Movie Diary
a) The Dark Knight Rises
I understand and often agree with most of the big criticisms of this movie, but I also really enjoyed it, quite a bit more than expected. Tom Hardy's Bane was the weak link of the movie, as far as I'm concerned, mainly because of that stupid botched voice overdubbing and his goofy, Yoda-like inflections, but the way his character's role changed by the end also kinda robbed it of its power, in retrospect. But Hathaway killed it as Catwoman, and there were just enough twists not telegraphed by the trailer that I was pretty much on the edge of my seat the whole movie. I think there's a lot of inherent bombast and pretension in a Nolan movie, but while this wasn't as creative as some of his non-Batman movies, his Batman movies tend to be more watchable overall.
b) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
I was skeptical of Rooney Mara's casting in this movie, not because she was an unknown or I had any idea of what the book was about, but because the cute Natalie Portman type from The Social Network seemed like an odd fit for all those tats and piercings. For the most part, she seemed to fall into it well, but sometimes her voice didn't seem up to the transformation, and not just in terms of accent. Also just never really felt compelled with the story enough to really want to see some of the awful things the movie onscreen, and I don't just mean that cheeseball screensaver opening credits sequence.
c) In Time
This has a relatively novel premise, decent cast, nice-looking direction, but like a lot of promising sci-fi movies was ultimately flattened by its kind of artless exposition and businesslike way of rolling out the storyline and hitting all its predictable beats right on schedule. The way it eventually became so transparent about its central metaphor that it turned into an old fashioned Bonnie and Clyde movie was kind of fun, though.
d) What's Your Number?
Not as horrendous as the trailers made me fear, but pretty bad. Definitely one for the "why did I watch this?" files.
e) Straw Dogs
I never saw the original, but this did a pretty good job of slowly escalating the tension and becoming more and more difficult to watch. Toward the end the direction gets overwrought but for the most part it's pretty harrowing. I guess respect to Alexander Skarsgard for risking his sex symbol status to play a terrifying rapist in a movie that wasn't going to win anyone any Oscars, though.
f) Contagion
My wife is a virologist who's working on a Ph.D, so it was fun to watch this with her and get running commentary on how accurate or realistic different aspects of the story are -- she was mostly impressed, only was really amused or annoyed by how quickly the scientific community was able to analyze the virus and start working on a vaccine, she thought that was pretty implausible. In general I thought this was really good, certain things about the handling and resolution (or lack thereof) of all the different intermingling storylines didn't always work well but it was mostly a good use of a strong ensemble and hit some interesting rhythms, kinda subverted expectations in some interesting ways. Probably the most implausible thing about this movie was the teenage girl who decided to play a 2nd tier '80s U2 song at her private prom (although I do love that song).
g) Colombiana
This had some pretty kickass scenes but it didn't really hold my attention.
h) 30 Minutes Or Less
I had a bad feeling about this movie just from the fact that someone had the poor taste to turn the actual story of a pizza delivery boy getting blown up into a light stoner comedy, but god this was just the biggest piece of shit. Like someone trying really hard to re-write The Pineapple Express after having learned how to make a movie from Kevin Smith.
i) Swinging With The Finkels
This movie is about a couple played by Martin Freeman and Mandy Moore, and a lot of the rest of the cast was also a mix of Brits and Americans so for about half the movie I was just distracted trying to figure out what country it actually took place in. It was London, apparently, but it may as well have been California as far as I could tell. Kind of reminded me of Hall Pass in that it was kind of packaged as a raunchy sex comedy but ended up being a fairly sentimental ode to monogamy.
j) Jumping The Broom
It's sad that Tyler Perry movies have lowered the standard for mainstream black films to the point that I almost assumed this movie, which is mostly populated by Perry flick alums, would be as half-assed as one of his. It was actually pretty charming and well made, even if it was ultimately just an overstuff ensemble rom-com.
k) Tomorrow, When The War Began
An apocalyptic action flick populated entirely by photogenic teens apparently based on a young adult novel, this probably could've been as good or as successful as The Hunger Games with more money pumped into the franchise. As it is, it's kind of an underwhelming but occasionally thrilling little movie that gets a lot of traction out of not letting the characters or the audience figure out what the hell is going on a lot of the time.
