Miscellaneous Movie Musings the Sequel

[Ghoulish Delight]

We've caught up on Bridesmaids (fun) and Hugo (liked it a lot). At home are Moneyball and 50/50. I intend to watch Moneyball before the MLB season starts. We'll see.

We also watched one of Louis C.K.'s standup DVDs, Hilarious. Lots of people have been prodding us to see his stuff. I've really liked the handful of bits I have seen of his, so I was really excited. But I think it was too much hype. Not that it wasn't good, but it wasn't quite the comic revelation that I expected based on how insistent so many people were that we see it.

[mousepod]

I liked Midnight In Paris, but never felt it transcended the basic idea. Heather described it as "a good short story." I get that.

I wanted to love Hugo, but I couldn't connect with its heart the way I think Scorsese wanted us to. I appreciated it.

The Artist? It was fun at the time. It didn't stay with me... but my memory is elevating it, so I might pick up the blu-ray when it comes out.

I think of all the Oscar movies I saw in the last year, the only two that I absolutely loved were Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and (sorry, Prudence) The Tree of Life. Unlike Hugo and The Artist, which famously "celebrated film", these two movies were both exceptional examples of filmmaking that told big stories in (mostly) small ways. They celebrated film by being great movies.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by Prudence

We saw Midnight in Paris and, while I adored the concept, I found many of the sequences where the whole modern group were talking to each other to be very high school theatre-esque in the delivery. I'm not sure I've ever actually seen a Woody Allen movie before (yes, I know), and I've not seen much with Owen Wilson either, so I'm not sure whether any of that was to be expected.

We tried to watch Tree of Life. After about 45 minutes of watching the director masturbate we turned it off. The volume was the single most annoying thing, I think. I have difficulty with loud noises, especially sudden loud noises. I can only imagine that the Oscar voters were experiencing an Emperor's New Clothes moment and assumed that because it was such a steaming pile of art school crap it must actually be deep and profound.

OMG, for fun get Bullets Over Broadway. Crimes and Misdemeanors, excellent. Radio Days, all good fun. Hannah and Her Sisters, excellent. Zelig is also good. My feeling is you either love or hate Woody Allen films, I happen to love the way his mind works. Wilson (whom I'm not a fan of) did an okay job doing the Woody Allen character in the film. The premise of Midnght in Paris I loved. It was also Woody's love letter to Paris in a fashion. ymmv.

Regarding Tree of Life, my hat's off to you. I could only get about 30 minutes into the film before turing it off in disgust. You nailed it Pru, cinematic masturbation.

[innerSpaceman]

Of the three, I adored Hugo by leaps and bounds above the others. It's the only one I will be buying. Midnight in Paris I found charming, but unmemorable four seconds after leaving the theater. I enjoyed The Artist, but it's a fluff piece based entirely on a schmaltzy gimmick. I liked it least of the three, and will never understand how it could have sweeped the Oscars. That said, I enjoyed all three films and am glad I saw each of them.


On Tree of Life, I love that it's a Love It or Hate It film. I'm in the Love It camp. But to Prudence's point - it's the only DVD I've ever seen with an on-screen advisory at the beginning to turn your volume up real loud.

[innerSpaceman]

Moneyball was (to me) unexpectedly great. But Bridesmaids? WTF? A few funny moments, but I will never for the life of me grok what the big deal about this movie was. A D-List comedy in my book.


Being in the Tree of Life Love It camp, I recently watched Melancholia, often cited as the year's other tone poem artsy film, but with a more downbeat tone. This is the one I felt was cinematic masturbation and, though not entirely uninteresting, I really didn't care for it. Tree of Life is a work of genius, detractors notwithstanding. I will pray for them.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I definitely felt by the time we watched Bridesmaids it was over sold. Funny, but not quite worth the accolades. Honestly, I think it's a little bit condescending in that it really did seem to be getting extra attention because "girls made it". Is that still news? Women can be funny? Seriously?

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Maybe if you're Jerry Lewis...

[katiesue]

I wasn't a Bridesmaids fan either. Some funny bits but it was pretty depressing for most of it. And boring omg how long was it?

[Alex]

I only saw six of the nine best picture nominees but my ranking would have been (best to worst):

1. Moneyball
2. The Descendants
3. Midnight in Paris
4. The Artist
5. War Horse
6. The Tree of Life
7. Hugo
8. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
9. The Help

Yes, I was so unenthralled by Hugo that I am willing to claim that one movie I haven't even seen (The Tree of Life) is better than it.

[flippyshark]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

We also watched one of Louis C.K.'s standup DVDs, Hilarious. Lots of people have been prodding us to see his stuff. I've really liked the handful of bits I have seen of his, so I was really excited. But I think it was too much hype. Not that it wasn't good, but it wasn't quite the comic revelation that I expected based on how insistent so many people were that we see it.

There were some really good things in that concert, but at the same time, while watching it, I found myself grated by a few of his ticks:

- He whines a lot. When he's ranting, it gets really bad. ("hi-laaaa-ri-ous!")
- The mocking voices he gives others (especially women!) are irritating.
- He uses the "I just enjoy pissing you off" card when he says outrageous things, but there is no context in which "Maybe I'd f*** a dead kid" is amusing. (YMMV, but he made my "I'd rather avoid" list with that one.)

I see where the comparisons with Carlin are coming from, but no, Louis CK is very much no Carlin.