November, December, Movies

Bella – A sweet, unassuming movie, similar to Once or In America, Bella is about a single, pregnant and recently fired woman who spends the day with a co-worker with secrets of his own.  It’s a smart movie, with good characters and more ability than I would have expected.  It may not be my favorite movie of the year, but it did make me cry on occasion. I expect that’s a lot of what it set out to do.

 

Big Trouble in Little China – It’s a good enough movie, given that it has a decent sense of humor, some fun action sequences, and it knows how to use both.  But even then, it’s not quite as good as it should be, which is true form for a John Carpenter film.  Truth is, Carpenter is much better at coming up with ideas than actually following through with them.  This is positively crippling to his lesser films (I’m talking to you, The Fog) but it makes even the decent ones feel empty.  In fact, I think only Halloween and possibly The Thing are immune.  Little China, for all it’s 80’s collness,  it’s little more than a sugar rush.

 

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure – Actually, this a fairly smart movie.  Okay, it’s tries to be stupid, but at least it makes a sort of creative sense.  The Napoleon character is a small bit of brilliance, and the rest of the historical figures, though underused, are kind of funny in their own way.  In fact, the movie’s biggest faults are the two lead characters, if only because watching it on the tails of TMNT and in the wake of Wayne’s World, makes the hard-partying, California-surfer-dude, wannabe-rock-star charicature annoying.  Bill and Ted may have preceded both of those, but it’s cultural legacy is still less than that of either, so I can still make that statement.  That said, I enjoyed it just fine.

 

Burn After Reading – I know from the imdb page that this was written at the same time as No Country For Old Men, and it shows.  It’s a comedy, to be sure, and it is funny.  But there is so much darkness and film noir to it, that it feels like it’s only tangentially funny.  I did like it, quite a bit actually, but I easily understand why some people wouldn’t and some people would.  For me, I’m not exactly intent on watching it again, but like any qualms with the Coen Brothers, I assume it’s a me thing, and not a quality thing. 

 

Crank – The poor man’s Shoot’Em Up, which makes sense, actually, as Jason Statham is the poor man’s Clive Owen, in some ways.  Okay, not really, but both do icy cold action films with ease, only Clive has both better range and slightly more high-profile films.  That’s a compliment though, as both are fairly-to-hugely entertaining when they’re on their game, and Statham certainly is here.  It’s just ludicrous enough, and tongue-in-cheek enough, to work well with Statham’s strong points.  I’d watch it again.

 

Death Proof – My sister, who I showed this too, really enjoyed it, which validated it to me, especially after another sibling steted that he didn’t like it very much.  I still like it.  It’s not a great movie, and having the second part set in my hometown of Lebanaon, TN certainly helps, but it’s fun, and I suppose that’s what matters.

 

Ghost Story – A cast of classic actors (Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) and some swell make-up are the highlights of this, ahem, ghost story, wherein some elder gentelmen find that a past mistake has come back to haunt them.  It’s fairly scary, which is owed mostly to quick jolts and atmosphere, and that’s a fairly rare thing these days, it seems.  Is it worth seeking out?  Not necessarily, but it’s pretty good either way.

 

Goldfinger – Betweent a Bond trivia contest and the release of Quantun, I suppose it was only a matter of time before this became a full-blown Bond kick.  And I guess Goldfinger is probably the best place to start, as the best entry for the best Bond (arguable, though, on both counts).  It’s fast-paced and clever, creating a movie that’s hard to dislike, even when Bond is not your cup of tea. And the evil plan is genius.

 

Hard Candy – I probably missed a lot of the subtlety due to a fairly loud 1-year old, and it’s nothing but a compliment that the film has enough subtlety that I didn’t mind watching it near a 1-year old.  It’s an indie film about pedophelia, with (seemingly) smart writing, acting and direction.  I can’t say I’ll want to see it again, but it’s worth seeing once, even if it’s not as suprising in a post Juno-Ellen Page world.

 

Hot Fuzz – Still very funny.

 

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – Still very funny, very cool, and underseen.

 

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – Another one of the Bond movies that I really liked the first time around, Majesty is George Lazenby’s only go round with the agent.  As it is, Lazenby is not bad, although his self-referential humor is not so good – he’d be better if he took the no-nonsense Daniel Craig attitude.  Then again, who wouldn’t suck as the Bond following Connery?  No, my problem with this movie (although it eventually goes away) is that all of the early fight scenes are seemingly Michael Bay inspired: Quick cuts, jumpy editing, and half the footage is missing,  It’s a decent sized problem that puts a blemish on an otherwise romantic and elegant outing.

 

Poltergeist – One of the best ghost storties ever made, and kind of unjustly forgotten, Poletrgeist is probably best if you wait several years before seeing it repeatedly.  There are a lot of scares, a good number of guffaws, and a genuinely creepy atmosphere.  If it has a problem, it’s that some special effects don’t hold up so well anymore.  But that hardly matters, given that the lesser effects moments (and a few of the bigger ones) are perfectly good, and are the heart of the movie.  If it didn’t freak me out a little too much, I’d probably own it.  But I’d still be unlikely to watch it after dark.

