movies

[The Third Man]

Last week or so:

It's Such a Beautiful Day - Wow. I was a skeptic of Don Hertzfeldt for a long time - I'd seen a couple of his early shorts, which were amusing but slight - but I'm ashamed of myself for not having given him more of a chance until now. He may be an animator who traffics primarily in stick figures, but he's capable of infusing his characters with tons of personality and emotion, and he goes so far beyond stick figures. The mixture of live action and animation is literally jaw-dropping at times, and his use of effects is inspired. Not to mention how ambitious the story is. Imagine a combination of The Tree of Life and Slaughterhouse-Five, made with stick figures and Stan Brakhage-style experimental footage, all in just over an hour. Seriously probably the best animated film I've ever seen.

Wild at Heart - It's pretty weird I hadn't already seen this. David Lynch, Nic Cage, Laura Dern, Harry Dean Stanton all in the same film? Aw yeah. That being said, it's not one of his best - oddly, it's both more straightforward than his films usually are while not having as firm a narrative grounding as most of them. It's more a series of skits than anything, and while they're all amusing enough, the lack of grounding sucks the tension out of the film. Still well worth watching, though. Willem Dafoe has never been creepier.

Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story - Ever wanted to see a biopic of Karen Carpenter made with Barbie dolls, interspersed with documentary footage about anorexia? If so, this is the film for you. It's pretty gimmicky, but nonetheless awesome, and the way Haynes chips away at Karen's Barbie over the course of the film to show the effects of anorexia on her body is great. Not to mention the implicit social commentary of using a Barbie doll as an anorexic in the first place. Technically, this film is unable to be released due to its unauthorized use of Carpenters songs, which the Carpenter estate were none too happy about (not to mention the unflattering portrayal of Richard Carpenter and the Carpenter parents), but bootlegs are easy enough to come by on the internet.

Star Trek/Star Trek: Into Darkness - I had actually never seen anything Star Trek-related until now, so I had the benefit of not being hampered by expectations of fidelity or adherence to canon or all that annoying baggage that comes with the nerdiest fanbases. And I really enjoyed both, the sequel a bit more than its predecessor. Not only are they great sci-fi action spectacle, they're surprisingly effective character films, and both Pine as Kirk and especially Quinto as Spock are great in their roles. Also, the sequel has Alice Eve in her underwear for absolutely no god damned reason and it's wonderful. It redefines "gratuitous" and "chauvinist," but still wonderful.

Mud - Matthew McConaughey is the most interesting actor alive. If you had told me two years ago that I'd ever feel that way, I'd have laughed in your face, but here we are. This is the latest in a series of excellent films he's starred in over the past couple years, and other than Killer Joe probably the best of the lot. Though, as great as he is, the heart of the film is the interplay between Tye Sheridan as Ellis and Jacob Lofland as his best friend Neckbone - think Stand by Me or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (which Nichols admits to shamelessly copping from during filming). Meanwhile, Nichols manages to touch on what it means to be a man from several different aspects: chivalry, toughness, loyalty, responsibility to family, love, et al. It's an incredibly well-structured film: entertaining, emotionally involving, smart.

[thrill]

If you like Fast 5, you'll like Fast 6.

[lukethedrifter]

watched a few minutes of The Patriot. I don't know if I had realized prior to this what a terrible actor Mel Gibson is.

Three thumbs down.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Hangover2:Hangover::ThePatriot:Braveheart

[Freed Roger]

Compulsion. I enjoyed it.

[Jocephus]

saw hangover 3 on memorial day. pretty awful. maybe chuckled 5 times in all.

[ghostrunner]

Har

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBM3j7x4Lcw&][/youtube]

[MrSaigon]

Looks like the writer of Traffic couldn't steer M. Night any closer to the rails, judging by the critical reception.

[Maclowery]

Finally found a night off to go watch Star Trek. Lots of fun. More humor than I expected, plus a lot of explosions and angry yelling. I don't regret seeing the movie, it was lots of fun, but it felt more like a summer movie extravaganza than a Star Trek movie, if that makes any sense.

I had thought that After Earth movie looked awful from the first teasers. I am not sure how I missed that it was M Night's newest; their marketing seemed to hide that fact in earnest.

Next macho summer movie will probably be Man of Steel.

[The Third Man]

Warrior was really goddamn good.

I hate MMA, which is why i was so reluctant to watch it. Great movie though.

Plus the use of The National was terrific.

Just watched this. That was phenomenal. Seriously probably the best fighting movie I've seen not named Raging Bull. Hardy and Nolte kill it, and it's nice to watch a sports movie where the rooting interest isn't simple. Yeah, the script is populated with more than a few cliches but that comes with the territory, and the characters are so well-realized that it's still totally gripping.