So far I have skipped Hardball, Hope Floats, The Holiday and I Am Sam from my wife's collection because I have seen all them before. I enjoy the Jack Black/Kate Winslett story in The Holiday but I care very little for the rest. I Am Sam is fine but it is not a film I love and my dislike of Sean Penn makes me uninterested in seeing it again. Hardball is basically ghetto Mighty Ducks only I would rather watch Emilio than Keanu. It's probably been about 10 years or more since I saw Hope Floats and it remains one of my top ten least favorite movies of all time.
That brings me to Julie and Julia. I am going to try and watch movies from my wife's collection that I have not seen before, but that does not mean I am going to finish watching each one. With Julie and Julia, I made it about 40 minutes trying to watch it by myself while my wife was at work.
That sounds bad, but I am not totally condemning the film. Perhaps someday my wife will want to put it in and we will finish it together. I can at least recognize that while there is not much here for me to enjoy, it is a well made and well acted film.
Two things turned me off to the film early on. The first is Meryl Streep and her portrayal of Julia Childs, the American cooking aficionado who became something of a star in France being a lovable TV cook. I have no doubt that Streep's portrayal of the famed chief is spot on but that doesn't prevent me from finding her character (and her accent) obnoxious as I have very little knowledge of Mrs. Childs or very much appreciation for TV cooks. The question for me in regards to this character quickly became why do I care about someone I would not otherwise watch outside of this film. The answer is that I don't care and I found myself paying very little attention to her while she was on screen.
My other issue has to deal with the character of Julie and I have no doubt that my complaint will seem small and perhaps even stupid, but I lost interest in her character early on when she was at lunch with her friends. Each friend seemed too pre-occupied with there own lives to mentally be in attendance at this lunch and Julie seemed justifiably annoyed by this fact. What stood out to me in this scene was the stereotypical idea of how woman seemingly are constantly undermining or undercutting other woman. Julie is well educated and talented enough to have a manuscript for a novel in her desk (keep in mind that that is better than 99% of us) but a series of events have left her in a call center fielding calls from family members of 9-11 victims. Her friends seem as though they would pity her if they cared to and Julie seems to create her famous blog as an attempt to get back at her friends (in particular the "less talented" one who has her own successful blog). I am sure with time the movie would have focused on better things but as the story gains steam Julie takes several moments to take pot shots at her less talented "friend." 40 minutes in I was able to determine that I had no interest in this sorta thing.
There is a part of me that believes I should watch the film in it's entirety at some point as I would not put it the same category as a film like Hope Floats based on what I saw. It's closer to a Devil Wears Prada type film that is watchable but is clearly more relateable to woman than men. That's okay with me so long as there is a woman around to watch it with me.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Peter Jackson's King Kong
It seems to me that there are two general opinions regarding Peter Jackson's remake of the classic King Kong. The first is that it is an epic of similar quality to Mr. Jackson's Lord of the Rings films and based on the films reviews as well as box office totals I believe this side of the argument is well supported. The other side of the aisle contains people who also recognize the quality of the craftsmanship, but feel that at over 3 hours the film is too long. Add to that a couple of scenes that push the limits of good taste by featuring characters or creatures that are scarier (or just plain disgusting) than a PG-13 audience would typically expect. This side is of the discussion is supported by the fact that most people I talk to about the film seem to fall into this side of the argument and that King Kong has experienced far less fan fare on DVD/BluRay than Mr. Jackson's LOTR films.
This past January I listed King Kong as one of the 20 best films of the past decade so it's safe to say that I fall in line with those who believe this film is of equal quality to the Lord of the Rings films. But I have a slightly different take on why it is I love this film so much while others seem to have mildly enjoyed it, but ultimately dismissed it from conversations about the great films of the past ten years.
What I love about this film is that when I am watching it I feel as though I am watching a grand tribute to everything I love about films. Nothing is taken for granted in the 3 plus hours you spend with this film. Every scene, every shot, and every sound effect is used with exacting precision to produce what I believe is the ultimate example of epic film making.
Before seeing this film I remember seeing and reading about Mr. Jackson's love for the original film, it's influence on his career and why making this film was the equivalent of fulfilling a life long dream. In fulfilling that dream I believe Mr. Jackson gave us everything he always imagined this story could be with such precision and grace that even the LOTR films don't make for fair comparisons. Jackson sacrifices nothing here and provides his audience with romance, light humor, incredible thrills including a jaw dropping Jurassic Park moment, genuine terror and the satisfaction of feeling as though every element of this story was told exactly as it was supposed to be.
