Movie Diary
1. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
I think Anchorman is one of the funniest movies of the past few years, so I had high hopes for this, but honestly I was pretty disappointed. It didn't suck by any means, and it might grow on me, but it definitely wasn't better than Anchorman, which was the opinion of J.G.'s co-worker who lent us the DVD. The whole first 15 minutes were dead weight, all the exposition about Ricky Bobby's birth and childhood (which could've been dealt with quicker and probaby funnier if told as an anecdote or even a flashback halfway through the movie) and the boring montages, and it didn't really pick up right away even after that. Definitely some funny parts though, especially everything with the cougar. And John C. Reilly's always been a great comic actor, so it's good to see him finally getting cast in actual comedies (although maybe he got the part because he was in Days Of Thunder). I'm definitely looking forward to Walk Hard. But this movie really reaffirmed my opinion that Sacha Baron Cohen is mad overrated, and has no real schtick or comedy chops beyond boring old standby's like characters that are gay and/or speak in bad fake accents. Fuck that guy.
2. Relative Strangers
This apparently came out last year, although I'd never even heard of it until I saw it on Comedy Central. For good reason, too, because it's absolutely awful. Usually Danny DeVito is only in movies this bad if he directed them too.
3. Prime
Watched this on cable one weekend when I was really bored. I never thought Uma Thurman was particularly attractive, but she was hot in this. This movie would've been way less worth watching if Sandra Bullock hadn't dropped out of the role. It was pretty funny in parts, but dragged on a bit.
4. Kate And Leopold
J.G. was watching this on cable one weekend and I watched it too because I was really really bored. Sometimes I feel like I'm in the minority in this, but I've always felt pretty sure that time travel is impossible, that it would just never happen given the way the world works and that it only occurs to people because it's interesting on an abstract, what-if level. But given that time travel presents so many storytelling possibilities, I understand why it's a theme that fiction returns to again and again. The problem is, movies about time travel, especially ones that aren't strictly in the science fiction genre, tend to spend such a tedious amount of exposition on setting up how time travel woks in this particular story, trying to make it plausible, and employing the inevitable devices about how one person discovers this and noone believes them, that it just sinks the whole thing (the exception, of course, being Back To The Future, where the ridiculousness of the premise is what's great about it). I kind of wish Hollywood could just establish standard where it was clear from the beginning that, OK, we wanted to make a movie about if a guy from 1867 met and fell in love with a modern day woman. Also, I guess I'm part of the problem as far as Hollywood's bias against older actresses, because it stuck out like a sore thumb to me that Meg Ryan is very clearly several years older than Hugh Jackman in this.
5. The Man Who Knew Too Little
This was one of the last broad comedies Bill Murray starred before doing Rushmore and subsequently settling into his current career phase of playing a sad panda in Wes Anderson movies and other indie or quasi-indie flicks like Broken Flowers and Lost In Translation, along with the odd supporting role or Garfield movie. I'd assumed based on the bad reviews and poor box office that this wasn't really worth a watch, but gave it a shot when it came on TV anyway, and was pleasantly surprised, although it's more Bill Murray carrying the silly premise than a Groundhog Day-level classic.
I think Anchorman is one of the funniest movies of the past few years, so I had high hopes for this, but honestly I was pretty disappointed. It didn't suck by any means, and it might grow on me, but it definitely wasn't better than Anchorman, which was the opinion of J.G.'s co-worker who lent us the DVD. The whole first 15 minutes were dead weight, all the exposition about Ricky Bobby's birth and childhood (which could've been dealt with quicker and probaby funnier if told as an anecdote or even a flashback halfway through the movie) and the boring montages, and it didn't really pick up right away even after that. Definitely some funny parts though, especially everything with the cougar. And John C. Reilly's always been a great comic actor, so it's good to see him finally getting cast in actual comedies (although maybe he got the part because he was in Days Of Thunder). I'm definitely looking forward to Walk Hard. But this movie really reaffirmed my opinion that Sacha Baron Cohen is mad overrated, and has no real schtick or comedy chops beyond boring old standby's like characters that are gay and/or speak in bad fake accents. Fuck that guy.
2. Relative Strangers
This apparently came out last year, although I'd never even heard of it until I saw it on Comedy Central. For good reason, too, because it's absolutely awful. Usually Danny DeVito is only in movies this bad if he directed them too.
3. Prime
Watched this on cable one weekend when I was really bored. I never thought Uma Thurman was particularly attractive, but she was hot in this. This movie would've been way less worth watching if Sandra Bullock hadn't dropped out of the role. It was pretty funny in parts, but dragged on a bit.
4. Kate And Leopold
J.G. was watching this on cable one weekend and I watched it too because I was really really bored. Sometimes I feel like I'm in the minority in this, but I've always felt pretty sure that time travel is impossible, that it would just never happen given the way the world works and that it only occurs to people because it's interesting on an abstract, what-if level. But given that time travel presents so many storytelling possibilities, I understand why it's a theme that fiction returns to again and again. The problem is, movies about time travel, especially ones that aren't strictly in the science fiction genre, tend to spend such a tedious amount of exposition on setting up how time travel woks in this particular story, trying to make it plausible, and employing the inevitable devices about how one person discovers this and noone believes them, that it just sinks the whole thing (the exception, of course, being Back To The Future, where the ridiculousness of the premise is what's great about it). I kind of wish Hollywood could just establish standard where it was clear from the beginning that, OK, we wanted to make a movie about if a guy from 1867 met and fell in love with a modern day woman. Also, I guess I'm part of the problem as far as Hollywood's bias against older actresses, because it stuck out like a sore thumb to me that Meg Ryan is very clearly several years older than Hugh Jackman in this.
5. The Man Who Knew Too Little
This was one of the last broad comedies Bill Murray starred before doing Rushmore and subsequently settling into his current career phase of playing a sad panda in Wes Anderson movies and other indie or quasi-indie flicks like Broken Flowers and Lost In Translation, along with the odd supporting role or Garfield movie. I'd assumed based on the bad reviews and poor box office that this wasn't really worth a watch, but gave it a shot when it came on TV anyway, and was pleasantly surprised, although it's more Bill Murray carrying the silly premise than a Groundhog Day-level classic.
This entry was posted
on Monday, April 02, 2007 at 11:52 AM.
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I like Talladega Nights better than Anchorman because I think the characters are much more fully inhabited, which I guess I find funnier.
Also, who doesn't like gay characters with stupid accents?!