Last movie you watched......

Crazy, Stupid, Love. The Gosling/Carell stuff was pretty funny and the movie had a really good cast. Emma Stone is always good. Gosling did sound like he was doing a Richard Gere impression the whole time.

The babysitter subplots were pretty bad. Now that the movie is done, I think Steve Carell should take a long break from sad sack roles and Julianne Moore should take a long break from suburban mom in a love crisis roles.

 

"Friends With Benefits."

Dumb. Sucked. Crass sex, dick, and toilet jokes. Formulaic romantic comedy while pretending to be ironic about romantic comedies. Almost note for note same as "No Strings Attached," down to daddy issues for the male leads.

Only thing that salvaged it remotely was Woody Harrelson as a gay sports editor. There's even an homage to "White Men Can't Jump" scene. But that's not remotely enough to save this piece of garbage. I can't believe how well-reviewed it was.

 

I think you kind of have to expect a movie with that premise to be a bit formulaic as there are only so many things you can do to create tension with that plot device.

Gee, friends who have sex. OK, well, you have to show how they're good friends and then show how they arrived at the decision to bone. That's 30 minutes of the movie right there. Then you have to show how cool it is that they're boning (10 mins), how at least one member of the pair doesn't think of it as a big deal (10 mins), and then show how at least one person then changes their mind and decides it is a big deal because that's the only way to create tension (10 minds).

That leaves you with creating the only other tension possible, which is the threat of breaking the pact either internally or externally because one member wants more than FWB or finds someone else they might want to do (10 mins), then you toy with the friendship ending (15 mins) and, before you know it, you've got about 15 mins to wrap everything with a bow because you're a comedy and audiences don't want a sad ending in their funny movies.

It's either that or show a 90-minute movie where two people who are friends have sex, it doesn't change their relationship and then they go back to not having sex when one member is ready to have a real relationship but, really, who wants to see that?

 

Option 2: Don't make the movie at all.

I guess I shouldn't watch any romcoms. But once in a while one surprises me. And this one got pretty good reviews.

 

That lack of cohesion was bothersome to me. On one hand, you have JT and Mila Kunis or JT and Woody Harrelson exchanging really good dialougue. In the next minute, you have a series of pandering flash mob scenes. And the next minute, you have one of the clunkiest plot contrivances of all-time - Dylan/Timberlake and his sister talking about Jamie while she's hiding in the magician's box. One of the worst-acted, worst-written scenes I've seen in a long time. Maybe since the first "Saw" movie. Anyone who thinks that Timberlake has acting chops is instructed to watch that scene 100 times as punishment.

 

I just watched "The Help," and now I am squirming at all the racism -- both covert and obvious -- in the world around me. As much as I want to believe that environment doesn't exist anymore, I know what a lie that is.

 

Outing alert! Paper Doll is John Stewart!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-december-13-2011/newt-gingrich-s-poverty-code?xrs=share_copy

 

Saw "Hugo" this afternoon and loved it! Purposely went in having read nothing about it other than it had great reviews and was a love letter to the movies.

 

"Crazy, Stupid, Love". Wife loves Carrell. Nice to see Gosling in something other than some midwesterner (Blue Valentine, Lars and the Real Girl, that teacher flick). He was slick. Emma Stone is a nice actress but far from the "hottest" young star.

 

Redboxed "Submarine" last night, because I saw a review that was pretty good. It was alright, not great. Had moments.

Biggest kick out of it that I got was that the kid was the same kid who played a teen vampire in a new fave, BBC's "Being Human." Specifically, one scene that I'm still laughing at — he's sorta adopted by a vampire couple, who are into kinky sex. While trying to get him to suck an actual gimp dry, friends come to save him and the vampire mom and dad ask him to choose who to go with. He replies "I choose to go with them... I don't want this. I mean, look at it... it's pretty fucked up!" Wish I could find a clip because his facial expressions and telling the vamp-dad "Tell someone who gives a shit" are hilarious.

 

"An Education."

Carey Mulligan is soooooooooo amazingly talented. I am praying that she doesn't just eventually fall into the romcom/blockbuster trap. I've seen her in two movies this week, and I am positively blown away. It is difficult to watch someone like Mila Kunis or Natalie Portman after watching this girl/woman act.

 

Which two Mulligan movies did you see? Shame and Drive?