A.D.D. short and sweet.

The Artist

5/5 stars

The Greatest

The Artist is the great great greatest.

So it’s been long enough since I’ve seen a (new) movie that I went ahead and just saw three in a row to catch up. And as a result, I can’t help but kind of compare my experience with the three side-by-side. AND as a result, I have even less to say about each. It will be the A.D.D.-est yet.

The Adjustment Bureau

2.5/5 stars

What a legendary campaign.

I’ve been saying all along that this could either be really cool or really lame. Instead it fell solidly in the middle. It did do everything I expected in terms of heavy-handed-holy-ness and bordering immature fantastical storytelling about fate. And after a while I had had enough of their bewildered shock as they point to a notebook of symbols that meant nothing to me. But, I was still relatively entertained, especially by how much New York played into the story.

For the most part I was disappointed.

My favorite thing about the movie is actually the promo campaign, which was WAY more menacing and badass than the Adjustment Bureau IN THE MOVIE was.  Someone hire these people to promote my movie (when I make it) please!

Bad.Ass.

Take Me Home Tonight

3/5 stars

The song wasn't even in the movie!

I’ve come to realize what made this kind of movie great IN the actual 80s can’t really be reproduced. It’s a certain kind of mentality and genuineness that movies don’t have anymore unless done cautiously and un-ironically. I love me some John Cusack movies, but just because Take Me Home Tonight is set in the 80s doesn’t mean its included in those classics. THAT being said, it was also fairly entertaining and it was a slightly more satisfying experience than The Adjustment Bureau which I had seen the night before. The discrepancies in the story are more swallowable when it’s not a high-concept Writer/Director movie anyhow.

Rango

5/5 stars

This photo has nothing to do with anything, but is hilarious.

This was by FAR the highlight of the weekend trifecta of movie-watching. Not only is Rango a really good animation, but it’s an excellent Western, AND a very good movie in terms of structure, acting, and all the technical aspects from which the other two have glaring problems. Rango has just a hint of reference sprinkled in from old classic westerns, while still being its OWN movie, not a cluttered collage of cliches. It doesn’t succumb to the typical “make it back home” plot that usually befalls onto the “lost pet” scenario.  And has an excellent cast and crew including a Hans Zimmer score and Cinematography Consulting by Roger Deakins. The credits roll got more oohs, ahhs, and surprises than an M. Night Shya…wait, that’s not a very good example anymore. More oohs, ahhs, and surprises than the reveal of an Agatha Christie novel.

I always love when a movie surprises. I hope Rango is in the running for best animated feature this year because it was remarkably good. (And as a side note, it was also remarkably rough in appearance and character-killing than a typical “adults will like it too” animation. Which, among other things, means it wasn’t created to sell toys.  Those plushies would make a child cry!)

A.D.D. short and sweet.

The Living Wake

5/5 stars

Drawn to it.

I forgot about this movie when it was released. There were posters plastered up around New York and I’m instantly drawn to anything…. hand drawn.

For whatever reason, I found it on Netflix and added it to my queue. Which I also forgot about until it showed up this weekend.

Within the first few minutes my only reaction was “Is this for real?”. I kept waiting for all the characters to drop the funny voices.

It took a while, but I eventually got over the crazy, seemingly pretentiousness of it all. Toward the end of the movie, the disc started to skip and I realized how much I really wanted to see what happened.

In short, this movie is totally bizarre, but ENTIRELY entertaining with a GREAT payoff at the end. Would I recommend it to anyone? Only if they liked quirkiness and have some patience for a movie to develop and to let themselves buy in.
But it’s also the guy’s directorial debut, is well shot and paced, and only has a teensy-weensy bit of “first movie” vibe. And for that, it gets 5 stars.

Plus, the lead looks entertainingly like Conan O’Brien, most of the rest of the characters are likable and definitively weird, and the music is great.

Ebert just posted this letter from Walter Murch on his blog where Murch explains why 3D doesn’t really work and will never work. It’s a short but interesting read. The guy really seems to understand the science of it well, and for that, I believe him. Plus, you know, he’s famously well versed in most things Post Production already.

