Day 74 - 3/15/09 - Movie #71
THE PLOT: A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.
AFTER: I hate to belittle a classic, but I'm not seeing why this movie is so great - it's a lot of talking and negotiating, and the action always happens off-screen. And Sam Spade doesn't go out to find the Falcon, someone brings it to his office! Where's the action? Am I missing something? This was boring as dirt! I guess maybe storytelling was different in the 1940's? Compare this to an Indiana Jones film, which is wall-to-wall action - Bogie just seems to want to talk Lorre and Greenstreet to death... I know this movie kicked off the whole detective/noir genre, but it's hardly the best example of what the genre can accomplish. And the portrayal of women - they're all either duplicitous bombshells, or hysterical widows...
RATING: 3 out of 10 cigarettes
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Royal Tenenbaums
Day 73 - 3/14/09 - Movie #70
BEFORE: Staying up late on Friday night/Saturday morning to watch this - this will complete my viewing of all of Wes Anderson's films.
THE PLOT: An estranged family of former child prodigies reunites when their father announces he has a terminal illness.
AFTER: Quirky, yes, but also heartwarming in its own way, seeing Gene Hackman's character tryinng to redeem himself and reconnect with his children. Definitely better than "Life Aquatic" but a notch below "Darjeeling Limited". Good performances from Ben Stiller and the Wilson Brothers, but Gwyneth Paltrow? Too moody...
RATING: 7 out of 10 spotted mice
BEFORE: Staying up late on Friday night/Saturday morning to watch this - this will complete my viewing of all of Wes Anderson's films.
THE PLOT: An estranged family of former child prodigies reunites when their father announces he has a terminal illness.
AFTER: Quirky, yes, but also heartwarming in its own way, seeing Gene Hackman's character tryinng to redeem himself and reconnect with his children. Definitely better than "Life Aquatic" but a notch below "Darjeeling Limited". Good performances from Ben Stiller and the Wilson Brothers, but Gwyneth Paltrow? Too moody...
RATING: 7 out of 10 spotted mice
The Brink's Job
Day 71+72 - 3/12 + 3/13/09 - Movie #69
BEFORE: Yes, it took me 2 days to watch this movie, so now I'm 3 movies behind schedule. I worked late on Thursday, I didn't get home until 11:30 pm, so my Thurs. movie stretched into Friday, but I fell asleep and had to finish the movie on Friday night, after Amy's goodbye party #2.
THE PLOT: Tony and his gang successfully rob one of Brink's security cars, taking $30,000. Surprisingly their coup doesn't make the press. Curious Tony checks out their headquarters and finds out that their security is low beyond belief. Now a really big coup is prepared...
AFTER: I remember my dad watching this movie when I was a kid. Of course, he loves stuff about Boston history. That was before I knew who Peter Boyle and Paul Sorvino were. This film is an interesting look at a real theft, and the Boston characters that pulled it off - of course, this was back before DNA testing and other forensic innovations - a simpler time, and ultimately, a fairly simple movie.
RATING: 5 out of 10 bags of cash
BEFORE: Yes, it took me 2 days to watch this movie, so now I'm 3 movies behind schedule. I worked late on Thursday, I didn't get home until 11:30 pm, so my Thurs. movie stretched into Friday, but I fell asleep and had to finish the movie on Friday night, after Amy's goodbye party #2.
THE PLOT: Tony and his gang successfully rob one of Brink's security cars, taking $30,000. Surprisingly their coup doesn't make the press. Curious Tony checks out their headquarters and finds out that their security is low beyond belief. Now a really big coup is prepared...
AFTER: I remember my dad watching this movie when I was a kid. Of course, he loves stuff about Boston history. That was before I knew who Peter Boyle and Paul Sorvino were. This film is an interesting look at a real theft, and the Boston characters that pulled it off - of course, this was back before DNA testing and other forensic innovations - a simpler time, and ultimately, a fairly simple movie.
RATING: 5 out of 10 bags of cash
Safe Men
Day 70 - 3/11/09 - Movie #68
BEFORE: Went to Amy's goodbye dinner tonight at Hill Country BBQ, so I'm short on time but full of BBQ meat! Last night's movie was about a heist, so let's stick with that idea - this film's about safe-crackers...
THE PLOT: Two untalented singers are mistaken for a pair of major league safe crackers in Providence, Rhode Island. The two are pressed into service by the local hoodlums and quickly find themselves in conflict with their professional colleagues.
