IMDb plot summary: A studio executive is being blackmailed by a writer whose script he rejected but which one? Loaded with Hollywood insider jokes.
Directed by Robert Altman. Starring Tim Robbins and Greta Scacchi.
This is, I believe, my fourth Altman film, and the second that I really liked. The story is interesting, the protagonist is fascinating, and the dialogue is well-written, treading just exactly the right line between realistic and stylized. I don't know that it's going to go down in my list as something I'm going to remember forever, but I very much enjoyed watching it. After this and Short Cuts, I really need to start hunting up some more of Robert Altman's movies. 3 stars.
Best Part: The ending. Although I usually don't like when movies explain what they're about at the end, I honestly wouldn't have been sure what to make of the movie without the explanation here.
Worst Part: Wasn't a huge fan of Iceland girl.
Flickchart: #678, below What the Deaf Man Heard and above Fantasia 2000.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
The Great Dictator (1940)
IMDb plot summary: Dictator Adenoid Hynkel has a doppelganger, a poor but kind Jewish barber living in the slums, who one day is mistaken for Hynkel.
Directed by Charles Chaplin. Stars Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard and Reginald Gardiner.
I wasn't at all sure this was going to work. Chaplin is so renowned for his silent movies that I didn't know how I would feel about his transition to talkies. However, this is my favorite Chaplin of them all. So many of the same wonderful types of physical jokes are still in this movie, but along with it is a very, very funny script with marvelous dialogue and witty jokes. Despite the satirical nature of this story, it never loses its heart - something I have always loved about Chaplin's films. This one gets my vote for the most consistently funny of his, and is certainly the one I enjoyed the most. 4 stars.
Best Part: The dictator himself is hilarious. So many little moments are great, but the first one that really made me laugh out loud is the scene where he's jumping from room to room and stops in one room to have his portrait painted/sculpture sculpted for 3 seconds at a time, and then he leaves. That just made me giggle.
Worst Part: That female lead was sometimes marvelous but, man, did she get smug on occasion.
Flickchart: #521, below The Birds and above The Kite Runner.
Directed by Charles Chaplin. Stars Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard and Reginald Gardiner.
I wasn't at all sure this was going to work. Chaplin is so renowned for his silent movies that I didn't know how I would feel about his transition to talkies. However, this is my favorite Chaplin of them all. So many of the same wonderful types of physical jokes are still in this movie, but along with it is a very, very funny script with marvelous dialogue and witty jokes. Despite the satirical nature of this story, it never loses its heart - something I have always loved about Chaplin's films. This one gets my vote for the most consistently funny of his, and is certainly the one I enjoyed the most. 4 stars.
Best Part: The dictator himself is hilarious. So many little moments are great, but the first one that really made me laugh out loud is the scene where he's jumping from room to room and stops in one room to have his portrait painted/sculpture sculpted for 3 seconds at a time, and then he leaves. That just made me giggle.
Worst Part: That female lead was sometimes marvelous but, man, did she get smug on occasion.
Flickchart: #521, below The Birds and above The Kite Runner.
Superbad (2007)
IMDb plot summary: Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.
Directed by Greg Mottola. Stars Michael Cera, Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
This movie was very half-and-half for me. Although parts of it were absolutely hilarious (Christopher Mintz-Plasse consistently made me laugh, especially every time the word "McLovin" was mentioned), the raunch humor was, often, just raunch without humor in it at all. The characters were supposed to be funny because of being dirty, rather than creating *situations* in which a dirty or raunchy joke would have been funny. This is especially true in the first 30-40 minutes of the movie before the plot kicks into gear, and we have to watch half an hour of unfunny crass dialogue coming out of the mouths of unlikeable characters. At least after that point, something *happens* and the characters are busy reacting to events. I'm not prudish at all when it comes to movies, but this was, most of the time, just not entertaining. 2 stars.
Best Part: "I am McLovin." It's so ridiculous, but so funny.
Worst Part: I just didn't like Jonah Hill at all. I didn't care about his character except for NOT wanting him to wind up with Emma Stone because she seemed like a decent human being and he did not.
Flickchart: #1136, below Paycheck and above Scarface.
