the girl with the dragon tattoo

saw this the past weekend: it took about an hour to finally "click", get interesting. at several points in that first hour, i wondered how much i could bear; much of that first hour was also corny (seriously, happy meals?). but when the two main characters finally got together, the movie got good, and stayed good. lots of action, lots of inappropriate sexual situations, lots of gloomy skies, and one great big explosion that you'll be so happy to see, so that you don't have to see that dislocated jaw any longer.

george clooney - the descendants

another teary movie about someone facing death. (i guess i shouldn't find this theme so uncommon, considering that everyone dies.) though my fandom for mr clooney would probably have lead me to the same conclusion anyway, i liked this movie a lot. it seemed fairly well written, and the conflict between daughter and dad wasn't overworked. all the characters were pretty true, with the exception of the older daughter's not-quite-boyfriend, sid, who was one character that either 1) we didn't much need or 2) could have been utilized more effectively.

couldn't have cared much less for the subplot regarding the real estate sell off, though others in my particular audience seemed to find it intriguing.

here's my very, very minor quibble: there were a couple of scenes that seemed very poorly shot; was it the lighting? i don't know...they just looked like a student film project.

what was most remarkable: in scenes between clooney and beau bridges, mr. bridges' eyebrows won everytime.

movie catch up

just a few i've seen in the past few weeks:

• J EDGAR: don't get distracted by the really bad acting and the really bad makeup... but what it was missing was scandal or conflict or something. it was made apparent that hoover had inner demons, but what outside forces really threatened him, other than an oddly weak dig by a senator who discovered that hoover allowed hollywood to glorify him. it was entertaining enough, otherwise.
  
  
• IDES OF MARCH: nothing great, but nothing bad. well, george clooney and ryan gosling are both great; but like J EDGAR, above, there was nothing really compelling here.
  
  
• A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS: funny continuation of the world's favorite not-gay same sex couple. the drugs are just an excuse for them to be with each other, of course.

lots and lots of really uninteresting trailers playing right now, too.

melancholia

just finished watching MELANCHOLIA on-demand, rather than in the cinema. saved probably $20, considering tickets and popcorn and all...and this is definitely not a popcorn movie...ended up kind of loving it.



how would you approach the end of the world if 1) you weren't sure it was really going to happen, but you feared it might, or 2) if you knew it was going to happen, but didn't want to freak everyone out, or 3) if you were manic depressive, living with the most dysfunctional of families (and employer) who couldn't even help through your wedding?

(for number 3, i guess it's just another challenge to your limited coping mechanisms.)

i wish i'd seen this in the cinema, because it had some very striking visuals, and i suspect the sound and music (hinted at in the trailer, above) were gorgeous, in the right facility.

somewhat recommended. like THE TREE OF LIFE, this is one of those movies that you'll either (kind of) love, or detest.

"weekend"

just finished watching WEEKEND with the husband. goodness, i forgot how sweetly crybaby i can get. give a couple guys 60 hours or so to run the gamut of emotions, and what comes out the other end…something sentimental, to be sure, yet…fairly complicated and very familiar, pulling so many emotions from this viewer.

(photography was great, too.)

the rum diary

caught johnny depp in the rum diary the other day and loved it. great capture of the era (early 1960’s); consistently funny and entertaining.

just a moment or two of “oh god, don’t get all activist-heroic please”…and fortunately, they did not. stayed true to the puerto rico is a sorta beautiful and exotic, yet exploited colony of the US, where US citizens can go for seemingly legitimate reasons, but get in lots and lots of trouble.

aaron eckhardt is generally watchable, but a real gem is the true co-star of the movie, michael rispoli, playing the best imaginable buddy to depp’s character. and yes, that’s giovanni ribisi in there, too.

i have to ask, though, how is it that j depp hasn’t aged a spot in 20+ years? seriously.

siskel & ebert - changing attitudes toward homosexuality (at the movies)

arguably the most famous movie critics on tv,siskel and ebert have a sort of TV version of “the celluloid closet”, but investigating contemporary movies (early 80’s).

