Flicks I've Seen In June
After Hours (1985)
After getting off work, a young protagonist makes the twin mistakes of a) going out for a coffee, and b) phoning a woman he's met. From there it's a screw-turning agony of Sod's law screenwriting, with our would-be-Casanova spending the rest of the night getting tarred, feathered and re-tarred - more-or-less literally, at times.
It's very funny, clever stuff though - and is lent extra scope by being part of Scorcese's ouvre, as let's not forget the cast of characters on display are the same crazy wackos that would drive Travis Bickle's sociopathic tendencies as filtered through a very different perspective.
But down to brass tax: After Hours is pretty darn funny, even if, at times, it cashes in its logic-chips for the sake of forwarding the plot. Moreover, After Hours has a very strong sense of time, place and mood. You could watch it in the middle of the day, you'd still be ready to hit the hay by the time those credits roll, some sixteen hours of nocturnal-based craziness later.
Office Space (1999)
I always expected Office Space would be great - I'd heard nothing but praise for it - but I was still bowled over by its brilliance. Great jokes, great cast, great use of a hip-hop soundtrack (especially when accompanying a passionate photocopier-asskicking scene). Very funny, then.
Blade Runner (1982)
2nd viewing...
...Though the first viewing of this, the much more popular Director's Cut. And I thought it was brilliant, it really blew me away in a way the theatrical cut didn't really manage. Like that other Ridley scott classic of the era, Alien, it just boasts these great scenes that come to define cinema - any time a simulant is being interviewed qualifies, as does that big nasty simulant-type coming face-to-face with his maker and, of course, well-- ya know, tears, rain, etc. Great mood, great style, great story - really just a remarkable film.
Out Of Sight (1998)
So George Clooney is this convict, who breaks out of prison with his buddies to go rob an incredibly rich ex-convict. Jennifer Lopez is a Federal Marshal who ends up crossing paths with them, and thus tries to bring them to justice. But will she be able to, with George Clooney being so gosh-darn handsome?
Soderbergh tells the story out-of-sequence, or Tarantino-style if you like, and this serves the story well enough but hardly packs the verve or dare generally associated with such a decision. We need to know Fact C at this point, so we're illuminated about Fact C, and now back to Fact F. It's the editing equivalent of popping to the corner shop for milk, seeing as your partner picked up some tea bags on the way home.
Elmore Leonard's other two popular adaptations of the era - Jackie Brown and Get Shorty boasted witty scripts and sharp plot-twists. Although it boasts a few of the same supporting actors as these two features, Out Of Sight's dialogue never makes it past "chucklesome" and the plot developments largely fail to resonate as important events. It's just resoundingly OK in most respects.
And completely hopeless in one key respect. Jennifer. Lopez. I have nothing against people moving into acting from other fields - Cameron Diaz is an actress I particularly rate, in fact, and she made the leap into acting from modelling. And I entered Out Of Sight without any particular hostility towards Jenny from the block. But she landed the most important part in the film, and completely failed to sell it.
Her character's decisions, indecisions, whims and fancies basically steer the film's entire plot. And they can be quite off-the-wall. And Ms. Lopez does not manage to sell her character convincingly as a marshall, a woman, or even a real flesh-and-blood human being. She looks pretty good in her underwear, I suppose - but nowhere near good enough to save this strangely popular film from being my dud of the month.
This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)
Very good and very entertaining documentary about the hypocrisies, inadequacies and general ass-paineries caused by the secret society of censors that is the MPAA. How any form of film-as-art manages to blossom with these zealous middle-aged mothers snipping merrily away at deviant subject-matter is something of a mystery.
Eddie Murphy Delirious (1983)
Hellaciously funny stand-up from America's funniest stand-up 'twixt Richard Pryor and Chris Rock. Fuck yeah.
