Actors: Lake Bell, Demetri Martin
Director: Lake Bell
There's a style of writing that I don't want to call 'sitcom writing' but I'm going to - it's the kind of writing where the person thinks that the script needs a laugh in a particular place. 'This needs a laugh'. And so you get people saying mildly funny things in exposition or everyone in the movie is just constantly quipping. It's what modern audiences are accustomed to. It unfortunately sounds awful to me if it's not done really well, and there's parts in here that are, and parts in here that aren't. Either way, I think this is a debut film, and it's a hell of a debut if so - plot contrivances and the sitcom style of writing aside, this movie reminded me of Woody Allen, but in a good way - it's an examination of a very small, very competitive place. I'm excited to see what's next.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Seven Psychopaths - 2012 - 3½ Stars
Actors: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell
Director: Martin McDonagh
A friend of mine once did a brilliant deconstruction of the 'Writer's Block' genre of film - where a once-successful (and recently divorced) writer grapples with difficulty in coming up with new ideas but is brought out of his isolation by his friend who takes life as it comes and isn't so hung up on thinking about things. Not only was it a pitch-perfect satire, but it made me re-evaluate the entire genre - I hadn't realized it was something so formulaic. Martin McDonagh here blows up that genre in a very weird way, making a fun, watchable film that lacks the navel-gazing and mopery that normally marks the 'writing about writer' film. There's a good bit of wit and a lot of fun scenery chewing. And of course there's also Christopher Walken.
Director: Martin McDonagh
A friend of mine once did a brilliant deconstruction of the 'Writer's Block' genre of film - where a once-successful (and recently divorced) writer grapples with difficulty in coming up with new ideas but is brought out of his isolation by his friend who takes life as it comes and isn't so hung up on thinking about things. Not only was it a pitch-perfect satire, but it made me re-evaluate the entire genre - I hadn't realized it was something so formulaic. Martin McDonagh here blows up that genre in a very weird way, making a fun, watchable film that lacks the navel-gazing and mopery that normally marks the 'writing about writer' film. There's a good bit of wit and a lot of fun scenery chewing. And of course there's also Christopher Walken.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Inherent Vice - 2014 - 2 Stars
Actors: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Thomas Pynchon is not my favorite author. People who like him always recommend reading a different book than the one I've read, but I think I've read enough to make my decision on him. Everything I found difficult about the novel of his I've read, I also found difficult about this adaptation. In addition to the various plot and character issues, there are aspects that simply don't translate to the screen (names!). The film seems like it's about to take off in the middle but quickly stops, the larger themes around the main character seem unexplored, and a lot of the gags simply don't work. Granted, I felt this way about The Big Lebowski (a definite cousin if not brother to this film), but that film has Walter Sobchak's loud insanity that steals the film whenever Goodman's on screen. This did not -- kudos to PTA for trying to adapt this, but it doesn't work for me.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Thomas Pynchon is not my favorite author. People who like him always recommend reading a different book than the one I've read, but I think I've read enough to make my decision on him. Everything I found difficult about the novel of his I've read, I also found difficult about this adaptation. In addition to the various plot and character issues, there are aspects that simply don't translate to the screen (names!). The film seems like it's about to take off in the middle but quickly stops, the larger themes around the main character seem unexplored, and a lot of the gags simply don't work. Granted, I felt this way about The Big Lebowski (a definite cousin if not brother to this film), but that film has Walter Sobchak's loud insanity that steals the film whenever Goodman's on screen. This did not -- kudos to PTA for trying to adapt this, but it doesn't work for me.
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