In the brief shining moments when sobriety and free time have reared their head among the rampant -isms of the summer (as in alcoholism and playing frisbee-ism and striking out with girls-ism…OK I just realized that there is actually only one -ism but I think my point is evident), I have had the opportunity to watch a number of movies which I will now give brief reviews (in basically reverse order of when I saw them) And before I forget, one time I had sex with a guinea pig:
The Killing
The Killing was Stanley Kubrick’s first “important” film and despite the fact that I’m not really that big of a fan of Kubrick, although I like some of his movies namely Paths of Glory and The Shining, I felt obligated to pick this one up because I like film noir and, well, I had a free rental.
The basic plot of the movie concerns Sterling Hayden’s Johnny, whose just been released from prison, planning to rob a racetrack of 2 million dollars. To this end, he assembles a motley crew consisting of a bartender, a clerk at the track, a cop, a crack riflemen (who is really one of the coolest characters in the movie), and a boxer-type (also great in a small roll) in order to pull of the elaborate scheme. Things fall apart, however, because of the clerk’s femme fatale wife and her boyfriend and everyone essentially ends up dead. The lesson as always is: don’t trust women. In all the plot is fairly standard as noir goes but all the actors are good and Kubrick ratchets up the atmosphere with some great use of shadow/light and some ahead of it’s time non-linear storytelling, which is reminiscent of films such as Resevoir Dogs. In fact, Tarantino apparently drew a good bit of inspiration from The Killing for his works.
Anyway, highly recommended, especially if you’re a fan of Kubrick or film noir. gets about an 8 on the wedge-o-meter 6000
Wow, this movie ruled, despite the fact that I had never heard of it before Pin Tao and Lefty stumbled upon it on Sundance while drunk one night at like two A.M. Based on that drunken encounter we picked up the movie at Bart and Greg’s for some pre-party entertainment and loved it. In the movie Jay Mohr and Julianne Nicholson (who I don’t really know but was tres cute) play one of those cutsey-wootsey couples that we all hate who are about to get married after five years together. However, the wife-to-be decides that, since this is her last chance to sow her wild oats, they should see other people before the wedding. Hilarity, well for us not for them, ensues. Andy Richter and Josh Charles (from Sports Night) are great as Mohr’s buddies and the rest of the supporting cast (Lauren Graham and the dad from Malcolm in the Middle in particular) are good as well. All in all, if you like dark comedies or have an offensive sense of humor this movie is perfect, another 8 on the wedge-o-meter, which since I kind of hate giving quantifiable numbers when rating things I am now retiring for the remainder of this post.
Pierce Brosnan kicks ass. I feel like this is something that I’ve always known but only recently become fully aware of mainly due to his character, Julian, in this movie. Julian’s a hitman with a mid-life crisis who loves drinking and sleeping with everything over the age of 14 with breasts. This is essentially what I would like to become when I grow up, except for the mid-life crisis hitman part. Despite the awesomeness of Julian’s lifestyle, he has no friends and therefore finds himself drawn towards Greg Kinnear’s Danny Wright, a downtrodden businessman. They become friends and hilarity ensues. In the vein of Seeing Other People, The Matador is darkly hilarious and smart. Brosnan gets to deliver some amazing lines throughout the film, for example this exchange:
Julian Noble: Margaritas always taste better in Mexico.
Danny Wright: Yes they do.
Julian Noble: Margaritas and cock
which, in context, is one of the funniest things I’ve seen on film since…well since I watched Seeing Other People last week, but still.
Right, rent this movie.
OK first things first, I loath Superman. He is the absolute worst superhero in the known universe…So his power is what? That he is invulnerable to everything but an extraordinary rare element, he can do virtually everything (including turn back time) and his disguise is putting on glasses? So essentially, he’s a personified Deus Ex Machina. Boo-erns, I say. Superheroes need vulnerabilities or they’re boring and lame, much like Superman. However I liked this movie, Brian Singer is a great director and he does an excellent job.
This biggest complaint I’ve heard thus far about the movie was that Kate Bosworth sucks as Lois Lane. My response to this is who gives a shit? It’s not Lois Lane Returns it’s Superman Returns…doesn’t Lois just need to be pretty? Anyway, the action sequences are great, Kevin Spacey is great ( I need to find a new adjective) etc…well worth the price of a ticket.
Donnie Edit:
For me, despite Singer’s best efforts, Superman’s invulnerability still ruins the movie. We see him recover with equal rapidity from two near-death moments without explanation. We see him strain to lift a plane and later strain equally to lift an island. And it just doesn’t feel remarkable, because as far as we know Superman has no limit. It’s not exciting because theoretically he can just keep straining a little harder to lift a continent, or maybe the whole fucking planet. Also, the villainous plot kind of blows. I think they could have done better than the world’s ugliest real estate (you could put a lovely Tudor mansion here on this inhospitable barren husk, and the kids could put their swingset between those two giant razor-sharp crystals). Finally, there are too many unfinished threads (X3 all over again) – more about the kid? more about what he found when he went to Krypton? Is it sad that my spellcheck didn’t say anything about the word Krypton?
As for actors, I thought Superman did a great job, with a hint of pettiness and a glossy unreality to him. Spacey had moments of greatness, but too much of his performance seemed dialed-in. And if I could choke Parker Posey to death with my belt without repercussions, I would. PS, what is Kumar doing in the movie? And I have to hand it to James Marsden for being completely typecast as the good-guy-alternative, as Cyclops in X-Men, then in The Notebook (I saw it under duress), and now as Lois’s husband in Superman. Guy’s got a real niche.
So late one Thursday night after imbibing an appropriately heroic amount of whiskey, I realized that this was due at Bart and Greg’s the next day and that I, therefore, needed to watch it in order to avoid the fine. However, watching a movie while essentially black-out drunk at 2 in the morning is not conducive to a review. Let’s just say that I was left with an impression of this movie being good without being able to tell you anything about it other then that Val Kimer played a gay dude and Robert Downey Jr. is a good actor. So go watch it.
Donnie Edit:Due to Dan’s lackluster lucidity, I think he might have underrepresented the merits of this movie. It’s hilarious. Want proof? Here’s some dialogue:
Harry: I’ve got five bucks says you can win him back.
Perry: Really? I’ve got ten that says I can’t. I’ve got a nickel that says pepper.
Harry: What?
Perry: Talking money.
Harry: A talking monkey?
Perry: Yeah, a talking monkey. Comes from the future. Nasty bugger, only says one word – fichus.
So go see it.
