Movie Diary
a) The Other F Word
A documentary about rock musicians discussing fatherhood, which on the surface looks like the kind of thing I could vibe with, but it's pretty much exclusively focused on guys from SoCal punk bands, so generally the bulk of the movie is a bunch of guys I don't care about with occasional scenes of someone mildly interesting or likeable like, say, Flea. And it's not really well directed or even has any kind of point or POV beyond its premise.
b) One Day
The whole conceit of this story probably worked better as a book than as a movie, where it's mildly ridiculous to watch the two actors change hairstyles without aging at all over almost 20 years. But it is kind of charming and involving, at least until the emotionally manipulative bullshit ending.
c) The Help
There's something very smug and off-putting to me about movies like this that get to magically invent a story in a charged period like the Civil Rights era and just make all these convenient calls from the right side of history with all-too-perfect heroes and villains. The cast was great (and Bryce Dallas Howard played perhaps the most horrible character I've ever found tremendously, shamefully attractive), and there were some great moments, but the longer the thing dragged on the less I thought of it.
d) Captain America: The First Avenger
I think if I had seen this before The Avengers I would've been disappointed by its use of Captain America as a bland goody-goody, since this movie does such a good job of making a relatively boring superhero pretty likeable and compelling, all things considered. Shame about the first third of the movie where Chris Evans's giant head sits atop a tiny CGI body, though, that was just a fiasco and really made that whole part of it difficult to watch.
e) Larry Crowme
Given how rarely Tom Hanks has relied on his easy goofball charm since he started winning Oscars, I kind of just enjoyed how fluffy and pleasant this was. And Gugu Mbatha-Raw is just an amazing-looking woman, even if she was totally a manic pixie dream girl in this movie.
f) The Beaver
Despite the strangeness of the premise and the presence of post-psychotic break Mel Gibson, this is actually a pretty bland movie, hitting pretty much all the same emotional beats as any other post-American Beauty dramedy about family dysfunction. It was a pleasant surprise to see Jennifer Lawrence was in this, though, I guess.
g) Something Borrowed
I started watching this for Ginnifer Goodwin expecting another shitty romcom like He's Just Not That Into You, but it's kinda actually good? Mainly because the comic relief (Stevie Howie and Ashley Williams) is pretty funny, the movie actually encourages you to dislike Kate Hudson as much as you want to, and John Krasinski serves a somewhat novel purpose as the gay (not gay) best friend who actually tells the heroine she's being stupid and complicit in a ridiculous love triangle and helps move the plot forward. There is some pretty annoying direction, though, lots of sappy montages and scenes that end in slow motion, even the goofy scene where they dance to Salt N Pepa's "Push It."
h) Exporting Raymond
I'm fascinated by the phenomenon of remaking American sitcoms in Russia and other countries, but as a doc exploring the nuts and bolts of that it wasn't really very interesting and only occasionally entertaining.
i) Suck
Satirical horror movies are a dime a dozen these days and at times this movie, about a band who become vampires, felt like it had stumbled onto the same basic idea as Jennifer's Body. But it was also pretty consistently ridiculous and entertaining, and chock full of cameos by people like Henry Rollins and Iggy Pop that were funnier than they had a right to be.
j) Deception
Sometimes I'll see some movie on TV that was apparently in theaters less than 5 years ago and just not remember it ever existing and sit there watching, fascinated, waiting to recognize something I saw in a trailer. This Hugh Jackman/Ewan McGregor movie apparently really existed, but noone noticed and justifiably so. It's odd how McGregor started his career playing memorable characters with big personalities but over the last few years just seems to take the blandest, most earnest parts he can in every movie.
k) Whitecoats
Every minute of this comedy that takes place in a hospital basically feels like someone decided to make a movie out of "Scrubs" -- even the title basically admits it! Except without the serious bits, and also not as funny, but it does have its moments. Mostly it's just a weird unknown movie to see people like Dave Foley and Dan Aykroyd pop up in. Apparently Dave Thomas from SCTV directed it, which makes it even more depressing.
