Many Movies!

New Year! Hope your December was good and all. I haven't updated for a while because I've been busy. Sleeping till noon. But don't worry, I'll make up for it now by mini reviewing all the things I saw over the break! What fun!

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

RDJ decided to ramp up the silly

this time around. Someone direct this man! 

The film as a whole feels pretty inconsequential.

Nothing really sticks. There are some cool camera

tricks and action set pieces, but there's no substance

to back them up, so whatever Guy Ritchie. Also, 

Noomi Rapace is stuck playing the most 

unnecessary character in film history, so that's 

too bad for her.

The Adventures of Tintin

This was very good looking. Very good looking  

 indeed. The 3D was great and the motion capture

looked like it's own medium instead of some weird

real-life impostor. So I appreciated what was going

on here. However, I found the whole thing to be 

too loud and show-offish and overworked for my 

tastes. Isn't Spielberg too old to be making this kind 

of stuff? I know he's a holy vessel of eternal innocence 

and the bringer of childlike wonder into this terrible 

world, but still. Maybe I'm just being a curmudgeon.

The Palm Beach Story

This was great. It was funny, witty, and snappily

paced. Snappily paced short movies are nice.

For added enjoyment, the prologue and the

conclusion were aggressively nonsensical and

deliberately confusing. I like when that happens. 

That is all I have to say.

Christmas In July

More Preston Sturges! Also starring my lover from

the past, Dick Powell. This film is similarly fast paced and 

delightful, filled with witty quips and amusing non sequiturs.

Huzzah. 

Shipmates Forever

Also starring Dick Powell. And Ruby Keeler, the most adorably 

bad actress of the 1930s. I didn't like this one much. The characters

lacked any believable motivation and the big plot points felt 

unearned. I also found the excessively nationalistic, "join
the Navy or else you're useless" approach to be unappealing.

Different times, different attitudes. I guess it means well, though.

Rare Exports

Bah. I'm disappointed that a perfectly good demon Santa
concept was wasted on such a terrible movie. Poor
relationships, stupid and unmotivated plot developments,
and a 12-year old who talks to his stuffed animal so the
audience doesn't get confused or anything. Probably made by
some BYU film graduates. There are a lot of naked old men
running around, though, so I guess that's kind of funny.

In Time

This was an interesting concept that was pretty well
executed. There was a little bit of clunky dialogue
and Justers couldn't quite pull off a key scene, but mostly
good. It also had a pretty radical political message that it was

promoting, so that's always fun to see in a mainstream
release. As a card-carrying communist, I approve. Also,
Amanda Seyfried looks like a fashion alien and her shoes
are extremely impractical.

Real Steel

REAL STEEL! REAL STEEL!
So this was extremely manipulative,  what with its
crying children, father-son redemption crap, and
lovable underdog boxing robots. I guess it worked,
though, because I liked it. Hugh Jackman is a giant man.

Year One

This is low brow humor. Jack Black eats poop at one

point. However, once you embrace the dumbness of

it all, the whole exercise ends up being kind of

endearing. There is a long and uninterrupted shot in
which Michael Cera pees on his face while hanging
upside down. I laughed.

Pineapple Express

I watched this with my mother. Daughters of Zion and
all that. She made that loud laughing mom noise that
she tends to make many times. Success. I like this film.
It's sweet-natured and extremely funny. I cannot ask
for more.

Moneyball

I saw this on New Year's Eve. My friend and I had to
go through a DUI checkpoint to get to the theater.
The circumstances in which I saw the film are neither
important to the review or particularly interesting. So
why relate them? I don't know. I though this film was
smart, exciting, and good looking. It also had an
interesting and satisfyingly uncertain ending. So, cool.

Harold and Maude

This is a fun wee film. It's got that early 1970's feel 

 that is pleasant sometimes. There's nothing life

altering or particularly inspirational going on here,

but it is nice. The cheerier aspects are balanced

out by the more grim elements, so it doesn't go too

far in either direction. And I like this shot.  

The Trip

I liked this one very much. It was episodic, intertextual,

and digressive. I enjoy all of these things. It also 

featured lots of good looking food, so that is nice.

I especially appreciated how the film was content to 

let scenes go beyond what would normally be considered

an acceptable end point. I also like how Coogan and

Brydon converse. I wish more dialogue was that way.

Anatomy of a Murder

This is the kind of film that doesn't attempt to make
things simple or straightforward. It expects the viewer
to exert themselves both through its stylistic and
narrative choices. It unabashedly uses complicated and
technical legal vocabulary and frankly discusses a very
adult subject. So, respect. I like a film that doesn't feel the
need to accomodate everyone. The subject matter and moral
 implications presented are genuinely surprising, even after all
of these years. So, adult, interesting, and deliberate.
Good film. Jimmy Stewart is more natural in front of a camera
than any man should be.

Oliver!

For some reason, my siblings and I watched this film

a lot when I was a young lass. As well as this.

Consequently, certain elements of Oliver! are ingrained 

into my brain for all time. So, revisiting it after a 

while was an interesting experience. It's easy to see 

why this film was so memorable for my tiny self, for 

it is a very impressive piece of work. The production 

design is amazing, it's shot beautifully, and the score

is pretty great. It does drag a wee bit in the middle. 

However, considering the fact that the film is two and 

a half hours long, some draggage would be hard to avoid. 

I forgive it.