Monday, August 8, 2011

The Week In Movies 1/8/11 - 7/8/11

So what you all been doing this week? Been watching movies? Of course you have. It's what we exist for isn't it. I feel like the recent Revelation Film Festival has revitalised me, in to seeing movies I would usually put off seeing due to their 'difficult' nature. By difficult I mean those movies that require a little more thought and are made with a little more subtlety than your standard blockbusters, or subtitled. Some subtitled films are made with as much subtlety as a brick in the face but I refer to those that are more art than film. Gosh I'm waffling a lot. A long week at work has left me feeling like the sofa is the best place for me this morning.


Did you see my reviews for The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension and Dance Party, USA this week? Both very unique movies and both could easily be tagged with that 'difficult' moniker, so not for everyone but thoroughly enjoyable. Don't forget to see Alex at Film Forager reviewing Buckaroo Banzai as they are the enthusiastic insights of somebody who can't stop recommending it. And thecynicalgamer has written an interesting piece on the history of the mumblecore movement if you want some background on the scene that brought forth Dance Party, USA.


Of the other three films I managed to finish this week there was one more new viewing and it was another 'difficult' film, Hal Hartley's Trust. It was my first experience of Hal Hartley and I was completely blown away by his method of storytelling. I particularly liked the delivery of the dialogue, it was quite reminiscent of Brief Encounter, one of my all time faves so that kind of reference always helps. I'd been meaning to watch something from Hartley since I first saw Clerks, my VHS copy had a trailer for another of his films, Amateur, and the other trailer was for Before Sunrise. Having seen both of those highly entertaining movies I knew Hartley was going to be a director worth watching. It's funny and quirky, the performances from the entire cast were pitch perfect, especially Adrienne Shelley and Martin Donovan. It made me very sad to see the talented Shelley in this role of a young girl and think how her talent has been robbed from us and it also made me want to watch Waitress again. I could probably talk about this movie for a very long time it was that good but instead I shall share yet another review from Alex at Film Forager who clearly has a deep love of this film and all Hal Hartley movie for that matter. She's wonderful that Alex.

Two easy to watch, thoroughly enjoyable movies close out my week. Easy A and The Boondock Saints. I've seen them both before and laughed all the way through, both are perfect viewing for a lazy night on the sofa with no need to really think about what you're watching. That's not to say that they're not intelligent pieces of cinema because they are. I'm sure you've all heard (or seen) just how perfect Emma Stone is in Easy A so I won't bore you but I think she deserved at least a nomination at Oscar time, it's a hard task to carry an entire movie and have such excellent comic and dramatic timing. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as her parents are priceless. Stanley Tucci co-starred with Oliver Platt in The Imposters and this fact was brought to my attention by CS in his recent Oliver Platt post, I think this may need to be seen asap based on how much I love Tucci in Easy A. There were some great reviews of it back when it hit the cinema, for those of you wanting more info I suggest The Duke Himself, Constant Visual Feast, Cinema Romantico and Stevee's Cinematic Paradox.

As for The Boondock Saints, it's a cult movie for a reason, it's a seriously flawed film but has so many great attributes that you can't help but watch it and watch it, any time that Willem Dafoe is on screen in this movie is a moment you shouldn't take your eyes from. It's a shame the director proved himself an asshole hack and the Irish accents were so variable. See Boondock Saints 2 for proof of his average abilities behind the camera. Or the great documentary Overnight which has some amazingly self destructive moments featuring those lovable guys The Weinsteins.

I turned some movies off this week too. Free-ish time indeed. Oh sweet relaxation. But seriously I am putting up for dismissal from the movie race the following: Hoodwinked Too (the original was enjoyable enough but this was terrible right from the off, no wonder the original cast abandoned it,) Absolute Power (possibly a controversial dismissal what with it being a Clint Eastwood but jeez it was a tedious opening 30 minutes from which you could see the entire plotting laid out in front of you) and The Conspirator (Andy Buckle said it wasn't any good but I just didn't listen and I got right up to the start of the trial before switching off despite my brain wandering from sheer boredom about 2 minutes in.)

Share the blah below people. I know some of you have seen these films. Will anyone own up to not enjoying Emma Stone in Easy A?

12 comments:

  1. Easy A was a fun (although not perfect) movie and I agree, Emma Stone pretty much carried it. There were some other highlights, like Stanley Tucci, but she made me realize how much I've liked her in other places, too. I love her in The House Bunny :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. hey alan, yeah it's certainly not a perfect film but it's perfect for easy and enjoyable viewing. pretty much as good as this kind of film can get i think. i've been meaning to go back and see house bunny since i realised emma stone was in it. i remember liking it because anna faris was so good.

    ReplyDelete
  3. well, since my 15 questions meme response you know i LOVE anna faris (except for Observe and Report). the two of them together were kind of gold.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Easy A is such a sweet and funny film. Love it@!

    And what is wrong with Hoodwinked Too? My girls have watched it 3 times in two days!! LOL And they have demanded it for family film night this evening. LOL

    C

    ReplyDelete
  5. Custard - what?! You poor man. The things you have to do for your children. I didn't find it funny or clever despite its attempts at both. There's some weinstein controversy surrounding its release. My experience with them is they usually know when a films not that good and it seems to be correct here. Is a shame as I was really looking forward to it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the linkage- I'm really glad you enjoyed BUCKAROO BANZAI and TRUST! I'm quite enamored of Hal Hartley, it's true. I recommend THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH for more Shelly (she was so amazing, it's heartbreaking), and HENRY FOOL is probably my other favorite. SIMPLE MEN, FAY GRIM, and AMATEUR are great too. Luckily Martin Donovan is in almost everything he's done!

    As for EASY A, I dug it a lot too and think Emma Stone is incredibly talented. I hope her role in SPIDER-MAN doesn't leave her relegated to girlfriend types. I saw it mentioned above but actually I would not recommend THE HOUSE BUNNY- it takes a lot of women I really like (Stone, Kat Dennings, Anna Faris) and thrusts them into a horribly unfeminist, not-very-funny plot. I wanted to love it but was really disappointed, then again you're free to make up your own mind obviously!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I LOVE Easy A...Emma Stone is so bloody brilliant in that movie. It's such an easy movie to watch, too! Thanks for the linkage!

    ReplyDelete
  8. alex - im really looking forward to unbelievable truth actually. but from what i can gather his later work slowly got less interesting for the general cinematic audience.

    i can't believe kat dennings is in house bunny too! i must have blocked a lot of the movie out. i shall have to watch it again just to clarify my thoughts and see these actresses in their minor roles.

    stevee - you're most welcome, i enjoyed your review muchly.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have enjoyed to some capacity pretty much everything Hartley's done, but it's certainly not all the best. Some of his later films do falter a bit- SURVIVING DESIRE, THE BOOK OF LIFE, and THE GIRL FROM MONDAY, for example, but I still liked them. FAY GRIM (the sequel to HENRY FOOL) and NO SUCH THING are both good later ones. He has a ton of short films, too, which I've found somewhat hit and miss. "Opera No 1" is my favorite of his shorts - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xp1qp_operano1_creation.

    ReplyDelete
  10. alex - yeah i saw in your hal hartley posts that you had watched some shorts of his, i'm a little unsure why established feature film makers make short films when they could just make another movie. there doesn't seem to be much of a market for them. is hartley struggling to get funding these days?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Emma Stone is so brilliant in Easy A and she should be so proud of her work - how many people can say they have a pretty much universally loved performance? Even detractors of the film praise her.

    ReplyDelete
  12. robert youre absolutely right, if her career doesn't rocket after easy a then there's simply no taste left in hollywood.

    ReplyDelete