Directed by Greg Mottola. Stars Michael Cera, Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
This movie was very half-and-half for me. Although parts of it were absolutely hilarious (Christopher Mintz-Plasse consistently made me laugh, especially every time the word "McLovin" was mentioned), the raunch humor was, often, just raunch without humor in it at all. The characters were supposed to be funny because of being dirty, rather than creating *situations* in which a dirty or raunchy joke would have been funny. This is especially true in the first 30-40 minutes of the movie before the plot kicks into gear, and we have to watch half an hour of unfunny crass dialogue coming out of the mouths of unlikeable characters. At least after that point, something *happens* and the characters are busy reacting to events. I'm not prudish at all when it comes to movies, but this was, most of the time, just not entertaining. 2 stars.
Best Part: "I am McLovin." It's so ridiculous, but so funny.
Worst Part: I just didn't like Jonah Hill at all. I didn't care about his character except for NOT wanting him to wind up with Emma Stone because she seemed like a decent human being and he did not.
Flickchart: #1136, below Paycheck and above Scarface.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Dracula (1931)
IMDb plot summary: The ancient vampire Count Dracula arrives in England and begins to prey upon the virtuous young Mina.
Directed by Tod Browning. Stars Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloan.
I recently watched Nosferatu and read Dracula by Bram Stoker and, unfortunately, this measures up to neither one. It deviates in some interesting ways from the book - Dracula is an invited guest to their house at the beginning, for instance - but the vampire himself never manages to be very scary. I'd be more willing to be merciful toward it and say that early horror movies just won't be considered scary by today's standards, except for the fact that 1) Renfield is extremely creepy and 2) Nosferatu scared the crap out of me last week. So obviously horror doesn't *have* to be dated. In light of that, most of this movie just doesn't work for me. 1.5 stars.
Best Part: I did like Renfield. He was fascinating to watch whenever he was on-screen.
Worst Part: There seem to be many things left *unfinished* in this movie. Just as one example, at the very end, Jonathan and Mina leave the tomb, ask Van Helsing if he's heading back with them, he says, "Not presently," and they leave. And the the movie ends. Wait, what? I thought it was going to reveal that he was also a vampire or even that he just wanted them to have alone time. But, nope. Apparently that had nothing to do with anything. He's just staying in Dracula's tomb for completely innocent purposes. There are lots of "Huh?" moments like that in this movie.
Flickchart: #1342, above No Reservations and below On the Town.
Directed by Tod Browning. Stars Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloan.
I recently watched Nosferatu and read Dracula by Bram Stoker and, unfortunately, this measures up to neither one. It deviates in some interesting ways from the book - Dracula is an invited guest to their house at the beginning, for instance - but the vampire himself never manages to be very scary. I'd be more willing to be merciful toward it and say that early horror movies just won't be considered scary by today's standards, except for the fact that 1) Renfield is extremely creepy and 2) Nosferatu scared the crap out of me last week. So obviously horror doesn't *have* to be dated. In light of that, most of this movie just doesn't work for me. 1.5 stars.
Best Part: I did like Renfield. He was fascinating to watch whenever he was on-screen.
Worst Part: There seem to be many things left *unfinished* in this movie. Just as one example, at the very end, Jonathan and Mina leave the tomb, ask Van Helsing if he's heading back with them, he says, "Not presently," and they leave. And the the movie ends. Wait, what? I thought it was going to reveal that he was also a vampire or even that he just wanted them to have alone time. But, nope. Apparently that had nothing to do with anything. He's just staying in Dracula's tomb for completely innocent purposes. There are lots of "Huh?" moments like that in this movie.
Flickchart: #1342, above No Reservations and below On the Town.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Nosferatu (1922)
IMDb plot summary: Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife. Silent classic based on the story "Dracula."
Directed by F.W. Murnau. Stars Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, and Greta Schröder.
Not in a million years did I expect this movie to scare me as much as it did. I've seen a couple other classic monster movies and have not been impressed. But Nosferatu is *terrifying*. The creature itself has a very unsettling, non-human way of moving, as well as a very creepy physical appearance. There are, of course, several moments that are awkwardly dated, but overall, this was a surprisingly effective scare, even today. 4 stars.
Best Part: I LOVED the way the vampire looked and moved. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like that before. The rigidity was somehow so much scarier than making a monster slinky and fluid.
