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Movie catch-up before the last round of the year - gotta see 2 movies a day until the end of the year. I'm actually much less behind than I thought I would be.
18 December
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
This movie just tried way too hard to be quirky and sweet. Worst offender was Dustin Hoffman, whom I usually love but whose shtick in this drove me absolutely up the wall. Saved from being complete rubbish by lovely turns from Jason Bateman as the well-meaning but closed-minded disbeliever and Zach Mills and his wonderful ears as the kid, whose awkward 'quirkiness' is much more believable than anyone else's. It's hard not to love Natalie Portman when she's this cute, too. Still, even just reading the credits on IMDb kind of makes me roll my eyes - the quirk button is pushed in the first five minutes and the movie has nowhere to go.
2 out of 5
19 December
Notorious
I could watch Ingrid Bergman read a phone book, I swear. That woman had more charisma in her pinky than most actresses have in an entire career. Still, this isn't really a Hitchcock favourite for me. It doesn't really take off until she starts her spy mission, and I never quite bought the very quick fall into love from either Bergman or Cary Grant.
One thing I do like about this movie is that, unlike the vast majority of Hitchcock movies, it is surprisingly lacking in genderfail. In fact, it takes a lot of genderfail assumptions about women at the time and flips them on their head - the assumptions made about Bergman's character being a slut are turned on their heads, and Cary Grant's character really backs her up. Alicia Huberman is actually all kinds of fabulous - all boozy/icy exterior protecting the toughest damn broad underneath. Seriously, I would have been happy writing an essay on her at university, there's that much going on, and holy hell she was gorgeous. The whole movie is stunning.
3.5 out of 5
The Majestic
Much like The Terminal, boring. Laurie Stanton (who I recognised from The Walking Dead) played a pretty cool line in The Girl, but seriously, this is one of those self-indulgent screenwriter projects about a screenwriter that you watch and want to roll your eyes all the way through. Add some truly ridiculous leaps of faith and an overwrought speech at the end and you have a very average film. Looked pretty, and I do prefer Jim Carrey when he's in straight-faced mode (post-The Mask, that is). Lovely period work (and I like that Laurie Holden really, genuinely looks like she's from the period, and has the speech patterns down). It was interesting to see the effect of losing a generation of young men in war, too, although I would've liked it more if it had more women to show that perspective.
2.5 out of 5
20 December
Cypher
Jeremy Northam, please don't ever, ever, ever attempt an American accent again. Ever.
Okay, having said that, this wasn't too bad a scifi thriller, even if the twist was pretty damned obvious (and the same fucking one as The Tourist. People, get some NEW MATERIAL.) I was surprised about David Hewlett, but it turns out this was the same director as Cube and Splice. Not as good as either. Lucy Liu is pretty compelling, and the start of the movie really drew me in - absolutely no scifi, just corporate spying and some interesting thoughts about identity and such. The introduction of the scifi elements was nicely done, too, and I really enjoyed the sound of those elements - it's a quiet, clean scifi world they occupy, no mess, no fuss, just missing people. One of the things I really didn't get is WHY the bad guys were doing what they did, though.
Also, significant genderfail - Lucy Liu's kickassness was completely usurped in the last act, and the rest of the women were basically just irritating window dressing. The nagging wife archetype was infuriating.
2.5 out of 5
22 December
Megamind
Couldn't stop thinking about Dr. Horrible. Seriously, Megamind and a human he later impersonates even kind of look like Neil Patrick Harris - much more than they look like Will Ferrell, at any rate.
It's a cute movie. The jokes come thick and fast and are usually pretty good - I laughed at a couple while the kids stared at me, and they laughed at other bits, so clearly it hits the adults' and kids' funnybones. (The kids particularly loved Minion, and the adults preferred Metroman.) My favourite jokes mostly involved Megamind's unique take on pronunciation. Ultimately they don't do quite as much with the concept as they could have - I would have liked to see more examination of the alienation and misunderstandings that caused Megamind's "evilness" once he became the hero. It felt a little overly long as well, although to be fair that might be the fault of the three extremely energetic boys I was sitting with driving me crazy.
Also, seriously, would it KILL them to make a female superhero movie? I am sick of the line "the hero gets the girl". SICK TO DEATH. Even as voiced by Tina Fey, she's still just the girl who gets herself into situations from which she needs saving. This movie has its own trope about that entirely. I mean seriously. Fuck off.