50/50 movie

scored free passes to see two of the movies' most adorable actors, joseph gordon-levitt and seth rogen, in 50/50 last night.

story: a young man who finds out he has a tumor on his spine, and for the next hour and a half, tries to work through his therapies, and his friends' and family's attempts at supporting him. also loses a girlfriend, but picks up a dog, rookie therapist, and chemo friends.

joseph gordon-levitt: plays a full range of emotions very effectively, somehow without changing his facial expressions so much. you're with him all the way, and feel like you really "get" him, even when noone else in the movie seems to. seth rogen as bromantic best friend: you know this role from rogen, and it fits. angelica huston as his mom: a little more emotional than most of her roles, and that works very well.

regarding the rookie therapist: with all the other "top-notch" surgeons and doctors surrounding the patient, i wondered why the hospital would stick him with a grad student therapist. but maybe this is the way it's done, what do i know. cute back and forth between her and him, though, which didn't wreck the movie.

by the end of the movie, you may be tearing up. or bawling. it's no brian's song, so don't worry about embarrassing yourself excessively, but do be prepared (kleenex, dark glasses). i didn't come out feeling emotionally manipulated, like i did in terms of endearment; it seemed fairly low-key, and entirely genuine.

highly recommended.

ryan gosling - drive

we saw the new ryan gosling movie, drive, this past weekend, because if a movie has ryan gosling, we see it (similar to my george clooney rule). this was one of the best movies i've seen in months, months, though i feel uncomfortable recommending it to anyone.

don't be put off by the very 80's neon pink title sequence in the beginning, but do fall in love with the music selected throughout the movie.

also, prepare yourself: ryan's unnamed character, part time getaway driver, part time stunt driver / mechanic, starts out as a not-really-bad guy with a heart of gold; by the middle of the movie, you find out that yeah, he actually is a good guy who does some really awful things.

even as the interactions between the driver and irene are quiet and slow, the love story happens quickly and sweetly, then gets interrupted by the return of a husband. it appears to be restarted, except for a few straggling debts to be paid, which lead to some of the bloodiest, violently goriest scenes i've seen since...well, i don't know when. (i had that feeling of wooziness in parts.)

it's reported that hugh jackman was originally in place for the role of the driver...ugh, that movie would have been completely different, and probably instantly forgettable.

coming soon: ryan gosling and george clooney in the same movie? see you there!

another earth

i dragged the husband to see another earth at our local non-multiplex today. i came out thinking, "he hated it", because i loved it.

turns out, he liked it a lot, too. this isn't something that happens often.

the story: people of earth come to find that there's another planet earth...and it's an exact copy of ours, same continents, cities, people. so a richard branson-type entrepreneur sets up a contest for someone to join his crew to visit "earth 2".

but this isn't really what the movie is about. kind of like sliding doors, it's more about, how would your life be different if you could change just one action from your recent history? almost every bit of this movie follows rhoda from a traumatic car accident, in which she kills a mother and child, through her attempt at getting herself, and the surviving widower, through it.

the whole time, i was dreading, but wanting to watch, her revelation to the widower, hoping his reaction wouldn't be awful, but knowing it had to be.

toward the end, i almost thought, they're wasting the terrific premise of "earth 2" counterparts...but that thought disappeared fairly quickly. in now way is the premise wasted.

best movie i've seen in AGES. definitely a recommendation.

kubrick's "the shining"

http://youtu.be/o8QCuxNsMyw

click here for the first of a four-part "making of" documentary, filmed by the director's daughter. one of the best half hours of your life can be spent watching this. (sorry, cannot embed...follow the link above.)