Goldeneye (1995)
xth viewing
The first Bond of the '90s makes a Hell of an impact, almost in spite of itself. It suffers from some dodgy synthy scoring, a lame-duck moment or two that Roger Moore might have refused to try on ("Forgot to knock!", proclaims 007 coming into a bathroom stall in a Soviet base before smacking a guy in the face - first line of the film, no less!) and a theme tune by Tina freakin' Turner (who was surely no more popular in '95 than she is now?).
But what it does pack is some bangin' action (including, lest we forget, Bond rolling down Russia in a freakin' tank!), some rare Acting Scenes (most notably Bond's tightly wound chat with the new, female M, and his mid-point discovery of one 006) and, of course, one of the finest Q scenes in the series ("it's my sandwich!"). As posters have been declaring since '63 BOND IS, indeed, BACK - in the first film that can safely be considered a Bond Classic since the '70s.
Crash (2005)
One of those films that can make you feel sick to your fucking stomach, but in a good way, you know? Very moving, powerful and smart bit of racism-pondering. Heck, gem of the month, why not.
Groundhog Day (1993)
xth viewing
Groundhog Day is kind of two films rolled into one. The former an anarchic, crazy, wild, way off-kilter comedy that explores the possibilities of being stuck on some sort of crazy 24-hour-loop no matter what you did. This film takes in suicide, robbery, seduction and punching a chap called Ned in the face. It's very, very funny - and very inventive.
The second film is a mushy rom-com about a grumpy weather-man who meets a cheerful producer, falls head-over-heels for her and sets about improving himself to become someone deserving of her love in return. This second film is still quite funny, and certainly a charmer - but the juxtaposition of the two doesn't quite form a cohesive whole.
It's a bit like watching Monty Python's Sleepless In Seattle, in short.
That said: it's pretty darn great, all told.
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
Maybe the funniest Western I've seen, and just generally good damn fun. Recommended, then.
Dances With Wolves (1990)
In which Kevin Costner, a soldier in the civil war, goes to a new post just to find it empty. Hangs out for about an hour, meets some Native Americans, hangs out with them for a couple more hours, and then goes home. Is basically how I remember it, more-or-less. Somewhere in between this modest framing, something kind of special was going on though - subtle, for sure, but not at all lacking in charm, intrigue and wonder. The only real flaw - if you don't consider the running time one - was Kevin Costner himself, who erred a little on the wooden side. Especially in his flat, monotone diary entries which can have a distinctively "shopping list" sort of whiff to them.
Misery (1990)
xth viewing
Brilliant film, this one. Continues Reiner's '80s genre-hopping with his first horror film, in an era when the genre was considered old hat no less. And a very fucking scary one it is, too. Bates and Caan sell their leads to a tee (mentally unbalanced obsessive and constantly wincing in pain, respectively), while Richard Farnsworth as the sherrif (and Francis Sternhagen as his wife) is entirely endearing, warm and funny.
Very scary and very strong, yet another reason to love Rob Reiner.
Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
xth viewing
Very funny - especially Carrey's physical performance as his two personalities 'fight' for control, and his three black, super-intelligent, foul-mouthed children (loaded with MENSA DNA, raised watching Richard Pryor). One of Carrey's funniest, fo sho.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
2nd viewing
Quirky sea-faring adventure with Bill Murray knocking out another of his delightfully morose and nuanced latter-day performances. The film has a sort of slight and episodic feel to it - you could cut 30 minutes without losing much in the name of creating a 'tighter' film - but that's part of its day-to-day on-the-water sort of charm, so who's complaining? The comedy ranges from the hilarious to the quite funny, the characters are quirk-festin' indie-types, but well-drawn with it, and the soundtrack is composed largely of gorgeously re-arranged Bowie songs, beautifully distilled onto acoustic guitar (and sung in Portugese). Plenty to dig, then.
Alex & Emma (2003)
This latter-day Reiner flick won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Alex, an author, needs to write a book in thirty days to pay off some nasty gangster-types. Seeing as nasty gangster-types destroy his laptop, he figures the best way forward is to dictate to a sternographer. Who writes up each days writing on her... um, sternography machine. And then takes it home to re-type it on her own PC.
