Movie Diary
a) Enchanted
The wife was watching this one day and it was surprisingly alright. It's weird how James Marsden is turning out to be a pretty capable comedy actor after years of people only knowing him for playing Cyclops as a total humorless dick.
b) Hairspray
John Waters is such a cultural institution in Baltimore that it's weird to see his work adapted for larger audiences in any form, just because he already feels like this big pop phenomenon (albeit a subversive one) to me, not even so much a cult hero, just a cultural hero. And while it'd be easy to whine about the 2007 Hairspray's version of Baltimore taking place on a Toronto soundstage, I appreciate what they're going for, and as far as movies-turned-musicals-turned-movie-musicals go, it beats The Producers. Yet another movie where Marsden is pretty likeable, too. Does anyone else kind of hate Queen Latifah as a screen presence, though? She has this kind of smug, plastered-on grin and plays every character the same way, which didn't even bother me so much back in the "Living Single" days but now that she's in all these big movies, it's pretty annoying.
c) Grindhouse
Man, I really wanted to see this in the theater, but I'm glad I at least got to catch the whole thing on cable as one piece with the trailers and all, not split up into 2 movies. Of the features, I thought Planet Terror was way better, though I'm biased because I'm a big fan of that kind of over-the-top Dead Alive-style gore. I'm surprised how many people preferred Death Proof, though, even with the amazing car stunts and a couple great scenes it was still kind of stubbornly awkward in its structure and the dialogue-heavy scenes were so not up to the par of previous Tarantino movies. My favorite trailer was probably Don't! although they were all pretty good.
d) Ghost Rider
I had kinda gotten to the point where I thought Nic Cage only made worthless bad movies, and entertainingly bad movies like Wickerman, but this actually turned out pretty good. The villain and the plot were kinda lame, but Cage carried it well with his weirdo Elvis vibe and his glass of jellybeans. I could see them really stepping it up for the sequel.
The wife was watching this one day and it was surprisingly alright. It's weird how James Marsden is turning out to be a pretty capable comedy actor after years of people only knowing him for playing Cyclops as a total humorless dick.
b) Hairspray
John Waters is such a cultural institution in Baltimore that it's weird to see his work adapted for larger audiences in any form, just because he already feels like this big pop phenomenon (albeit a subversive one) to me, not even so much a cult hero, just a cultural hero. And while it'd be easy to whine about the 2007 Hairspray's version of Baltimore taking place on a Toronto soundstage, I appreciate what they're going for, and as far as movies-turned-musicals-turned-movie-musicals go, it beats The Producers. Yet another movie where Marsden is pretty likeable, too. Does anyone else kind of hate Queen Latifah as a screen presence, though? She has this kind of smug, plastered-on grin and plays every character the same way, which didn't even bother me so much back in the "Living Single" days but now that she's in all these big movies, it's pretty annoying.
c) Grindhouse
Man, I really wanted to see this in the theater, but I'm glad I at least got to catch the whole thing on cable as one piece with the trailers and all, not split up into 2 movies. Of the features, I thought Planet Terror was way better, though I'm biased because I'm a big fan of that kind of over-the-top Dead Alive-style gore. I'm surprised how many people preferred Death Proof, though, even with the amazing car stunts and a couple great scenes it was still kind of stubbornly awkward in its structure and the dialogue-heavy scenes were so not up to the par of previous Tarantino movies. My favorite trailer was probably Don't! although they were all pretty good.
d) Ghost Rider
I had kinda gotten to the point where I thought Nic Cage only made worthless bad movies, and entertainingly bad movies like Wickerman, but this actually turned out pretty good. The villain and the plot were kinda lame, but Cage carried it well with his weirdo Elvis vibe and his glass of jellybeans. I could see them really stepping it up for the sequel.
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on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 11:17 AM.
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