l) The Big Bounce
This movie looked really cheesy and unappealing when it first came out but now I'm like, huh, a lighthearted Elmore Leonard adaptation with Owen Wilson in Hawaii! What fun!
m) My Life Without Me
There is exactly one remarkable moment in this movie, which I will happily spoil for you because it is a very poorly made and aggravating film. During the scene in which the sad, soulful Sarah Polley, who has terminal cancer, hooks up with the sad, soulful Mark Ruffalo in a car in the rain, the moment before they're about to have their stupid inevitable kiss, she just screams this big electrifying scream right in his face with the biggest smile. Everything else before and after that is miserable and predictable with a lot of unearned drama.
n) All I Wanna Do
A few weeks ago I watched a coming-of-age Elijah Wood movie originally titled Try Seventeen and then given the blander title All I Want for its American release. Then I watched this, a coming-of-age Kirsten Dunst movie originally titled The Hairy Bird and then given the blander title All I Wanna Do for its American release. This one was better, if for no other reason than it was a surprisingly bawdy movie about teenage girls that starred Rachel Leigh Cook and Monica Keena, but it was also actually pretty funny. Not very convincing as a period piece, though.
o) Only The Lonely
Given how short John Candy's career was it's nice to be able to still catch him in a starring role I haven't seen already and it be pretty good. Definitely not one of his funnier movies, but it's refreshing to see him as the lead in a romcom where he gets a babe like Ally Sheedy, dude was just so incredibly loveable.
p) Repo Man
Had always heard this referred to as a cult classic but really had no idea what it was like or what it was about. Finally put it on the other night while I was staying up late getting some writing done, and I thought maybe my sleep-deprived state would make me enjoy this loopy movie more but instead I just wasn't able to get into it, still not sure if I disliked it or just didn't get it.
A documentary about rock musicians discussing fatherhood, which on the surface looks like the kind of thing I could vibe with, but it's pretty much exclusively focused on guys from SoCal punk bands, so generally the bulk of the movie is a bunch of guys I don't care about with occasional scenes of someone mildly interesting or likeable like, say, Flea. And it's not really well directed or even has any kind of point or POV beyond its premise.
b) One Day
The whole conceit of this story probably worked better as a book than as a movie, where it's mildly ridiculous to watch the two actors change hairstyles without aging at all over almost 20 years. But it is kind of charming and involving, at least until the emotionally manipulative bullshit ending.
c) The Help
There's something very smug and off-putting to me about movies like this that get to magically invent a story in a charged period like the Civil Rights era and just make all these convenient calls from the right side of history with all-too-perfect heroes and villains. The cast was great (and Bryce Dallas Howard played perhaps the most horrible character I've ever found tremendously, shamefully attractive), and there were some great moments, but the longer the thing dragged on the less I thought of it.
d) Captain America: The First Avenger
I think if I had seen this before The Avengers I would've been disappointed by its use of Captain America as a bland goody-goody, since this movie does such a good job of making a relatively boring superhero pretty likeable and compelling, all things considered. Shame about the first third of the movie where Chris Evans's giant head sits atop a tiny CGI body, though, that was just a fiasco and really made that whole part of it difficult to watch.
e) Larry Crowme
Given how rarely Tom Hanks has relied on his easy goofball charm since he started winning Oscars, I kind of just enjoyed how fluffy and pleasant this was. And Gugu Mbatha-Raw is just an amazing-looking woman, even if she was totally a manic pixie dream girl in this movie.
f) The Beaver
Despite the strangeness of the premise and the presence of post-psychotic break Mel Gibson, this is actually a pretty bland movie, hitting pretty much all the same emotional beats as any other post-American Beauty dramedy about family dysfunction. It was a pleasant surprise to see Jennifer Lawrence was in this, though, I guess.
