Weekend Film Fest
I get into these moods on weekends. Sometimes all I want to is write. Sometimes all I want to do is read. And other times, all I want to do is watch movies.
I watched a whole BUNCH of movies this weekend.
You Can Count On Me Netflix. This movie had critical acclaim heaped all over it, so I thought I'd give it a go. I was underwhelmed. Perhaps I was just expecting more given the enthusiasm. Perhaps it's just that I don't really like either Laura Linney or Mark Ruffalo. I did appreciate the realism of the characters. They were flawed and great, and I liked the lack of simple answers or quick resolutions. But it just didn't really inspire any great reaction in me.
Harold and Maude I know, this is a cult classic, but I'd actually never seen it. Now that I have, I don't really know what all the fuss is about. Meh. Seemed a bit trite to me. Oh look, a disaffected death-obsessed youth. And look how he's taught to appreciate life by the senior citizen who is filled with joie de vivre. And look how quirky she is! She lives in a railroad car! She pretends to play her player-piano! Behold the quirkiness. And look how counterculture all this is...they have a romance! With sex! Shocking. Well, color me not-at-all shocked. And then Maude decides to end her life at 80 for no apparent reason? There was nothing in her character to suggest that she was tired of life or wanted to cut hers short. It was a plot device for pathos. Yawn. Compared to other cult classics like "Withnail & I" (a film I was continually reminded of by H&M's visual style and time period) this felt very paint-by-numbers.
Trainspotting Speaking of cult classics, this is how it's done. I'd seen bits and pieces of this movie but never the whole thing at once. It didn't disappoint. It was just as appalling, hilarious, disgusting, and awesome as everyone said it was.
Batman Begins This ruled. Plain and simple. Although I did feel that Christian Bale overdid it just a touch with the whole clenched-tooth-intensity when he was in the mask. Can't wait for the sequel now. This is what was grievously missing from all the previous Batman movies, i.e. character arcs and actual emotional motivation.
Twisted An idle HBO pick. Terrible police procedural with Ashley Judd, Andy Garcia and Samuel L. Jackson (so is he actually in every movie ever made or does it just seem that way?). Please, spare yourself the pain and skip this one.
I watched a whole BUNCH of movies this weekend.
You Can Count On Me Netflix. This movie had critical acclaim heaped all over it, so I thought I'd give it a go. I was underwhelmed. Perhaps I was just expecting more given the enthusiasm. Perhaps it's just that I don't really like either Laura Linney or Mark Ruffalo. I did appreciate the realism of the characters. They were flawed and great, and I liked the lack of simple answers or quick resolutions. But it just didn't really inspire any great reaction in me.
Harold and Maude I know, this is a cult classic, but I'd actually never seen it. Now that I have, I don't really know what all the fuss is about. Meh. Seemed a bit trite to me. Oh look, a disaffected death-obsessed youth. And look how he's taught to appreciate life by the senior citizen who is filled with joie de vivre. And look how quirky she is! She lives in a railroad car! She pretends to play her player-piano! Behold the quirkiness. And look how counterculture all this is...they have a romance! With sex! Shocking. Well, color me not-at-all shocked. And then Maude decides to end her life at 80 for no apparent reason? There was nothing in her character to suggest that she was tired of life or wanted to cut hers short. It was a plot device for pathos. Yawn. Compared to other cult classics like "Withnail & I" (a film I was continually reminded of by H&M's visual style and time period) this felt very paint-by-numbers.
Trainspotting Speaking of cult classics, this is how it's done. I'd seen bits and pieces of this movie but never the whole thing at once. It didn't disappoint. It was just as appalling, hilarious, disgusting, and awesome as everyone said it was.
Batman Begins This ruled. Plain and simple. Although I did feel that Christian Bale overdid it just a touch with the whole clenched-tooth-intensity when he was in the mask. Can't wait for the sequel now. This is what was grievously missing from all the previous Batman movies, i.e. character arcs and actual emotional motivation.
Twisted An idle HBO pick. Terrible police procedural with Ashley Judd, Andy Garcia and Samuel L. Jackson (so is he actually in every movie ever made or does it just seem that way?). Please, spare yourself the pain and skip this one.