Hey dudes. I'm at the end of a glorious three day snow day, with only one quick 4 hour work interruption in the middle. I've watched a shit ton of movies during that time, so here we go.
First, I started Tuesday with an 8 AM viewing of Good Burger. I'm not really sure why. It was in my Netflix queue and I guess I felt like it was an easy early morning watch. I completely regretted it.
I don't really hate it or anything, but that movie is strictly for 8-12 year old kids in 1997. I'm surprised it exists outside of that year.
After that debacle I started the show Arrow. I'm a Smallville superfan so I knew this would be right up my alley. A co-worker had informed me that the sooner I realize that the first six episodes are basically Batman Begins, the better. And actually, they basically just turned the character of Green Arrow into Batman. But that's OK! It is The CW after all.
As I said, this show is exactly what I want it to be. Fun and cheesy. Also, I have to admit that I was surprised at the shows ability to strive for an actual arc, as opposed to just having villains of the week. I have a hard time watching dramas that don't really advance episode to episode. The first few seasons of Smallville suffered from this and it made it a real chore to sit through.
Anyway, the show is a lot of fun.
I've been on a Russell Crowe kick lately. The Insider, Man of Steel and Gladiator have been viewed by me in the last few weeks. So I kept it going with another viewing of 3:10 To Yuma. Man, such a great western. Fast paced, filled with great performances all around and a legitimately rousing finale, this remake ranks right up there with Unforgiven and Tombstone for me. Crowe's Ben Wade is one of his most charismatic performances to date. Can't forget my boy Christian Bale either, so good as a down on his luck rancher whose own son can't even find anything to look up to. Great stuff. I also plan on keeping this Crowe train going with a viewing of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World in the next week or two. Stay tuned.
Next up was Wreck-it Ralph. I honestly don't have much to say on this one other than it was really cute and enjoyable. I'm not a gamer so I know I missed most of the references, but still I had a good time with it.
And then, for whatever reason, a viewing of the Red Dawn remake just felt right. Honestly, it's not that bad, and it fulfilled the desire I was looking for at 11 PM with a glass of red wine. Chris Hemsworth proves once again that he rules and the rest of the ridiculously good looking cast do fine as well. The original is legitimately amazing and better in every way, but still, this remake was slight and fun.
Then I had my first viewing of A.I. Artificial Intelligence in about 8 years. Such a bizarre film, merging together the sensibilities of Spielberg with Stanley Kubrick, who was originally going to direct before handing it over to the other guy with a beard. Not his best film, but certainly not his worst either, A.I. remains fascinating to me and features an insanely good and creepy performance from Haley Joel Osment. This kid was the real deal, and I wish he had continued to do more work. I'm genuinely curious to see how he fits in with Will Ferrel's mini series The Spoils of Babylon and hopefully see if he can retain some of his former glory.
I've watched a bit more, but I think I'm gonna end this with my viewing of The Sum of all Fears, starring Ben Affleck's awful hair as Jack Ryan. This is actually a pretty decent entry in the Ryan series, with the absurdly dated technology only sometimes bringing the movie into truly silly territory. As a longtime Affleck supporter, I am pleased to say that he acquits himself nicely here. In fact, it's one of the few bright spots he had during this time of J. Lo and Gigli disasters. Long live the Affleck!
Well that felt good. I now have the absolute worst urge to watch Casino. Later dudes.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Her
I've seen 'Her' twice now, and I'm still struggling to wrap my head around it.
It's not an overly complicated movie, just the opposite in fact. I'd say it's theme of letting yourself love and to use that love to grow as a person, no matter how strange, is pretty universal.
It's just the way that director Spike Jonze captures the relationship Joaquin Phoenix has with his Operating System, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, in such a remarkably candid and honest way that I've found myself thinking about it every day for the past week.
Jonze is not making judgements about our addiction to technology, rather he focuses on what it means to feel lonely and to then be rescued from that feeling.
