What Does Not Kill Us…
Lucky you, Internet! You get two real posts in one week. Maybe there will even be more! Today, instead of edumacating lives, I’m living in that special kind of purgatory known as jury duty. I’ve never served, mostly because I haven’t lived in one county long enough for the federales to find me. But now that I live in Dupage, they sense the instant a less-than-conservative potential juror settles in. Call it the Rooney Rule of the conservative bastion of the Chicagoland area. And yet again, I digress. This is not about jury duty. That post will come later. This particular post, friends, is about movies.
We all know that TLEMK and I love the movies. Mostly I love the popcorn and the ability to not worry about other things for two hours. TLEMK likes the dark, because it reminds her of sleep. Over the winter break, we managed to see three movies that were very different and yet had some common themes in them. My suspicion is it’s Oscar season and the people that make the talkies want us to be an emotional wreck at this time so we don’t pay attention to things like plot or writing, or you know, dialogue. Without further review, I give you three movies that yes, you should go see, but no, you don’t need to go to the theatres for two of them.
Chronologically in the order that we saw them, We are Marshall was the first movie to jerk the tears and tug at the heartstrings. I’m going to assume you know the premise of the movie, and if you don’t– 1970 plane crash kills all but 4 members of the Marshall football team, leaving the university and the town of Huntington, WV, to deal with the aftermath. I won’t give too much of it away here, but I confess I had some NCAA ignorance on the fact that they didn’t used to let freshmen play sports. Three performances stood out: Ian McShane, he of Deadwood fame had a supporting role that was fantastic. I wish the US had discovered him sooner, because I get the feeling that he won’t be acting for much longer (IMDB puts him at 64… so who knows.) Kate Mara sparkled on the screen. Her acting wasn’t top notch, but she nailed the small-town cheerleader role. The camera loved her- she’s much cuter than her grandfather Wellington (bringing the NFL-owner references to two now, for those of you keeping track at home). Finally, David Strathairn gave an understated and underrated performance… how would you deal with all the pressure from different sides? The movie was enjoyable, and not from the football aspect, although that was fun too. I thought that it dealt well with the raw emotion of the families and student body, and with those that had to pick up the pieces after a tragedy. Again, I won’t give away the ending, but I’m glad they didn’t Disnefy it too much. Rent it.
Rating: 3 fat bellies (out of four)
Next up was The Pursuit of Happiness Happyness.Will Smith, blah, blah, blah. Older, looking mature, and giving great acting chops. The movie is supposed to make you upset. It’s supposd to make you cry. It’s supposed to make you remember how much you hate people who can do the Rubik’s Cube. Wait, Will Smith finishes the ‘cube. Now I don’t know what to think. I enjoyed this movie as well. I was surprised, however that the film didn’t play up the homeless angle more. I think they could have tastefully referenced it a little more—homelessness is a huge problem, but wasn’t really touched on too much as cause. Rather, it was one man’s struggle. Smith’s son did well in the Kid who Says Cute Things Role, and Thandie Newton needed more lines. Also, I would like to see her in a happy movie, after her turns in Crash, and on ER are starting to make her typecast as the girl-of-which-bad-things-occur. Pajiba gives a spot-on review of the movie. Again, I would go rent it, because you don’t need the cinematic experience to fully enjoy it.
Rating: 3 fat bellies and a spicy hot wing.
Finally we come to the movie that I’ve been telling anyone that would listen to go see. After seeing it I still think you should go see it. You also need to go see it in the theatre, because visually, it was a fascinating movie. Children of Men is an apocalyptic-type film that asks you to believe that in 2009, women stop having babies. Fast forward to 2027. It’s been 18 years, and there are no children anymore. The youngest person on the planet is nearly 19 years old. Understandably, things are not looking good for the human race. Our protagonist finds himself asked to do a favor that may change the fate of this doomsday scenario. What follows is a tense, raw, and honest dealing of the way humans may go when civilization decides to crumble. The sights and sounds of this movie make it worth it to see on the big screen. This is good because the dialogue tends to be missing from good portions of the movie. I thought Michael Caine had a nice supporting role, and that Clive Owen could have used some more words. This movie resonated with me the most because it dealt with the darkest sides of humanity, despite the context. Fun is not the right word for this flick, but terrific definitely describes it. Please go see this movie. (Special props to TLEMK, who braved the movie, despite the tension throughout. I have the bruise marks on my arm to prove it.)
Rating: 4 fat bellies and a delicious spicy garlic drumette.
There you go, folks. Lame movie reviews to spice up your Wednesday afternoon. Only four more hours of jury-duty-waiting!
RSS Trackback URL 10. January 2007 (12:34)Filed under: General, Music and Movies, Entertainment Tonight