3 out of 5
26 December
The Tourist
Pretty, but flat. Ange looks great and there are some fun action sequences, but as I've mentioned elsewhere in this post, twist? What twist? Completely predictable from very, very early on, even if it makes absolutely no sense. Paul Bettany made a fun villain and brought a bit of an unpredictable edge, but most of the awesome background actors felt completely wasted (although in Rufus Sewell's case, I get that). I can see what they were going for but they missed it by a country mile.
2.5 out of 5
Skellig
Seriously, what are they feeding child actors these days? Bill Milner carries this film like he's been doing it all his life. He captures that sense of being on the edge of something - too young to be told, too old not to understand - gorgeously. Unfortunately this movie moves from a sort of gothic horror situation to schmaltzy fluff, or as close to it as the British ever get, which is a bit disappointing. Tim Roth isn't as great as he could be as the mysterious bird man in the garden shed, but John Simm brings a bruising sense of helplessness as a father whose infant is dying and who can't quite connect with his older son because of it. Mostly this is Milner's film, though. He's terrific.
3 out of 5
28 December
The Brothers Bloom
It is a travesty of The Fall proportions that this film wasn't ignored at the movies.
Cinema-going world, what the actual fuck? This is a gorgeous, whimsical, engaging movie that ultimately packs an emotional punch that you'd never expect. Not only that, but once you see the ending, the pieces of the movie fall into place and it makes it that much better. Oh, also, somehow, they actually build a relationship between the two women - in spite of the fact that Rinko Kikuchi's Bang Bang basically doesn't talk. What is this? This is a fucking awesome movie. The Bloom brothers have a fucked-up and gorgeous relationship to rival the Winchesters. There are old-school, low-tech heists and cons and explosions, and they con people in uniform, and it's almost too much to take. I want to own it and watch it over and over again. Rian Johnson has the ability to make these amazing movies that are slightly out of step with the real world but create wonderful universes of their own. This isn't the hard, dirty, violent noir of Brick, but it has real darkness as well as light, and a lightness of touch that other directors could learn from. And gorgeous camerawork. And terrific music. Just...guh, so good.
The only thing I'd say is that Johnson could have turned down the quirk factor on Rachel Weisz's character just a little bit - even in this world, she's a bit much to take, particularly on the train.
4.5 out of 5
Fuck, it's late. You guys can have some Darren tomorrow.
Green Queen
18 December
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
This movie just tried way too hard to be quirky and sweet. Worst offender was Dustin Hoffman, whom I usually love but whose shtick in this drove me absolutely up the wall. Saved from being complete rubbish by lovely turns from Jason Bateman as the well-meaning but closed-minded disbeliever and Zach Mills and his wonderful ears as the kid, whose awkward 'quirkiness' is much more believable than anyone else's. It's hard not to love Natalie Portman when she's this cute, too. Still, even just reading the credits on IMDb kind of makes me roll my eyes - the quirk button is pushed in the first five minutes and the movie has nowhere to go.
2 out of 5
19 December
Notorious
I could watch Ingrid Bergman read a phone book, I swear. That woman had more charisma in her pinky than most actresses have in an entire career. Still, this isn't really a Hitchcock favourite for me. It doesn't really take off until she starts her spy mission, and I never quite bought the very quick fall into love from either Bergman or Cary Grant.
One thing I do like about this movie is that, unlike the vast majority of Hitchcock movies, it is surprisingly lacking in genderfail. In fact, it takes a lot of genderfail assumptions about women at the time and flips them on their head - the assumptions made about Bergman's character being a slut are turned on their heads, and Cary Grant's character really backs her up. Alicia Huberman is actually all kinds of fabulous - all boozy/icy exterior protecting the toughest damn broad underneath. Seriously, I would have been happy writing an essay on her at university, there's that much going on, and holy hell she was gorgeous. The whole movie is stunning.
3.5 out of 5
The Majestic
Much like The Terminal, boring. Laurie Stanton (who I recognised from The Walking Dead) played a pretty cool line in The Girl, but seriously, this is one of those self-indulgent screenwriter projects about a screenwriter that you watch and want to roll your eyes all the way through. Add some truly ridiculous leaps of faith and an overwrought speech at the end and you have a very average film. Looked pretty, and I do prefer Jim Carrey when he's in straight-faced mode (post-The Mask, that is). Lovely period work (and I like that Laurie Holden really, genuinely looks like she's from the period, and has the speech patterns down). It was interesting to see the effect of losing a generation of young men in war, too, although I would've liked it more if it had more women to show that perspective.
2.5 out of 5
20 December
Cypher
Jeremy Northam, please don't ever, ever, ever attempt an American accent again. Ever.
