thankless role...but barely. Every other single supporting character -- and I mean every single one of them -- was lame, uninteresting, and dull. 1 point for the smoking beauty of Paul Rudd's onscreen girlfriend, 1 point for Carell's performance, and 2 points for the "mouseterpieces." Why are Carell and Rudd making such bad movies lately, i.e. this, Date Night, How Do You Know respectively? Give me Rudd and Carell's Anchorman and 40 Year Old Virgin anyday. I'm somewhat nervous about the next film I'm going to watch, Due Date...please Downey Jr. save me. I trust you. I trust Todd Phillips. Zach G., don't blow it again.
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Posted: |
Feb 26, 2011 - 6:35 PM
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By: |
DeputyRiley
(Member)
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The sad thing is, Schmucks is one of the year's better comedies. I haven't yet seen Due Date, but Schmucks is much better than Date Night and The Other Guys and about on par with Get Him To the Greek, which itself was a much lesser movie than Forgetting Sarah Marshall. 2010 was definitely not a banner year for comedies.
No doubt about it, Forgetting Sarah Marshall embarrasses the hell out of all of those other films you mentioned (although I haven't yet seen Get Him to the Greek). A sweet, pleasant, hilarious film that didn't try too hard and won me over within the first twenty minutes. Of course, Segel's the man.
I had more fun with trashy horror movies from 2010 (Saw 3D, My Soul to Take) and catching up on television series (NUMB3RS, Party Down, old Frasier and Felicity episodes) than I did with any of the so-called "Best Hollywood A-List Has To Offer," like the travesties that were Date Night, Knight and Day, Predators, The Other Guys, Dinner With Schmucks, The Social Network, How Do You Know, The Expendables... The Expendables was decent. The only good "pedigree" films I saw in 2010 were 127 Hours, The Kids Are Alright (brilliant) and Inception. 95% of NUMB3RS episodes are of the finest quality, compared to what Hollywood seems to be churning out lately. To be fair, though, I haven't seen a lot of the crop. I am sad I missed Tron: Legacy and very much want to see True Grit and Black Swan.
I'm not going to waste too much time with Due Date if it doesn't grab me (although I'm optimistic that it will)...I watched the first episode of Dexter the other night and it was mesmerizing, fascinating, and gripping. Brilliant. Why waste my time with movies that don't hook me when I have that show sitting in the corner, glowing like a beacon of hope? Not to mention the Dr. Katz, Dollhouse and Spin City: Season 3 DVDs that are calling out to me...
Hey, I've earned it, I took two online Anatomy and Physiology exams today...time to VEG!!!! 
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