Cedar Rapids: Ed Helms takes the lead in this comedy about a sheltered insurance agent let loose at a convention. But not let loose in the Ed Helms overacting way. He gives a very performance here, as do John C. Reilly, Isiah Whitlock, Jr. (with a couple of The Wire shout-outs thrown in), and Anne Heche. Yes, the return of Anne Heche and I have to say I missed her. She was a good actress before her little bat shit crazy phase. Solid adult comedy--not dirty, but something actually not intended for high school kids. PLUS
Take Me Home Tonight: I'm a sucker for dorky guy chasing the girl of his dreams movies and this turned out to be a pretty solid entry int hat genre. My favorite part of this film set in 1989 is that it didn't exploit its time period like so many of these forced "nostalgia" movies do. There weren't any "Hey, look at my zany 80s outfit" moments. Which, of course, is what worked so well in all those classic 80s films that so many idiot filmmakers try to rip off these days: they were contemporary movies. They were "80s movies" because they were made in the 80s. Did this movie need to be set when it was? No, but at least it didn't make me feel that way while watching it. PLUS
Gomorrah: 2008 Italian film based on a best-selling expose of Napoli's Camorra crime family. I had never heard of the Camorra, which is surprising since it is actually one of the biggest and oldest mafia in the world. This is billed as a realistic take on organized crime (compared to the usual stylized Hollywood versions we love so much). This is good. My complaint is that it weaves together 5 different story lines to try to show the Camorra' reach. While all 5 stories are interesting, there isn't enough time with any of them. Then again, wanting more of a good thing isn't really the worst complaint. PLUS
Infernal Affairs: Speaking of crime, this 2002 Hong Kong thriller was the basis for the Oscar-winning The Departed. So, let's get to it: The Departed was better. Or more to the point it was bigger--it's hard to compete against Scorsese, Nicholson, and DiCaprio. Say what you want about the overvaluation of movie stars, but the good ones are big for a reason. That's not to say this wasn't good. It is. PLUS
I Saw the Devil: Since we're over there, here's a 2010 Korean serial killer movie. Good premise: cop hunts down fiance's murderer and then lets him go just so he can continue to follow and torture him. He becomes just as bad as the killer, get it? This is really well done, but I have to admit a lot of it turned me off. There's a lot of violence and it quickly devolves into torture porn. I actually found myself saying that I didn't need to see everything they were showing. That said, it's still a pretty good movie with some moments of genuine emotional weight. Take that, Saw. PLUS
Night of the Hunter: Went old school here, way back to 1955. If you're not familiar with this film, it's the one featuring Robert Mitchum's iconic performance of evil preacher Harry Powell. No? He has "Love" and "Hate" tattooed on his knuckles. Yeah, that movie. And you know what? Mitchum is something else, although never quite as terrifying as the film's reputation would lead you to believe. It suffers simply from being an older film. They just couldn't make movies as well as they do today. Technically, speaking. This does look good, though, and a lot different than most everything else from that period. Also, there's even a strong child performance by Billy Chapin, which as you know is never a given. Stupid kids. Everything considered, PLUS
All pluses? I know, right? Different levels of plusdom, but a good run nonetheless.
No comments:
Post a Comment