Enthusiastick Journal

I am totally in a movie mode lately. A couple from the 3-day weekend:

• Cloverfield -- 3 stars -- I'm in rollick's camp on this one. I found it an engrossing and enjoyable movie. There's one scene in particular, in the subway tunnels, that got to me pretty thoroughly squirming in my seat and crawling up the walls. I'm glad I sat towards the back; though I didn't experience any problems with the whole movie being shaky-cam, I can easily see how others did. I really liked that the movie had the balls to do certain things, and I was ambivalent about others, but on the whole there was nothing I really disliked. Apparently my opinion is not shared universally, however.


• Sunshine -- 3 stars -- I caught this one due to the good taste of dippy423, who enjoyed it in theaters and snapped it up on DVD as soon as it came out. Danny Boyle continues to impress me. Cillian Murphy, too. Also, once again with the "alternate ending" that was not so much. This is one of those interesting "soft" science fiction movies that asks you to accept 2 conceits without any real science to back them up (the first being that the sun is for some reason going out prematurely, and the second that staring at the sun makes you crazy.) thablueguy pointed out that you could use this movie as an example to teach Story, and he's not wrong, but in this case that's a strength rather than a weakness. It doesn't overreach and it executes extremely well on its premise.

Saw a couple of movies over the weekend. I should get back in the habit of seeing at least some movies while they're still in the theaters. I like it.

• The Golden Compass -- 2 1/2 stars -- This was about what I was expecting: really very pretty eye candy with a truly deplorable screenplay. I am a big fan of His Dark Materials, and I have considered the challenges of adapting the story of this book to the screen (and they are many.) But even so, they could have done a better job. It opened promisingly enough; the scene with Lyra hiding in the cabinet and preventing Uncle Asriel from being poisoned was about right. Then it descended rapidly into a strange forced march through the pertinent plot points.
  
  If you aren't familiar with the book I'm sure it made no sense, and even if you are you likely noticed how off the rhythm was (I certainly did.) They plowed blithely through the climax and then lingered on an anti-climactic scene that went on so long I briefly thought they were actually going to carry on through the ending cliffhanger of the book (which would have made no sense, but that was pretty much a lost cause.) And then it just stopped.
  
  Good eye candy, though. Hooray for anbaric airships and polar bear fights.


• Charlie Wilson's War -- 3 1/2 stars -- This one was much more satisfying. It was strangely relieving to see an Aaron Sorkin screenplay on any sort of screen. Although Tom Hanks can't deliver the Sorkin dialogue properly, something about the cadence is just off, so it drags rather than popping. Could be a fault with the direction, I suppose. Oh well. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was the understated star of the show as far as I'm concerned. The story bobbed along, with funny beats in all the right places; it kept me interested and entertained through to the end, not in a spectacular way but certainly in a good one. And the ending quote was made of win and awesome and also truth.
  
  Also? Now I know what somebody was talking about. Tom Hanks nipples are offensive.

Juno is still on my list of films to see. sleetfall has already beat me to it, and that's just unacceptable. But I feel as though I ought to round up an actual crowd of friends with whom to go see it, which may take a little doing.

Courtesy of a comment to theferrett's recent post about the Night Watch:

Trailer for the Day Watch at Apple.com.

So pretty...

So for the first time in several years I'm having a birthday party. And I have decided, arbitrarily, to have it be a movie party. Which is like a regular party, except at some point people mostly stop talking for an hour and a half and watch a movie. Because its my birthday, so why not?

I'm thinking specifically of showing one of those movies that I love, but that most people have never even heard of. That's a relatively expansive list, but the list of said movies that other people would actually enjoy is thankfully a good deal shorter. And its important to me that other people at least potentially enjoy the movie. Just because its my birthday and I'm working with an essentially captive audience doesn't mean I actually intend to torture people.

Here's the short list, so far. Suggestions and advice are welcome. In alphabetical order:
[Poll #938647]Comments encouraged.

I had a good weekend, although it was too short.

Friday night I went over and grabbed some dinner with dippy423, then went back to her place and played Risk, or rather Lord of the Rings Risk (trilogy edition). It was geeky but very good times. I was foolishly allowed to start the game with complete control of Eriador and near-total control of Gondor, both of which I held for much of the evening. Eventually however I was routed, partially due to the fact that dippy423 exploited the frankly insane combat-by-sea rules in that game. I went fairly kamikaze after that because I was slap-happy tired, much to Brendan's apparent dismay. The game ended with the One Ring destroyed, but by then the forces of evil pretty much dominated the board. Which is kind of accurate to the books, in a way, if not to the movies. The general consensus among the players was that the game was fun although ultimately inferior to good old-fashioned Risk.

