------ an Oscar nominee, something new and something silly; this week I watched:
Lars & The Real Girl (2007) Ryan Goslin, very good. Much better than I thought. Really a sweet story of a introverted man who borders on being loony, and his doll. She is a replica of a real person and he treats her like his real girlfriend. His brother and sister-in-law don't know quite what to think. The doctor plays along trying to bring him into reality. But soon the townsfolk and everyone is also playing the game. How it ends is so nice. Ryan Gosling is perfect as Lars. Emily Mortimer is just a fine, fine actress. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805564/
Bruce Willis Marathon Day:
The Jackal (1997) Remake of original with all the latest weapons and technology. Doesn't make it any better, but Willis is fun to watch. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119395/
Unbreakable (2000) I still don't get the cult following of this film. Interesting, but dare I say it - a tad of a bore. BruceyBaby and Samuel L Jackson are always worth watching though, so for a hot August day, I watched with my brain in neutral. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0217869/
16 Blocks (2006) At first I was very annoyed by the character Willis was supposed to get "16 blocks" to the courthouse from the jail, but by the midway point, and interesting thing happened. I began to pull for Bruce and him to make it, despite all the cops trying to take them out. Mos Def has that kind of voice at first, that is irritating, but he is a good actor and pulls off the innocent in the snake pit. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450232/
Mercury Rising (1998) Another tale of a person who is being persued by killers, this time an autistic boy. Andy Garcia is the Bureau Chief out to destroy the 'collateral damage' this boy can do because he can decipher the elaborate and supposedly unbreakable code for our nuclear arsenal. Or something like that. It's gets a little hard to keep track of since what you really care about is "are Willis and the boy going to get away." Enjoyable on a hot afternoon in the air-conditioning. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120749/
Hostage (2005) This time our hero, Bruce, is a small town sheriff, a former hostage negotiator for the L.A. police, who has some very crazy/bad teens with guns, take over a house out on the mountain. It is a fortress of electronic devices for security - that these kids have no difficulty in invading. Ben Foster, as the craziest of the 3 is really a frightening and compelling character. Very good work. Jimmy Bennett plays the young son of the family, and is really fine. We really want Sheriff Jeff to rescue him and his sister. When he is crawling around the duct work of the house, and you see his make-believe world, he just takes you in. The end 15 minutes goes over the top into explosions, fire, black-clad troopers, etc. More is not always better. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340163/
The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants (2007) Awful title - and they're doing it again! Four friends from highschool, go their separate ways for the summer. The pants are magically able to fit each girl - from the round to the super skinny, to the tallest to the shortest. That's it. They each have a problem that the pants - ummm - solve. Are you getting this? One is in Mexico. Pretty scenery. One stays at home and works at a Walmart like store. Meets an annoying younger girl; learns a lot! One goes to Greece to her extended family. Gorgeous scenery. One goes to her fathers new family's home somewhere. It is gorgeous too. The family is the pits. The girl is unhappy. The pants come. She is still unhappy. I think. Well it wasn't awful, just the usual annoying sludge that someone thinks females will spend their money seeing. And I guess 'they' are right. (7/10) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403508/
Swing Vote (2008)
Kevin Costner hasn't been this good and funny in quite a while. As a never-was/hard drinking/screw-up who ends up the vote needed to decide the Presidential election. Taking the importance of every vote to the enth degree, it still comes off as plausible.
Not favoring either philosophy, but showing the state of our politics as being for sale to the highest bidder, with the consultants having their candidate switch easily to a polar opposite of what they started out believing, and the lengths they will go to, it is a thoughtful, and devestating comment on our national politics.
And that may be it's downfall. You have to know how our system works and *care* to get the black humor of some of the dialog.
All in all, in this summer of mindless comic-book, noisy, films for the fanboys and girls, I loved this sly and witty film. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1027862/
Hot and humid and so the iced water & tea, cold beer with fresh lime, cold food and wine, and any film with water, is the order for the next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment