Drama

Scenic Route (2013)

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(Originally from Facebook – September 27, 2013)

I know I gave up my little reviews after the summer ended, but I thought I’d just mention this film briefly. If you ever thought that Josh Duhamel and Dan Fogler couldn’t do drama, you might give this one a try. It surprised me a bit. It’s slow moving, and doesn’t go much beyond two characters sorting their lives out, but I found it a little touching, and by the end found myself turning the whole story over again in my mind. It’s the kind of movie you don’t see advertised much, and after you see it, you wonder why you’ve never heard of it. (running time 1:22)

UPDATE: in going back to add the links and such, I see that the Metacritic score is a 34 (out of 100). I’m still standing by my review, primarily because a) IMDB has it at a 6.5, and the written reviews are mostly positive, and b) I can’t remember enough of the film to contradict the critics.

Liberal Arts (2012)

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(Originally from Facebook – September 28, 2013)

Yes, another one. I can’t help myself. It’s a sickness.
Things I learned by watching this film:
1. Actor/Director Josh Radnor will have a career beyond “How I Met Your Mother”‘s Ted Moseby. (Although, since he plays a character very similar to Moseby, it may be on the director’s side of the camera.)
2. Elizabeth Olsen is clearly the most talented of the Olsen sisters, and I’m predicting she’s going to have a fairly successful road ahead of her. (Go see Martha Marcy May Marlene if you haven’t already.)
3. In small doses, Zac Efron is not bad. Good, even.
4. Richard Jenkins is good in everything.
5. This film has been overlooked. (By me, for sure, but a lot of others, too, I bet.)
6. Olsen, although sort of plain-looking, can be sexy as hell.
7. I’m not tired of this genre of film.

I could probably go on, but let me just say that it’s a sweet little independent film that, if you can get past seeing Radnor as his “HIMYM” character, will provide you with an evening’s entertainment without having to resort to explosions, cussin’, or zombies. Olsen is really the gem here, but the rest of the cast does a good job, too. (running time 1:37)

Gravity (2013)

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(Originally from Facebook – October 17, 2013)

Gravity. I felt sick to my stomach most of the time, but it was quite good. I thought it got a little hackneyed near the end, but not enough to rub me the wrong way. Sandy looks pretty damn good for nearly 50, too!

I don’t know as it warrants the 8.6 it’s got at IMDB, but it’s definitely a must-see in the theater. (NOTE: I didn’t see it in 3-D, although I might go see it again, just to get that experience.) (running time 1:31)

UPDATE: I gave it a 7 at IMDB.

Mud (2012)

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(Originally from Facebook – August 3, 2013)

So, I think I have the second addition to my top ten list (along with Jagten) in Mud. It’s the setting and the performances here that sell it. All the actors were completely believable, I thought, especially Tye Sheridan, but it’ll be a crime if McConaughey doesn’t get nominated for an Oscar/Golden Globe. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen him this good, if ever. Dazed and Confused, maybe, but that was an entirely different kind of role. Even the bit players (Joe Don Baker, Sam Shepard, Michael Shannon, et. al) were outstanding. Continue reading →

Don Jon (2013)

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(Originally from Facebook – December 21, 2013)

Terribly disappointed with this. I’m a huge JGL fan, and have liked pretty much everything he’s been in…until now. Don’t know where the IMDB 7.0 rating is coming from. (Also, STILL don’t understand the Scarlett Johansson thing…)* (running time 1:30)

* I ended up giving it a 4 on IMDB. And it’s almost four years later, and still don’t get the appeal of Johansson.

Django Unchained (2012)

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(Originally from Facebook – July 29, 2013)

I’ve been putting off the review for last night’s film because I’m expecting a little blowback. Let me just be blunt–I’m not a Tarantino fan. I think he peaked with Reservoir Dogs, and most of the rest of his films I feel are a collection of “things that Quentin thinks are cool.” I know, I know…I’m in the minority. Now, that said, I will say that I like Django Unchained as much as (actually more than) any of his other films. It was mostly devoid of the things that irritate me about his other work, and I really liked the two leads, Foxx and Waltz. I even found Leonardo DiCaprio, who usually takes me right out of a film, to be intriguing. In fact, I only had three significant complaints.

Continue reading →

Side Effects (2013)

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(Originally from Facebook – July 30, 2013)

I’ve been falling behind on my postings, but not on the movies. Got three for the last three days. Here’s #1
This got a 7.2 at IMDB. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen so many really good movies lately that I think that’s a little high. Not too much, though. Well acted all around, although Tatum stretches believability a little as the wealthy trader. It’s also a fairly smart film, so be sure to pay attention as you go. A good, old-fashioned psychological thriller. We’ve seen this sort of film before, but there’s enough new here, and the performances are interesting enough, that I’d give it a 6. Maybe even a 6.5. (running time 1:46)

Frances Ha (2012)

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(Originally from Facebook – December 26, 2013)

I really wanted to love this. I even thought, based on what I had read about it, that it might be a top 10 contender. Greta Gerwig is always good, and so appealing, and I think it was her performance that made the movie bearable for me. But I also think it has a very particular audience, and I’m not it. My feeling is that the people who will love this are, not surprisingly, the same sort of people that populate the film. It wasn’t horrible, just…disappointing. IMDB: 7.4. Me: 5.0. (running time 1:26)

Stoker (2013)

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(Originally from Facebook – December 28, 2013)

When does “homage” become plagiarism? Wentworth Miller (yes, from “Prison Break”) walks a very fine line, I think, with his script. It draws heavily from Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt and Shirley Jackson’s novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and then Director Chan-Wook Park throws in nods to other Hitch films, most notably Psycho. There’s also a little of a famous Showtime series, but I don’t want to reveal too much. It was hard to put all of that aside, but I did and found it to be a fairly well-done, if derivative, thriller. Continue reading →

Dunkirk (2017)

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Michael Bay makes a film that places action over character, shoehorns in too much story for the running time, and fills it with moments clearly designed to tug our heartstrings, complete with a tear-jerker of a score, and the critics make him their whipping boy. Chris Nolan does the same thing, and it’s a masterpiece. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but there were moments in Nolan’s latest film, Dunkirk, that seemed to me just as carefully constructed to elicit the same kind of “guy cry” moments as ones in The Rock or Armageddon (and yeah, I cry when Bruce Willis blows himself up. What’s it to you?) That’s not to say I didn’t like the film, or those moments. They work as they’re supposed to. But in the end, much like the story of Dunkirk itself, the film seems like a failure dressed up to look like a success. Continue reading →