It’s probably bad enough to be a teenager dealing with
the breakup of your parents’ marriage and then getting used to your mom’s new
boyfriend, especially when he’s a raging ass. But on top of that, if you happen
to be the most introverted and socially awkward teenage boy ever dreamed up by
a screenwriter, then you might be the main character in The Way, Way Back, a new family-centered comedy drama from Nat
Faxon and Jim Rash, the team that collaborated with Alexander Payne on The Descendants, another recent film
that finesses the line between family drama and human satire in many of the
same ways. In their first outing as directors, they exhibit some signs of
growing pains, but otherwise have put together a fairly harmless and sweet film
that was close to the best fun I’ve had at the movies this year.
A blog mostly dedicated to cinema (including both new and old film reviews; commentary; and as the URL suggests - movie lists, although it has been lacking in this area to be honest), but on occasion touching on other areas of personal interest to me.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
This Is the End Movie Review
In most cases, when young men gather together and hash
out (most likely under the influence of varying types of drugs) what would go
into their movie if they were given the chance by a Hollywood studio, the pitch
never come to fruition. It becomes fodder for the ether, zany and lunatic ideas
as easily forgotten as they were imagined. But for Seth Rogen and Evan
Goldberg, the writing and directing team behind This Is the End, they actually got the chance and a modest studio
budget to make a film that has everything but the kitchen sink thrown into it.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Monsters University Movie Review
Someone suggested that a more fitting title for Monsters University, the prequel to
Pixar’s hit Monsters, Inc., would
have been When Mike Met Sulley. Not
only do you get the Sully/Sally pun, but of course Mike is voiced by Billy
Crystal, who played Harry, the man who met Sally. That’s neither here nor
there, having little to do with the movie itself. It’s just an observation, but
essentially Monsters University is
the story of how Mike Wazowski, the irrepressible and energetic little walking
eyeball became best buds with Sully, the big pastel-hewed fierce and furry
“scarer” voiced by John Goodman. This is the story of how they came to be the
powerful team that generates innumerable canisters of screams to power the
Monster city.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Much Ado About Nothing Movie Review
Sometimes as a great fan of Shakespeare, though certainly
I am not a studied scholar of his work, I long for adaptations that get away
from the stuffy theatrical tradition popularized by Laurence Olivier and Kenneth
Branagh. Though I have often found much to admire in Branagh’s work, it still
fails to feel truly inspired or inspiring and instead comes across as an
exercise in literary interpretation rather than a production of human emotion.
But it is exactly that quality in Joss Whedon’s adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing that I admire it
so damn much and why I’m willing to call it the best Shakespeare adaptation
committed to film.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Everything I've seen in the first half of 2013
In the first six months of 2013, I saw far fewer films than the same period last year. I managed just 87 feature films and 20 short films (15 of them the Oscar contenders in three categories). Of the features I saw from January through June, 3 of them (Django Unchained; Zero Dark Thirty; Holy Motors) were repeat viewings within the six months and 5 were DVD commentary tracks on 4 different films. So realistically speaking, that's only 80 different films I watched compared to more than 100 last year.
46 of the films I watched for the first time and 24 of those I saw in the cinema (including the silent classic Safety Last with live music accompaniment).
From the short films I saw 18 in the cinema and 17 were films I'd never seen before.
I've got 56 new reviews posted for films I saw during the first half of the year.
Out of the 80 different feature films I saw, I did not post reviews for 14 of them. Two are written and one will be written.
There were 2 in-flight movies, which I should hardly count because it's a tiny little screen, the sound is horrible, and they're edited for content. That's why I won't provide reviews on those.
Here's the full list after the break:
From My Collection: Out of Sight Movie Review
Out of Sight is
quite simply one of the slickest and sexiest films of at least the last two
decades. One scene in particular, involving a female Federal Marshal and the
bank robber she’s chasing taking a “time out” from their respective
responsibilities to fan the flames of passion between them is stylishly edited
and beautifully realized. I loved this movie when I first saw it. I loved every
minute of it as it played out on the big screen. I loved the smoldering Clooney
and the incredibly sexy Lopez; loved the threatening Don Cheadle and the comic
relief Steve Zahn; loved the fact that the Clooney and Lopez characters turn
some common genre stereotypes on their heads; but mostly I loved the film’s
sense of cool stemming from its jazz, funk, soul soundtrack, its sharp
dialogue, and Tarantino-esque flair.
Labels:
1998,
Albert Brooks,
based-on-novel,
best of the 90s,
Catherine Keener,
crime,
Dennis Farina,
Don Cheadle,
Elmore Leonard,
George Clooney,
Isaiah Washington,
Jennifer Lopez,
Luis Guzman,
my collection,
review,
Scott Frank,
Steve Zahn,
Steven Soderbergh,
Ving Rhames,
Viola Davis
World War Z Movie Review
Is there a more apt metaphor right now for the way
humanity is apparently destroying the planet and, in the process, itself than a
worldwide zombie plague? The dead eyes, the mindless action based purely on
need and instinct, and humanity eating itself alive without a care for the end
result look a little like the way we plumb the planet for resources, always
taking and never looking toward the future. World
War Z is a bit more topical and on the nose than your average summer
blockbuster – if you want to read it as something more than fodder for the
masses, who flock to the tent pole action movies like the zombies glom to live
flesh, but that’s maybe another reading altogether.
25 Years Ago This Month: July 1988
First there was John McTiernan's Die Hard, a fine action thriller that spawned a string of increasingly ludicrous sequels. It solidified Bruce Willis as an action hero, helping him break out of his "Moonlighting" and romantic comedy typecasting, and it introduced Alan Rickman to American audiences as the suave and cunning villain Hans Gruber.
For the ladies there was Tom Cruise in Cocktail later in the month. Believe it or not, I've never actually seen it. I had no interest in it during its cable run in 1989/1990.
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