OK, I've left this long enough. I've
seen that many movies I've been meaning to review that it's getting
out of hand.
So, for a little while, going to post a
few at a time, no plot synopsis, just my thoughts. If you are
interested, check the IMDB pages for the general story breakdown.
Sorry about taking the easy way out, but if I want to catch up, I'd
better get into gear. Besides, some of these, I don't have much to
say anyway (oh and there may be a few small spoilers littered
throughout).
Silver Linings Playbook
Pros:
-The acting. The biggest selling
point of this film is its cast, and no one slacks off (and when you
have Chris Tucker in your cast, that IS a big accomplishment. He's
not an actor I would consider to be great by any stretch, but if he
does more stuff like this, that could change).
This is arguably the best film De
Niro's been involved with for years, and it helps that he's not
playing a tough guy or hamming it up (I will say at this point that
to me, his last outstanding role was in Stardust, where he also
tries something different), but instead a man who doesn't know how
to connect with his son any more, with Jacki Weaver offering superb
back-up as the mother who tries to keep the peace in the family.
Bradley Cooper's great too, my
favourite role of his to date. His character's plight, to get back
together with his wife and regain some sense of normality, garners
great sympathy.
The stand-out, however, is Jennifer
Lawrence, who says what she wants and doesn't give a damn what
anyone else thinks. She has her vulnerabilities, but she doesn't let
them drag her down. Like all good characters, the flaws help define
them without pigeon-holing them, and the relationship between her
character and Cooper's is believable, seemingly running with the
message “people are screwed up, but sometimes, they find other
screwed up people and find out you can be screwed up and happy, and
compliment each other's weaknesses”.
Cons:
One of the better films I've seen this
year, and worthy of all Oscars it was nominated for, and definitely
so for those it won. 4/5
Flight
Pros:
- The sequence which leads to the
crash that sets up the plot. It's amazingly shot and acted, and I
actually felt like I was there in the plane. Which is also a bad
thing, since I've never flown and I'm actually afraid of flying, so
this only added to that fear...
-While the supporting cast are
great (especially Don Cheadle), this is pretty much Denzel
Washington's movie, and in his role as Whip Whitaker he carries it
fantastically. This portrayal of a self-destructive, egotistical man
is a little different from Washington's usual fare, and it's
probably my fave role of his to date (before anyone asks, no, I
haven't seen Training Day yet, I'll get to it one day). Denzel's
character is a complicated man, and his journey of self-discovery
never enters a place in which it strains credibility.
Cons:
- I mentioned the supporting cast
are great, and they are, but with one character, we have a puzzling
element. Harling Mays (John Goodman) is a dealer friend of Whip's,
and a close confidant. Before Whip's court appearance, Whip drinks
himself to near-death and is in no shape to turn up. Enter Harling,
who knows how to whip Whip (no pun intended) back into shape. I
should note his leitmotif, if I can use that here, is Sympathy For
The Devil by The Rolling Stones, and his role is played for comedy.
Considering the serious nature of this film, this is rather jarring,
and an unnecessary distraction.
So far, this is my favourite movie of
the year, though we're only about a third of the way through, so
there's still plenty of contenders. Even so, I highly recommend
this, even with a review that doesn't give it any justice at all.
4/5
This Is 40
Pros:
-Uh... well, the music is nice. No,
seriously, the musical selection, I dig it. And since music and the
marketing of one group is a subplot, you would expect the music to
be decent. Thankfully, it is. I had never heard of Graham Parker And
The Rumor before, but I can't say I regret listening to the music.
Cons:
-Is it me or are films trying to
make me hate Leslie Mann? Seriously, most of the movies I've seen
her in, it looks like she's not having any fun. It's almost like
she's Debra from Everybody Loves Raymond (oh, how I hate that
character), she has to be mean-spirited to nearly everyone, even
though her husband is a reasonable guy (that's not a compliment to
Ray Barone from that show, though, he's almost as bad as his wife)
and her few heartfelt moments are... well, few and far between. It's
sad when a film from earlier this year, ParaNorman, shows she can
play lovely characters.
And keep in mind, she's married to the
director of this film, Judd Apatow. Dude, are you trying to make us
hate your wife? Why?
-The other characters don't get off
scot-free, but a lot of them are useless and go nowhere anyway, just
like their subplots. Biggest example: Mann's character, Debbie,
runs a boutique, and she finds out one of her employees is stealing
money. She confronts Desi (Megan Fox, whose performance is
unremarkable) about it, but Desi says it's the other employee, Jodi
(Charlene Yi and dear God, I swear Apatow is trying to make me hate
her, too! I hated her in Knocked Up, and she's irritating here, too.
She started off annoying when she was in the last season of House,
but I did warm up to her there). Turns out Jodi has a drug habit,
that's never hinted at, and as soon as Debbie fires her, the subplot
ends on a joke about her being out of it, and that's it. Yeah, that
sure needed some screentime, not like you don't have enough going on
already...
Speaking of Desi, while she sticks
around, she doesn't exactly get better, and the
ends-as-quickly-as-it-started subplot with Ronnie (Chris O'Dowd) and
Jason (Jason Segel) trying to get into her pants. Keep it classy,
guys. It's near the end of the movie, so what's the point? The
movie's runtime is a little over two hours, we could have had this
cut and lost nothing.
-OK, these last two are nitpicks,
I'll admit. First, I'm sick of all the promotion for this film
saying “semi-sequel” to Knocked Up. It makes no reference to
Seth Rogen's and Katherine Heigl's characters from that film, so
you'd never know it, and we already have a term for that: spin-off.
This is a spin-off, just call it one.
Next, the title's kind of arrogant
isn't it? Like, is this what we're all going to be doing/have done
at 40? No, this is “privileged whiny white arsehole's version of
40”. Or, First World Problems: The Movie, if you were.
If you don't want to bother with this
movie, I don't blame you. There are some bits I laughed at, but not
so much that I'd recommend this. So far, the weakest film I've seen
this year. 2/5
Yeah, sorry there isn't a lot of meat
on them, but it's been a while since I've seen this films, so some
details will have been missed. Hell, they probably come off as
looking like slightly better Chris Bores movie reviews (and the
slightly better might be giving myself too much credit).
Next post, another three films, so that
I can keep on catching up.
