OH BOY OH BOY DO I LOVE MOVIE HOPPIN'
QUANTUM OF SOLACE
Runtime: 106 minutes
Rating: PG-13
My favorite part of this movie is when agent Strawberry Fields is found dead on the hotel bed, covered in black glistening oil. GOLDFINGER MUCH, Holla! That was fantastic.
Anyways.
I am such a fan of director Marc Forster (Stay, Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction) that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie even though I'm not a huge huge fan of Daniel Craig or anything like that. He's, point-blank, not a great action director. You can tell that in "Quantum", when the action sequences seem to be there for the sake of "well, this is James Bond, he's gotta have action". It was in the quieter parts that Forster's more comfortable, and I felt that that was pretty self evident.
Forster is a huge visual artist kind of director. He enjoys focusing on intricate shots, loves contrasting color and the little details that make his movies abundantly "pretty", which I guess can be called his trademark. You see a lot of it in Bond, but much more subtly than his non-action movies (Stay, whoa). It's there when the old woman drops her jar of cherries, in the hotel's bright white architecture, in the FANTASTIC scene at the theatre with the design of the play.
I wonder what it's like to tech-design a play that's featured as a setting for a movie. That's gotta be insane.
I really didn't watch this movie coming in as a "Bond fan", so I don't really know how it fits in the fandom (I've only seen Dr. No, Goldfinger, Casino Royale and now this), but as a sequel to Casino Royale I think it works, although the plot was a little hard to follow. Daniel Craig is pretty bad-ass. He's also pretty hot, although he's not an actor I'll ever be really into, I don't think. I did appreciate Alex's text about his "tight white pants" which she apparently also sent to everyone in her phonebook by accident. I'm waiting for the day that I do that with some awkward text and Mr. Hearn gets it and can't even text back because his phone can only read texts. But I digress. I feel like Daniel Craig had a lot more to work with emotionally with the last movie, and in this one he seems kind of robotic, the way he's in and out of scraps every two seconds and seems kind of heartless all the time. The dumpster thing with his friend was pretty out there.
Given what I know about James Bond having seen the original two movies with Sean Connery, I felt like this movie was more of a Vin Disel, Jason Bourne kind of thing where he does a lot more with pure action then with being a tricky spy. The scene I mentioned earlier with the theatre was refreshing in that it seemed classic Bond...back to witting out the bad guys instead of getting into fight every couple of minutes.
All in all I enjoyed this movie, but mostly because of Marc Forster's special touches, not because of anything else in particular. The ending with the evil ex-boyfriend guy was good, the giving Dominic Greene a can of oil was sickeningly beautiful, but I guess pure action movies like this just aren't really my thing.
ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO
Runtime: 101 Minutes
Rating: R
This, for all the debauchery that happens on screen, is an adorable movie.
First and foremost....JUSTIN LONG. He's not in the movie for very long, but OH MY GOD scene stealer much? Hahaha, he was fantastic. He and the guy who's the new Superman were hysterical and had me in pieces. Oh...I will never look at a Mac commercial the same way again.
This movie is ridiculously endearing. It could be because the entire production was based on Seth Rogen playing Zack, and he's just a warm-and-fuzzy bear hug kind of guy, or that half the cast of 40-Year Old Virgin was in it, but I felt a lot of the "Virgin" feeling (har har)...something completely out there and werid and kind of perverse about it, but at heart really sweet, very true to life, with a warming message at the end.
I love that Hollywood's kind of moved to Judd Apatow kind of humor, with the Apatow crew (I believe it's called the "Jew-Tang") in tow. As much as I adore the Frat Pack, it's nice to have something new to mix in with Will Farrell's testicles. I hope you got the reference. If not, just ignore it, don't go googling it.
This doesn't really have anything to do with the movie, but Seth Rogen, please please go find a movie that's dramatic and indie and will put you in the "not always typecast" thing and then come back and be more of an immature man slob again, because we don't want you becoming a Michael Cera. Basically, go make a "Little Miss Sunshine" and then go back to Apatow-genre. Just a suggestion.
The end of this movie was a little disappointing, though. I would have given it a full four stars if it'd tied up nicely, but the guy who plays Darryl on the Office needs to STOP being obnoxious on screen. He's funny, yes. But seriously STOP IT. STOP MAKING BLACK JOKES LIKE 24/7. STOP. The ending seemed really drawn-out but rushed at the same time. I'm not sure how to explain properly, but I didn't really like it.
I was going to conclude this review with "All in all" but I'm still kind of scared of Mr. Crick and Mrs. Anthony. So, in conclusion, go see "Prono". Laugh and make (your own pornographic movie) merry, but then re-watch "40 Year Old Virgin" and learn that Judd Apatow is the master of the Apatow-genre, and as much as Kevin Smith tries....he just misses the mark. Good effort, though, I'll give him that.
EDIT: I also just realized that A DAY with Liz over Thanksgiving Break is going to make me have to write like, ten reviews. Shit.