AFTER: OK, not what I was expecting -bumbling thieves, Jewish mobsters and neurotic safe-crackers - but a funny film nonetheless. Sam Rockwell is always good, IMHO, so is Paul Giamatti. And my bud Michael Showalter made a cameo -
RATING: 6 out of 10 Torahs
BEFORE: Went to Amy's goodbye dinner tonight at Hill Country BBQ, so I'm short on time but full of BBQ meat! Last night's movie was about a heist, so let's stick with that idea - this film's about safe-crackers...
THE PLOT: Two untalented singers are mistaken for a pair of major league safe crackers in Providence, Rhode Island. The two are pressed into service by the local hoodlums and quickly find themselves in conflict with their professional colleagues.
AFTER: OK, not what I was expecting -bumbling thieves, Jewish mobsters and neurotic safe-crackers - but a funny film nonetheless. Sam Rockwell is always good, IMHO, so is Paul Giamatti. And my bud Michael Showalter made a cameo -
RATING: 6 out of 10 Torahs
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The Ice Harvest
Day 69 - 3/10/09 - Movie #67
BEFORE: Let's keep the John Cusack theme going - this seems to be a relatively short film, which is great, since "Idol" had another 2-hour sing-off tonight...
THE PLOT: A shady lawyer attempts a Christmas Eve crime, hoping to swindle the local mob out of some money. But his partner, a strip club owner, might have different plans for the cash.
AFTER: I guess I was expecting something similar to "Grosse Pointe Blank", but this one wasn't as funny. But it was a good double-cross/triple-cross plot. Oliver Platt was quite amusing, but Billy Bob Thornton was mostly a blank - and it was hard to hate Randy Quaid's character, who everyone seemed to be afraid of, since he didn't show up until the end. Overall, just really depressing.
RATING: 5 out of 10 pasties
BEFORE: Let's keep the John Cusack theme going - this seems to be a relatively short film, which is great, since "Idol" had another 2-hour sing-off tonight...
THE PLOT: A shady lawyer attempts a Christmas Eve crime, hoping to swindle the local mob out of some money. But his partner, a strip club owner, might have different plans for the cash.
AFTER: I guess I was expecting something similar to "Grosse Pointe Blank", but this one wasn't as funny. But it was a good double-cross/triple-cross plot. Oliver Platt was quite amusing, but Billy Bob Thornton was mostly a blank - and it was hard to hate Randy Quaid's character, who everyone seemed to be afraid of, since he didn't show up until the end. Overall, just really depressing.
RATING: 5 out of 10 pasties
Grosse Pointe Blank
Day 68 - 3/9/09 - Movie #66
BEFORE: Still catching up on my TV before my daily movie - watched a "Heroes" episode from LAST Monday, and a "Law & Order" from January, I'm still way behind on "Smallville" and "SVU" too...but I can catch up after sweeps month is over. Let's keep the movies rolling with another film about hitmen!
THE PLOT: Martin Blank is a professional assassin. He is sent on a mission to a small Detroit suburb, Grosse Pointe, and, by coincidence, his ten-year high school reunion party is taking place there at the same time.
AFTER: Now THIS should have been a Coen brothers movie. I mean, "No Country for Old Men" could have been more like this... It was about contract killing, but it was also funny, and the high-school reunion angle was sort of heartwarming, and who doesn't love John Cusack as a neurotic hitman? Minnie Driver = Hot and Alan Arkin = funny, and all the pieces came together for me.
RATING: 7 out of 10 handguns
BEFORE: Still catching up on my TV before my daily movie - watched a "Heroes" episode from LAST Monday, and a "Law & Order" from January, I'm still way behind on "Smallville" and "SVU" too...but I can catch up after sweeps month is over. Let's keep the movies rolling with another film about hitmen!
THE PLOT: Martin Blank is a professional assassin. He is sent on a mission to a small Detroit suburb, Grosse Pointe, and, by coincidence, his ten-year high school reunion party is taking place there at the same time.
AFTER: Now THIS should have been a Coen brothers movie. I mean, "No Country for Old Men" could have been more like this... It was about contract killing, but it was also funny, and the high-school reunion angle was sort of heartwarming, and who doesn't love John Cusack as a neurotic hitman? Minnie Driver = Hot and Alan Arkin = funny, and all the pieces came together for me.
RATING: 7 out of 10 handguns
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
No Country for Old Men
Day 67 - 3/8/09 - Movie #65
BEFORE: Went to the "Split Thy Skull" festival (strong beer...) with Amy today. So I slept a few hours after returning home in the late afternoon. Still, I need to get my movie in for the day, so let's follow up "U.S. Marshals" with another Tommy Lee Jones movie.
THE PLOT: Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon some dead bodies, a stash of heroin and more than $2 million in cash near the Rio Grande.