So far so preposterous, of course. For any number of reasons, if one's inclined to nit-pick (and believe you me, on the IMDB boards, they are). But its all just an excuse to get an author dictating his book to someone, coming up with a story on a very tight time-line, completely on the fly.
The stort is set largely in Alex's apartment, or else in the meta-fictional world of the period-y drama-y novel he's writing. And there's plenty of good fun to be had, exploring the dynamics of story-telling, as scenes evolve and mutate before our eyes, as Alex writes himself into corners and needs to write himself back out of them, and all of that fun stuff.
And if that doesn't sound cool to you, sure enough, Alex & Emma probably isn't for you. But I think it's a pretty cool concept, and they do a pretty cool job of it all.
Meaning: I've still yet to see a Rob Reiner film I didn't enjoy, funnily enough.
Grease (1978)
xth viewing
Good clean fun, with more cute, funny little touches than you could shake a stick at. The likes of "Summer Nights" and "You're The One That I Want" deserve their standing as musical-classic types, also - but the film is held back from real glory by any number of awful, cheesy songs. "Beauty School Dropout", for instance. And others that I don't even care to try and remember. Good, on the whole - but not without its share of blearch.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith (2005)
3rd viewing
Absolutely brilliant addition to the Star Wars universe, frankly. Terrific plot, characters finally growing into their own, so many amazing action sequences - and when the film hits it long, hard descent into darkness, it's a bona-fide tragedy. The only of the New Trilogy to give the Classic Trilogy a real run for its money.
Firewall (2006)
Pretty good 24-alike action-thriller with Harrison Ford dusting off the old ass-kicking face. Fails to excel by refusing to take any real risks with anyone we care about, and cares much more about USB ports than boasting a USP, but damn if it isn't gratifying to finally see Harrison Ford kick the shit out of the bastards who 'napped his family. God damn.
Thank You For Smoking (2006)
2nd viewing
Brilliantly sharp, inventive, hilarious and intelligent piece that encourages people to, you know, Think For Themselves, and stuff. Absolutely recommended.
After getting off work, a young protagonist makes the twin mistakes of a) going out for a coffee, and b) phoning a woman he's met. From there it's a screw-turning agony of Sod's law screenwriting, with our would-be-Casanova spending the rest of the night getting tarred, feathered and re-tarred - more-or-less literally, at times.
It's very funny, clever stuff though - and is lent extra scope by being part of Scorcese's ouvre, as let's not forget the cast of characters on display are the same crazy wackos that would drive Travis Bickle's sociopathic tendencies as filtered through a very different perspective.
But down to brass tax: After Hours is pretty darn funny, even if, at times, it cashes in its logic-chips for the sake of forwarding the plot. Moreover, After Hours has a very strong sense of time, place and mood. You could watch it in the middle of the day, you'd still be ready to hit the hay by the time those credits roll, some sixteen hours of nocturnal-based craziness later.
Office Space (1999)
I always expected Office Space would be great - I'd heard nothing but praise for it - but I was still bowled over by its brilliance. Great jokes, great cast, great use of a hip-hop soundtrack (especially when accompanying a passionate photocopier-asskicking scene). Very funny, then.
Blade Runner (1982)
2nd viewing...
...Though the first viewing of this, the much more popular Director's Cut. And I thought it was brilliant, it really blew me away in a way the theatrical cut didn't really manage. Like that other Ridley scott classic of the era, Alien, it just boasts these great scenes that come to define cinema - any time a simulant is being interviewed qualifies, as does that big nasty simulant-type coming face-to-face with his maker and, of course, well-- ya know, tears, rain, etc. Great mood, great style, great story - really just a remarkable film.
Out Of Sight (1998)
So George Clooney is this convict, who breaks out of prison with his buddies to go rob an incredibly rich ex-convict. Jennifer Lopez is a Federal Marshal who ends up crossing paths with them, and thus tries to bring them to justice. But will she be able to, with George Clooney being so gosh-darn handsome?
