Yep, I think my blogging time is done for the moment. Three different experiments in three years gets tiring! But I've definitely had fun. This has made me look at movies much like how I used to. I've enjoyed sharing my critical eye and making this into an exercise in brevity.
I'm certainly not abandoning the blog completely, though! I'll be back every once and awhile, if some movie (or TV episode or book - I'm being limiting this time) catches my eye more than most and I feel like writing about it. Definitely be sure to expect something around the time The Hunger Games and The Avengers come out!
Until then, watch some movies for me :-)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)
Netflix Streaming over 2/4/12 and 2/5/12
This movie is boring. I'm sorry, but it's true. I have heard that the book is pretty awesome, and I fully intend to read it, but framing action around a courtroom drama that lacks on the drama is not a great way to set up your story. I think that the backstory - the love between Ishmael and Hatsue when they were children and young adults, plus the sequences in the internment camps - is far more interesting. I wanted more of that, instead of James Cromwell in an awful, bushy beard and Max Von Sydow bickering back and forth in the courtroom.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 135
This movie is boring. I'm sorry, but it's true. I have heard that the book is pretty awesome, and I fully intend to read it, but framing action around a courtroom drama that lacks on the drama is not a great way to set up your story. I think that the backstory - the love between Ishmael and Hatsue when they were children and young adults, plus the sequences in the internment camps - is far more interesting. I wanted more of that, instead of James Cromwell in an awful, bushy beard and Max Von Sydow bickering back and forth in the courtroom.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 135
Friday, February 3, 2012
Drive (2011)
Netflix DVD on 2/2/12
Considering all the buzz that surrounded this movie when it was out, it was pretty disappointing. It is definitely bloody and very graphic (shotgun blasts at point blank range to the head, for example) and there's some shock value there, but other than that, it's a little meh. Ryan Gosling is great and Albert Brooks too, but for me, the standout was Bryan Cranston as the garage owner/mentor. Carey Mulligan was barely in the film at all, despite what trailers suggested, and I'm not totally sold on Ryan Gosling's character making the jump so easily from getaway driver to hit man.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 134
Considering all the buzz that surrounded this movie when it was out, it was pretty disappointing. It is definitely bloody and very graphic (shotgun blasts at point blank range to the head, for example) and there's some shock value there, but other than that, it's a little meh. Ryan Gosling is great and Albert Brooks too, but for me, the standout was Bryan Cranston as the garage owner/mentor. Carey Mulligan was barely in the film at all, despite what trailers suggested, and I'm not totally sold on Ryan Gosling's character making the jump so easily from getaway driver to hit man.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 134
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Shame (2011)
The Nick with Lauren on 2/1/12
Again with the no plot! Michael Fassbender (mmm, mmm) is convincing in his incredibly subtle performance as a sex addict, and Carey Mulligan is disturbing as his falling-apart sister, but nothing happens! The characters end up in the same place they started out in. The plot is really only a situation. There is a lot of nudity. I find it interesting that male full frontal nudity nearly always gets an NC-17 rating, while female nudity shows up in PG-13. I know that I'm not the first person to point this out, but everyone just needs to relax about the full frontal.
My Netflix rating: 2 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 133
Again with the no plot! Michael Fassbender (mmm, mmm) is convincing in his incredibly subtle performance as a sex addict, and Carey Mulligan is disturbing as his falling-apart sister, but nothing happens! The characters end up in the same place they started out in. The plot is really only a situation. There is a lot of nudity. I find it interesting that male full frontal nudity nearly always gets an NC-17 rating, while female nudity shows up in PG-13. I know that I'm not the first person to point this out, but everyone just needs to relax about the full frontal.
My Netflix rating: 2 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 133
Happythankyoumoreplease (2011)
Netflix Streaming over 1/31/12 and 2/1/12
This must be the week of movies with no plot. Nothing happens here either! I should have known better, since it was written and directed by someone who has (at least to my knowledge) never written or directed before. Josh Radnor, you're great on How I Met Your Mother. This character seems like it's just him recycling Ted, just plus an orphan and a bald best friend. The biggest difference is that none of these characters are sympathetic.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 132
This must be the week of movies with no plot. Nothing happens here either! I should have known better, since it was written and directed by someone who has (at least to my knowledge) never written or directed before. Josh Radnor, you're great on How I Met Your Mother. This character seems like it's just him recycling Ted, just plus an orphan and a bald best friend. The biggest difference is that none of these characters are sympathetic.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 132
The Iron Lady (2011)
The Nick with Lauren on 1/31/12
So. Boring. There is not much going on in this movie at all. I'm sure that Margaret Thatcher's life was interesting and riveting and all that (to someone) but the only interesting or riveting thing about this film was Meryl Streep's performance and her makeup. She totally embodies Thatcher in everything from her weird gait to the gap in her teeth. Perfection. That being said, I think that Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn is just a touch closer to perfection for me. And, for the love of God, will someone please make a biopic someday that isn't framed?
My Netflix rating: 2 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 131
So. Boring. There is not much going on in this movie at all. I'm sure that Margaret Thatcher's life was interesting and riveting and all that (to someone) but the only interesting or riveting thing about this film was Meryl Streep's performance and her makeup. She totally embodies Thatcher in everything from her weird gait to the gap in her teeth. Perfection. That being said, I think that Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn is just a touch closer to perfection for me. And, for the love of God, will someone please make a biopic someday that isn't framed?
My Netflix rating: 2 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 131
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)