Worst Part: I don't think I would have had a clue what was going on if I hadn't already read the book. There's a lot of plot that gets lost, and important characters show up out of nowhere.
Flickchart: #408, below Contagion and above The Exorcist.
Directed by F.W. Murnau. Stars Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, and Greta Schröder.
Not in a million years did I expect this movie to scare me as much as it did. I've seen a couple other classic monster movies and have not been impressed. But Nosferatu is *terrifying*. The creature itself has a very unsettling, non-human way of moving, as well as a very creepy physical appearance. There are, of course, several moments that are awkwardly dated, but overall, this was a surprisingly effective scare, even today. 4 stars.
Best Part: I LOVED the way the vampire looked and moved. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like that before. The rigidity was somehow so much scarier than making a monster slinky and fluid.
Worst Part: I don't think I would have had a clue what was going on if I hadn't already read the book. There's a lot of plot that gets lost, and important characters show up out of nowhere.
Flickchart: #408, below Contagion and above The Exorcist.
Win Win (2011)
IMDb plot summary: A struggling lawyer and volunteer wrestling coach's chicanery comes back to haunt him when the teenage grandson of the client he's double-crossed comes into his life.
Directed by Thomas McCarthy. Stars Paul Giamatti and Alex Shaffer.
Another one of many indie dramas about people feeling stuck in their lives until a new person enters it and changes everything around. It's not a bad movie or anything, it just doesn't offer anything we haven't seen before. It's not well-written or well-acted enough to really stand out on its own as one of the better entries. If that's the kind of drama you love anyway, feel free to check this one out, but there's nothing here to write home about. 2 stars.
Best Part: Leo was a great character. I loved whenever he showed up to interact. I kind of wanted a whole movie just about him.
Worst Part: How often I thought, "Yup, I've seen that before."
Flickchart: #1118, below Men in Black and above Spider-Man 3.
Directed by Thomas McCarthy. Stars Paul Giamatti and Alex Shaffer.
Another one of many indie dramas about people feeling stuck in their lives until a new person enters it and changes everything around. It's not a bad movie or anything, it just doesn't offer anything we haven't seen before. It's not well-written or well-acted enough to really stand out on its own as one of the better entries. If that's the kind of drama you love anyway, feel free to check this one out, but there's nothing here to write home about. 2 stars.
Best Part: Leo was a great character. I loved whenever he showed up to interact. I kind of wanted a whole movie just about him.
Worst Part: How often I thought, "Yup, I've seen that before."
Flickchart: #1118, below Men in Black and above Spider-Man 3.
Bad Teacher (2011)
IMDb plot summary: A comedy centered around a foul-mouthed junior high teacher who, after being dumped by her sugar daddy, begins to woo a colleague -- a move that pits her against a well-loved teacher.
Directed by Jake Kasdan. Stars Cameron Diaz, Lucy Punch, Jason Segel and Justin Timberlake.
This movie is not a good one... but I had a surprisingly good time watching it, in the same way I surprisingly enjoy myself watching horrible reality TV. I was kind of fascinated by what horrible thing Cameron Diaz would do next, and even though the ending made zero sense and I can just about guarantee I'm never going to watch this again, it was great fun to watch once. 2.5 stars.
Best Part: Cameron Diaz approaches this part not at all afraid to get *campy* in her portrayal of this character. It made me smile.
Worst Part: The ending really was very abrupt and pretty unsatisfying. I remain unconvinced.
Flickchart: #877, below Anonymous and above Sherlock Holmes.
Directed by Jake Kasdan. Stars Cameron Diaz, Lucy Punch, Jason Segel and Justin Timberlake.
This movie is not a good one... but I had a surprisingly good time watching it, in the same way I surprisingly enjoy myself watching horrible reality TV. I was kind of fascinated by what horrible thing Cameron Diaz would do next, and even though the ending made zero sense and I can just about guarantee I'm never going to watch this again, it was great fun to watch once. 2.5 stars.
Best Part: Cameron Diaz approaches this part not at all afraid to get *campy* in her portrayal of this character. It made me smile.
Worst Part: The ending really was very abrupt and pretty unsatisfying. I remain unconvinced.
Flickchart: #877, below Anonymous and above Sherlock Holmes.
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