captain america

marvel's blockbuster lackluster summer continues. captain america, starring the ever beautiful chris evans, has an interesting origin story which can be told in less than two sentences*, but carries on far too long. his introductory feats of superheroism, running through 1940's brooklyn NY, wasn't very inspiring, and was soon followed by what looked like a series of great action scenes, mushed into a 2 minute montage. so, long and overexplainy backstory; then action that flashes before one's eyes in two minutes or less.

the hydra technology was the same kmart blue feathery laser stuff we see in every action movie featuring radioactive stuff that causes people to morph. (you are already accurately imagining it in your mind...yeah, that effect again.)

fortunately, hugo weaving ripped off his human skin mask, and gave the movie something to watch. oh wait, during the origin section, stanley tucci...he was worth watching, too. oh, and dominic cooper...so watchable, from start to finish (looking forward to seeing him in the devil's double.

by the end, i walked away thinking, it was something less than interesting. but not boring.

odds and ends

odds and ends

• FX has a new show, wilfred, about a guy (elijah wood) who talks to / consults with his neighbor's dog about life...while trying to flirt his way into the neighbor's eye, fairly disasterously. i've seen only one episode, but it was very, very good. looking forward to more.
  
• my haircutterbarberstylistwhatdoyoucallhim was complaining to me yesterday (not whining) about how he's having to assume more and more of the business of his shop, and will be cutting down on the number of clients he works with directly. he says i'm on his keep list, but will be weeding off those who don't tip well enough. he then gave me examples of good tippers: guys who come in and hand over $40 for a $23 cut (with no shampoo), or pay him $50 for full service.
  me, i give the guy a $5 tip and think i'm being generous.
  this sort of complaining makes me think i might go elsewhere.
  
• i used the phrase, "this infuriates me" at work yesterday. to my boss. out loud. regarding something the boss asked me to do. age does have its perks.
  
• just popped a bag of popcorn in the breakroom microwave; a coworker was somewhat surprised, as he'd never considered that one could purchase microwave popcorn from the vending machine, and cook it in the same room. he's a fairly intelligent person, from what i know of him...so, i really don't know how this was a novel concept to him.
  
• last weekend was a tv marathon of the lord of the ring movies, of which, only the second i had seen in the theater; this weekend is a harry potter marathon, of which i've only seen the last three installments. how is it these two series have pretty much passed me by?
  
• don't forget, i'm on facebook, too.

tree of life

this kid scared me like my oldest brother scares me

i read that this movie, the tree of life, was getting a love-it-or-hate-it reception everywhere, which always pops a flag in my head that "i wanna see that movie!" surely i'm not the only one who thinks that...right?

then i read some comparisons to 2001: a space oddysey, which probably ranks as my favorite movie of all time. again, "i wanna see that movie!"
i knew better than to drag the husband to see it. and glad i didn't. because i liked it... i liked it a lot. which generally means, he wouldn't.

first, the 2001 comparisons: i can see where these come from, but they aren't warranted. nor was the protracted visualization of the evolution of planet earth, from where those comparisons sprang up. middle-aged men all over the planet have guilt and / or regrets of childhood nastiness (even those destined for sociopathy, yet somehow gain successful careers in architecture, allowing them to work in the world's most beautiful office building)...so, working out the coming-to-peace process doesn't really mean one has to work out how asteroids wiped out the dinosaurs. no matter how impressive the CGI.

but i digress. and that's my point. way, WAY too much background to tell an already compelling family story. and the last several minutes of that coming-to-peace...well, my impression was that of the director and editor going through the several angles of the same scene, loving every bit of it, and so, deciding to keep every bit of it, even if it became very repetitive.
 
but wait, didn't i say i LIKED this movie? indeed, i did like it. the parts i didn't find necessary, along with the parts i thought fit in quite naturally, were still visually compelling. i would absolutely see tree of life again. but don't wait for the DVD, because this is one of those movies from which you will easily become distracted (more visuals than dialogue, etc.), so the home viewer may never actually finish the movie.

