Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Alex]

Interesting. I watched it because Netflix has had it as something "beign watched in my area" so after months of seeing the DVD cover I caved in. I wonder if they are being compensated for placement. The reviews on Netflix (and elsewhere, though it is just shy, 59%, of a fresh rating from cream of the crop at rottentomatoes) are hardly glowing.

Anyway, it is definitely pretentious and thinks it is smarter than than it is, just not so much that I hated it. It kind of felt like a demo reel for a film school student looking to show he can put together various types of scenes.

Though it is an odd coincidence that after last week commenting to Lani about how little nudity there is in movies any more, the last four movies I've watched have all had plenty.

[JWBear]

Just saw Milk... Wow. Just... wow.

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by JWBear

Just saw Milk... Wow. Just... wow.

Yeah. I agree.

[Gn2Dlnd]

Saw Milk tonight, as well. I have to remember, whenever GC says a movie is the best movie he's ever seen, I'll be crying for the next three days after seeing it.

I followed it up by coming home and watching the documentary, "The Life and Times of Harvey Milk."

[Gemini Cricket]

Role Models - I really liked this one. It was totally predictable but I liked it because it was damned funny. Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott are hot. and McLovin and the other kid were great. Total fluff, but a pretty good script by Rudd and 2 other writers.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan - You know, my dad ordered this on his cable dealie and liked it. He said I had to watch it. I watched it. I liked it okay. Slapstick humor makes me laugh. But I realized why he wanted me to watch it when Dave Matthews showed up 3/4 of the way into the movie. Dave played a racist, homophobic redneck. Funny shtuff. The message was pretty good too. Some of it reminded me of the Oscar winning short West Bank Story. And I actually liked Rob Schneider's performance in this. And I really can't stand him in all of his other movies...

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by JWBear

We just watched The Fall... Wow... Stunning movie.

We just watched this ourselves.

Meh. Visually beautiful, but the story never engaged me. CP liked it better.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Oh god, we both hated it. So much that we turned it off half way through, which we NEVER do.

In summary, we hated it because it thought it was way more clever than it actually was, and what little cleverness was in it was ruined by the f*cking narration that just. wouldn't. shut. up. "Hey, you know what's really clever about this next scene? Well let me tell you before you watch it, because, omg, it's sooo gonna blow your mind." Geebus, stop describing your movie and just let me watch it, man!

Here's what I originally posted about it.

I'm with you guys on this one. I watched the entire movie. I turned it on and was determined to see it through. And when it ended 3 days later (it was a 3 day long movie, yes?), I regretted that I had. On the other hand: BOOBIES!

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Caught Forgetting Sarah Marshall on our return flight from Edniburgh/London and enjoyed it more than expected.

I don't remember if I mentioned this earlier. When the movie was being marketed, I didn't pay very much attention to it and the ads. I thought the billboard campaign and the viral blog it linked to were lame, so I didn't really want to see the movie. But of course I couldn't completely avoid it, so I knew that Mila Kunis was in it. And I thought that Judge Reinhold was in it.

I know. I'm not very smart. But, I really only caught a glimpse of a commercial here and there, and never gave it much thought beyond those snippets I'd see. And damnit, dude looks like Judge Reinhold!! So, you know, I didn't really put it through the critical thinking that might have lead me to conclude, "Hey, retard, Judge Reinhold would be about 75 or something, there's no way that's him."

And being on an airplane doesn't improve my critical thinking skills.

So I watched that whole movie convinced that I was watching Judge Reinhold.

Yeah. I know.

It was an ok movie, but I loved the print campaign for it, and I loved the site we built for it. A better ad campaign than a movie, perhaps, though there were some stellar moments. And Mila Kunis was surprisingly delightful and gave a well rounded performance.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Alex

Lust, Caution - Ang Lee's story of espionage in Japan-occupied China during World War II, mostly famous for its acrobatic sex scenes. First, I was very much intrigued by the overall story. We don't get to see many portrayals of the portions of WWII that played out away from Western eyes as the Japanese invasion and occupation of mainland Asia mostly did, and when we do it is through the filter of the rare western observer (such as Christian Bale in Empire of the Sun or John Wayne's mercenary fighter pilot in Flying Tigers).

It was a disappointing film, but I maintain that I learned a very important lesson.

Spoiler:

If you have really good sex, all of your friends are going to get shot.

[Alex]

My problem is that it wasn't good sex, it was simply acrobatic. I'll admit it would have been good if it were consensual and freely entered into. Maybe I'm flawed that I can't separate the motivation for the sex from the acts itself to find the latter at all erotic.

The first two weren't meant to be good. The third was essentially rape, and the other two were somewhat ambiguous in light of the third.

Unless the point was that she is simply a sexual submissive who enjoyed the rape and wanted more, in which case that wasn't sufficiently clear to remove my psychic issues with it being forced and/or manipulated.