We didn't go to Paris
On Friday, Marisa and I went to see Paris, je t'aime at the Paris Theatre, no less, although we had Mexican for dinner and Swedish Fish for desert so the theme was blown before we got there. So the deal with this movie is that it's eighteen shorts about different parts of Paris with the vague theme of love, made by a variety of big-name directors, sort of stitched together, except the stitching is a bunch of exterior shots as half-assed transitions (followed by the title/author so we know a new film has begun), and a few connections in a post-script at the end. But it's a lot of fun and there are more good shorts than bad. The best ones are by the Coens (with Steve Buscemi), Tom Tykwer (with Natalie Portman), Alexander Payne, Walter Salles (starring Maria full of grace), and a director who I thought I'd never heard of but actually made Cube named Vincenzo Natali (with Elijah Wood putting his deer-in-headlights thing to good use). Alfonso Cuaron had a nice (if slight) contribution, too. Pretty much all of the best ones are emblematic of very typical qualities in the filmmakers' bodies of work. I can't say whether it's all emblematic of Paris because I haven't been there yet and I can't say whether it's better than New York Stories because I don't think I ever finished that movie but I'd like to see the 18-short NYC version because I might know most of the neighborhoods.
We also went to see Severance. I see no review is up on filmcritic.com so I might have a full review later this week. It's supposed to be The Office (UK, cause so's the film) meets Deliverance (filmmaker's words/hype, not mine), but it's really just an okay horror comedy with some particularly good gags and somewhat likable characters. There isn't really much corporate satire to speak of (I don't know that there's really that much in the UK Office, either, but the new film barely flirts with it) and it's not particularly scary. I actually preferred Vacancy, which I finally caught up with today after almost skipping it. With horror movies, if I don't rush out and see them within a week, I tend to just forget about them (e.g., The Hills Have Eyes 2). I'm glad I bothered with this one, though, because it's actually a pretty well-made thriller that's based more on creepiness and suspense than killing and torture. The set-up with Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale in a cotentious relationship, taking an ill-fated shortcut, etc., even kinda worked for me; it felt real. I guess that's what happens when you hire real actors (even B-listers who can't usually carry their own movie).
I also caught up with Fracture which would make a pretty great episode of Veronica Mars or Law & Order ("which, as near as I can figure, is about a cantankerous grandfather teaching cynicism to a series of supermodels" -- well-played, Amy Poehler) but doesn't quite cut it as a feature film. I was actually with it for the first hour or so; it's got a great hook (Anthony Hopkins appears to confess to his wife's murder before hotshot D.A. Ryan Gosling finds out there's no real admissable evidence), the actors are fun to watch, and the screenplay has a sense of humor. But the resolution, while clever, isn't something you're going to feel great about waiting two hours to hear. I saw it with Alison and she actually figured it out way ahead of time -- she reads a lot of mystery/detective novels -- so it was apparently even more boring for her. It's not one of those twist endings that makes no sense, but the ho-hum feeling makes you almost understand why filmmakers employ those (then again, this movie made about a thousand times more sense than Perfect Stranger).
That's really all I did this weekend -- those movies, plus Spiderman 3 in IMAX (still a perfectly decent movie) with Marisa and Rayme, plus eating, plus sleeping, plus SNL. Marisa has a great reference-point post up with some of this year's best SNL sketches -- much better than the "Best of 06-07" special they ran a few weeks ago -- but I think I'm going to do an in-depth episode-by-episode analysis later this week. If you're looking for something to read in the meantime, and/or a detailed recommendation of a non-threequel to go see over Memorial Day weekend, Friday's column talks about Once at greater length.
We also went to see Severance. I see no review is up on filmcritic.com so I might have a full review later this week. It's supposed to be The Office (UK, cause so's the film) meets Deliverance (filmmaker's words/hype, not mine), but it's really just an okay horror comedy with some particularly good gags and somewhat likable characters. There isn't really much corporate satire to speak of (I don't know that there's really that much in the UK Office, either, but the new film barely flirts with it) and it's not particularly scary. I actually preferred Vacancy, which I finally caught up with today after almost skipping it. With horror movies, if I don't rush out and see them within a week, I tend to just forget about them (e.g., The Hills Have Eyes 2). I'm glad I bothered with this one, though, because it's actually a pretty well-made thriller that's based more on creepiness and suspense than killing and torture. The set-up with Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale in a cotentious relationship, taking an ill-fated shortcut, etc., even kinda worked for me; it felt real. I guess that's what happens when you hire real actors (even B-listers who can't usually carry their own movie).
I also caught up with Fracture which would make a pretty great episode of Veronica Mars or Law & Order ("which, as near as I can figure, is about a cantankerous grandfather teaching cynicism to a series of supermodels" -- well-played, Amy Poehler) but doesn't quite cut it as a feature film. I was actually with it for the first hour or so; it's got a great hook (Anthony Hopkins appears to confess to his wife's murder before hotshot D.A. Ryan Gosling finds out there's no real admissable evidence), the actors are fun to watch, and the screenplay has a sense of humor. But the resolution, while clever, isn't something you're going to feel great about waiting two hours to hear. I saw it with Alison and she actually figured it out way ahead of time -- she reads a lot of mystery/detective novels -- so it was apparently even more boring for her. It's not one of those twist endings that makes no sense, but the ho-hum feeling makes you almost understand why filmmakers employ those (then again, this movie made about a thousand times more sense than Perfect Stranger).
That's really all I did this weekend -- those movies, plus Spiderman 3 in IMAX (still a perfectly decent movie) with Marisa and Rayme, plus eating, plus sleeping, plus SNL. Marisa has a great reference-point post up with some of this year's best SNL sketches -- much better than the "Best of 06-07" special they ran a few weeks ago -- but I think I'm going to do an in-depth episode-by-episode analysis later this week. If you're looking for something to read in the meantime, and/or a detailed recommendation of a non-threequel to go see over Memorial Day weekend, Friday's column talks about Once at greater length.