l) The American
This movie was not bad but I think it overlapped with enough other hitman movies and/or George Clooney movies that it just felt overly familiar and trite to people. Violante Placido is just an amazing-looking woman, though, movie was pretty watchable just for her.
m) Whip It
I don't know what was a stranger realization, that the Randy Quaid-looking guy in this movie was Daniel Stern, or that when I see Andrew Wilson in a movie now I think "Beef Supreme" instead of "Future Man."
n) Wake
You kinda know when a rom-com is doomed when the two leads are far better known for being good-looking than for being funny, and Bijou Phillips and Ian Somerhalder definitely don't let any air escape from this weak little trifle.
o) Bad Girl Island
Really bizarre straight-to-DVD movie starring Antonio Sabato Jr. that I thought was gonna be a straight up cheeseball erotic thriller but turned out to be like some weird conceptual shit where the second half of the movie is a meta thing about the characters making a movie of the first half, and then it turns out to be a weird political commentary, just a fucked up movie.
p) Charlie Bartlett
I have a theory that there's just way more movies being produced for high school/college-aged male leads than there are actors who can carry them well, which is why any Shia Lebeouf or Michael Cera with any ounce of popular appeal makes a billion movies by the time they turn 25 and even lower level guys like Jay Baruchel and Anton Yelchin get way more work than they really should. I mean, I get that Charlie Bartlett is not actually supposed to be a charismatic Ferris Bueller type so much as someone who wishes he was, but still, Yelchin is more convincing as an introvert who wants to be an introvert. Kat Dennings being Kat Dennings was kinda the main reason I watched this, though, and she was worth it, even if Robert Downey Jr. was mostly wasted as an empty foil.
q) Running With Scissors
Ryan Murphy turning a sketchy literary memoir about a dysfunctional family into some American Beauty bullshit is my idea of hell, I'm not sure why I watched this.
r) Masked & Anonymous
It's funny to me that history has remembered this movie, if it's remembered at all, as such an inscrutable experiment, when honestly, I feel like a movie starring and co-written by Bob Dylan couldn't be less ambiguous about what Dylan actually thinks of himself and how people see him than if his character was actually called Bob Dylan and not (ugh) "Jack Fate." Pretty stupid movie, in any event.
s) Trekkies
After hearing about this movie for years it was interesting to finally see it, especially since the whole idea of sci-fi nerds, and their place in pop culture, has changed so drastically in the past decade. Obviously some of the people in this movie were kinda freaks and still would be today, but they're also just kind of an accepted part of the fabric of fan culture now, and this movie, even at it seeks to foster that acceptance, kind of buys into the freak show.
t) Mad Dog And Glory
Bill Murray never had a long wilderness period, but there was definitely a chunk of the '90s, after Groundhog Day ended his run of successful starring vehicles, and before Rushmore cemented him as a beloved aging institution, where the world didn't really know what to do with him or how to appreciate him. It's actually not a bad period, though: he's good in Ed Wood and King Pin, and The Man Who Knew Too Little and Larger Than Life are better than their reputations would suggest. This movie would seem to be the most promising of the bunch, and it might be the best, but the role reversal of Murray as the crime world force of nature and DeNiro as the normal nice guy caught in his orbit doesn't really pay off. Uma Thurman was really something back then, though.
u) This Is My Life
I have vague memories of watching parts of this on TV as a kid, but didn't really watch the whole thing until after Nora Ephron died. It's pretty good!
v) Scenes From A Mall
Another movie I vaguely remember coming out when I was a kid, and it's funny that my earliest memory of Woody Allen was a weird one-off example of him starring in a mainstream flick he didn't write or direct. The actual movie is really nothing remarkable, beyond it being surreal to watch Woody and Bette Midler pleasantly bicker.
w) Under The Cherry Moon
Knowing Prince's soundtrack well and only knowing the movie for its flop reputation, it's surreal to actually watch this goofy, goofy movie with all those great Parade songs popping up amidst absurd plotting and acting. Glad I got to know the songs before seeing it, though, this could've really ruined it for me.