Runtime: 106 minutes
Rating: PG-13
My favorite part of this movie is when agent Strawberry Fields is found dead on the hotel bed, covered in black glistening oil. GOLDFINGER MUCH, Holla! That was fantastic.
Anyways.
I am such a fan of director Marc Forster (Stay, Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction) that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie even though I'm not a huge huge fan of Daniel Craig or anything like that. He's, point-blank, not a great action director. You can tell that in "Quantum", when the action sequences seem to be there for the sake of "well, this is James Bond, he's gotta have action". It was in the quieter parts that Forster's more comfortable, and I felt that that was pretty self evident.
Forster is a huge visual artist kind of director. He enjoys focusing on intricate shots, loves contrasting color and the little details that make his movies abundantly "pretty", which I guess can be called his trademark. You see a lot of it in Bond, but much more subtly than his non-action movies (Stay, whoa). It's there when the old woman drops her jar of cherries, in the hotel's bright white architecture, in the FANTASTIC scene at the theatre with the design of the play.
I wonder what it's like to tech-design a play that's featured as a setting for a movie. That's gotta be insane.
I really didn't watch this movie coming in as a "Bond fan", so I don't really know how it fits in the fandom (I've only seen Dr. No, Goldfinger, Casino Royale and now this), but as a sequel to Casino Royale I think it works, although the plot was a little hard to follow. Daniel Craig is pretty bad-ass. He's also pretty hot, although he's not an actor I'll ever be really into, I don't think. I did appreciate Alex's text about his "tight white pants" which she apparently also sent to everyone in her phonebook by accident. I'm waiting for the day that I do that with some awkward text and Mr. Hearn gets it and can't even text back because his phone can only read texts. But I digress. I feel like Daniel Craig had a lot more to work with emotionally with the last movie, and in this one he seems kind of robotic, the way he's in and out of scraps every two seconds and seems kind of heartless all the time. The dumpster thing with his friend was pretty out there.
Given what I know about James Bond having seen the original two movies with Sean Connery, I felt like this movie was more of a Vin Disel, Jason Bourne kind of thing where he does a lot more with pure action then with being a tricky spy. The scene I mentioned earlier with the theatre was refreshing in that it seemed classic Bond...back to witting out the bad guys instead of getting into fight every couple of minutes.
All in all I enjoyed this movie, but mostly because of Marc Forster's special touches, not because of anything else in particular. The ending with the evil ex-boyfriend guy was good, the giving Dominic Greene a can of oil was sickeningly beautiful, but I guess pure action movies like this just aren't really my thing.
ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO
Runtime: 101 Minutes
Rating: R
This, for all the debauchery that happens on screen, is an adorable movie.
First and foremost....JUSTIN LONG. He's not in the movie for very long, but OH MY GOD scene stealer much? Hahaha, he was fantastic. He and the guy who's the new Superman were hysterical and had me in pieces. Oh...I will never look at a Mac commercial the same way again.
This movie is ridiculously endearing. It could be because the entire production was based on Seth Rogen playing Zack, and he's just a warm-and-fuzzy bear hug kind of guy, or that half the cast of 40-Year Old Virgin was in it, but I felt a lot of the "Virgin" feeling (har har)...something completely out there and werid and kind of perverse about it, but at heart really sweet, very true to life, with a warming message at the end.
I love that Hollywood's kind of moved to Judd Apatow kind of humor, with the Apatow crew (I believe it's called the "Jew-Tang") in tow. As much as I adore the Frat Pack, it's nice to have something new to mix in with Will Farrell's testicles. I hope you got the reference. If not, just ignore it, don't go googling it.
This doesn't really have anything to do with the movie, but Seth Rogen, please please go find a movie that's dramatic and indie and will put you in the "not always typecast" thing and then come back and be more of an immature man slob again, because we don't want you becoming a Michael Cera. Basically, go make a "Little Miss Sunshine" and then go back to Apatow-genre. Just a suggestion.
The end of this movie was a little disappointing, though. I would have given it a full four stars if it'd tied up nicely, but the guy who plays Darryl on the Office needs to STOP being obnoxious on screen. He's funny, yes. But seriously STOP IT. STOP MAKING BLACK JOKES LIKE 24/7. STOP. The ending seemed really drawn-out but rushed at the same time. I'm not sure how to explain properly, but I didn't really like it.
I was going to conclude this review with "All in all" but I'm still kind of scared of Mr. Crick and Mrs. Anthony. So, in conclusion, go see "Prono". Laugh and make (your own pornographic movie) merry, but then re-watch "40 Year Old Virgin" and learn that Judd Apatow is the master of the Apatow-genre, and as much as Kevin Smith tries....he just misses the mark. Good effort, though, I'll give him that.
EDIT: I also just realized that A DAY with Liz over Thanksgiving Break is going to make me have to write like, ten reviews. Shit.