One Post, Three Movies I Liked?
March 3rd 2008 04:59
This may be a record. Probably should've scattered them throughout the last couple of weeks. It's not nearly as much fun when all the reviews are good, but let's get to it.
Michael Clayton (8/10)
was a pleasant surprise. I mean, I expected it to be okay, but not much more. It's a nicely tense little thriller with some killer performances - three of which garnered Oscar nominations. Michael Clayton cleans up the messes that his law firm would prefer to keep under wraps, so when one of their aces flips his lid at a deposition, it's up to Michael to set wrong right and sweep the noisemaker under the rug. The big corporation represented by his law firm has a different way of thinking when it comes to how the trouble should be dealt with, and we're off to the races. I'm not the biggest George Clooney fan, but almost everything about him that usually puts me off is absent from this performance. There are some really nifty scenes that give the characters a bit more depth than we're used to seeing in most films nowadays, and some fun Mamet-esque circular conversations that provide the occasional dose of levity. Nice score, too. I definitely recommend Michael Clayton for a rental the next time you get a chance to sit down and really watch a movie, if you know what I mean.
And, on the opposite end of the spectrum, I give you Rambo (7/10)
or John Rambo. Or Rambo IV. Whatever you want to call it (and I'm not even sure Sly knows what to call it). Holy cow, is this flick violent! Bodies-blowing-up, heads-flying-off violent. Graphically violent. At the risk of alienating some of the more "serious" movie fans, I really enjoyed it. The first massacre is more than a little off-putting, and really does nothing more than establish that the bad guys are REALLY BAD. Rambo's been laying low in the jungle for the last few years - you know, just catching snakes and washin' his bandannas like we all would if we had the time. When some missionaries he (grudgingly) helps along on their journey are kidnapped by the baddies, it's only a matter of time 'til Rambo starts killing. Actually, he's already killed several pirates by that point, but do yourself a favor and don't even try to keep track of the many, MANY deaths in Rambo. I've heard Sly say that he wanted to bring attention to the crisis in Burma with this film, and, truth be told, it may be more of an exploitation of the situation than anything else. If you put the blinders on and view this as a straight up action flick, though, it blows all the neutered junk we've been fed the last few years right out of the water. Don't get me wrong, it still gets kinda corny and has some of the worst-best (best-worst?) dialogue I've heard in a long time, but it's also the most fun I've had with movie in a very long time, and this flick chugs along (much like Rambo himself lumbering through the jungle): Rambo's 9o-minute running time feels like about half that.
My favorite of the week, The Darjeeling Limited (8.5/10)
is one of those films, like Sunshine, that is so damned pretty to look at you can lose yourself in it. It's also highly amusing - not laugh-out-loud funny (most of the time), but I had a grin plastered to my face for at least the first half of the film. Things get a bit serious for a stretch, and then The Darjeeling Limited makes its final stop where you probably expected it to all along, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. I was glued to this one from the opening scene (even before that, if you have a look at the short film Hotel Chevalier included on the disc as a prequel). There've been plenty of so-so films (and some downright bad ones) that have attempted to copy (or "were influenced by") Wes Anderson's style, but he's at the top of his game here and I loved it. Bonus points for having the characters spend a great deal of their time in their pj's and/or whacked on cough medicine.
Next week, The C Word. Are you as excited as me? Probably not.
Michael Clayton (8/10)
was a pleasant surprise. I mean, I expected it to be okay, but not much more. It's a nicely tense little thriller with some killer performances - three of which garnered Oscar nominations. Michael Clayton cleans up the messes that his law firm would prefer to keep under wraps, so when one of their aces flips his lid at a deposition, it's up to Michael to set wrong right and sweep the noisemaker under the rug. The big corporation represented by his law firm has a different way of thinking when it comes to how the trouble should be dealt with, and we're off to the races. I'm not the biggest George Clooney fan, but almost everything about him that usually puts me off is absent from this performance. There are some really nifty scenes that give the characters a bit more depth than we're used to seeing in most films nowadays, and some fun Mamet-esque circular conversations that provide the occasional dose of levity. Nice score, too. I definitely recommend Michael Clayton for a rental the next time you get a chance to sit down and really watch a movie, if you know what I mean.
My favorite of the week, The Darjeeling Limited (8.5/10)
is one of those films, like Sunshine, that is so damned pretty to look at you can lose yourself in it. It's also highly amusing - not laugh-out-loud funny (most of the time), but I had a grin plastered to my face for at least the first half of the film. Things get a bit serious for a stretch, and then The Darjeeling Limited makes its final stop where you probably expected it to all along, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. I was glued to this one from the opening scene (even before that, if you have a look at the short film Hotel Chevalier included on the disc as a prequel). There've been plenty of so-so films (and some downright bad ones) that have attempted to copy (or "were influenced by") Wes Anderson's style, but he's at the top of his game here and I loved it. Bonus points for having the characters spend a great deal of their time in their pj's and/or whacked on cough medicine.
Next week, The C Word. Are you as excited as me? Probably not.
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Comment by Sven Topp
Parent Debate
Deafblind Dad
Revuze
They must have watched Hot Shots 2 and had to outdo it with Rambo.
(If you haven't seen it Hot Shots 2 was a parody of Rambo and 1 was of Top Gun)
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
I haven't seen the other two, though I have been thinking about giving Michael Clayton a watch. I may do so now
Comment by Josh S
Thank you all for the comments!
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Michael Clayton surprised me too, you can read my review HERE.
Ashamed to say that I haven't seen Darjeeling Limited yet, but as a Wes Anderson devotee Im sure it will make me smile.
Comment by Josh S
I did read your Michael Clayton review and couldn't agree more with the "anti-John Grisham adaptation" observation. Hopefully more people will discover this gem on dvd.
Hope you get a chance to take in The Darjeeling Limited soon!