not so super 8

super 8 = ET(goonies + war of the worlds)

super 8 is perfectly okay, at times funny, at other times interesting, but at no time unique or original. there's no JJ abrams here; it's all spielberg. bad, 70's era cliche spielberg.

in fact, i'd be hardpressed to come up with any one thing original about this movie...maybe there was no intent to be.

i'm guessing that this is the second cloverfield movie, and that the next one will be a hitchcock-themed mystery, the one after that, based on the muppets, and who knows where from there?

waiting on THOR

Taken at AMC Fashion Valley 18

Posted via email from this-alien's posterous

gorgeous in parts, but what an effin' mess. i'm done with MARVEL movies.

recent movies

HANNA: pretty much jason bourne as a 13 year-old girl. dreary ambience and european locations of action scenes seem similar, as is HANNA's backstory (we never told you, you're a government creation). showdown with female government agency official, too.

the good parts of the movie: eric bana's long johns; those locations; some emotional development of HANNA (if nobody else); filming reminiscent of early 70's sci-fi in the early training scenes.

recommendation? sure, why not. i'm not likely to remember much of this a year from now.



THE CONSPIRATOR: i was curious to see the conspirator in part because i was born in the town featured in the film, clinton, MD (formerly known as surrattsville). but also, like many in the US, for the whole lincoln mystique, which will apparently never die.

and it paid off...good-enough 2 hour history lesson that never really enthralled, but held my attention, and informed me further of an obessible episode in US history. no undue cinematic effects, no wild courtroom theatrics, but a cast of so many familiar faces, all doing the "victorian" or "southern" thing: actors from star trek, newsradio and true blood, 30 days of night, another from true blood, that kevin kline guy, that guy from wanted, that girl who married sean penn...it was like everytime the camera saw a new person, you went into "where do i know him from" mode.

so yeah, a recommendation.

a single man (again)

we re-viewed tom ford's a single man last night. all the more enjoyable the second time around. how is it that i overlooked the ticking clock the first time around?

as mentioned before, definitely a designer's point of view throughout the movie. and that is a big plus...the design aspect seems to lift the movie a bit higher than the story would otherwise warrant.

(not many movies are as symmetrical as this one, to be sure, especially in today's world of thirds.)

big, big recommendation.

PAUL

i suppose i should have written up a glowing review after seeing PAUL this past weekend, but surprisingly, as much as i enjoyed seeing it at the time, i haven't cared enough about it to follow up.

it was amusing. it was funny. a sweet, cuss-filled homage to sci-fi blockbusters from 30+ years ago, specifically E.T. and close encounters of the third kind with a few others tossed in.

two british guys do a road trip across the western U.S. to see alien-themed sites (roswell, area 51, comicon), and pick up an escaping alien, and an unborn again christian along the way. while being hunted down by jason bateman. what's not to like about all that? but, not the hilarity of shaun of the dead, from whom this movie also comes...still, well worth seeing.

one wonders how much they spent just creating the alien guy, though he was worth the investment...really well crafted. kristen wiig remains the most remarkable comic actor of this era; jason bateman keeps the chase moving along.

(related kristen wiig news: they showed a trailer for her upcoming movie, bridesmaid, that, for her alone, will be on my list.)

the adjustment bureau

matt damon isn't allowed to love a dull girl he met in the mens room. another movie based on a phillip k dick story (who wrote blade runner and just about every other science fiction movie in the past 25 years). when i saw the trailer on this one, i wasn't terribly enthusiastic. seemed this "bureau" that manages our affairs was fairly petty.

watching the development of the story during the movie itself, i was feeling pretty much the same; i kept internally screaming, "yeah, but WHY?" and when the "WHY" that these two dull people aren't allowed to be in love was totally not worth the wait.

wondering exactly how old matt damon's character was supposed to be, because it's said that his dad took him to see JFK in washington DC. let's assume he was about 10 years old then...so now, 50 years later, he still looks 40?

still, the movie was otherwise entertaining, and i wouldn't tell people NOT to see it.