UGH, this sounds all lovey feely. But shit, let's be real, we've all been there. For some reason, I tend to look back on the hard days I've had from time to time, usually followed by a viewing of The Notebook. Why? I don't know. To remind me of what I have now? Maybe, but whatever the reason, it helps me feel human, and Jonze is able to capture that raw and ever so human feeling with a movie about a guy who dates a computer. Awesome.
Joaquin Phoenix is crazy good in this movie. Film critic Devin Faraci reminded me in his review of the film that this is same actor who only a year ago played Freddie Quell in The Master, one of the most broken characters ever put on film. In Her, his Theodore is also a broken man of sorts, but one ready and willing to have hope. It's an insane reversal, but it makes me excited to see what else this guy is capable of.
Scarlett is also great, something that is happening more and more these days. I've always enjoyed her work, but the last few years she seems to have gone out of her way to pick more interesting parts, and she seems to be relishing in the opportunities. It's extremely difficult for any actor to make any kind of impression in a movie, so the fact that Johansson comes across so real and appealing using only her voice is fascinating.
Overall, I think Her is really about accepting the love you've had and using that to move forward. I'm sucker for movies like these as it is, but Her is especially good because it just happens to be especially good.
It's not an overly complicated movie, just the opposite in fact. I'd say it's theme of letting yourself love and to use that love to grow as a person, no matter how strange, is pretty universal.
It's just the way that director Spike Jonze captures the relationship Joaquin Phoenix has with his Operating System, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, in such a remarkably candid and honest way that I've found myself thinking about it every day for the past week.
Jonze is not making judgements about our addiction to technology, rather he focuses on what it means to feel lonely and to then be rescued from that feeling.
UGH, this sounds all lovey feely. But shit, let's be real, we've all been there. For some reason, I tend to look back on the hard days I've had from time to time, usually followed by a viewing of The Notebook. Why? I don't know. To remind me of what I have now? Maybe, but whatever the reason, it helps me feel human, and Jonze is able to capture that raw and ever so human feeling with a movie about a guy who dates a computer. Awesome.
Joaquin Phoenix is crazy good in this movie. Film critic Devin Faraci reminded me in his review of the film that this is same actor who only a year ago played Freddie Quell in The Master, one of the most broken characters ever put on film. In Her, his Theodore is also a broken man of sorts, but one ready and willing to have hope. It's an insane reversal, but it makes me excited to see what else this guy is capable of.
Scarlett is also great, something that is happening more and more these days. I've always enjoyed her work, but the last few years she seems to have gone out of her way to pick more interesting parts, and she seems to be relishing in the opportunities. It's extremely difficult for any actor to make any kind of impression in a movie, so the fact that Johansson comes across so real and appealing using only her voice is fascinating.
Overall, I think Her is really about accepting the love you've had and using that to move forward. I'm sucker for movies like these as it is, but Her is especially good because it just happens to be especially good.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Anchorman 2
Oof. I died a little inside every day I didn't see Anchorman 2. Katy left for a week the day it came out and of course I was forbidden from seeing it without her. Then work and other movie obligations got in the way.
But finally, after two agonizing weeks we sat down with beer and readied ourselves for some serious funny.
And it delivers! I have to admit I had tempered my expectations a bit, there was just no way it could live up to the first one. A movie that is pure lunacy, Anchorman was a shock to the system of comedy and has obviously achieved legendary status, something that even the best sequel could never overcome. So all I really wanted was for the movie to make me laugh, and that it did.
The film starts strong and ends with a battle so absurd and brilliant that I wish the same energy was employed throughout the rest of the movie, as the middle drags quite a bit. The film runs just under 2 hours, and it could have easily lost 20 minutes if not more.
Still, I laughed hard and I laughed a lot and it was never not a treat to have these ridiculous characters on screen again.
Well, that was a bit short, but really all you want to know is if it's funny, right? It is. So now, I'm going to take a left turn and get a little bloggy.
