Movie Thoughts
Last night I saw one of the best movie previews - ever. I actually don't want to describe the preview because describing it will ruin in. But let's just say, the filmmaking and camera use is incredible. The funniest (and oddest) part about the preview is when the title comes up - The Hills Have Eyes Part 2. No joke.
A holiday movie and dvd roundup.
The Good Shephard - Lousy directing, bad writing. So much talent not used property. All the other new spy movies coming out look stupid as well. Thank goodness. It means there is still space for the Janissary.
Rocky Balboa - Bad. A few good moments when I got pumped up like the Rocky of old, but this one was just bad. Not as bad as Rocky V, but still bad. To put it in perspective, Rocky IV was on the other day on television and I watched the entire thing on TNT because it's so damn engrossing and fun to watch. You couldn't pay me to see Rocky Balboa again. Seriously, where were the music video montages to Eye of the Tiger? I miss that gay cheese.
Children of Men - I really liked it. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it and how emotion I felt during parts of the film. The politics and the cheese can be talked about, but I got washed over by the pace of the story, quality acting, and exciting filmmaking.
Freaks and Geeks - A show on TV for one season around 2000 or 2001. It was a one hour comedy (rare) about a group of freshmen geeks and junior freaks. The show is great and a lot of the creators and directors of the show have gone on to much bigger things - Jud Apatow, Mike White, Jake Kasdan, Gabe Sachs. This is a pretty awesome high school show, but I thought the second half of the season lost it's steam and it made sense to me why the show didn't find an audience large enough to sustain itself. In constrast, there are shows like Arrested Development, which inexplicably, couldn't find an audience.
The Office Season 2 - The American version is good entertainment, what can I say?
Babel - I saw this over Thanksgiving and thought it was really great, although all the stories ended weaker than they. The filmmaker obviously has big ideas and thoughts but hasn't quite figured out how to put it together cohesively into a tidy narrative. But then again, maybe he's not interested. And frustratingly to me, talented enough to get away with it.
I feel as though I'm missing something, but there are still a bunch of movies to see: Little Children, Volver, Letters from Iwo Jima, just to begin with.
3 comments:
I enjoyed The Good Shepard. A bit silly, sure, but fun all the same. I'm not enough of an expert to know what constitutes lousy directing and bad writing, but what is your criteria for such? How were people used improperly? A friend of mine complained about the celebrity cameos (Baldwin, Deniro) who didn't really contribute much to the film, but I didn't mind them.
I found this movie better than The Departed, though I think I'm in the minority here.
i thought children of men was excellent - what a story telling style. The best visual movie i've seen this year without a doubt. The trailer makes it seem like a completely different movie.
I just saw Babel tonight, and I loved it. I thought the ending showed restraint, which was good, though I did think there were some troubling loose ends still floating around. Of course, that seemed to be the point of the movie: the futility in our every fully understanding each other and reaching some kind of complete resolution.
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