Last movie you watched......

Couldn't disagree more on Drive.
Great movie and Gosling is an underrated actor.
The elevator scene is amazing, not for the brutality, but for the look between Gosling and Carey Mulligan when the doors open and she steps out.

 

In regards to Drive, I was disappointed that there were really only two situations where he was hired to drive, considering the trailers and such made it seem that was going to be the main focus of the movie.

I didn't need it to be all Fast and Furious but I would have liked a couple of more sequences like the opening where he shows off his skills that get him hired.

 

Contagion. Well-crafted. Emotionally lacking. Several beats of droll humor, including one involving Paltrow's, uh, face. Soderbergh is an exceedingly gifted filmmaker, but people who know well enough know he's fucking around with viewers in several scenes, and that gets annoying. He's stopped respecting audiences.

 

"Easy A."

I really, really expected it to be better, considering the solid reviews it got. I still think Emma Stone is going to be a mega, mega star, but this was really nothing but a souped-up, too-cute-by-half teenybopper comedy with an easy moral.

The parents were completely annoying, but I think you could practically write an academic paper about how they embody the parents that teens in this generation would recognize. Think about, say, "The Wonder Years." Jack is the strong, silent type. His kids are scared to death of him. The mom is June Cleaver with a little bit more depth. Fast forward to "Easy A." Parents are best friends with their teenagers. They share jokes and talk to one another in silly accents, right in front of friends. No one bats an eye. They trade sex stories and jokes.

I suspect that teens today recognize this relationship, as bizarre as it might seem to those of us in the stage between having teenagers and being teenagers, more than they would, say, Jack and Norma.

 

"No Country for Old Men"

A really well-acted and well-directed flick. Lots of metaphors in objects and especially dialogue. I understood the point it made, and the abrupt ending is fine, but I think the Coen brothers didn't fully capture that this was becoming an increasingly lawless land (and time) where (when) the law was losing its grip.

 

Cedar Rapids. Felt like it missed the mark. Story was decent and I liked the characters, but it just wasn't as funny as it could have been.

For instance, the scene where Ed Helms' character was going to get on the plane and had no idea what the security protocols were like was a missed opportunity for a laugh. When his buddy asked him to take off his shoes and open his laptop bag, he says, "Come on, it's me," to which the security guard says, "We have to do it for everyone." I was expecting a joke of some kind, any kind there. SOMETHING needed to happen there, it was begging for it. Instead, Helms' boss shows up, gives him some document and they cut to inside the plane.

How could no one have realized there needed to be a joke there? What was the point of the interaction other than to show what a rube Helms' character was, something that was accomplished in the very next scene when he says he's never been on a plane when the stewardess asks about the exit row seating.

The movie had potential, and I didn't hate it, it just wasn't as funny as it should have and could have been.

 

Bridesmaids.

Hilarious. Gives the entire Apatow oeuvre a run for its money.

 

'Hesher'

I enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

I finally saw the original Tron recently.

It's a fascinating movie. Not really because of the story (an interesting concept that was couched in simple good vs. evil terms), and definitely not because of the dialogue (it suffers from Star Wars disease), but because of the craft in what it took to make it.

The back-lit animation makes the characters look futuristically antiquated. Its not so much like they transported Jeff Bridges into the computer world, but transported the cast of Metropolis into it. The contrast between the black-and-white human actors, the high-contrast colors used in rotoscoping and the colorful computer world they superimpose them into is pretty interesting. I think it's beautiful and a unique movie in this way.

Of course, computers have advanced so far since 1982 that the computer effects themselves -- state-of-the-art at the time -- look ridiculously anachronistic by today's standard. But its cool in that way. Great slice of its time.

Paradoxically, because of the way Tron had to be made, it could not be made the same way again today unless someone bankrolled a ridiculous budget. The combination of the back-lit animation of the human characters, the computer effects, and the traditional animation used for many scenes would be exorbitant to replicate in today's climate.

So it's dated, but it could not be made today the same way it was then. Kind of cool.

 

'Drive'

Loved this movie. Like Cronenberg doing classic film noir. Just an excellent soundtrack, an incredibly magnetic performance by Ryan Gosling. The story was simple, cliche even, but shows you how acting and direction can elevate a film to the level of high art. Could have been a silent film and I'd have been mesmerized.

 

"The Road." The single most depressing movie I've ever seen. Utterly bleak. And a kind of crap ending. Should have watched "The French Connection" instead.

 

Saw a commercial for another remake of "The Thing" last night. Mixed feelings. As much fun as it could be to see it with modern special effects, was this really necessary?

The Kurt Russell role has been replaced by some adorable girl named Mary Elizabeth Winstead who appears to have no charisma. That sends off alarm bells right there.