Netflix Diary
a) Transsiberian
In Ben Kingsley's continuing quest to play every nationality and ethnicity on earth, he's a Russian this time, as Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer trek across Siberia and get mixed up in drugs and murder and double crossing and it's a jolly beak time. I liked it at the time but now trying to recall it, it didn't leave much of an impression on me.
b) Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Jason Segel has always been one of my favorite dudes out of the whole Apatow orbit, and I think it's partly because he manages to have an unmistakable type he always plays, but always carves out a unique tone for each character. He's always some kind of awkward, lovelorn loser, but in "Freaks & Geeks" he's an earnest pothead, in "Undeclared" a clingy, almost stalkerish boyfriend, in "How I Met Your Mother" a happily married, emasculated tree-hugging, brunch-loving dweeb, and in this a self-involved heartbroken mess. I kind of enjoy how comedies like this are full of diverting subplots and cameos that make them kind of overlong and shapeless, but at the same time it means a lot of great stuff never gets into the trailers, because it would just clutter up the marketing of the movie's main hook, so there's all these weird unexpected laughs like the whole vampire puppet thing. I was also surprised to enjoy Russell Brand in this, considering that I saw him totally suck on the VMAs first.
c) In Bruges
The first time I've been adequately impressed by Colin Farrell in anything, kind of a goofy surreal little trifle but enjoyable.
d) Across The Universe
J.G. liked this a lot, and I ended up getting her the soundtrack for her birthday. I wasn't as crazy about it, although there were some pretty fun sequences. I kind of feel like, if people are going to continue making musicals out of the songs by a particular band, especially one with such a big and diverse catalog as the Beatles, they should be able to tie it all together really elegantly and find songs that fit the story, instead of just throwing it all together and dropping in the most obvious possible songs and the most obvious possible moments.
e) The Bourne Ultimatum
I like these movies but I just can't bring myself to love them like many people do. During the downtime and the exposition, especially in this one, my eyes just kinda glaze over until the balletic violence and clever twists get going. If the frequent comparison to the new Bond movies persists, I'll pick Bond.
f) Deja Vu
I liked how I kind of understood the premise of this based on the trailer, but not really, and got to enjoy seeing how it all unravelled, even as implausible as it was, and put a pretty good twist on the same ol' same ol' time traveling steez.
In Ben Kingsley's continuing quest to play every nationality and ethnicity on earth, he's a Russian this time, as Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer trek across Siberia and get mixed up in drugs and murder and double crossing and it's a jolly beak time. I liked it at the time but now trying to recall it, it didn't leave much of an impression on me.
b) Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Jason Segel has always been one of my favorite dudes out of the whole Apatow orbit, and I think it's partly because he manages to have an unmistakable type he always plays, but always carves out a unique tone for each character. He's always some kind of awkward, lovelorn loser, but in "Freaks & Geeks" he's an earnest pothead, in "Undeclared" a clingy, almost stalkerish boyfriend, in "How I Met Your Mother" a happily married, emasculated tree-hugging, brunch-loving dweeb, and in this a self-involved heartbroken mess. I kind of enjoy how comedies like this are full of diverting subplots and cameos that make them kind of overlong and shapeless, but at the same time it means a lot of great stuff never gets into the trailers, because it would just clutter up the marketing of the movie's main hook, so there's all these weird unexpected laughs like the whole vampire puppet thing. I was also surprised to enjoy Russell Brand in this, considering that I saw him totally suck on the VMAs first.
c) In Bruges
The first time I've been adequately impressed by Colin Farrell in anything, kind of a goofy surreal little trifle but enjoyable.
d) Across The Universe
J.G. liked this a lot, and I ended up getting her the soundtrack for her birthday. I wasn't as crazy about it, although there were some pretty fun sequences. I kind of feel like, if people are going to continue making musicals out of the songs by a particular band, especially one with such a big and diverse catalog as the Beatles, they should be able to tie it all together really elegantly and find songs that fit the story, instead of just throwing it all together and dropping in the most obvious possible songs and the most obvious possible moments.
e) The Bourne Ultimatum
I like these movies but I just can't bring myself to love them like many people do. During the downtime and the exposition, especially in this one, my eyes just kinda glaze over until the balletic violence and clever twists get going. If the frequent comparison to the new Bond movies persists, I'll pick Bond.
f) Deja Vu
I liked how I kind of understood the premise of this based on the trailer, but not really, and got to enjoy seeing how it all unravelled, even as implausible as it was, and put a pretty good twist on the same ol' same ol' time traveling steez.
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on Sunday, December 28, 2008 at 7:29 PM.
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