Last movie you watched......

The Alba flick is "The Killer Inside Me," for those who want to Google it.

 

It's a Wonderful Life. I guess I never really paid all that much attention before, and this is embarrassing, but I never realized til yesterday that Uncle Billy dropped the 8 grand in Potter's lap. Oh shit, is a certain Wire fan gonna go ballistic? (I kid, I kid, Mr. W.). Two things: Jimmy Stewart is phenomenal. And Donna Reed is easy on the eyes. What a babe.

 

SPOILER ALERT, CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE









We touched on the movie the other day, but a few things that irked me:

(1) The girl giving the boy naked pictures of herself was completely inappropriate. Can you imagine if it were a 17-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl? How much shit did they catch for that? Not a huge scandal that I can remember. I guess if you want to do something outrageous, stick it at the end of the movie because critics don't want to spoil it.
(2) It also basically reinforced all his creepy behavior the rest of the movie.
(3) Emma Stone's Asian friend is a bad person. In one of her first lines, she condescending asks Hanna if she is going to "stay in L.A. and be a patent lawyer?" Um, there are a lot worse things in the world than being a patent lawyer in the second-biggest city in the country. And she also thinks that Hannah shouldn't be with Josh Groban because he isn't hot enough, which just pisses me off. At least they took some care to show him texting and being a little bit of a doofus, because otherwise he was an attractive, nice, successful man. The horror!

Like I said earlier, I liked a lot of it. The Gosling-Carrell stuff mostly, was great. The clothes shopping and then the scene at the bar, with two outstanding actors playing off one another in an understated scene. But the movie's missteps are just too much to make it salvageable on the whole.

 

I think it's safe to say Gosling has had a pretty damn good year.

He was very good in Crazy, Stupid Love.
He was outstanding in Drive.
He was outstanding in Ides of March.

 

WAPO had a weekend story about Zuzu ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/for-zuzu-of-its-a-wonderful-life-it-wasnt-such-a-wonderful-life-afterward/2011/11/21/gIQAYt3CLO_story.html

 

He's terrific. In "Crazy, Stupid, Love," Emma Stone looks at him with his shirt off and says, "It's like you're photoshopped!"

That's how I feel about him coming on the scene in movies.

Remarkable actor. The camera loves him. Makes great role choices.

It's like, "Is this guy for real?"

Next Brad Pitt?

 

Gosling's had a really good year. As far as pure acting talent and a variety of roles, I'll take Michael Fassbender - Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre, a young Magneto in X-Men, Carl Jung in A Dangerous Method, and a sex addict in Shame.

 

The original Muppet Movie.

Still reeks of awesome, after all these years.

 

I haven't seen any of those, since I mostly have to wait until DVD to see movies because there is a little person who lives at my house. Definitely need to hop on "X-Men," as I've heard terrific things. I became even more interested when I heard that the action sequences are actually watchable. Most action sequences in modern blockbusters are so disorienting that I lose track of what is happening and interest in the movie.

 

The Pitt comparison is an interesting one.

Gosling doesn't seem to mind playing "the pretty boy" as much as Pitt does/did. I remember reading about how annoyed Pitt was when he kept seeing the Legends of the Fall posters all over the place.

Then again, the guy did make Troy.

 

That's a good question: Who had a better year between Gosling and Fassbender?

Gosling gonna get some Academy love for Drive or Ides? Maybe Best Actor for Drive, but I'm not sure he was central enough in Ides to get best actor.

I haven't seen A Dangerous Method or Shame, but would LOVE TO. I've gotta find a niche theater around here. I wonder if either role will put Fassbender into a nomination.

 

He was definitely the main character in Ides. Having just seen it, I can't think of many scenes he wasn't in.

Drive is probably my favorite movie so far this year, although for every person I know who loved it, there's someone who hated it.