I understand and often agree with most of the big criticisms of this movie, but I also really enjoyed it, quite a bit more than expected. Tom Hardy's Bane was the weak link of the movie, as far as I'm concerned, mainly because of that stupid botched voice overdubbing and his goofy, Yoda-like inflections, but the way his character's role changed by the end also kinda robbed it of its power, in retrospect. But Hathaway killed it as Catwoman, and there were just enough twists not telegraphed by the trailer that I was pretty much on the edge of my seat the whole movie. I think there's a lot of inherent bombast and pretension in a Nolan movie, but while this wasn't as creative as some of his non-Batman movies, his Batman movies tend to be more watchable overall.
b) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
I was skeptical of Rooney Mara's casting in this movie, not because she was an unknown or I had any idea of what the book was about, but because the cute Natalie Portman type from The Social Network seemed like an odd fit for all those tats and piercings. For the most part, she seemed to fall into it well, but sometimes her voice didn't seem up to the transformation, and not just in terms of accent. Also just never really felt compelled with the story enough to really want to see some of the awful things the movie onscreen, and I don't just mean that cheeseball screensaver opening credits sequence.
c) In Time
This has a relatively novel premise, decent cast, nice-looking direction, but like a lot of promising sci-fi movies was ultimately flattened by its kind of artless exposition and businesslike way of rolling out the storyline and hitting all its predictable beats right on schedule. The way it eventually became so transparent about its central metaphor that it turned into an old fashioned Bonnie and Clyde movie was kind of fun, though.
d) What's Your Number?
Not as horrendous as the trailers made me fear, but pretty bad. Definitely one for the "why did I watch this?" files.
e) Straw Dogs
I never saw the original, but this did a pretty good job of slowly escalating the tension and becoming more and more difficult to watch. Toward the end the direction gets overwrought but for the most part it's pretty harrowing. I guess respect to Alexander Skarsgard for risking his sex symbol status to play a terrifying rapist in a movie that wasn't going to win anyone any Oscars, though.
f) Contagion
My wife is a virologist who's working on a Ph.D, so it was fun to watch this with her and get running commentary on how accurate or realistic different aspects of the story are -- she was mostly impressed, only was really amused or annoyed by how quickly the scientific community was able to analyze the virus and start working on a vaccine, she thought that was pretty implausible. In general I thought this was really good, certain things about the handling and resolution (or lack thereof) of all the different intermingling storylines didn't always work well but it was mostly a good use of a strong ensemble and hit some interesting rhythms, kinda subverted expectations in some interesting ways. Probably the most implausible thing about this movie was the teenage girl who decided to play a 2nd tier '80s U2 song at her private prom (although I do love that song).
g) Colombiana
This had some pretty kickass scenes but it didn't really hold my attention.
h) 30 Minutes Or Less
I had a bad feeling about this movie just from the fact that someone had the poor taste to turn the actual story of a pizza delivery boy getting blown up into a light stoner comedy, but god this was just the biggest piece of shit. Like someone trying really hard to re-write The Pineapple Express after having learned how to make a movie from Kevin Smith.
i) Swinging With The Finkels
This movie is about a couple played by Martin Freeman and Mandy Moore, and a lot of the rest of the cast was also a mix of Brits and Americans so for about half the movie I was just distracted trying to figure out what country it actually took place in. It was London, apparently, but it may as well have been California as far as I could tell. Kind of reminded me of Hall Pass in that it was kind of packaged as a raunchy sex comedy but ended up being a fairly sentimental ode to monogamy.
j) Jumping The Broom
It's sad that Tyler Perry movies have lowered the standard for mainstream black films to the point that I almost assumed this movie, which is mostly populated by Perry flick alums, would be as half-assed as one of his. It was actually pretty charming and well made, even if it was ultimately just an overstuff ensemble rom-com.
k) Tomorrow, When The War Began
An apocalyptic action flick populated entirely by photogenic teens apparently based on a young adult novel, this probably could've been as good or as successful as The Hunger Games with more money pumped into the franchise. As it is, it's kind of an underwhelming but occasionally thrilling little movie that gets a lot of traction out of not letting the characters or the audience figure out what the hell is going on a lot of the time.
