This past weekend, Karissa took Finley to Cedaredge to give GiGi and HeyDad some grandparent time. I got to stay home, work a little bit, keep the house clean for showings (we're up to almost 40... but that's for another post), and WATCH MOVIES!!!
I got about 3 months' worth of movie watching knocked out in the span of 3 days... watching 9 full movies, and starting 2 which I shut off after the obligatory 1/2 hour that I try to bestow upon every movie, no matter how horrible. I also ate a whole lot of popcorn, reeses pieces, and consumed a very satisfying quantity of Rolling Rock. Below is the list of movies, with a short little review for each. My opinions probably are't worth much, so don't put too much stock in my "reviews." But I feel like, if nothing else, I need to somehow commemorate the epic-ness of my cinema-saturated weekend. I hope I don't offend nobody.
THE LAST STARFIGHTER - Amazingly corny sci-fi from 1984. All I remembered from watching this movie as a kid was the line, "Diarrhea ..." uttered by a pre-pubescent lad while observing his older brother making out with a girl. Turns out that was still pretty much the highlight of the movie... it's so bad it was ALMOST good. Also I watched the last half with my dad, so we got to laugh at it together and have some good bonding time.
SUNSHINE - More sci-fi (?)... I must have been on a temporary outer space kick. This movie was initially amazing. The premise (restarting earth's dying sun with a nuclear bomb the size of manhattan), special effects, and overall feel were incredible. Then about 2/3 of the way through, it gets really weird, becoming an extremely confusing and chaotic monster movie. I fast-fowarded a bunch near the end, and I felt completely uninspired and unmoved when it was over. And then I saw that Danny Boyle was the director. Weird.
SHOOT 'EM UP - So, in reading about this movie, I somehow missed a description of the basic premise: a professional hitman tries to protect a newborn baby from assassins, and kills like 30,000 people. Should have maybe read more carefully. Since Finley was born, I absolutely cannot handle any depictions of babies in pain, trauma, or peril. So, I got a little uncomfortable during the ultra-violent opening scene where Clive Owen's character delivers a baby and then "cuts" the umbilical cord by shooting it with his pistol. I think it was supposed to be funny. I turned it off about 1/2 an hour in, when he tries to abandon the baby on a merry-go-roundat a park. Sorry, Clive.
RUN, FATBOY, RUN - I guess I was on a really bad movie streak for a bit there. I turned this one off at the 1/2 hour mark, despite the fact that I think Simon Pegg and Hank Azaria are both brilliant comedians. This movie just didn't work at all. No comparison to Pegg's previous masterpieces: Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.
THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS - I own this movie, and I love it. Just thought I'd watch it again. Glad I did.
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK - Man, I wanted to love this movie so bad. I
even bought it before I saw it. And it was ok... even flirting with brilliance
for the first hour or so. But by the end, it was so bizarre, confusing, and yet
weirdly predictable and lame. I was extremely disappointed. However, maybe I'm missing something, and I need to watch it multiple times in order to fully
absorb the magnificence and beauty of the film, like Roger Ebert told me to. Maybe I will. But probably not... at least not for quite a while.
GRINDHOUSE (Double Feature) - I've wanted to watch these movies for some time, just because I love Quentin Tarantino a whole bunch. But I was prepared for something even more in-your-face. And it was.Planet Terror - Definitely one of the most over-the-top, ridiculously violent and unrelentingly offensive things I've ever watched... But it was actually really well done and .... fun (?) to watch. I avoid zombie movies, as a rule. But this was much better than I thought it was going to be.
Deathproof - This one was way more dialogue- and character-based than I anticipated... but I shouldn't have been surprised with QT directing.
I didn't like it quite as much, and it didn't seem to have the consistent "grindhouse" feel that Planet Terror had. It was also mostly enjoyable, though, and the epic car chase at the end was - for somebody who generally hates car chases - really well done. The ending was bizarre, yet gratifying. Overall, a Meh+ from me.
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL - A monstrous disaster of a film. Granted, I'm a huge sucker for apocalyptic cinema, and some of the special effects are cool. But the underlying premise ... that an alien race decides it must "save the earth" by systematically destroying humanity and removing all traces of the evils that technology and industry hath wrought upon our fragile sphere... was completely nauseating, and just plain silly. Keanu Reeves was a perfect Ted "Theodore" Logan, a great "Neo"... but he should NEVER do another movie again... EVER.
DOUBT - Two of my favorite actors in the world, and one of everybody else's.... I would watch pretty much anything Philip Seymour Hoffman or Amy Adams were in. And Meryl Streep is really good too, I guess... although I will probably never be able to disassociate her from her magnificent role in "The River Wild". Basically, this movie is fantastic. It's not too dark or disturbing, and I was worried that it might be. It's honestly just wonderful and powerful and moving and you should see it.
THE WRESTLER - Another really good movie. It's got a rather staggering amount of gritty/raw/offensive material... but the acting is superb and the story is extremely powerful. The Micky Rourke "comeback performance" is every bit as good as the hype. I can't really describe what I liked the most about it without ruining it for any of you who might want to see it. But man, it's one of those movies where you sit in silence for 10 to 15 minutes into the credits. Even if you really really have to go to the bathroom.