g) Something Borrowed
I started watching this for Ginnifer Goodwin expecting another shitty romcom like He's Just Not That Into You, but it's kinda actually good? Mainly because the comic relief (Stevie Howie and Ashley Williams) is pretty funny, the movie actually encourages you to dislike Kate Hudson as much as you want to, and John Krasinski serves a somewhat novel purpose as the gay (not gay) best friend who actually tells the heroine she's being stupid and complicit in a ridiculous love triangle and helps move the plot forward. There is some pretty annoying direction, though, lots of sappy montages and scenes that end in slow motion, even the goofy scene where they dance to Salt N Pepa's "Push It."
h) Exporting Raymond
I'm fascinated by the phenomenon of remaking American sitcoms in Russia and other countries, but as a doc exploring the nuts and bolts of that it wasn't really very interesting and only occasionally entertaining.
i) Suck
Satirical horror movies are a dime a dozen these days and at times this movie, about a band who become vampires, felt like it had stumbled onto the same basic idea as Jennifer's Body. But it was also pretty consistently ridiculous and entertaining, and chock full of cameos by people like Henry Rollins and Iggy Pop that were funnier than they had a right to be.
j) Deception
Sometimes I'll see some movie on TV that was apparently in theaters less than 5 years ago and just not remember it ever existing and sit there watching, fascinated, waiting to recognize something I saw in a trailer. This Hugh Jackman/Ewan McGregor movie apparently really existed, but noone noticed and justifiably so. It's odd how McGregor started his career playing memorable characters with big personalities but over the last few years just seems to take the blandest, most earnest parts he can in every movie.
k) Whitecoats
Every minute of this comedy that takes place in a hospital basically feels like someone decided to make a movie out of "Scrubs" -- even the title basically admits it! Except without the serious bits, and also not as funny, but it does have its moments. Mostly it's just a weird unknown movie to see people like Dave Foley and Dan Aykroyd pop up in. Apparently Dave Thomas from SCTV directed it, which makes it even more depressing.
l) The Big Bounce
This movie looked really cheesy and unappealing when it first came out but now I'm like, huh, a lighthearted Elmore Leonard adaptation with Owen Wilson in Hawaii! What fun!
m) My Life Without Me
There is exactly one remarkable moment in this movie, which I will happily spoil for you because it is a very poorly made and aggravating film. During the scene in which the sad, soulful Sarah Polley, who has terminal cancer, hooks up with the sad, soulful Mark Ruffalo in a car in the rain, the moment before they're about to have their stupid inevitable kiss, she just screams this big electrifying scream right in his face with the biggest smile. Everything else before and after that is miserable and predictable with a lot of unearned drama.
n) All I Wanna Do
A few weeks ago I watched a coming-of-age Elijah Wood movie originally titled Try Seventeen and then given the blander title All I Want for its American release. Then I watched this, a coming-of-age Kirsten Dunst movie originally titled The Hairy Bird and then given the blander title All I Wanna Do for its American release. This one was better, if for no other reason than it was a surprisingly bawdy movie about teenage girls that starred Rachel Leigh Cook and Monica Keena, but it was also actually pretty funny. Not very convincing as a period piece, though.
o) Only The Lonely
Given how short John Candy's career was it's nice to be able to still catch him in a starring role I haven't seen already and it be pretty good. Definitely not one of his funnier movies, but it's refreshing to see him as the lead in a romcom where he gets a babe like Ally Sheedy, dude was just so incredibly loveable.
p) Repo Man
Had always heard this referred to as a cult classic but really had no idea what it was like or what it was about. Finally put it on the other night while I was staying up late getting some writing done, and I thought maybe my sleep-deprived state would make me enjoy this loopy movie more but instead I just wasn't able to get into it, still not sure if I disliked it or just didn't get it.
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on Saturday, July 14, 2012 at 11:00 PM.
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