AFTER: Honestly, I'm not sure how (or why) this film won the Best Picture Oscar. Sure, the hitman character is cool, but all the killing just seemed so pointless (or was that the point?) We spend all this time rooting for Josh Brolin's character - why? It's not even his money, so why do we feel he deserves it? And his unwillingness to give the money up is his undoing - did the violent killer deserve it more? Who IS the villain here - are there no heroes? (other than Tommy Lee Jones, that is, but how effective does HE turn out to be?)
RATING: 4 out of 10 tent-poles
UPDATE: 4/1/09 - Upon further review, I think my initial rating was a little hasty. And it's not because the film won the Best Picture Oscar, or because so many people seem to hold it in high regard....
After typing up my review last night, I got to thinking about this film again on the subway ride home. My initial problem was with characters of questionable morality, but thinking back on films like "Raising Arizona", "Barton Fink" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou", I realized that the Coeniverse (pat. pending) is chock-full of such types. We root for H.I. in "Raising Arizona", despite the fact that he robs convenience stores. He seems to want what's best for his wife, but it's strange logic that justifies kidnapping a baby. The main characters in "O Brother" are escaped convicts, and we root for them as well. And I'm still sorting out the morals on display in "Big Lebowski" and "The Man Who Wasn't There"...
Similarly, Josh Brolin's Llewelyn wants what's best for his family, but he still steals money that isn't his. Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh is a killer, but he kills according to a set of rules. He seems to have a moral code - it may not be the same as yours or mine, but it IS a moral code. He might kill based on a coin toss, or the wrong answer to a question or if you have something he wants, but he does NOT kill randomly.
I keep coming back to "Raising Arizona" - Randall "Tex" Cobb's Biker From Hell is a lot like Chigurh. He's tough, you don't want to cross his path, but he does seem to live according to his own twisted morality. The showdown between Llewelyn and Chigurh reminds me of H.I. vs the Biker, only without the comedic elements.
The movie raised such deep questions about morality for me - it made me THINK, (and isn't that what a film is supposed to do...?) so I think it deserves at least a 6 on my scale, if not a 7.
BEFORE: Went to the "Split Thy Skull" festival (strong beer...) with Amy today. So I slept a few hours after returning home in the late afternoon. Still, I need to get my movie in for the day, so let's follow up "U.S. Marshals" with another Tommy Lee Jones movie.
THE PLOT: Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon some dead bodies, a stash of heroin and more than $2 million in cash near the Rio Grande.
AFTER: Honestly, I'm not sure how (or why) this film won the Best Picture Oscar. Sure, the hitman character is cool, but all the killing just seemed so pointless (or was that the point?) We spend all this time rooting for Josh Brolin's character - why? It's not even his money, so why do we feel he deserves it? And his unwillingness to give the money up is his undoing - did the violent killer deserve it more? Who IS the villain here - are there no heroes? (other than Tommy Lee Jones, that is, but how effective does HE turn out to be?)
RATING: 4 out of 10 tent-poles
UPDATE: 4/1/09 - Upon further review, I think my initial rating was a little hasty. And it's not because the film won the Best Picture Oscar, or because so many people seem to hold it in high regard....
After typing up my review last night, I got to thinking about this film again on the subway ride home. My initial problem was with characters of questionable morality, but thinking back on films like "Raising Arizona", "Barton Fink" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou", I realized that the Coeniverse (pat. pending) is chock-full of such types. We root for H.I. in "Raising Arizona", despite the fact that he robs convenience stores. He seems to want what's best for his wife, but it's strange logic that justifies kidnapping a baby. The main characters in "O Brother" are escaped convicts, and we root for them as well. And I'm still sorting out the morals on display in "Big Lebowski" and "The Man Who Wasn't There"...
Similarly, Josh Brolin's Llewelyn wants what's best for his family, but he still steals money that isn't his. Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh is a killer, but he kills according to a set of rules. He seems to have a moral code - it may not be the same as yours or mine, but it IS a moral code. He might kill based on a coin toss, or the wrong answer to a question or if you have something he wants, but he does NOT kill randomly.
I keep coming back to "Raising Arizona" - Randall "Tex" Cobb's Biker From Hell is a lot like Chigurh. He's tough, you don't want to cross his path, but he does seem to live according to his own twisted morality. The showdown between Llewelyn and Chigurh reminds me of H.I. vs the Biker, only without the comedic elements.
The movie raised such deep questions about morality for me - it made me THINK, (and isn't that what a film is supposed to do...?) so I think it deserves at least a 6 on my scale, if not a 7.
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