movie reviews [season 2]
(movies are listed in order with the most recently seen one last)
invincible: i'm a sucker for inspiring, feel-good sports movies. like this one, they are usually based on the true stories of underdogs, which in my book means relatable and awesome. disney is great for these. mark wahlberg did not let me down.
sherrybaby: well...there's no doubt maggie gyllenhaal is a phenomenal actress. as a whole, it was very well done. one just has to be aware that it's a very tense film driven by bitterness and rage, littered with explicit/offensive language and sexuality. it definitely stirs up emotions.
the illusionist: one of the best movies i've seen in the last year, with an awesome surprise ending. i've come to the conclusion that edward norton is one of hollywood's overlooked gems. he's a rarely seen actor that you don't seem to give much thought to, but then he'll pop out of nowhere in a film in which he'll completely blow your mind (fight club, anybody?). i love this man.
bandidas: come on, tell me the thought never crossed your mind that penelope cruz and salma hayek should star in a movie together (i still am holding out hope that helen hunt and leelee sobieski will join forces someday). though incredibly cheesy at times, it was cute and comical. and i mean seriously, who doesn't love steve zahn?
man about town: we all know good will hunting was pretty much affleck's one shining piece of work. but i like the guy and i don't think his acting is really much worse than anyone else's (okay, okay, so i've fallen into the "he's a local, therefore i'm loyal" trap). in the end my rose-colored tendencies don't really matter because there was nothing all that outstanding about this film.
the guardian: again, one of the best films i've seen in a long time. i love army/navy/coast guard movies probably more than any other genre. and it was after watching this that i finally decided to stop reading movie reviews altogether because without fail my opinion about a movie is always exactly the opposite. i basically knew after reading so many horrible reviews that i was going to love it, and i did. and to all of you who cannot take a movie for what it is and have a little imagination, ignore the whole guardian-of-the-seas aspect and just friggin' admit that you liked it.
stranger than fiction: even better than i was expecting it to be. if you're a writer, you will thoroughly appreciate this film. in fact, you'll wish you'd written the book it was based on. and i know i'm stating the obvious here but will ferrell is so great. is there anything he can't do?
running with scissors: wow, um...hands down one of the most bizarre and disturbing movies i have ever seen in my entire life. to think that it was based on one man's actual childhood just blows my mind. i don't think anything wrong or odd about life will shock me after this. yes, it's rated R for a bunch of things, but i still wish more people would go see it so we can discuss.
employee of the month: call me crazy but i liked it. I KNOW, okay? let's just call it a guilty pleasure or something. it made me laugh! you know what it is? it's andy dick. the guy is a comical genius. this is probably so wrong and i'm sorry, but that scene where he was startled at a little girl's birthday party and screams the f-word nearly made me rupture an organ laughing. it's because he was blind and never saw it coming. haha. i'm cracking up just thinking about it now...seriously, everyone should rent it just to see that scene. hahaha
crank: so not worth it. a freelance killer wakes up to learn he's been poisoned and the only way to prolong his life and seek vengeance is to keep his adrenaline pumping. the rest is a string of high-speed car chases, red bulls, epinephrine and coke (oh yeah, and sex in a very public location). it's go go go until the last thirty seconds when he falls from thousands of feet in the air and hits the ground and dies. there, now i've spoiled it and saved you the trouble.
a guide to recognizing your saints: if you think you can get past the reasons for its well-deserved R rating (pervasive [as in, some of the worst i've ever heard in my life] language, some violence, sexuality, and drug use), then you should see it. robert downey, jr. is another one of those hidden hollywood gems (if you haven't seen a scanner darkly yet, even though i demanded that you do so in my last blog of reviews, please listen this time). and you all know how i feel about shia labeouf. the language was almost unbearable, but i've always been interested in real-life portrayals of teenage relationships. this was based on a true story, so i kept that in mind.
flyboys: another true story. not one of the best military/war action movies ever, but still good and definitely worth seeing. i am a fan of james franco, although i think he needs to branch out more in his character roles. anyway, it was very moving.
invincible: i'm a sucker for inspiring, feel-good sports movies. like this one, they are usually based on the true stories of underdogs, which in my book means relatable and awesome. disney is great for these. mark wahlberg did not let me down.