 

Poltergeist 2: The Other Side – Not necessary.  There’s not much of anything here (although the worm sequence is fairly neat), so the movie feels just kind of tacked on to the original.  As an added negative, the film feels less like a ghost story, and more like a monster movie.  However, it did give me a good question to ponder: What is the best horror movie to never be sequelled?  Any ideas?  The basic list of greats (Jaws, Psycho, The Exorcist, even Dracula and Frankenstein if you wanna be fair) are all out, so what is it?  The Birds, maybe?  Seriously, any ideas?

 

Quantum of Solace – Some murky action sequences aside, it’s a nifty little movie.  I really like the more action-y aspects of the new boost of Bond, and this movie has plenty of it, along with the requisite locales, girls and espionage.  In fact, I think it mostly works.  But those murky action sequences (I have no idea what happened at the climax of the boat chase – if anyone does, I’d love to hear it) drag it down.  Some may naysay Bond as an action hero, but if its done right (a la Casino Royale), it makes sense.  Then again, it would help if there were a little more ludicrousness to the plot (my co-viewer suggested the next one being set in space, for example). I’d like to see this new Bond slow down a little, but keep up the good work, and try to stop someone with a massively over-complicated evil plan. 

 

Role Models – With the possible exception of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, this has got to be the funniest film I saw in theaters all year.  Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott are in great comedic form, and direcotr David Wain seems to have found the right muses in his leading men and former The State alum.  It does have the obligatory pacing problems, so you can see the plot coming from a several miles away, but I don’t hold that against it as long as the movie is funny enough to survive with it.  And Role Models, thought raunchy, is definitely funny enough.

 

Saw IV – Despite not much caring for the series, I’m still inexplicably drawn to them.  But if there’s a cure for that, it might be this convoluted turkey.  I suppose as far as the series goes, it’s not terrible, but it’s muddy, strangely hard to understand, and okay at the very, very best.  The fact that the Saw series owes it’s existence to creative kills, the film’s biggest hindrance is the confusing aspect of several of them, and it’s desire to make some kind of backstory and sense where none is either needed or available.

 

School for Scoundrels – I didn’t expect much from this, which is why I never got around to seeing until I caught it on cable.  That said, with lowered expectations, it’s kind of good.  Funny enough to sustain you for ninety minutes, but not necessarily memorable.  Then again, I don’t remember what I liked about it, whatever that says.  So, it’s perfectly fine brain-dead fodder.

 

Slumdog Millionaire – I figured I had to see some Oscar hopeful before the year was out, and Slumdog  won out.  A smart, touching movie about growing up in the slums, it’s like City of God meets pop culture, as it tells the story of a young Indian boy and his troubles growing up, framing it as an episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?  The performances are exceptional, the visuals are exciting, and the film is very engaging.  Most of the kudos go to director Danny Boyle, who once again finds a movie that works really well with his talents, and really suprisingly.  It’s closer to his beautiful Millions than his 28 Days Later or Trainspotting, and it shows that the man is a great talent, and even better in the right kind of movie.  This is that kind of movie.  If I had a problem with it, it’s that the movie is very uplifting at the end, which although driving the theme is hope, puts it slightly at odds with what came before. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the beginning is so disturbing and depressing, that the ending (which is really about one minute long plus credits) seems at odds with what the movie is, although right at home with what it wants to be.  This is probably confusing.  It’s a great movie, with great moments, and it deserves to be seen by almost everyone.

 

Superbad – This is a lot more raunchy than I remember.  Maybe it’s finding out that this is one of Rachel Ray’s favorite movies (Huh???), maybe it’s watching it with someone who hasn’t seen it before.  Whatever the case, watching it this time I began to realize that it probably won’t hold up as long as I previously thought.  It does have some genuinely funny moments, but eventually, comedies that rely too much on shock value don’t hold up well.

 

TMNT – It’s about what I’d expect from a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated movie a decade after they reached popularity.  It’s a semi-re-boot of the franchise, if it is a franchise anymore, with slightly darker tones and decent animation.  In the end, it’s still a kid’s flick, so it’s not all that fulfilling, but what can I really expect?  I’m a 31 year-old watching a Ninja Turtle movie.

 

28 Weeks Later – I was not a fan of the original, if only for some awkward overtones, but hearing that the sequel was better, and enjoying the concept of the new zombies, I figured it was worth watching.  And it was.  The overtone was missing in this one, which was good, but it didn’t really get all of the mileage out of the zombies that it could have, becoming slightly too much of a military thriller.  It still works though, especially in specific scenes and moments.  It’s kinda cool, kinda scary, and kinda fun.

 

The Wrong Guy – Dave Foley is a man on the run from no one.  It’s throroughly silly, but I still find it very funny in parts.