Soderbergh tells the story out-of-sequence, or Tarantino-style if you like, and this serves the story well enough but hardly packs the verve or dare generally associated with such a decision. We need to know Fact C at this point, so we're illuminated about Fact C, and now back to Fact F. It's the editing equivalent of popping to the corner shop for milk, seeing as your partner picked up some tea bags on the way home.
Elmore Leonard's other two popular adaptations of the era - Jackie Brown and Get Shorty boasted witty scripts and sharp plot-twists. Although it boasts a few of the same supporting actors as these two features, Out Of Sight's dialogue never makes it past "chucklesome" and the plot developments largely fail to resonate as important events. It's just resoundingly OK in most respects.
And completely hopeless in one key respect. Jennifer. Lopez. I have nothing against people moving into acting from other fields - Cameron Diaz is an actress I particularly rate, in fact, and she made the leap into acting from modelling. And I entered Out Of Sight without any particular hostility towards Jenny from the block. But she landed the most important part in the film, and completely failed to sell it.
Her character's decisions, indecisions, whims and fancies basically steer the film's entire plot. And they can be quite off-the-wall. And Ms. Lopez does not manage to sell her character convincingly as a marshall, a woman, or even a real flesh-and-blood human being. She looks pretty good in her underwear, I suppose - but nowhere near good enough to save this strangely popular film from being my dud of the month.
This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)
Very good and very entertaining documentary about the hypocrisies, inadequacies and general ass-paineries caused by the secret society of censors that is the MPAA. How any form of film-as-art manages to blossom with these zealous middle-aged mothers snipping merrily away at deviant subject-matter is something of a mystery.
Eddie Murphy Delirious (1983)
Hellaciously funny stand-up from America's funniest stand-up 'twixt Richard Pryor and Chris Rock. Fuck yeah.
Goldeneye (1995)
xth viewing
The first Bond of the '90s makes a Hell of an impact, almost in spite of itself. It suffers from some dodgy synthy scoring, a lame-duck moment or two that Roger Moore might have refused to try on ("Forgot to knock!", proclaims 007 coming into a bathroom stall in a Soviet base before smacking a guy in the face - first line of the film, no less!) and a theme tune by Tina freakin' Turner (who was surely no more popular in '95 than she is now?).
But what it does pack is some bangin' action (including, lest we forget, Bond rolling down Russia in a freakin' tank!), some rare Acting Scenes (most notably Bond's tightly wound chat with the new, female M, and his mid-point discovery of one 006) and, of course, one of the finest Q scenes in the series ("it's my sandwich!"). As posters have been declaring since '63 BOND IS, indeed, BACK - in the first film that can safely be considered a Bond Classic since the '70s.
Crash (2005)
One of those films that can make you feel sick to your fucking stomach, but in a good way, you know? Very moving, powerful and smart bit of racism-pondering. Heck, gem of the month, why not.
Groundhog Day (1993)
xth viewing
Groundhog Day is kind of two films rolled into one. The former an anarchic, crazy, wild, way off-kilter comedy that explores the possibilities of being stuck on some sort of crazy 24-hour-loop no matter what you did. This film takes in suicide, robbery, seduction and punching a chap called Ned in the face. It's very, very funny - and very inventive.
The second film is a mushy rom-com about a grumpy weather-man who meets a cheerful producer, falls head-over-heels for her and sets about improving himself to become someone deserving of her love in return. This second film is still quite funny, and certainly a charmer - but the juxtaposition of the two doesn't quite form a cohesive whole.
It's a bit like watching Monty Python's Sleepless In Seattle, in short.
That said: it's pretty darn great, all told.
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
Maybe the funniest Western I've seen, and just generally good damn fun. Recommended, then.
Dances With Wolves (1990)
In which Kevin Costner, a soldier in the civil war, goes to a new post just to find it empty. Hangs out for about an hour, meets some Native Americans, hangs out with them for a couple more hours, and then goes home. Is basically how I remember it, more-or-less. Somewhere in between this modest framing, something kind of special was going on though - subtle, for sure, but not at all lacking in charm, intrigue and wonder. The only real flaw - if you don't consider the running time one - was Kevin Costner himself, who erred a little on the wooden side. Especially in his flat, monotone diary entries which can have a distinctively "shopping list" sort of whiff to them.