Along with Jackson, the film also boosts an incredible cast that includes what I believe to be an incredibly under appreciated performance from Jack Black as the stories Captain Ahab like character Carl Denham. Naomi Watts is mesmerising as the struggling actresses given a chance to star in a film without much of an explanation of what the film will be. She is convinced to give the film a chance because it's being written by Jack Driscoll who is played by Adrien Brody who feels far less out of place as an action hero (albeit a reluctant one) here than he does in the recent Predators film. The rest of the cast fills each one of their roles in such an exacting manor that you easily believe each one of them was meant to play that particular character.
I can't deny that the film requires a huge commitment of time. At one point my wife surprised me with a directors cut special edition of the film that pushed the running time beyond 3 hours and 20 minutes. I ultimately got rid of that version in favor of the theatrical version of the film because I believe it to be a perfect example of epic film making. I have already mentioned the film Predators in this post. I recently saw it and was disappointed by it primarily because the film I had playing in my head was better than what was on the screen. With the theatrical version of King Kong, Mr. Jackson was able to put everything I could imagine from this story on the screen with such remarkable attention to detail that I can honestly say after watching it again I believe it belongs as one of the 20 best films I have seen in the past 10 years. After all, in an era of micro-managing and meddling studio executives, there is something to be said for a story like this giving it's audience everything they can imagine up on the screen. This film truly is a representation of everything I love about films and their ability to take us to places we other wise may never have been able to imagine.
This past January I listed King Kong as one of the 20 best films of the past decade so it's safe to say that I fall in line with those who believe this film is of equal quality to the Lord of the Rings films. But I have a slightly different take on why it is I love this film so much while others seem to have mildly enjoyed it, but ultimately dismissed it from conversations about the great films of the past ten years.
What I love about this film is that when I am watching it I feel as though I am watching a grand tribute to everything I love about films. Nothing is taken for granted in the 3 plus hours you spend with this film. Every scene, every shot, and every sound effect is used with exacting precision to produce what I believe is the ultimate example of epic film making.
Before seeing this film I remember seeing and reading about Mr. Jackson's love for the original film, it's influence on his career and why making this film was the equivalent of fulfilling a life long dream. In fulfilling that dream I believe Mr. Jackson gave us everything he always imagined this story could be with such precision and grace that even the LOTR films don't make for fair comparisons. Jackson sacrifices nothing here and provides his audience with romance, light humor, incredible thrills including a jaw dropping Jurassic Park moment, genuine terror and the satisfaction of feeling as though every element of this story was told exactly as it was supposed to be.
Along with Jackson, the film also boosts an incredible cast that includes what I believe to be an incredibly under appreciated performance from Jack Black as the stories Captain Ahab like character Carl Denham. Naomi Watts is mesmerising as the struggling actresses given a chance to star in a film without much of an explanation of what the film will be. She is convinced to give the film a chance because it's being written by Jack Driscoll who is played by Adrien Brody who feels far less out of place as an action hero (albeit a reluctant one) here than he does in the recent Predators film. The rest of the cast fills each one of their roles in such an exacting manor that you easily believe each one of them was meant to play that particular character.
I can't deny that the film requires a huge commitment of time. At one point my wife surprised me with a directors cut special edition of the film that pushed the running time beyond 3 hours and 20 minutes. I ultimately got rid of that version in favor of the theatrical version of the film because I believe it to be a perfect example of epic film making. I have already mentioned the film Predators in this post. I recently saw it and was disappointed by it primarily because the film I had playing in my head was better than what was on the screen. With the theatrical version of King Kong, Mr. Jackson was able to put everything I could imagine from this story on the screen with such remarkable attention to detail that I can honestly say after watching it again I believe it belongs as one of the 20 best films I have seen in the past 10 years. After all, in an era of micro-managing and meddling studio executives, there is something to be said for a story like this giving it's audience everything they can imagine up on the screen. This film truly is a representation of everything I love about films and their ability to take us to places we other wise may never have been able to imagine.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Catching up post
So, I've taken a break from this for awhile and instead of trying to do a bunch of full posts I am going to do a quick catch up post on everything I've seen since my last post.
