Last movie you watched......

I tried watching Observe and Report last night. Worst Seth Rogan movie ever. Made it about a half hour in before turning it off.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past ... not even Matthew McConaughey shirtless can save this.

Management ... lurv Jennifer Aniston but there's something about this movie that just never takes off.

Been a bad weekend for movies.

 

whip it ...

it's good, and it could've been better. barrymore has a director's eye and just needs to hone it. some pieces were sloppy, and others were sharp. cinematography during the skating scenes was inconsistent. i wish ellen page had trained better so her skating on screen would've looked more natural. kristen wiig is pretty good. i'm lliking her more and more. marcia gay harden as the rigid mother does a nice job. the father-daughter thing with page and daniel stern is pretty good. after a somewhat shaky start, the movie flows but then gets choppy. juliette lewis is very goodas iron maven. more than anything, i wanted better, harder, truer skating scenes. and while i think ellen page is fun to watch, i think barrymore might have overdirected her.

3 stars.


about to watch love happens with aniston and eckert. it'll probably be pedestrian, but i like both those actors.

oh, and what's up with "the men who stare at goats"?

 

Just watched Zombieland last night. Outstanding. Haven't had that much fun at a movie in a long time.

 

Went with the wife to see Paranormal Activity on Sunday. Definitely pretty scary, allows your imagination to do most of the work. My wife loves the idea of going to scary movies, and then curses the fact that she's there the entire time. That's usually the most entertaining part for me.

 

love happens ...

not so bad. aniston breaks her 2-movie slump because she doesn't overdo her character. eckhart is always good. it's more than just boy meets girl. deals with the pain and grief of losing loved ones and trying to move on in life. the father grieving the death of his son is great and definitely could be a nominee for best supporting actor. martin sheen added a nice little touch without him feeling like he had to steal the few scenes he was in. eckhart's manager did a decent job too; he kind of reminds me of myles from risky business but all grown up.

going to sweat a while now then coming back to watch donnie brasco for the first time.

 

Is it worth watching a CAM version? Because that's all I can find right now.

 

Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia - A Peckinpah film with Warren Oates (who does what the title suggests) (Netflix said I'd like it) - it was okay, but I'd like to see Tarantino remake this movie with better music, a better tempo and a better idea of who the lead character is.

 

'All the President's Men' certainly wasn't as good as the book, but I really loved it. I loved the pacing of it.
'Absence of Malice' was good, but I haven't seen that in a long time. I might have to take another look.
'State of Play' just left me flat. It tried to cover too much ground. Crowe's performance was good, but the character as written just seemed so trite. GF, a former newspaper person like me, didn't like it either.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Men_Who_Stare_at_Goats

I heard about this on a podcast I subscribe to about a year ago. The guy who wrote the book is very entertaining. I don't know how this will translate into a feature film though.

And oh...I liked State of Play enough to download and watch the BBC series it was based on. Boy was that a mistake. I think I made it through a half hour before giving in.

 

The cast alone has me looking forward to Men Who Stare at Goats. Some of my favorite character actors are in that thing.

And if you're in the market for a newspaper movie check out "Ace In The Hole", "Meet John Doe," and "Sweet Smell of Success." They're all older movies, but still hold up, quite well. And I hope everyone has seen "Face In the Crowd."

 

Don't forget "Deadline USA," with Humphrey Bogart, Jim Backus and Ed Begley Sr. The newspaper wake scene alone makes it great (and particularly poignant these days).

Plus, Bogart (playing the editor/publisher) walks around the newsroom in a tuxedo the whole time. Nice to see evidence that once upon a time, newspapermen were considered "somebody" in society.

 

"Ace in the Hole" is fantastic. I'm watching "Annie Hall" for the umpteenth time. I love this movie.