Lots of offensive jokes said by characters you weren't supposed to like anyway, so who cares, right? (Subtext here-- wrong.)
Really stupid story, really annoying Jesse Eisenberg, really pointless overall.
Don't see it, even if you want to.
25 August 2011
Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)
This movie was just OK.
I really wanted it to be fantastic and have an interesting statement to make about relationships, but at the end of the day it was just a standard story with decent performances.
You can probably get the same experience of watching the movie if you just watch the preview, and you'll save time too.
Unless you want to be treated to an unsavory view of Ryan Gosling's creepy so-deep-you-could-lose-some-food-in-there-and-smell-it-rotting-three-weeks-later chest and abdominal muscles. I guess some people are into that type of thing?
Whatever. Worth your time if you're bored, have not a lot else going on, and want to hear a bunch of people talk about love like you've heard it talked about 1,000+ times before.
I really wanted it to be fantastic and have an interesting statement to make about relationships, but at the end of the day it was just a standard story with decent performances.
You can probably get the same experience of watching the movie if you just watch the preview, and you'll save time too.
Unless you want to be treated to an unsavory view of Ryan Gosling's creepy so-deep-you-could-lose-some-food-in-there-and-smell-it-rotting-three-weeks-later chest and abdominal muscles. I guess some people are into that type of thing?
Whatever. Worth your time if you're bored, have not a lot else going on, and want to hear a bunch of people talk about love like you've heard it talked about 1,000+ times before.
Paul (2011)
Another alien movie! But this one has British people, comic-con, and a bunch of jokes about gayness that seem like the filmmakers were trying to prove how OK they are with gayness!
Also: Seth Rogen. On the fence about him in normal roles, experienced slight distaste with him in voice-over mode as the gauche but ultimately friendly alien for whom the movie is named.
Some mildly amusing hijinks, Kristen Wiig doing some lukewarm comedy, and Sigourney Weaver in a strange caricature of a role that feels like some of her skits on SNL, and not in a good way. Involved a bunch of other celebrities I don't feel like listing.
Overall: probably not worth your time, unless you're really really into alien movies. In which case, still meh.
Also: Seth Rogen. On the fence about him in normal roles, experienced slight distaste with him in voice-over mode as the gauche but ultimately friendly alien for whom the movie is named.
Some mildly amusing hijinks, Kristen Wiig doing some lukewarm comedy, and Sigourney Weaver in a strange caricature of a role that feels like some of her skits on SNL, and not in a good way. Involved a bunch of other celebrities I don't feel like listing.
Overall: probably not worth your time, unless you're really really into alien movies. In which case, still meh.
Cowboys and Aliens (2011)
This movie was a headache-inducing combination of dull and annoying.
It could be the fact that I find Daniel Craig a little... what's the word I'm looking for... fugly?
Or maybe it's just that I'm pretty tired of Harrison Ford for no real reason other than an interview on Conan that was completely devoid of direction or charm.
However, I'd say the most likely reason I didn't enjoy Cowboys and Aliens is because it seemed like it was trying to be some type of trendy, hip update on the western, but then it wasn't. I saw weak copies of character types and appearances from both Rango and True Grit (in fact, I read in EW that the costume designer actually used fabrics from True Grit for this film), but Cowboys and Aliens had nothing on either of those movies, despite the budget and the talent involved.
I guess I was glad it wasn't a sequel to anything, and it wasn't another insufferably banal superhero movie. However, being glad a bad movie isn't another type of bad movie doesn't make it good. The only points it gets in my book is the horrifying ugliness of the aliens. NOT. ENOUGH.
Blah.
It could be the fact that I find Daniel Craig a little... what's the word I'm looking for... fugly?
Or maybe it's just that I'm pretty tired of Harrison Ford for no real reason other than an interview on Conan that was completely devoid of direction or charm.
However, I'd say the most likely reason I didn't enjoy Cowboys and Aliens is because it seemed like it was trying to be some type of trendy, hip update on the western, but then it wasn't. I saw weak copies of character types and appearances from both Rango and True Grit (in fact, I read in EW that the costume designer actually used fabrics from True Grit for this film), but Cowboys and Aliens had nothing on either of those movies, despite the budget and the talent involved.
