Netflix Diary
1. Baby Mama
I was slightly wary of this because I'm not the biggest Amy Poehler fan and generally feel like a little of her goes a long way on SNL, and this looked a little less joke-a-minute than I'm used to Tina Fey being on 30 Rock or Weekend Update. But it was pretty strong all in all, plenty of funny parts that weren't in the trailer and it had a little more story to it than I expected. I'm still waiting for Romany Malco to parlay all these great little supporting roles into a better starring vehicle than Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story, though.
2. 30 Days Of Night
I feel like I've been seeing way too much vampire stuff lately, when really that whole world of fiction has just never struck me as inherently fascinating like a lot of people seem to think. This one at least had a pretty cool location and premise, but it was kind of like I Am Legend in that the slowly rising dread of the first act was a lot more effective than all the crazy shit that happened once you actually started seeing the vampires and they started talking to each other in their made-up Klingon language with subtitles. This might be the first Josh Hartnett movie where I didn't totally hate him, although I thought it was kind of funny how even as his character was stranded for a month he still was only able to grow the horribly scraggly beard he for some reason likes to wear in a lot of movies. I didn't recognize Ben Foster at all or even know he was in this until the closing credits, although he's such a 'serious actor' ham that I'm not surprised that he went for a role as ridiculous as the one he had in this.
3. Michael Clayton
Without having seen any of the others except No Country, I'd venture a guess that I liked this more than I would any of this year's Oscars' other best picture noms, but I still don't quite understand how it got so many awards and nominations even given the pedigree. Other than that it's, in a roundabout way, about the same thing as Erin Brockovich, and that Tom Wilkinson ostentatiously chews scenery in one of the most hackneyed award-grabbing performances in recent memory, it seems like a kind of standard issue 'smart' thriller. Not complaining, mind, it was good.
4. Ratatouille
Worth all the hype, and I wish I'd gotten around to seeing it in the theater. Maybe Pixar's most gorgeous film and definitely in my top 3 overall. The casting on these things is always weird to me, though, like why get a really funny but not hugely famous stand-up like Patton Oswalt to voice the main character if he's essentially an earnest straight man who doesn't do much of the heavy lifting on the comedic elements? I mean, he works in the role, it's just odd.
I was slightly wary of this because I'm not the biggest Amy Poehler fan and generally feel like a little of her goes a long way on SNL, and this looked a little less joke-a-minute than I'm used to Tina Fey being on 30 Rock or Weekend Update. But it was pretty strong all in all, plenty of funny parts that weren't in the trailer and it had a little more story to it than I expected. I'm still waiting for Romany Malco to parlay all these great little supporting roles into a better starring vehicle than Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story, though.
2. 30 Days Of Night
I feel like I've been seeing way too much vampire stuff lately, when really that whole world of fiction has just never struck me as inherently fascinating like a lot of people seem to think. This one at least had a pretty cool location and premise, but it was kind of like I Am Legend in that the slowly rising dread of the first act was a lot more effective than all the crazy shit that happened once you actually started seeing the vampires and they started talking to each other in their made-up Klingon language with subtitles. This might be the first Josh Hartnett movie where I didn't totally hate him, although I thought it was kind of funny how even as his character was stranded for a month he still was only able to grow the horribly scraggly beard he for some reason likes to wear in a lot of movies. I didn't recognize Ben Foster at all or even know he was in this until the closing credits, although he's such a 'serious actor' ham that I'm not surprised that he went for a role as ridiculous as the one he had in this.
3. Michael Clayton
Without having seen any of the others except No Country, I'd venture a guess that I liked this more than I would any of this year's Oscars' other best picture noms, but I still don't quite understand how it got so many awards and nominations even given the pedigree. Other than that it's, in a roundabout way, about the same thing as Erin Brockovich, and that Tom Wilkinson ostentatiously chews scenery in one of the most hackneyed award-grabbing performances in recent memory, it seems like a kind of standard issue 'smart' thriller. Not complaining, mind, it was good.
4. Ratatouille
Worth all the hype, and I wish I'd gotten around to seeing it in the theater. Maybe Pixar's most gorgeous film and definitely in my top 3 overall. The casting on these things is always weird to me, though, like why get a really funny but not hugely famous stand-up like Patton Oswalt to voice the main character if he's essentially an earnest straight man who doesn't do much of the heavy lifting on the comedic elements? I mean, he works in the role, it's just odd.
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on Saturday, October 04, 2008 at 3:20 PM.
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