sherrybaby: well...there's no doubt maggie gyllenhaal is a phenomenal actress. as a whole, it was very well done. one just has to be aware that it's a very tense film driven by bitterness and rage, littered with explicit/offensive language and sexuality. it definitely stirs up emotions.
the illusionist: one of the best movies i've seen in the last year, with an awesome surprise ending. i've come to the conclusion that edward norton is one of hollywood's overlooked gems. he's a rarely seen actor that you don't seem to give much thought to, but then he'll pop out of nowhere in a film in which he'll completely blow your mind (fight club, anybody?). i love this man.
bandidas: come on, tell me the thought never crossed your mind that penelope cruz and salma hayek should star in a movie together (i still am holding out hope that helen hunt and leelee sobieski will join forces someday). though incredibly cheesy at times, it was cute and comical. and i mean seriously, who doesn't love steve zahn?
man about town: we all know good will hunting was pretty much affleck's one shining piece of work. but i like the guy and i don't think his acting is really much worse than anyone else's (okay, okay, so i've fallen into the "he's a local, therefore i'm loyal" trap). in the end my rose-colored tendencies don't really matter because there was nothing all that outstanding about this film.
the guardian: again, one of the best films i've seen in a long time. i love army/navy/coast guard movies probably more than any other genre. and it was after watching this that i finally decided to stop reading movie reviews altogether because without fail my opinion about a movie is always exactly the opposite. i basically knew after reading so many horrible reviews that i was going to love it, and i did. and to all of you who cannot take a movie for what it is and have a little imagination, ignore the whole guardian-of-the-seas aspect and just friggin' admit that you liked it.
stranger than fiction: even better than i was expecting it to be. if you're a writer, you will thoroughly appreciate this film. in fact, you'll wish you'd written the book it was based on. and i know i'm stating the obvious here but will ferrell is so great. is there anything he can't do?
running with scissors: wow, um...hands down one of the most bizarre and disturbing movies i have ever seen in my entire life. to think that it was based on one man's actual childhood just blows my mind. i don't think anything wrong or odd about life will shock me after this. yes, it's rated R for a bunch of things, but i still wish more people would go see it so we can discuss.
employee of the month: call me crazy but i liked it. I KNOW, okay? let's just call it a guilty pleasure or something. it made me laugh! you know what it is? it's andy dick. the guy is a comical genius. this is probably so wrong and i'm sorry, but that scene where he was startled at a little girl's birthday party and screams the f-word nearly made me rupture an organ laughing. it's because he was blind and never saw it coming. haha. i'm cracking up just thinking about it now...seriously, everyone should rent it just to see that scene. hahaha
crank: so not worth it. a freelance killer wakes up to learn he's been poisoned and the only way to prolong his life and seek vengeance is to keep his adrenaline pumping. the rest is a string of high-speed car chases, red bulls, epinephrine and coke (oh yeah, and sex in a very public location). it's go go go until the last thirty seconds when he falls from thousands of feet in the air and hits the ground and dies. there, now i've spoiled it and saved you the trouble.
a guide to recognizing your saints: if you think you can get past the reasons for its well-deserved R rating (pervasive [as in, some of the worst i've ever heard in my life] language, some violence, sexuality, and drug use), then you should see it. robert downey, jr. is another one of those hidden hollywood gems (if you haven't seen a scanner darkly yet, even though i demanded that you do so in my last blog of reviews, please listen this time). and you all know how i feel about shia labeouf. the language was almost unbearable, but i've always been interested in real-life portrayals of teenage relationships. this was based on a true story, so i kept that in mind.
flyboys: another true story. not one of the best military/war action movies ever, but still good and definitely worth seeing. i am a fan of james franco, although i think he needs to branch out more in his character roles. anyway, it was very moving.
posted by audrey at
6:16 PM
2 Comments:
I really did like Stranger Than Fiction, despite the fact that Will has always annoyed me. It was refreshing to see him in a non-moronic role for once. That's actually the only one of these that I saw, although I should mention that The Prestige (which I loved) was apparently similar to The Illusionist in its awesomeness and twisted plot. So if you liked that then go see The Prestige.
Hey, it's Dave, the one who was "looking dapper" (love that word). I figured this would be a good one to leave my first comment on. Didn't get a chance to read all the movie reviews, but a lot of them I plan to go see. Just wanted to say I've read a few of your posts and love your stuff. And can't wait to see the RPG progress, should be good.
-Dave
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