Saturday I was generally lazy, although I did get out and see:

The Good Shepherd -- 3 stars -- I had heard this film was hard to follow, and was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case for me. I had also heard it had a dynamite cast, but it wasn't until I actually saw them in action that I realized how dynamite. There's nothing like having a cast so strong that you can use the likes of Joe Pesci, Alec Baldwin and Billy Crudup with as much of a light touch as you want and still not have anyone complaining they're underutilized. I was actually really impressed with Alec Baldwin, much to my surprise. And my esteem for Matt Damon continues to increase; it can be hard for an actor to express emotion when playing an excessively stoic character, but he managed just fine. All in all a cool film that packs a lot in; a story about secrets and lies, but also about fathers and sons, about honor among thieves, about love and sacrifice. I liked it.

Sunday I was also lazy (noticing a pattern here?), but in the evening I went out with sleetfall and tried out Sagra, the latest restaurant to move into the cursed 400 Highland location. I have not treated myself to a really nice meal in a long time and this certainly fit the bill. I ordered conservatively and still ended up enjoying the Hell out of the food. Then sleetfall ordered a desert for no other reason than because it was based around Nutella and we ended up barely leaving the place in time to make the movie we were planning to see. This created some confusion with dippy423 and Jessica, who we were meant to be meeting at my place, but in the end we found them, and I finally saw:

Pan's Labyrinth -- 4 stars -- I went into this film with my expectations fairly built up and was still surprised by it's effectiveness. The storytelling was simple yet elegant. The fantasy visuals were every bit as stunning as I had been led to believe, but the starkly real scenes were no less rich for it, just all the more heartless and sometimes surprisingly hard to watch. I don't usually squick too badly where violence is concerned; I cringe and shudder with the best of them but it doesn't usually skeeve me out (with the noteworthy exception of self-mutilation.) This film managed to skeeve me out a couple of times based solely on the director's refusal to flinch or cut away; its not gorey but it is exceptionally brutal.

After the lights came up I ran into Robert, who I know from Story Games Boston, sitting one row ahead of us in the theater. It was a happy coincidence, though I was immediately faced with that situation wherein I had two groups of people who don't know each other at all. I think Robert would like those people and they him, given a chance, but I also knew full well that some of the people I came with were eager to get home and watch TiVo'd Battlestar Galactica, so I did a bit of hasty excusing myself and dashing off. No big deal.

Breaking up of the insurmountable amount of stuff that's happened since I last posted into more managable chunks and posting them without regard to chronological order. Ready, go.

I've seen a ton of movies this summer and I'm sure I've left some out, but this past weekend I saw two more worth mentioning.

• Little Miss Sunshine -- 3 1/2 stars -- I've been wanting to see this one since I first saw previews for it months ago, and reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Still I kept waiting for it to come to the Somerville theater, but I was starting to worry it never would and getting impatient beside. All the glowing reviews don't come close to doing this film justice; it was funny, engaging, and an absolute joy to watch. If I had one complaint its that Steve Carell's background as a character actor was ocasionally distracting. One sequence in particular, where he's annoying Greg Kinnear's character by being sardonic, really sticks out in my mind. But for the most part it wasn't a problem. All the actors delivered excellent performances, and the timing of the various sequences was clockwork perfect -- funny when a serious scene needed to be deflated, serious enough to keep you immersed in the story.
  
  
• The Devil Wears Prada -- 3 stars -- This one I did catch at the Somerville theater. I'm not the world's biggest Meryl Streep fan, but she was good. Mostly I went for Anne Hathaway, on whom I have an entirely unrepentant geek crush. (I admit Adrian Grenier was also something of a draw, he's dreamy.) It was a good little flick, highly entertaining and easy to watch. Having not read the book I suspect it was simplified somewhat, or was written with the intent of being adapted to a screenplay, as it played like your typical not-quite-romantic-comedy coming-of-age movie. Also, incidentally, there is clearly something wrong with me: I thought Ms. Hathaway looked a million times better before they slimmed her down a dress size and dressed her up in fashion chic.

Summer movie round-up (so far)...

