Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Alex]

Watched Sex and Breakfast yesterday. Mostly because I was curious to see Macauley Culkin as an adult. This kid is 28 years old! That means I'm old! It is bad enough that I'm starting to see baseball players born when I was in high school.

Anyway, it is a horribly boring movie. A movie 98% about sex and it has almost no sex. A movie with Eliza Dushku and Alexis Dziena and it tries to impress us with their acting rather than their bodies (and the acting thing certainly isn't their strong suit).

A big part of the problem is their apparent age. This movie is about two young couples having sex issues so they seek out sex therapy. Group sex therapy (though there isn't really ever any group sex, just swapping partners). The big problem is that they seem way too young for this (not just for the having problems part but for the seeking therapy part).

The four young uns are Culkin, Dziena, Dushku, and Kuno Becker. In real life they were 27, 23, 27, and 29. On screen they looked 19, 15, 20, and 22. Just didn't work. And was boring.

So, I strongly recommend that you rush out and see this so that I am not alone in having experienced this clunker.

[Alex]

And of course the problem with combining the ratings is that not everybody is working from the same standards.

Some critics review every movie against Citizen Kane, while another will review it against the genre or against what it is trying to be (Ebert claims to do this, thus what some people consider overly generous reviews; Crank may not be a good movie on the full spectrum of all movies but it could be a well above average action movie).

So I find RT and Metacritic interesting (I find all statistics interesting) but not necessarily useful. It is of know use to me to know that the critic for the Podunk Advertiser-Gazette didn't like X without the context of knowing how he approaches movie criticism.

[Morrigoon]

Just watched Jodhaa Akbar. It's a Bollywood film starring Aishwarya Rai (available for instant viewing on Netflix!)

Enjoyed it a lot. Sort of a medieval middle eastern tale. Work checking out.

[Alex]

Watched Starman, it's been quite a while but I still like it for its relative simplicity if not completely confusing purpose of them being here.

Anyway, it's been about 24 years, so the baby should be fully into his knowledge. Wouldn't mind seeing what that means if Hollywood is looking for retread ideas. Sadly the last Indy movie showed that it might not be a good idea to have Karen Allen back.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Saw The Hangover. I love a good stupid Vegas bachelor party movie and this didn't disappoint. laughs all the way through.

[Alex]

I enjoyed it but it never really took off for me. Solid laughs (and very solidly constructed in how it all ends up hanging together without going too off the wall).

Just got back from The Brothers Bloom. Really liked the style and the first 70% was a lot of fun and then The Big Finish just didn't fit well with the experience that came before. But that is a flaw of almost all con movies.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

So far this weekend...

Away We Go
A charming but a confused pregnant couple goes on a journey to figure out not just where to raise their baby, but how to raise their baby.

This little gem of an emotional comedy was not well-reviewed but neither Tom nor I agreed with the points the reviewers were making. It made me laugh, right out loud, and frequently. At moments it became so wonderful and fragile and thoughtful. A common complaint was that the film was mean-spirited in its comedy, but I thought it was no more so than your standard comedy. I loved it. A lot.

We went to see it primarily because it was the first screenplay written by my favorite modern author (Dave Eggers, "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius") and his wife (Vendela Vida "Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name") - they are the co-founders of literacy/tutoring non-profit, 826 Valencia (and locally, 826 L.A.) The film was directed by someone I don't always like (Sam Mendes) and it starred someone I adore (John Krasinski) and someone I didn't know I adored (Maya Rudolph.) Plus a huge slew of wonderful supporting characters played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Allison Janney, Catherine O'Hara, Jeff Daniels, Melanie Lynsky and others.

See it, and ignore the reviews.

Night at the Museum II
If you feel compelled towards family-type films, this is a harmless one. Diverting. Mostly notable is the charming Amy Adams as a tarty (almost Katherine Hepburn-like) Amelia Earhart. My love for her knows no bounds (and I can't wait for "Julie and Julia" later this summer.)

Angels and Demons
Similarly diverting. It kept my attention through its two and a half hours. I hadn't read the book, but I admit I enjoyed the etymology and puzzles within DaVinci Code (book, not movie so much) and that kind of thing followed here.

The Hangover
I worked on the website so I may be slightly biased, but I found this to be fun and pretty consistently amusing. Especially Zach Galifianakis, whose awkward creepiness was good for many of the laughs. If you enjoy Vegas comedy, or the "dude-where's-my" genre, definitely check it out.

Drag Me to Hell
I can tell that this movie is fun, gory, gross horror. It unfortunately might've been too soon to watch a horror movie; a few things started bringing back some bad memories I'm valiantly trying not to think about, so I don't think it was exactly a good experience for me. But if you love retro-style thrills and gross-out horror, you'll probably really enjoy it.

[Alex]

I'm intrigued by Away We Go but where David Eggers is a big plus for you, I can't really stand much of anything he's ever produced so I'm not sure I can overcome that. It'll probably stay on my Netflix DVD queue (assuming I can ever add it since it is maxed out and I haven't watched an actual DVD in months).

Oh, and something that occurred to me while drifting to sleep last night. Why is it called The Brothers Bloom? Only one of them is named Bloom. The other is Stephen.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

The Hangover
I worked on the website so I may be slightly biased, but I found this to be fun and pretty consistently amusing. Especially Zach Galifianakis, whose awkward creepiness was good for many of the laughs. If you enjoy Vegas comedy, or the "dude-where's-my" genre, definitely check it out.

Please don't compare this to Dude Where's My Car! <shudder>

You're right, Galifianakis carries the movie.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I wouldn't say he carried it, everyone else was great too. He just gave it that extra punch that made it more interesting than the scores of other Vegas bachelor party flicks.