More Mini Movie Reviews
January 3rd, 2008 by matt
Because lately I’ve been a movie watching fiend…
Sideways
I didn’t like this one. It was billed as a comedy, and there were certainly some moments that were funny, but I would not place it in the comedy genre. Much like House has lots of funny moments but is a drama at heart, so is Sideways a drama. So false expectations may have contributed to me not liking the movie. I also think it’s aimed at an older audience than myself. And a wine-drinking audience. I hate wine and I’m not old enough to have a midlife crisis, so two major themes of the movie were mostly irrelevant to me. The acting was fine but I don’t see why the actors were nominated for awards. I heard such good things about Virginia Madsen, but she was just there in the movie. There didn’t seem to be anything special about her performance. Overall, a disappointing movie. C-
Futurama: Bender’s Big Score
If you liked the show, you’ll like the movie. In fact, there are so many passing references to events that happened during the run of the show that this movie feels like nothing but a giant self-congratulations to the staff. I still enjoyed the movie, but it didn’t break any new ground for me. I hope the next Futurama movie pushes the Futurama universe in some new directions. B
The Prestige
Quite simply, an excellent movie. Well directed, well acted, well thought-out. I was OK with the science fiction twist near the end (although other people balked at this plot twist) and I loved how the movie incorporated some historical perspective. I had guessed one of the big twists about half-way through the movie, but that didn’t alter my enjoyment of the revelation. If you’re a fan of Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, or Christopher Nolan, you must see this movie. A-
I Am Legend
Marci and I saw this as part of her Birthday Triumvirate yesterday. The movie was incredibly suspenseful, pretty much from the opening minutes. I found myself riveted to the screen during some sections of the movie. The part where the dog ran into the dark building had me so tense I don’t recall breathing during that scene. Overall, a fine movie. Will Smith did a great job. I’m not a huge fan of his acting, but I think he nailed his role in this movie. The one area I was slightly disappointed with was the CG of the night seekers. They looked slightly cartoony, just slightly out of place. Try to catch this one in the theater; it deserves a big screen. A-
Charlie Wilson’s War
This movie pissed me off, but it’s not completely the movie’s fault. The main focus of the movie is the politics behind the Cold War, particularly when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Politics like this piss me off because of bunch of morons just don’t understand the issues and made decisions that caused huge problems in the future. It’s very analogous to the current administration and how the decisions they’ve made are going to come back to haunt us in 10-20 years. So I can’t watch a movie or TV show about politics without getting worked up somewhat.
Beyond that, the movie tried too hard to straddle comedy and drama. In trying to walk that line, it fell short of being a great movie. The process for getting the money for the secret war and for getting countries that were sworn against one another was shown as way too easy, for the sake of comedy. Trying to meld the two genres together is a very difficult thing to do and requires a deft touch. Mike Nichols just didn’t have it with this movie. All that said, it was still an enjoyable movie. No performances blew me away, but everyone did a sound job. A solid B.
Juno
This movie rounded out our three and was the best of the day. A lot has been written about this movie, so I’m not going to get into it too much (and that’s saying something for a mini review). The acting was superb, the direction excellent, the tone perfect. My only quibble is with the dialogue. I believe that people, teens in particular, can indeed speak in the manner the movie presents them. But they can’t do it 100% of the time. At no time in the movie did any character stumble with their speaking. Every character always had a pithy rejoinder at every moment of every conversation. I call bullshit on that. Yeah yeah, you’re saying, it’s just a movie. But everything else in the movie had real authenticity to it. The situations felt authentic, the characters felt authentic, but the dialogue did not. After a while it became a bit of a distraction. The movie was just a few flubbed lines away from being a perfect movie. But it was still a fantastic movie and very worthwhile to go see. A-
Prisco wrote on 01/4/08 at 7:19 pm :
what? you think you can gain 80 pounds, pull out all your hair, and become the next me?
yeah. you can. reach for the stars!
Chelles wrote on 01/5/08 at 3:03 pm :
Every time I see previews for I Am Legend, it makes me think of 28 Days Later with Will Smith. That is enough discouragement.
I’m sorry you didn’t like Sideways. It’s still one of my favorite movies. I’m not old enough for the midlife crisis, but I do love wine. But for me, I really do like the acting. It’s my favorite Paul Giamatti role (although I haven’t seen too many others beyond smaller parts).