Movie Diary
a) Take Shelter
Michael Shannon was really pretty perfectly cast in this movie, but at a certain point towards the ending, I got a sense of what a traditonal psychological thriller it really was, and how it would've been pretty much just as good as a blockbuster with someone more bankable in the role. And then maybe the CGI birds would've looked a little less hokey. The payoff at the end was powerful, though.
b) The Debt
I have a bad habit of putting on movies while I'm working on a deadline, so it ends up being the background noise to me writing and I don't give the movie proper attention even when I probably should. So with a movie like this at the end I'll kind of sneak a look at plot summaries and realize all the plot that escaped my notice. I did enjoy it on a surface level, though -- I feel like it's rare that a movie that has two actors play the main character at different ages gives each substantial screentime, like invariably one is the true embodiment of the protagonist and the other is just a ringer. So it was interesting to see Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain both really be the same character and for it to work.
c) Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
I remember getting really pulled in by the trailer for this, and then when the title was revealed I kinda rolled my eyes like oh, lame, I'm not seeing that. And then I found out that Andy Serkis did the motion capture acting for the main ape, and I was back on board. But I was still surprised at how much I liked this -- even though I never forgot I was watching CGI apes the story with them was really well told, made you feel for them and kinda see how the Serkis monkey (sorry) was almost human, feel kind of happy for the apes when they took over. And when that did happen, it was kind of frightening how plausible it was within the constraints of the premise.
d) The Change-Up
It was really sad watching this movie flail around, trying to earn that R rating so that it would feel less lame about being a hoary old-fashioned body swap comedy. Don't know why I watched it, really.
e) Paul
The trailers for this looked corny but I figured that was mostly due to the premise and not being able to show dirty jokes in the TV ads and that it would ultimately be somewhere in the neighborhood of as funny as Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. But nope, not one laugh, totally worthless movie.
f) The Kids Are All Right
It was weird to read up on this movie after the fact and learn that it was semi-autobiographical, because I got such a sense watching it that they kind of started with the premise and then filled in the characters and their feelings and motivations from there. It all felt kind of bland and colorless, for a movie that was driven by emotions and relationships. Mark Ruffalo probably succeeded the most at putting across a realistic character but he probably had less to do than the other main characters. Maybe would've been better if there was a little more focus on the titular kids.
g) Vertigo
It's funny, I love the Hitchcock movies I've seen, but I've seen a random assemblage of them, including a few slightly less iconic ones like Rope and Rebecca, but not some of the really big canonical flicks. But I noticed that a bunch of them are OnDemand so I've been trying to check some out. As a fan of Rope I love kind of dark older Jimmy Stewart so it's great to see him in this mode, and some of the visual elements of Vertigo really are pretty amazing, but I think I need to see it multiple times for it to sink in.
Michael Shannon was really pretty perfectly cast in this movie, but at a certain point towards the ending, I got a sense of what a traditonal psychological thriller it really was, and how it would've been pretty much just as good as a blockbuster with someone more bankable in the role. And then maybe the CGI birds would've looked a little less hokey. The payoff at the end was powerful, though.
b) The Debt
I have a bad habit of putting on movies while I'm working on a deadline, so it ends up being the background noise to me writing and I don't give the movie proper attention even when I probably should. So with a movie like this at the end I'll kind of sneak a look at plot summaries and realize all the plot that escaped my notice. I did enjoy it on a surface level, though -- I feel like it's rare that a movie that has two actors play the main character at different ages gives each substantial screentime, like invariably one is the true embodiment of the protagonist and the other is just a ringer. So it was interesting to see Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain both really be the same character and for it to work.
c) Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
I remember getting really pulled in by the trailer for this, and then when the title was revealed I kinda rolled my eyes like oh, lame, I'm not seeing that. And then I found out that Andy Serkis did the motion capture acting for the main ape, and I was back on board. But I was still surprised at how much I liked this -- even though I never forgot I was watching CGI apes the story with them was really well told, made you feel for them and kinda see how the Serkis monkey (sorry) was almost human, feel kind of happy for the apes when they took over. And when that did happen, it was kind of frightening how plausible it was within the constraints of the premise.
d) The Change-Up
It was really sad watching this movie flail around, trying to earn that R rating so that it would feel less lame about being a hoary old-fashioned body swap comedy. Don't know why I watched it, really.
e) Paul
The trailers for this looked corny but I figured that was mostly due to the premise and not being able to show dirty jokes in the TV ads and that it would ultimately be somewhere in the neighborhood of as funny as Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. But nope, not one laugh, totally worthless movie.
f) The Kids Are All Right
It was weird to read up on this movie after the fact and learn that it was semi-autobiographical, because I got such a sense watching it that they kind of started with the premise and then filled in the characters and their feelings and motivations from there. It all felt kind of bland and colorless, for a movie that was driven by emotions and relationships. Mark Ruffalo probably succeeded the most at putting across a realistic character but he probably had less to do than the other main characters. Maybe would've been better if there was a little more focus on the titular kids.
g) Vertigo
It's funny, I love the Hitchcock movies I've seen, but I've seen a random assemblage of them, including a few slightly less iconic ones like Rope and Rebecca, but not some of the really big canonical flicks. But I noticed that a bunch of them are OnDemand so I've been trying to check some out. As a fan of Rope I love kind of dark older Jimmy Stewart so it's great to see him in this mode, and some of the visual elements of Vertigo really are pretty amazing, but I think I need to see it multiple times for it to sink in.
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