l) The American
This movie was not bad but I think it overlapped with enough other hitman movies and/or George Clooney movies that it just felt overly familiar and trite to people. Violante Placido is just an amazing-looking woman, though, movie was pretty watchable just for her.
m) Whip It
I don't know what was a stranger realization, that the Randy Quaid-looking guy in this movie was Daniel Stern, or that when I see Andrew Wilson in a movie now I think "Beef Supreme" instead of "Future Man."
n) Wake
You kinda know when a rom-com is doomed when the two leads are far better known for being good-looking than for being funny, and Bijou Phillips and Ian Somerhalder definitely don't let any air escape from this weak little trifle.
o) Bad Girl Island
Really bizarre straight-to-DVD movie starring Antonio Sabato Jr. that I thought was gonna be a straight up cheeseball erotic thriller but turned out to be like some weird conceptual shit where the second half of the movie is a meta thing about the characters making a movie of the first half, and then it turns out to be a weird political commentary, just a fucked up movie.
p) Charlie Bartlett
I have a theory that there's just way more movies being produced for high school/college-aged male leads than there are actors who can carry them well, which is why any Shia Lebeouf or Michael Cera with any ounce of popular appeal makes a billion movies by the time they turn 25 and even lower level guys like Jay Baruchel and Anton Yelchin get way more work than they really should. I mean, I get that Charlie Bartlett is not actually supposed to be a charismatic Ferris Bueller type so much as someone who wishes he was, but still, Yelchin is more convincing as an introvert who wants to be an introvert. Kat Dennings being Kat Dennings was kinda the main reason I watched this, though, and she was worth it, even if Robert Downey Jr. was mostly wasted as an empty foil.
q) Running With Scissors
Ryan Murphy turning a sketchy literary memoir about a dysfunctional family into some American Beauty bullshit is my idea of hell, I'm not sure why I watched this.
r) Masked & Anonymous
It's funny to me that history has remembered this movie, if it's remembered at all, as such an inscrutable experiment, when honestly, I feel like a movie starring and co-written by Bob Dylan couldn't be less ambiguous about what Dylan actually thinks of himself and how people see him than if his character was actually called Bob Dylan and not (ugh) "Jack Fate." Pretty stupid movie, in any event.
s) Trekkies
After hearing about this movie for years it was interesting to finally see it, especially since the whole idea of sci-fi nerds, and their place in pop culture, has changed so drastically in the past decade. Obviously some of the people in this movie were kinda freaks and still would be today, but they're also just kind of an accepted part of the fabric of fan culture now, and this movie, even at it seeks to foster that acceptance, kind of buys into the freak show.
t) Mad Dog And Glory
Bill Murray never had a long wilderness period, but there was definitely a chunk of the '90s, after Groundhog Day ended his run of successful starring vehicles, and before Rushmore cemented him as a beloved aging institution, where the world didn't really know what to do with him or how to appreciate him. It's actually not a bad period, though: he's good in Ed Wood and King Pin, and The Man Who Knew Too Little and Larger Than Life are better than their reputations would suggest. This movie would seem to be the most promising of the bunch, and it might be the best, but the role reversal of Murray as the crime world force of nature and DeNiro as the normal nice guy caught in his orbit doesn't really pay off. Uma Thurman was really something back then, though.
u) This Is My Life
I have vague memories of watching parts of this on TV as a kid, but didn't really watch the whole thing until after Nora Ephron died. It's pretty good!
v) Scenes From A Mall
Another movie I vaguely remember coming out when I was a kid, and it's funny that my earliest memory of Woody Allen was a weird one-off example of him starring in a mainstream flick he didn't write or direct. The actual movie is really nothing remarkable, beyond it being surreal to watch Woody and Bette Midler pleasantly bicker.
w) Under The Cherry Moon
Knowing Prince's soundtrack well and only knowing the movie for its flop reputation, it's surreal to actually watch this goofy, goofy movie with all those great Parade songs popping up amidst absurd plotting and acting. Glad I got to know the songs before seeing it, though, this could've really ruined it for me.
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