Okay, having said that, this wasn't too bad a scifi thriller, even if the twist was pretty damned obvious (and the same fucking one as The Tourist. People, get some NEW MATERIAL.) I was surprised about David Hewlett, but it turns out this was the same director as Cube and Splice. Not as good as either. Lucy Liu is pretty compelling, and the start of the movie really drew me in - absolutely no scifi, just corporate spying and some interesting thoughts about identity and such. The introduction of the scifi elements was nicely done, too, and I really enjoyed the sound of those elements - it's a quiet, clean scifi world they occupy, no mess, no fuss, just missing people. One of the things I really didn't get is WHY the bad guys were doing what they did, though.
Also, significant genderfail - Lucy Liu's kickassness was completely usurped in the last act, and the rest of the women were basically just irritating window dressing. The nagging wife archetype was infuriating.
2.5 out of 5
22 December
Megamind
Couldn't stop thinking about Dr. Horrible. Seriously, Megamind and a human he later impersonates even kind of look like Neil Patrick Harris - much more than they look like Will Ferrell, at any rate.
It's a cute movie. The jokes come thick and fast and are usually pretty good - I laughed at a couple while the kids stared at me, and they laughed at other bits, so clearly it hits the adults' and kids' funnybones. (The kids particularly loved Minion, and the adults preferred Metroman.) My favourite jokes mostly involved Megamind's unique take on pronunciation. Ultimately they don't do quite as much with the concept as they could have - I would have liked to see more examination of the alienation and misunderstandings that caused Megamind's "evilness" once he became the hero. It felt a little overly long as well, although to be fair that might be the fault of the three extremely energetic boys I was sitting with driving me crazy.
Also, seriously, would it KILL them to make a female superhero movie? I am sick of the line "the hero gets the girl". SICK TO DEATH. Even as voiced by Tina Fey, she's still just the girl who gets herself into situations from which she needs saving. This movie has its own trope about that entirely. I mean seriously. Fuck off.
3 out of 5
26 December
The Tourist
Pretty, but flat. Ange looks great and there are some fun action sequences, but as I've mentioned elsewhere in this post, twist? What twist? Completely predictable from very, very early on, even if it makes absolutely no sense. Paul Bettany made a fun villain and brought a bit of an unpredictable edge, but most of the awesome background actors felt completely wasted (although in Rufus Sewell's case, I get that). I can see what they were going for but they missed it by a country mile.
2.5 out of 5
Skellig
Seriously, what are they feeding child actors these days? Bill Milner carries this film like he's been doing it all his life. He captures that sense of being on the edge of something - too young to be told, too old not to understand - gorgeously. Unfortunately this movie moves from a sort of gothic horror situation to schmaltzy fluff, or as close to it as the British ever get, which is a bit disappointing. Tim Roth isn't as great as he could be as the mysterious bird man in the garden shed, but John Simm brings a bruising sense of helplessness as a father whose infant is dying and who can't quite connect with his older son because of it. Mostly this is Milner's film, though. He's terrific.
3 out of 5
28 December
The Brothers Bloom
It is a travesty of The Fall proportions that this film wasn't ignored at the movies.
Cinema-going world, what the actual fuck? This is a gorgeous, whimsical, engaging movie that ultimately packs an emotional punch that you'd never expect. Not only that, but once you see the ending, the pieces of the movie fall into place and it makes it that much better. Oh, also, somehow, they actually build a relationship between the two women - in spite of the fact that Rinko Kikuchi's Bang Bang basically doesn't talk. What is this? This is a fucking awesome movie. The Bloom brothers have a fucked-up and gorgeous relationship to rival the Winchesters. There are old-school, low-tech heists and cons and explosions, and they con people in uniform, and it's almost too much to take. I want to own it and watch it over and over again. Rian Johnson has the ability to make these amazing movies that are slightly out of step with the real world but create wonderful universes of their own. This isn't the hard, dirty, violent noir of Brick, but it has real darkness as well as light, and a lightness of touch that other directors could learn from. And gorgeous camerawork. And terrific music. Just...guh, so good.
The only thing I'd say is that Johnson could have turned down the quirk factor on Rachel Weisz's character just a little bit - even in this world, she's a bit much to take, particularly on the train.
4.5 out of 5
Fuck, it's late. You guys can have some Darren tomorrow.
Green Queen
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Yeah, I'm going to go buy it if I can find it.
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ETA: Actually, I remember your review of it back in the day. A couple of flisters loved it, which is why I checked it out in the first place.
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And Notorious! I love that movie and a complete ditto on Bergman. Still need to see Megamind, just for the Superman overtones of the whole thing.