Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Chernabog]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

And after that, The Simpsons episode with the production of "Oh, Streetcar!"

I'm living in hell-a! STELLLAAAAA!!!!!!

:P I love that episode. Thanks for the netflix suggestions!!! I love watching (or reading, i.e. John Steinbeck) something with the preconceived idea that it is old and stuffy, and finding out that it is indeed entertaining and accessible.

[innerSpaceman]

Last Night's Screener Double Feature was Michael Clayton and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

I can highly recommend the Jesse James movie as a sleep aid. OMG, what a bore! Brat Pitt plays a piece of wood named Jesse James, and Casey Affleck is actually really good as the creep Robert Ford who kills him and puts us out of our misery. The movie is only enjoyable in the last half hour after James is killed, when Ford is making himself infamous as a cowardly assassin. The cinematography is beautiful, but the movie is dullsville.

However, I did enjoy the stunt casting of Garret Dillahunt in a supporting role, since he played Jack McCall on Deadwood, the Cowardly Assassin of Wild Bill Hickok. Tee Hee, I was amused.



I recommend Michael Clayton on its own consderable merits. George Clooney is playing to type, as an attractive, world-weary cynic down on his luck. But he carries the movie as a real movie star, practially on camera the entire time. The film is a neat riff on corporate corruption and the toll it takes. Tom Wilkinson is, as usual, excellent as the attorney who knows too much and takes a dive off the deep end of sanity.


See Clayton, skip James.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I can highly recommend the Jesse James movie as a sleep aid. OMG, what a bore! Brat Pitt plays a piece of wood named Jesse James, and Casey Affleck is actually really good as the creep Robert Ford who kills him and puts us out of our misery. The movie is only enjoyable in the last half hour after James is killed, when Ford is making himself infamous as a cowardly assassin. The cinematography is beautiful, but the movie is dullsville.

However, I did enjoy the stunt casting of Garret Dillahunt in a supporting role, since he played Jack McCall on Deadwood, the Cowardly Assassin of Wild Bill Hickok. Tee Hee, I was amused.

I finally got around to watching it. I avoided it in theaters and have had it from Netflix, sitting next to my TV since before the Oscars.

I loved it. I completely understand why the people who don't like it, don't like it. And it wouldn't have taken much to push me into that camp. But I'm thoroughly in the camp of those who loved it.

I didn't notice Garret Dillahunt but the stunt casting that really was a poor choice was in using James Carville (yes, the political consultant) as the governor of Missouri. Took me right out of the movie for several minutes.

[CoasterMatt]

Yay! Finally somebody else who thought TAoJJbtCRF was as boring as can be!
The History Channel documentaries about Jesse James are FAR more interesting.

[Alex]

A lot of people have found it to be a big bore (the critics who don't like it generally say so; interestingly it is getting a worst cream of the crop than overall at rottentomatoes).

I'm intrigued but those who like it seem to generally compare it to Days of Heaven a film I really can't stand and also think is a horrible bore.

[flippyshark]

I just watched The Long Riders (1980), a very non-boring movie about Jesse James and pals. James Keach as Jesse James was a bit of a weak spot, I thought, but Stacy is great as Frank James, and David Carradine's performance as Cole Younger is fantastic. In this version, Bob Ford is played by Christopher Guest. He and his brother seem to be played for comic effect, but are underwritten. On the whole, this is very entertaining, but dramatically left me just slightly dissatisfied. However, the amazing musical score by Ry Cooder has got to be heard. It lifts the movie from "pretty darn good" to "I've got to own this!"

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Of Juno: the reviewers' reviews are very apt; the opening act involves line after line of precocious dialogue that, while clever and amusing, doesn't quite ring honest. (Not that I hated it, mind you. I like my share of clever dialogue.) But as the film began to open up, it deepened and became very satisfying. I cried - and not just because conception problems hits a nerve, but also because the several sweet and honest performances did.

