Movie Diary
a) Stan Helsing
It's interesting how now there are so many horror movie parodies that there's this whole spectrum, from the clever but still silly like Young Frankenstein or Shaun Of The Dead down to more overtly mornic stuff like Scary Movie 4 or Club Dread. This is decidedly on the latter end, I don't even know if it ever played in theaters, the closest thing to stars it has are Kenan Thompson and the legendarily large-breasted Diora Baird.
b) The Invention Of Lying
As much as I unexpectedly enjoyed Ghost Town, I wasn't sure I was optimistic about another Ricky Gervais movie vehicle being good, but this was fun. I liked that they stuck to the concept really hard to the concept and milked a lot of jokes out of the premise, even if some of them were a bit obvious, a lot of others were great and unexpected.
c) Deep In The Valley
A really goofy broad comedy with Chris Pratt from "Parks & Recration" as one of 2 dudes who get transported into a porno movie, was kind of fun but not especially funny.
d) Big Fan
It's easy to be cynical about comics taking 'serious' roles in 'dark' movies, but Patton Oswalt has always been kind of a brooding thoughtful guy even in his standup and really he's got the perfect vibe to play this character. It's not a perfect movie and sometimes it felt like they were just playing out the predictable beats of the story, but the ending being not quite what you expect redeemed a lot of that, at least for me.
e) The Final Destination
I've only watched these movies a little bit at a time, and this is the 3D one so it was really just for the entertainment value of seeing how ridiculously over the top they got with the death scenes, really some sick and tasteless shit for a fairly big movie franchise that isn't considered like on the same level as the Saw movies or whatever.
The Time Traveller's Wife
I am a huge sap and enjoyed this probably more than any grown man should admit to. But really, the sci-fi elements of this worked well, they put an interesting twist on the idea of time travel and exploited it to full emotional impact. Also I think I'll watch Rachel McAdams look all pretty and sad in almost anything.
f) Whatever Works
I feel like I complain about a recent Woody Allen movie every time I write one of these entries, but honestly I keep watching them hoping for the best and they keep getting worse and worse. I may be biased here since I think "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is mediocre and that Larry David shouldn't be allowed in front of a camera, but seriously, watching him try to do all these long monologues where's he's addressing the camera on some played out "breaking the fourth wall" shit. It's especially a shame because I actually like the philosophical bent of the screenplay and the heart in the humor, and the guy just can't carry it in the slightest, and to be honest Allen's direction is just as much a problem. I almost think he should start doing movies with Alan Alda again.
g) Zerophilia
A totally weird and charming high concept indie comedy about a guy who realizes he can morph into a girl. This is probably my favorite discovery in channel surfing lately, and the only bummer is that neither the writer/director nor most of the cast have done much in the 5 years since, which is a shame since you always hope something great and underrated like this leads to bigger and better things for everyone involved. It helps that there are like 5 female cast members in this who are ridiculously beautiful and/or crushworthy.
h) Mulholland Dr.
I'd been putting off seeing this for a long time because I've always loved Eraserhead but have been intimidated by a lot of David Lynch's body of work and haven't been sure where to go next, and thought I should see more of the '80s and '90s stuff before seeing this. But it was available OnDemand, and I was bored, so hey. And I dunno, obviously movies like this are a bit ineffable and hard to pin down on purpose, but I don't think I liked it really at all.
i) Suburbia
My friend Scott gave me some DVDs to watch a couple years ago and I hope he wasn't expecting to get them back anytime soon because they'd been kind of sitting around my apartment for a long long time unwatched, and I just recently finally sat down to watch one of them. This is I guess considered one of the first 'punk' movies but man it's kind of hilarious what a caricature it is of the punk scene, almost like it's meant to scare the straights on a Reefer Madness tip, and some seriously laughable acting. I like some of the music scenes, though, might need to check out some T.S.O.L. stuff.
It's interesting how now there are so many horror movie parodies that there's this whole spectrum, from the clever but still silly like Young Frankenstein or Shaun Of The Dead down to more overtly mornic stuff like Scary Movie 4 or Club Dread. This is decidedly on the latter end, I don't even know if it ever played in theaters, the closest thing to stars it has are Kenan Thompson and the legendarily large-breasted Diora Baird.
b) The Invention Of Lying
As much as I unexpectedly enjoyed Ghost Town, I wasn't sure I was optimistic about another Ricky Gervais movie vehicle being good, but this was fun. I liked that they stuck to the concept really hard to the concept and milked a lot of jokes out of the premise, even if some of them were a bit obvious, a lot of others were great and unexpected.
c) Deep In The Valley
A really goofy broad comedy with Chris Pratt from "Parks & Recration" as one of 2 dudes who get transported into a porno movie, was kind of fun but not especially funny.
d) Big Fan
It's easy to be cynical about comics taking 'serious' roles in 'dark' movies, but Patton Oswalt has always been kind of a brooding thoughtful guy even in his standup and really he's got the perfect vibe to play this character. It's not a perfect movie and sometimes it felt like they were just playing out the predictable beats of the story, but the ending being not quite what you expect redeemed a lot of that, at least for me.
e) The Final Destination
I've only watched these movies a little bit at a time, and this is the 3D one so it was really just for the entertainment value of seeing how ridiculously over the top they got with the death scenes, really some sick and tasteless shit for a fairly big movie franchise that isn't considered like on the same level as the Saw movies or whatever.
The Time Traveller's Wife
I am a huge sap and enjoyed this probably more than any grown man should admit to. But really, the sci-fi elements of this worked well, they put an interesting twist on the idea of time travel and exploited it to full emotional impact. Also I think I'll watch Rachel McAdams look all pretty and sad in almost anything.
f) Whatever Works
I feel like I complain about a recent Woody Allen movie every time I write one of these entries, but honestly I keep watching them hoping for the best and they keep getting worse and worse. I may be biased here since I think "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is mediocre and that Larry David shouldn't be allowed in front of a camera, but seriously, watching him try to do all these long monologues where's he's addressing the camera on some played out "breaking the fourth wall" shit. It's especially a shame because I actually like the philosophical bent of the screenplay and the heart in the humor, and the guy just can't carry it in the slightest, and to be honest Allen's direction is just as much a problem. I almost think he should start doing movies with Alan Alda again.
g) Zerophilia
A totally weird and charming high concept indie comedy about a guy who realizes he can morph into a girl. This is probably my favorite discovery in channel surfing lately, and the only bummer is that neither the writer/director nor most of the cast have done much in the 5 years since, which is a shame since you always hope something great and underrated like this leads to bigger and better things for everyone involved. It helps that there are like 5 female cast members in this who are ridiculously beautiful and/or crushworthy.
h) Mulholland Dr.
I'd been putting off seeing this for a long time because I've always loved Eraserhead but have been intimidated by a lot of David Lynch's body of work and haven't been sure where to go next, and thought I should see more of the '80s and '90s stuff before seeing this. But it was available OnDemand, and I was bored, so hey. And I dunno, obviously movies like this are a bit ineffable and hard to pin down on purpose, but I don't think I liked it really at all.
i) Suburbia
My friend Scott gave me some DVDs to watch a couple years ago and I hope he wasn't expecting to get them back anytime soon because they'd been kind of sitting around my apartment for a long long time unwatched, and I just recently finally sat down to watch one of them. This is I guess considered one of the first 'punk' movies but man it's kind of hilarious what a caricature it is of the punk scene, almost like it's meant to scare the straights on a Reefer Madness tip, and some seriously laughable acting. I like some of the music scenes, though, might need to check out some T.S.O.L. stuff.
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on Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 9:25 PM.
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