Of course, from my collection I did watch one of my all-time favorites in Kill Bill Vol.2. Where Vol. 1 is the ultra-violent ode to a particular style of film making, Vol. 2 is something close to modern Shakespeare. Dialing down on the violence and dialing up some of the most punchy and outstanding dialogue I have ever scene in a film, Vol. 2 requires a viewing of Vol.1 for it to fully work, but it is one of the films that contains certain scenes that I want to rewatch over and over before moving deeper in the film.
Falling in to the same category is Inglorious Bastards which I started the year declaring as the past decades best film. A comment I'm still willing to stand by regardless of the few flaws this film has. What Inglorious does better than any film I have scene is it lingers within a scene and squeezes every drip out of an outstanding script and amazing performances. I remember it's ad campaign focused on the violence and I often wonder what someone who only wanted violence thought of the films talky first 20 minutes set in the quite French country side. That scene convinced my wife to give the film a chance and while I know she did not feel the same way about the film as I do, it speaks volumes to me about how great that opening is.
I also saw Coraline recently which my wife purchased after I had passed the "C" in my collection. It's a quirky and compelling animated film that targets older kids but is also is able to appeal to grown ups as well. Very enjoyable and worth watching.
I have managed to enjoy a few rentals as well. I thought The Crazies was a worthy entry in the zombie/diseased killer genre. I also saw Adam which is a quirky rom/com that relies on it's characters to create and maintain an interest for the audience. To this end the film is extremely successful and worth watching if you can find it.
Finally, in the midst of one of the worst summer movie season I can remember I have made it out to the movies twice. Once for A-Team and a second time for Predators. I am not counting Toy Story 3, which was terrific for what I got to see, because I spent half of my time in the back of the theater chasing my daughter. While the A-Team managed to be entertaining and enjoyable "turn your brain off" fun, Predators was a huge disappointment. Basically, I was not overly impressed with the films opening which included Adrian Brody free falling and trying to get his parachute open and after an interesting scene with predator "dogs" the film steadily got less and less compelling. In the end I think making any Alien, Predator or Terminator films is difficult given the quality of previous ones and the fact that I always feel like there is a better film that could be made using these characters that what we have gotten over the last ten years. Pity.
The coming weeks are going to busy but I intend to start doing full posts again. We shall see of course as the second half of this year is already beginning to look very busy.
Of course, from my collection I did watch one of my all-time favorites in Kill Bill Vol.2. Where Vol. 1 is the ultra-violent ode to a particular style of film making, Vol. 2 is something close to modern Shakespeare. Dialing down on the violence and dialing up some of the most punchy and outstanding dialogue I have ever scene in a film, Vol. 2 requires a viewing of Vol.1 for it to fully work, but it is one of the films that contains certain scenes that I want to rewatch over and over before moving deeper in the film.
Falling in to the same category is Inglorious Bastards which I started the year declaring as the past decades best film. A comment I'm still willing to stand by regardless of the few flaws this film has. What Inglorious does better than any film I have scene is it lingers within a scene and squeezes every drip out of an outstanding script and amazing performances. I remember it's ad campaign focused on the violence and I often wonder what someone who only wanted violence thought of the films talky first 20 minutes set in the quite French country side. That scene convinced my wife to give the film a chance and while I know she did not feel the same way about the film as I do, it speaks volumes to me about how great that opening is.
I also saw Coraline recently which my wife purchased after I had passed the "C" in my collection. It's a quirky and compelling animated film that targets older kids but is also is able to appeal to grown ups as well. Very enjoyable and worth watching.
I have managed to enjoy a few rentals as well. I thought The Crazies was a worthy entry in the zombie/diseased killer genre. I also saw Adam which is a quirky rom/com that relies on it's characters to create and maintain an interest for the audience. To this end the film is extremely successful and worth watching if you can find it.
Finally, in the midst of one of the worst summer movie season I can remember I have made it out to the movies twice. Once for A-Team and a second time for Predators. I am not counting Toy Story 3, which was terrific for what I got to see, because I spent half of my time in the back of the theater chasing my daughter. While the A-Team managed to be entertaining and enjoyable "turn your brain off" fun, Predators was a huge disappointment. Basically, I was not overly impressed with the films opening which included Adrian Brody free falling and trying to get his parachute open and after an interesting scene with predator "dogs" the film steadily got less and less compelling. In the end I think making any Alien, Predator or Terminator films is difficult given the quality of previous ones and the fact that I always feel like there is a better film that could be made using these characters that what we have gotten over the last ten years. Pity.
The coming weeks are going to busy but I intend to start doing full posts again. We shall see of course as the second half of this year is already beginning to look very busy.
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