Ellen Page, the titular pregnant teenager, gives a terrific portrayal of a cocksure (vulvasure?) youth whose know-it-all morphs into knows-it-less. Michael Cera is her confused best friend who impregnated her; he gives the sweetest delivery of my favorite line in quite awhile. J. Jonah Jameson and Allison Janney seem very much like real (and loving) parents. Jennifer Garner surprised me with a terrific ice-queen-melting performance as the potential adoptive mother, and Jason Bateman nails the role of her husband. It was like everyone knew exactly who their characters were and what they wanted and how they hurt and why.

The screenplay (by the much buzzed-about "stripper," Diablo Cody-- who, as I've gathered, has successfully invented herself in the way she imagines would be buzzworthy, since she started stripping AFTER she was already working in writing/advertising) other than the flaws I talked about earlier, is strong and took the story to places that I thought were kind of surprising (in their, you know, realness. This is Hollywood, after all, and who expects an emotion or a plot point to ring true?) The soundtrack is great and I'm planning to purchase it. The directing continues to show that the younger Reitman has real potential.

Of Atonement: I really regret not reading it first. I suspect it's the better of the two. Nevertheless, the first "movement" of the film completely involved me and was surprisingly funny. Performances very good all around, particularly those of the younger sister (Briony) at her various ages. Keira Knightley was as Keira Knightley is, but her scenes with James MacEvoy were quite good. I tend to think she (like Natalie Portman, her Star Wars doppelganger) reflects the talent around her, and when it's good, she is too. And James MacEvoy - he has absolute star quality and I look forward to seeing him performing for the rest of his life (and mine. I hope.) Side note, if you still haven't seen The Last King of Scotland, you're missing out.

The film lost me a little during the war years, as I'm sad to admit that "mid-film war periods" tend to do. (That, I think, is my personal problem, not the film's.) There was a hell of a tracking shot that swept me back in, though - and really gave a perspective on the soldiers' lives that I appreciated. The direction was strong, and I suspect it had a fair bit to do with the very, very interesting soundtrack (which is already on my iTunes.) The soundtrack, in retrospect, is a very clever nod to the plot. From what I have gathered, it's a hard novel to adapt, but I thought the use of time flow, repetition, and the concept of truth in storytelling, was quite good. Worth seeing, particularly for the very strong first act. But (though I haven't yet) I'd advise you to read the book first.

[innerSpaceman]

Sigh, I want to see both of those ^, but I'm never getting to the movies, let's face it. They'll have to wait for Netflix, along with Charlie Wilson's War, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, There Will Be Blood, and other current releases I can't think of at the moment, plus a ton of Fall releases that I missed with my busy schedule.

Alas, with my Bro-in-law now officially retired from the movie biz, the screeners will be fewer and fewer as the years go by. This year's crop is noticeably slim.


Of those, I watched In the Valley of Elah last night. Another enjoyable laconic performance from Tommy Lee Jones, with Susan Sarandon very effective in a small supporting role. It was gripping and sad, but a little hackneyed from a whodunit point of view, which is basically what the movie is. But since it's based on real events, and the whodunit is basically who-really-dunit, I can't complain much about the plot points.


Not great, but I'm glad I saw it.

[Ghoulish Delight]

We finally watched Rosemary's Baby. It's been one of those movies that's shown up via Netflix and sat for months. We actually had it for months once, and sent it back without viewing it. This time we actually kinda let all of our Netflix sit around for months and months.

But today was the day! Well, actually, we started watching it yesterday but got interrupted.

Turns out we were just waiting until after our trip to New York so we could visit The Dakota, site of John Lennon's assassination and the location for the exterior shots of the apartment building in the movie.

It's a fabulously shot movie, engaging throughout. The conception sequence was awesome. But the end was kinda anti-climactic.

[innerSpaceman]

OMG, John Lennon's assassination was 27 years and 6 days ago. Wow.




On a movie note ... saw something in theaters for a change, but not one of the many movies I'd been looking forward to. Surprisingly, I Am Legend did not disappoint. I really quite liked it.