I expect 3D IS just a fad come back to haunt us, anyway. I don’t think people will keep paying $17 to see a movie in 3D for much longer.  The glasses are uncomfortable (They always hurt the bridge of my nose!), not every seat in the house is good in a 3D movie theater, and for most of the movies that ALSO release in 2D, the experience is the same if not maybe a bit better because you’re not having to deal with all the rest of that stuff.  Plus, it just doesn’t seem like it’s worth while when watching a 3D movie anywhere but on a massive screen in a dark room with surround sound. Who wants to watch a tiny 3D movie on their smart phone anyway? Really, the only people it benefits are those that make 3D creating and 3D projecting equipment.  (But these are just my (Kim) opinions.) It’s probably an interesting experiment on a small scale, aka, Dave just bought some equipment specifically for posting in 3D.

Why 3D doesn’t work and never will. Case closed.

A.D.D. short and sweet.

I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Ok

5/5 stars

The colors... The Colors!!

I love this movie. I’m so glad I stumbled into it.

It’s so strange and quirky, well shot and written. It’s so colorful, like a Korean Jean-Pierre Jeunet movie.
It’s not nauseatingly violent like most of Chan-Wook Park’s other stuff (Old Boy and Lady Vengeance). Not that I don’t love Old Boy.
And they integrated the credits in the most creative way I’ve ever seen. So cool!
I would watch this movie go on for hours and hours if it would.

A.D.D. short and sweet.

True Grit

4/5 stars

http://needledesign.bigcartel.com/

I do think the new one was cast well and the middle portion of the movie was good.
And even if the book really ended with a flash forward, I hate when movies change the actors all of a sudden at the end and expect that you transfer your emotional connection of the character to that new actor as they wrap up the movie. It doesn’t work that way. And Mary Poppins doesn’t look anything like Mattie Ross.

A.D.D. short and sweet.

Tangled

3/5 stars

"TANGLED" Concept Art Flynn ©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

18 years, 18 years, And on her 18th birthday she found out she wasn’t hers!

They sure liked to talk about how Rapunzel was “of age” to hook up with the thief guy.

I guess I don’t know the story of Rapunzel at all, what with the magic hair… I thought she was forced to spin her hair into gold yarn up in the tower or something… or was that Rapunzelstiltskin…

Anyway, Zachary Levi was the only one carrying this movie and he wasn’t in it enough for it to be terribly good. It was pretty forgettable.

A.D.D. short and sweet.

The King’s Speech

4.5/5 stars

This was really really good. What is it about British Monarchy movies that make them always so interesting to us?…! Other than because Moncarchies are weird and archaic seeming…
Well, this was incredibly charming and Colin Firth is amazing again. Helena Bonham Carter WASN’T a scary goth lady for once, and Geoffrey Rush was also excellent.

The loss of a half star is for the headphones bit, which never came up again. If you see it you’ll know what I mean. It’s one of those things where they’ve solved the movie’s dilemma too soon, so they ignore it. It usually doesn’t take any enough to ruin it, but I come away from the movie wondering why they kept it.

A.D.D. short and sweet.

Jackass 3D

1.5/5 stars

Though my ticket was bought for me (Thanks, Dave!), I’m not really sure how I feel about paying $17 for a movie of “funny videos on the internet” caliber. Ehh…. The 3D is kind of pointless in this movie.

It had a few moments for me, and it has inspired me to draw the following conclusion: Bees are funny. Bull to the groin over and over is not funny.
The opening and ending were pretty hilarious.

I realize I fall into the category of “well why did you go see this movie then?”. I feel like my time could have been spent better in other movies.

A.D.D. short and sweet.

Easy A

4/5 stars

Stanley Tucci played a large role in this movie being really funny. In fact, all the adults were hilarious.

I only have a couple minor gripes with this movie, but they’re not even worth mentioning. Not quite this year’s “Mean Girls,” but pretty close.