Clerks II -- 3 1/2 stars -- A poetic ode to best friendship, I actually felt bad that I ended up seeing this without either sleetfall or thablueguy. Despite what some critics say I think Kevin Smith knocked this one out of the park. Its captures the spirit of an era and a time in a slacker's life just as well as the original did.

An Inconvenient Truth -- 2 stars -- I'm not a registered Democrat, but you have to ask yourself, where was this Al Gore during the 2000 presidential debates? This Al Gore is warm, personable, funny and entirely un-robotic. This film puts you in touch with his personality as a husband, a father, a Southerner and a passionate environmentalist all at once. And, as dippy423 pointed out, it also co-stars the former Vice President's Mac laptop.

Lady in the Water -- 1 star -- To quote cassielsander's uncle, "I can't defend it, but I like it." I have this thing for modern fantasy, and since Mirrormask is apparently as close as I'll ever get to a Neil Gaiman story on the big screen, I went into this one predisposed to like it. And I did like it, although I am forced to admit that it was heavy-handed and hit a number of wrong notes.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest -- 3 1/2 stars -- I can't say anything that a horde of fanatics hasn't said before me. I squee'd. Repeatedly. It did get a little on the long side. I wouldn't have cut any of the action sequences or swordfights, but I might have shortened them. And speaking of swordfights, what is the obsession with fighting while rolling across the landscape?

A Prairie Home Companion -- 3 stars -- This film isn't much more than a collection of excellent performances from a star-studded cast, but in an era of increasingly crappy and unoriginal movies there's something to be said for that. The script isn't perfect, although it does capture the spirit of APHC as well as it possibly could have. Its weird to ually see GK's face while listening to his voice tell stories.

A Scanner Darkly -- 2 1/2 stars -- Robert Downey Jr. saves this film from itself at every turn, although he's forced to ratchet up the crazy ramblings of his paranoid character every time in order to do it. I liked the rotoscoping for this film better than some of the critics but I'm forced to admit that the movie wasn't as effective as it could have been. It got across one message well, maybe two, but the book had about three more it missed entirely.

Superman Returns -- 4 stars -- Its almost staggering how many direct references to the original Christopher Reeves Superman director Bryan Singer manages to cram into 154 minutes. Don't get me wrong, I have the same trifling complaints about this movie as everyone else: too much dialogue, too few action sequences, etc. But I loved this movie, utterly, it brought me back to my childhood and sent me rocketing out of the theater believing a man could fly. What more could I ask for?

Howdy all, hope you are enjoying your summers as much as I am. Apropos of nothing, for no other reason than Because Its Wednesday, here's a list of my top five favorite moments of profanity in film and television. These lines are being selected less for the extent to which they are vile and more for their particular poesy; quality, therefore, will be preferred over quantity (which may be why no Quentin Tarantino films appear on my list.) The list may prove to be ill-considered, as its coming mostly off the top of my head.


No. 5 - Hugh Grant as Charles, Four Weddings And A Funeral

"Dear Lord, forgive me for what I am about to say in this magnificent place of worship... Bugger! Bugger! Bugger, bugger, bugger, BUGGER!"

Laced with profanity (as so many British comedies are), this moment still rings true, and hillarious. I actually like it better than the string of "fucks" at the opening of the movie.


No. 4 - Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlet, The West Wing, Two Cathedrals

"You're a son-of-a-bitch, you know that? She bought her first new car and you hit her with a drunk driver. What, was that supposed to be funny? 'You can't conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God,' says Graham Greene. I don't know whose ass he was kissing there 'cos I think you're just vindictive. What was Josh Lyman? A warning shot? That was my son. What did I ever do to yours except praise his glory and praise his name? There's a tropical storm that's gaining speed and power. They say we haven't had a storm this bad since you took out that tender ship of mine in the north Atlantic last year. 68 crew. Do you know what a tender ship does? Fixes the other ships. Doesn't even carry guns, just goes around, fixes the other ships, and delivers the mail, that's all it can do. Gratias tibi ago, domine. Yes, I lied. It was a sin. I've committed many sins. Have I displeased you, you feckless thug? 3.8 million new jobs, that wasn't good? Bailed out Mexico, increased foreign trade, 30 million new acres of land for conservation, put Mendoza on the bench, we're not fighting a war, I've raised three children... that's not enough to buy me out of the doghouse? Haec credam a deo pio? A deo iusto? A deo scito? Cruciatus in crucem. Tuus in terra servus nuntius fui officium perfeci. Cruciatus in crucem. Eas in crucem."

