Miscellaneous Movie Musings the Sequel

[flippyshark]

In honor of the late Zelda Rubinstein, and because I've been wanting to for a while, I watched Poltergeist again for the first time in quite a while. It had been long enough that I had forgotten how many wonderful little touches there are in this movie. The big scares don't have the impact they used to, but the performances are wonderful, and I had a great time re-encountering some of my favorite things about this film:

- The early scene in which Carol Ann loads up Tweety's cigar box chokes me up every time. And the burial scene soon thereafter is very funny.
- My favorite little moment - Buzz the dog is in the master bedroom barking madly at the spot on the wall, then runs purposefully out of the room, returning moments later with his favorite squeaky toy.
- WTF is with that terrible edit between the kitchen scene and the awkward visit to the neighbors?!?
- Beatrice Straight is just wonderful as the sympathetic and nervous parapsychologist.
- The "midnight snack" scene is gratuitous but sensational. And really, was that guy actually going to fry himself up a steak in someone else's house in the middle of the night? How rude.
- Zelda Rubinstein is brilliant, funny and perfect.
- Emotionally, this movie is over about fifteen minutes before it really ends, but that last reel is still really fun frosting on the cake.
- It's impossible not to think about the early ill fates of Dominique Dunne and Heather O'Rourke. Beyond sad.
- Some rough edges, but this is a wonderful movie.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Having spent the last several months immersed in the comedy stylings of the likes of Patton Oswald and his fellow Comedy Death Ray crowd, we finally gave in to the repeated mentions of the movie Big Fan and got off our butts...wait, no, got on our butts...to add it to our instant Netflix Queue.

I was sadly a little disappointed. It was mostly a by-the-numbers indy film. Patton certainly delivered a solid performance of his character, there were definitely some priceless moments in there ("I don't like root beer!!!"), and the little bit of a twist at the end kept me guessing. But on the whole it lacked enough substance throughout to rise above the "great idea, adequate execution" level and at points risked losing my interest.

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

In honor of the late Zelda Rubinstein, and because I've been wanting to for a while, I watched Poltergeist again for the first time in quite a while...

I always imagined that Steve Freeling's boss was the brother of the Mayor of Amity Island.

I love that movie.

I always thought the Steve and Diane were the coolest parents on Earth.

[Alex]

I may have been too subtle in my review, but I really didn't like When in Rome.

An odd thing is that I really have no problem loving a movie that everybody else hates but I doubt myself when I hate something everybody else loves. Fortunately, it has just a 17% at Rotten Tomatoes and most of the reviews I've looked at are even harder on the movie than I was.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Everything I've seen about that movie has screamed stupid. Good to hear my instincts were right.

[Snowflake]

Great review Alex. Really. I'm sure your review was way more entertaining than the film. Saved me $10 (or $14)

[Prudence]

We finally saw the Hurt Locker. Like everything I see lately, mixed feelings abound.

[Moonliner]

The Razzie nominations are out for this year. Transformers and Land of the Lost are up for top honors.

It looks like Sandra Bullock could be up for a Worst Actress Razzie and Best Actress Oscar this year (different movies). I wonder if that's ever happened before. Not that she stands a chance of winning both. It's sure to be Mega Fox's year at the Razzies.

[Alex]

Thought of Eddie Murphy with Dreamgirls and Norbit but those were in consecutive years.

[Prudence]

Now that the Oscars are nearing once again, we're catching up on last year's nominees. (Okay, and we finally signed up for Netflix, which means we're busily cranking through all the things we've ever wanted to watch.)

So, we watched Slumdog Millionaire tonight. Perhaps it's just that other people heard it was so great and were disappointed and that we heard it was awful and were thus delightfully surprised. Regardless, I liked it rather a lot. I liked it's Bollywoodness (someone dies, destiny guides life, one couple ends up together, etc...) I liked that it took place somewhere else. I liked that it didn't have Hollywood stars that I had to spend half the film remembering that they weren't whatever character they played last.

Most of all, I liked the escapism. Maybe it's just this time in my life, but I'm starting to feel comfortable acknowledging that I want and enjoy escapism. Sometimes I feel like the only "real" movies are the downers. Apparently it's not Film unless I ponder the meaninglessness of life as the credits roll.

I didn't really comment on the Hurt Locker except to see that we'd seen it. Why? I could recognize that it was technically well done, but I have no urge to see it again and kind of wish I'd never seen it in the first place. There are big, horrible, sucktastic things going on with my family right now, and I don't want to be reminded of all the other sh!te going on out there, you know? Maybe I'm pathetic, but I have a limited capacity for attempted empathy. If I have to shoulder it all I'm going to end up in the fetal position around a box of Twinkies.

Anyhow, I like escape. I like movies where people are in love at the end. I am in love, and I want to watch movies where people act like I feel. I want to watch first kisses while I snuggle up against my sweetie and remember when. But most of all, when I see credits roll I want to feel like I should go do something positive -- be it seek out adventure, try out for a game show, make an outfit to go with the corset, or just be reminded of the many happinesses in my life.

Maybe other people are different. Maybe nihilism makes others thankful for what they have and invites them to look at how they can make a difference. Me - I feel immobilized. Maybe happy endings are by definition pablum, but they are what make my world turn in a sparkly, twinkly, rave party fashion.

So there.