I guess I was glad it wasn't a sequel to anything, and it wasn't another insufferably banal superhero movie. However, being glad a bad movie isn't another type of bad movie doesn't make it good. The only points it gets in my book is the horrifying ugliness of the aliens. NOT. ENOUGH.
Blah.
15 August 2011
Sliding Doors (1998)
Since I didn't watch this movie until now, thirteen years (has it really been thirteen years since 1998?!) after it came out, I can only assume I missed the zeitgeist boat on this one.
If you don't already know, the movie is about how different Gwyneth Paltrow's character Helen's life has the potential to be, hinging on whether or not she makes a train one day after getting fired from her job.
Thoroughly and charmingly silly in plot and acting, Sliding Doors feels highly inconsequential all the way through, even when poor Helen (SPOILER ALERT) is lying in a hospital bed dying after tragic accidents that leave her maimed in both alternate lives.
Overall it was an amusingly outdated bit of fluff. Bonus points for the friend who keeps bursting out laughing when something terrible happens to Helen's philandering lover (see the first 60 seconds of the clip). It was what I felt like doing throughout the entire thing.
If you don't already know, the movie is about how different Gwyneth Paltrow's character Helen's life has the potential to be, hinging on whether or not she makes a train one day after getting fired from her job.
Thoroughly and charmingly silly in plot and acting, Sliding Doors feels highly inconsequential all the way through, even when poor Helen (SPOILER ALERT) is lying in a hospital bed dying after tragic accidents that leave her maimed in both alternate lives.
Overall it was an amusingly outdated bit of fluff. Bonus points for the friend who keeps bursting out laughing when something terrible happens to Helen's philandering lover (see the first 60 seconds of the clip). It was what I felt like doing throughout the entire thing.
02 August 2011
The Illusionist (L'illusionniste) (2010)
The Illusionist is the animated interpretation of a script by the late great French filmmaker Jacques Tati. Directed by Sylvain Chomet (who was responsible for the much lauded The Triplets of Belleville (2003)), this film has a reputation for being compulsory viewing and is generally marketed as some type of Francophone animated masterpiece.
Admittedly, this aura of greatness is the justified result of being associated with both Tati and Chomet, whose honestly earned reputations managed to launch The Illusionist into that cringe-worthy category of film that "anyone interested in the cinema simply must see" and, implicitly, value and enjoy.
As you might expect, I could not wholeheartedly buy into the charm of this adaptation of Tati's work. Yes, the animation was charming. Yes, there were neat visual puns and clever tongue-in-cheek caricatures of various figures. Yes, there was a vicious rabbit and a wide eyed girl speaking Scottish Gaelic.
Yet there was a hole here, a gap. A lack. Charisma without depth, perhaps? The animation was nice, but not that creative. The story was gently frustrating, with safely low stakes for everyone involved. The extremely minimalistic dialogue was refreshing, but with so little a compelling story behind it, ultimately ill used.
Overall I sadly cannot recommend this film. If you're very interested in animation you'll probably watch it anyway, but consider yourself forewarned of disappointment.
Admittedly, this aura of greatness is the justified result of being associated with both Tati and Chomet, whose honestly earned reputations managed to launch The Illusionist into that cringe-worthy category of film that "anyone interested in the cinema simply must see" and, implicitly, value and enjoy.
As you might expect, I could not wholeheartedly buy into the charm of this adaptation of Tati's work. Yes, the animation was charming. Yes, there were neat visual puns and clever tongue-in-cheek caricatures of various figures. Yes, there was a vicious rabbit and a wide eyed girl speaking Scottish Gaelic.
Yet there was a hole here, a gap. A lack. Charisma without depth, perhaps? The animation was nice, but not that creative. The story was gently frustrating, with safely low stakes for everyone involved. The extremely minimalistic dialogue was refreshing, but with so little a compelling story behind it, ultimately ill used.
Overall I sadly cannot recommend this film. If you're very interested in animation you'll probably watch it anyway, but consider yourself forewarned of disappointment.
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