This one may seem like an odd choice, particularly because most of the "profanity," such as it is, is in Latin. The closest Sheen comes to swearing in English is calling God a "feckless thug," although that is a turn of phrase I'm quite fond of. Still I like this one as much for its emotional resonance as anything. To Sheen's very Catholic character talking to God like this is quite a big thing, and cursing God in Latin is pretty much cursing Him in His own tongue.


No. 3 - Ryan Phillippe as Mr. Parker, The Way of The Gun

"Shut that cunt's mouth or I'll come over there and fuck-start her head."

This line, and the opening scene of which it is part, (including a noteworth and profanity-laced rant by none other than the hillarious Sarah Silverman) is a pretty large part of what makes me love this silly little movie. And love it I do, rather a good deal more than it (arguably) deserves.


No. 2 - David Della Rocco as David Della Rocco, The Boondock Saints

"Fucking what the fuckin- fuck- who the fuck fucked this fucking- how did you two fucking fucks- FUCK?"!

A classic, of course, and one I feel needs little explanation. Its preceded by one of my other favorite moments of the movie, Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus frollicking and roughhousing in a room strewn with nine corpses. Flanery's delivery of the line "Yes we are!" still sets me a-tingle.


No. 1 - Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King, Blade: Trinity

"No, it's not, you horse-humping bitch. But it will be in a few seconds from now. See that tickle that you're feeling in the back of your throat right now? That's atomized colloidal silver. It's being pumped through the building's air conditioning system, you cock-juggling thundercunt."

And here it is, my personal favorite by a wide margin. Reynolds steals the show in Blade: Trinity (and there really isn't all that much show to begin with.) His interactions with Parker Posey rescue a movie dragging under the weight of its own action sequences, and this is his crowning glory, bar none.


Feel free to disagree with me and suggest your own favorite lines in the comments (Deadwood fans, this is your cue, as I've already opened the door by including the West Wing in the list.) More actual posts coming soon I hope (I've seen a ton of movies recently, several of which deserve mention), if I can just muster the energy.

The Squid & The Whale -- 3 stars -- I saw this at the behest of war_pug and I'm really glad that I did (and not just for the half-dressed Anna Paquin, although that was a definite bonus.) My respect for Laura Linney grows with each movie she appears in. It was significantly less surreal than the Life Aquatic without losing that wonderful essence of Baumbach. There was nothing in the movie that wasn't believable, although Jeff Daniels's performance (while excellent) did occasionally verge on hyperbole.

The Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor) -- 4 stars -- Obviously I've been anticipating the big-screen release of this one for months, but thanks once again to war_pug (EDIT: OK, actually apparently sleetfall, my bad) I got to see it for free. I even got to fill out a little audience response card and get some free merchandise out of the deal (all of which said "Coming Summer 2005" of course.) It was even better than I was expecting; the subtitles were integrated into the film in a really effective way and just added to what was already a very pretty movie. I can't wait for the sequels.

Syriana -- 1/2 star -- Yet another war_pug choice, as part of his recent movie-seeing kick. I guess he can't be right all the time. Steve, Pete and I all went to the theater together. Pete slept through most of the movie, Steve enjoyed it, and I split the difference by mostly staying awake but really thinking it was pretty worthless. Its not that I don't appreciate the message -- I do -- its that I'm bothered by the complete disregard for storytelling conventions. The filmmakers seemed totally content to forever drop the audience into a tense scene right at the important bit, leaving us struggling to figure out just who all the multitude of characters are and forever lagging behind the plot (such as it is) of the movie.

Ultraviolet -- 0 stars -- Of course, as much as I didn't enjoy Syriana, it can't hold a candle to this steaming pile of excrement. Now I'll be honest, I went into this one expecting it to be bad. I would have been satisfied with nothing more than a pretty Milla action flick, but this movie couldn't even deliver that. It was offensively bad, and in the end not even that pretty. Its yet another movie that's fallen victim to the regrettable trend (which in my opinion began with the Bourne Identity) of not letting the audience see the fight. I went in wanting gun kata, and I barely got 30 seconds of it. And I can't even bring myself to discuss the horrific holey plot or the skin-crawlingly bad dialogue. I award you no points, Kurt Wimmer, and may God have mercy on your soul.