As you probably know, I like movies. Some would even say I like movies a little too much. Not as a way of not dealing with life or whatever, but that I literally like just about any movie I see. While that's not true, I usually only write or post about movies that I like because talking about good movies is fun. My work with Carycitizen.com has given my the opportunity to not only hone my writing skills but to see more movies, some of which I actively disliked. It's a bummer writing about movies you don't like. But that's the job of a critic though, letting other film lovers know what's worth the price of admission.
So I've changed the way I view movies ever so slightly. Or rather, I've been trying to change the way I talk about them. I try to be more honest about the actual quality of a movie. Even if I liked it, I try to admit what faults a film might have.
I realize this probably seems painfully obvious. I mean, duh, a film critic is supposed to talk about the overall quality of a movie. Well, fuck you. I'm new to this and in trying to turn this love/obsession into a career I'm having to really re-think my shit.
There was a small part of me though that was scared that this new way of thinking critically about a movie would dampen my overall love of movies, including the worst of the worst that I shamelessly own and watch again and again.
So to put this fear to rest, I watched Van Helsing.
That movie fucking sucks. There is no defense. Well, the score is pretty cool. I always knew it was bad, I just didn't care.
Thankfully though, even as my newly minted critic brain was turning its wheels, I took comfort in the fact that I still didn't care that it was bad. I still enjoyed every awful second of it. None of that so bad it's good bullshit. I liked it. Just cause.
So fear not, I'll make it my duty to be honest about films, good and bad and in between.
Sometimes though, I'm just going to watch some shit. And sometimes, I'll be perfectly OK with that.
But finally, after two agonizing weeks we sat down with beer and readied ourselves for some serious funny.
And it delivers! I have to admit I had tempered my expectations a bit, there was just no way it could live up to the first one. A movie that is pure lunacy, Anchorman was a shock to the system of comedy and has obviously achieved legendary status, something that even the best sequel could never overcome. So all I really wanted was for the movie to make me laugh, and that it did.
The film starts strong and ends with a battle so absurd and brilliant that I wish the same energy was employed throughout the rest of the movie, as the middle drags quite a bit. The film runs just under 2 hours, and it could have easily lost 20 minutes if not more.
Still, I laughed hard and I laughed a lot and it was never not a treat to have these ridiculous characters on screen again.
Well, that was a bit short, but really all you want to know is if it's funny, right? It is. So now, I'm going to take a left turn and get a little bloggy.
As you probably know, I like movies. Some would even say I like movies a little too much. Not as a way of not dealing with life or whatever, but that I literally like just about any movie I see. While that's not true, I usually only write or post about movies that I like because talking about good movies is fun. My work with Carycitizen.com has given my the opportunity to not only hone my writing skills but to see more movies, some of which I actively disliked. It's a bummer writing about movies you don't like. But that's the job of a critic though, letting other film lovers know what's worth the price of admission.
So I've changed the way I view movies ever so slightly. Or rather, I've been trying to change the way I talk about them. I try to be more honest about the actual quality of a movie. Even if I liked it, I try to admit what faults a film might have.
I realize this probably seems painfully obvious. I mean, duh, a film critic is supposed to talk about the overall quality of a movie. Well, fuck you. I'm new to this and in trying to turn this love/obsession into a career I'm having to really re-think my shit.
There was a small part of me though that was scared that this new way of thinking critically about a movie would dampen my overall love of movies, including the worst of the worst that I shamelessly own and watch again and again.
So to put this fear to rest, I watched Van Helsing.
That movie fucking sucks. There is no defense. Well, the score is pretty cool. I always knew it was bad, I just didn't care.
Thankfully though, even as my newly minted critic brain was turning its wheels, I took comfort in the fact that I still didn't care that it was bad. I still enjoyed every awful second of it. None of that so bad it's good bullshit. I liked it. Just cause.
So fear not, I'll make it my duty to be honest about films, good and bad and in between.
Sometimes though, I'm just going to watch some shit. And sometimes, I'll be perfectly OK with that.
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