The Informant!
Last night, the roomie noted my facebook status stating that I was staying in, so she told me to suggest a movie for us to go to. She thought 9 looked too weird and Jennifer's body looked too stupid (both of which I'll get to at some point within the next week) so the one left on my priority list was The Informant!
Side note: you know you've (or I've actually) been frequenting a theater too much when you (or I) can predict what auditorium the movie's gonna be in, and guess what will be in the neighboring ones.
Anyways, as has been the case lately with a lot of the current attractions, got mixed feelings about this one. The short version is that the protagonistic was phenomenal, some of the directorial detail was quirky and perfect, but the plot was extremely lacking. It started off fine. But then nothing happended for a while, another constant complaint I've been making of current films. And then instead of stuff happening, things just got way confusing. And more and more confusing. Granted, it didnt help that at this point it was nearly midnight and I was fighting to stway awake.
I guess its kinda tough to write a not-to-intricately-tangled espionage (I feel that may want to be in quotes) story, but I think they went for too simple and then still managed to overload the story all at once. Either way, it wasn't long until I stopped caring about the story and just wanted an hour of Mark Whitacre talking to himself.
Who? Mark Whitacre is the informant (!) played perfectly by Matt Damon. As a character, he is one of the best I've seen in a long time. So quirky and unconventional and lovable for his weirdness. I would very much love to see an Oscar nod for Damon for this role. That might be a bit much to hope for, but I think at the very least a Golden Globe nod could be in his future. The extra weight at the 'stache created a substantial enough illusion that for most of the movie I forgot I was looking at Damon. It wasn't until maybe 15 minutes from the end that I even caught that lip curling smirk of his. My absolute favorite part of the movie was Whitacre's inner monologues, most of which had absolutely nothing to do with what was going on, but they got a good laugh out of me every time.
The rest of the cast was fairly unremarkable, which I think was intended. You dont want to risk overpowering a character like this, and it fit with the subdued pace and overall feel of the movie. Although I feel I should point out the Arrested Development-er sighting: Tony Hale as lawyer James Epstein. Also noteworthy, if only for my own amusement, when I IMDB-ed the cast list, I saw that Melanie Lynskey's name had the visited link color. I'd just looked her up because of her role in Detroit Rock City (I've been listening to a lot of KISS this week) and I was wondering what she'd been up to lately. Weird.
Before wrapping up (I gotta go get my laundry in the dryer and run to catch the 1:50 showing of 9), I do wanna say that I think director Steven Soderbergh did a great job in pulling the movie together. I know I keep using the work quirky to describe everything, but it really was. And everything from the lighting to the music to the costumes contributed to keeping that vibe constant throughout the movie. If you do manage to see this, keep an eye out for my second favorite part of the movie--facial expressions from the supporting characters. I've never seen such incredible deer in headlights mouth agape looks of shock, and you got that in various scenes from various characters. The subtlety of their reappearance also had me laughing each time.
In summation: worth watching if you're a Damon fan, just be prepared for plot imperfections.
Side note: you know you've (or I've actually) been frequenting a theater too much when you (or I) can predict what auditorium the movie's gonna be in, and guess what will be in the neighboring ones.
Anyways, as has been the case lately with a lot of the current attractions, got mixed feelings about this one. The short version is that the protagonistic was phenomenal, some of the directorial detail was quirky and perfect, but the plot was extremely lacking. It started off fine. But then nothing happended for a while, another constant complaint I've been making of current films. And then instead of stuff happening, things just got way confusing. And more and more confusing. Granted, it didnt help that at this point it was nearly midnight and I was fighting to stway awake.
I guess its kinda tough to write a not-to-intricately-tangled espionage (I feel that may want to be in quotes) story, but I think they went for too simple and then still managed to overload the story all at once. Either way, it wasn't long until I stopped caring about the story and just wanted an hour of Mark Whitacre talking to himself.
Who? Mark Whitacre is the informant (!) played perfectly by Matt Damon. As a character, he is one of the best I've seen in a long time. So quirky and unconventional and lovable for his weirdness. I would very much love to see an Oscar nod for Damon for this role. That might be a bit much to hope for, but I think at the very least a Golden Globe nod could be in his future. The extra weight at the 'stache created a substantial enough illusion that for most of the movie I forgot I was looking at Damon. It wasn't until maybe 15 minutes from the end that I even caught that lip curling smirk of his. My absolute favorite part of the movie was Whitacre's inner monologues, most of which had absolutely nothing to do with what was going on, but they got a good laugh out of me every time.
The rest of the cast was fairly unremarkable, which I think was intended. You dont want to risk overpowering a character like this, and it fit with the subdued pace and overall feel of the movie. Although I feel I should point out the Arrested Development-er sighting: Tony Hale as lawyer James Epstein. Also noteworthy, if only for my own amusement, when I IMDB-ed the cast list, I saw that Melanie Lynskey's name had the visited link color. I'd just looked her up because of her role in Detroit Rock City (I've been listening to a lot of KISS this week) and I was wondering what she'd been up to lately. Weird.
Before wrapping up (I gotta go get my laundry in the dryer and run to catch the 1:50 showing of 9), I do wanna say that I think director Steven Soderbergh did a great job in pulling the movie together. I know I keep using the work quirky to describe everything, but it really was. And everything from the lighting to the music to the costumes contributed to keeping that vibe constant throughout the movie. If you do manage to see this, keep an eye out for my second favorite part of the movie--facial expressions from the supporting characters. I've never seen such incredible deer in headlights mouth agape looks of shock, and you got that in various scenes from various characters. The subtlety of their reappearance also had me laughing each time.
In summation: worth watching if you're a Damon fan, just be prepared for plot imperfections.