Misery (1990)
xth viewing
Brilliant film, this one. Continues Reiner's '80s genre-hopping with his first horror film, in an era when the genre was considered old hat no less. And a very fucking scary one it is, too. Bates and Caan sell their leads to a tee (mentally unbalanced obsessive and constantly wincing in pain, respectively), while Richard Farnsworth as the sherrif (and Francis Sternhagen as his wife) is entirely endearing, warm and funny.
Very scary and very strong, yet another reason to love Rob Reiner.
Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
xth viewing
Very funny - especially Carrey's physical performance as his two personalities 'fight' for control, and his three black, super-intelligent, foul-mouthed children (loaded with MENSA DNA, raised watching Richard Pryor). One of Carrey's funniest, fo sho.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
2nd viewing
Quirky sea-faring adventure with Bill Murray knocking out another of his delightfully morose and nuanced latter-day performances. The film has a sort of slight and episodic feel to it - you could cut 30 minutes without losing much in the name of creating a 'tighter' film - but that's part of its day-to-day on-the-water sort of charm, so who's complaining? The comedy ranges from the hilarious to the quite funny, the characters are quirk-festin' indie-types, but well-drawn with it, and the soundtrack is composed largely of gorgeously re-arranged Bowie songs, beautifully distilled onto acoustic guitar (and sung in Portugese). Plenty to dig, then.
Alex & Emma (2003)
This latter-day Reiner flick won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Alex, an author, needs to write a book in thirty days to pay off some nasty gangster-types. Seeing as nasty gangster-types destroy his laptop, he figures the best way forward is to dictate to a sternographer. Who writes up each days writing on her... um, sternography machine. And then takes it home to re-type it on her own PC.
So far so preposterous, of course. For any number of reasons, if one's inclined to nit-pick (and believe you me, on the IMDB boards, they are). But its all just an excuse to get an author dictating his book to someone, coming up with a story on a very tight time-line, completely on the fly.
The stort is set largely in Alex's apartment, or else in the meta-fictional world of the period-y drama-y novel he's writing. And there's plenty of good fun to be had, exploring the dynamics of story-telling, as scenes evolve and mutate before our eyes, as Alex writes himself into corners and needs to write himself back out of them, and all of that fun stuff.
And if that doesn't sound cool to you, sure enough, Alex & Emma probably isn't for you. But I think it's a pretty cool concept, and they do a pretty cool job of it all.
Meaning: I've still yet to see a Rob Reiner film I didn't enjoy, funnily enough.
Grease (1978)
xth viewing
Good clean fun, with more cute, funny little touches than you could shake a stick at. The likes of "Summer Nights" and "You're The One That I Want" deserve their standing as musical-classic types, also - but the film is held back from real glory by any number of awful, cheesy songs. "Beauty School Dropout", for instance. And others that I don't even care to try and remember. Good, on the whole - but not without its share of blearch.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith (2005)
3rd viewing
Absolutely brilliant addition to the Star Wars universe, frankly. Terrific plot, characters finally growing into their own, so many amazing action sequences - and when the film hits it long, hard descent into darkness, it's a bona-fide tragedy. The only of the New Trilogy to give the Classic Trilogy a real run for its money.
Firewall (2006)
Pretty good 24-alike action-thriller with Harrison Ford dusting off the old ass-kicking face. Fails to excel by refusing to take any real risks with anyone we care about, and cares much more about USB ports than boasting a USP, but damn if it isn't gratifying to finally see Harrison Ford kick the shit out of the bastards who 'napped his family. God damn.
Thank You For Smoking (2006)
2nd viewing
Brilliantly sharp, inventive, hilarious and intelligent piece that encourages people to, you know, Think For Themselves, and stuff. Absolutely recommended.