The Austin
Film Festival is over, and that means it's time to ramble a
bit about the 11 movies (by the way, I'm lame and that's
seven flicks short of my pre-fest goal) that I saw
over the course of the last week or so. Read on!
Solid film by Ed Burns. Very charming. Probably doesn’t
sound too appealing, but if you take the cleverness out of
Lost In Translation and replace it with a more
heart-on-sleeve style of storytelling, you’re left with
Nice Guy Johnny.
Random Flick Note: I think this was
the first movie I’ve seen where the two leads actually
looked like teenagers playing 25 year-olds. Usually it’s a
25 year-old playing a senior in high school. Weird.
Absolutely terrible, and if a family member of the late
Horton Foote hadn’t been in attendance I would have laughed
my way through every ridiculous, over-drawn moment.
Completely scatterbrained film that had 12 different points
- no of which were interesting.
Random Flick Note: Why the hell would
you hire actors from the UK to play hicks in North Carolina?
Moreover, why the hell would Orlando Bloom and Colin Firth
agree to look and sound so ridiculous?
Despite having an interesting premise and Jim Carey and Ewan
McGregor as the two leads, I figured this was probably
delayed so many times because it just wasn’t that great.
Nope! It’s actually pretty good. There’s a few oddball
things that semi-annoyed me (wavering southern accents,
overdone gay stereotypes), but the film is super funny,
quick paced and worth your time.
Random Flick
Note:
There were obviously some liberties taken with the film’s
plot, as the
Wikipedia page for Steven Russell (Jim
Carey’s character) tells a fairly different tale.
I was hoping for b-film fun with this, and that’s what I
got. If you ever see it, catch it at 3-4am on SyFy when
you’ve had too much to drink. Actually, you could probably
watch it anytime since it doesn’t dwell on any plot points
and has just enough heart to win you over. You just need to make
sure to have your good humor hat securely on before viewing.
Random Flick
Note:
Having a villain/monster that generates unintentional (?)
laughter every time he comes on the screen is something that
just about every movie should have.
This pleasantly surprised me. I knew it would be well made
because of the people involved (four 'Best Actor' Oscar
winners, writer/director John Wells), but a movie about rich
people "struggling" with going from upper class to jobless
didn’t seem like something I could relate to. However, this
wasn’t exactly the case. I may still not be able to
understand what it’s like to no longer make six-figures a
year, but I’m now very aware of how feeling jaded, ashamed,
angry, stubborn, and over-confident could lead someone into
a variety of post-layoff issues. You don’t have to run to
the theater whenever this gets released, but it is worth
seeing.
Random Flick
Note:
Good Will Hunting, Gone Baby Gone, The Town,
The Company Men - Ben Affleck should only get
involved with movies that are based in Boston. He’s
currently 4 for 4.
All you really need to know about this is that it’s a
mockumentary based around Dax Shepard trying to transition
from comedian to martial arts star. I have no idea if it’ll
ever hit DVD, but if it does you should definitely give it a
moment of your time. Unless, of course, you don’t like
laughing about incredibly silly things.
Random Flick
Note:
Dax Shepard is really funny when he’s not in a generic big
studio comedy. He should stop doing those.
Solid flick. You won’t get anything out of it that you
haven’t gotten a zillion times over, but it does feature a
couple of really nice performances from James Gandolfini
(the greatest breather of all-time) and Melissa Leo. In
fact, I sort of wish the movie had only dealt with them and
didn’t include Kristen Stewart’s underage stripper character
as a third wheel.
Random Flick
Note: I
don’t know if it was done on purpose or what, but Kristen
Stewart is hideous in this movie. Every time she
popped up on the screen I flinched.
BORING. There will never be a reason for you to watch this.
Nothing happens in it. People are literally walking at the
beginning of the film and (spoiler alert) it ends with them
deciding to keep on walking. There’s no character
development or a real plot, Meek’s Cutoff is just
Kelly Reichardt’s excuse to make a period film.
Random Flick
Note:
Ending a movie without an actual conclusion to the story is
not artsy, it’s pretentious bullshit, Kelly.
A lot should (and will) be said about James Franco’s
charismatic and endearing performance in this, but I think
95% of the credit should go to Danny Boyle. He does an
absolute brilliant job of making every millisecond of this
movie brim with emotion, which is something that most
directors could only ever dream of accomplishing. This will
for sure be nominated for Best Picture.
Random Flick
Note:
127 Hours features the best hallucinations ever, and
you will know what I mean once you see it.
This was borderline disappointing. Slow paced and plot
heavy, it just didn’t grab me the way I thought it would,
especially when you consider just how interesting the story
of Valerie Plame is. I think it could have used a much
better director (sorry, Doug Liman) and it would have been
nice had someone been willing to edit the large amount of
excess exposition out of the script. An hour and 45 minute
runtime should not feel like an eternity.
Random Flick
Note:
Despite being a great actor, I can’t take Sean Penn
seriously anymore. Every time I see him I immediately think
of Robert Downey Jr’s character from Tropic Thunder.
What can I really say about this? It’s the best film of the
year. Natalie Portman turns in an Oscar-worthy performance
and Darren Aronofsky continues his reign as one of the best
directors working. Where 127 Hours had me squirming
in my chair in anticipation, Black Swan had me in a
complete trance. Not sure I’ve ever stared so hard a screen
before.
Random Flick
Note:
Mila Kunis is really good in this. Hopefully it will
allow her to not need to be in stuff like Max Payne
or The Book Of Eli anymore.
- John Laird -
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