Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The title was a tipoff, but this is another indie quirkfest with an oppressive soundtrack that is constantly telling you to FEEL THE EMOTIONS.

I felt about this one how I feel about Juno and Little Miss Sunshine, and that's fitting because this is sort of like if Before Sunrise was done in the style of those movies. It's cute and a little funny and pleasant and also lightweight and slightly forgettable. Only this one isn't riding on a mile-high wave of hype, and definitely isn't going to be nominated for best picture, so my expectations were appropriately lower. I can enjoy it for the (rather modest) pleasure that it is and not feel like I have to hold it to some higher standard.

Margot at the Wedding

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Moving into a new apartment this week, not taking time off of work, and I still found time to watch a movie. How does he do it?

Well, this is another standard issue indie quirkfest, I liked it more than The Savages (which this is similar to), but I'm still gonna give it a thumbs down. I thought maybe I'd dig it, because I kinda liked The Squid and the Whale, but this just felt like more of the same, only not as good. Baumbach continues to be a less funny Wes Anderson minus the charm and likable characters. It's just too bitter to enjoy. After the first 15 minutes or so, you're tired of being around these people.

To continue with the indie quirkfest comparisons, the movie this most reminded me of was Winter Passing, a middling, typically downer indie comedy/drama with a strong, dramatic cast that is, somehow, completely stolen by Will Ferrell in a funny but realtively subdued and serious role. You're not expecting Will Ferrell to out-drama Ed Harris and Zooey Deschanel. And the same thing happens with Jack Black in Margot at the Wedding. The headliners are Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Lee, and yet somehow his character seems more interesting, more fleshed out. I'm a big Jack Black fan, but it's nice to see him not doing his normal shtick, and actually succeeding in a somewhat dramatic role.

The Savages

Thursday, May 8, 2008

I have no inherent affection for indie comedy-drama quirk fests. Outside of I Heart Huckabees and Wes Anderson's best movies, there certainly aren't really any I love. And even some of the ones I kinda sorta like a little (Juno, Little Miss Sunshine) I like them despite their style, not because of it.

I was going to rent Margot at the Wedding, which is probably more or less the same movie, because I liked the trailer more. My brother convinced me to get this one, and I love Laura Linney and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, so I agreed.

Actually, The Savages isn't quite the quirkfest I thought it would be, it's more bitter. I guess it's closer to The Squid and the Whale. But not as funny.

That really threw me off, the lack of laughs in this movie. My girlfriend agreed, but said she thought it was more of a drama with a little humor, that it wasn't trying to be a comedy. I don't agree. I think a lot of the movie is supposed to be funny or amusing, it's just not.

I can't fault much in the direction, and the acting is (obviously) strong, but it didn't work for me. At all. The bitter laughs are few and far between (and I love bitter laughs), and I was completely unengaged on a dramatic level. It seemed like everything you need to know about the characters you understand within minutes of meeting them, and then the movie rambles on for another 100 minutes. I'm guessing someone who has a family member with Alzheimer's would find this movie more engaging, but it didn't do much to inspire interest or empathy with me.

And then I really hated the ending, where suddenly it skips ahead 6 months and everyone's lives have turned for the better and they are on the road to self-improvement. So basically they skipped over the entire emotional climax.

I wish I could see this cast in a better movie.

Juno

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Shenan and I went to see this Friday, but it was sold out so we saw Beowulf instead. Juno looked pretty great, and had really been hyped up, so I think we were both a little disappointed Friday night. Turns out that I liked the movies about equal, or at least as equally as two movies this different can be liked. That makes Beowulf a pleasant surprise, and Juno maybe a slight letdown.

Juno is basically like a warm-hearted version of Ghostworld. It has a lot of the same type of smart-ass, acid tongue, teenage hipster attitude. Only this time most of the characters are basically good people, and everything is happy at the end.

So this is a funny, sweet and likable movie, but I wasn't exactly bowled over by it's touching insight into human nature, as some reviews had lead me to believe. Ellen Page is good as Juno, but I don't know if being good at snapping off one-liners counts as creating a great character. She does remind me of certain ironic, hispter types I knew in high school. I thought an especially apt detail was that she has this stupid plastic hamburger telephone in her room that looks like a kid's toy or something. It barely works, but it's exactly the kind of stupid, kitschy, ironic crap a kid like Juno would want in her room.

On the other hand, Juno sometimes struck me as a little too fast and too clever and too cool... more like an idealized version of one of these kids. I'm really just nitpicking about this, but I think there is a bit too much of the grownup screenwriter poking through in Juno's dialogue.

I was trying to sort of point out problems I had with the movie, but I think they mostly come down to nitpicks like I mentioned above. So, I'm not really sure why, but Juno for me wasn't as lovable or touching as it was for others. I think maybe I enjoyed the low-key charm of the film a lot more than the bigger, dramatic moments. The most touching moment of the whole film, for me, was one line Michael Cera's character has near the end. And it's coming from a kinda peripheral character and doesn't really have an impact on the central drama.

I have a hard time truly embracing these kinds of movies. I don't like this whole quirky but serious comedy-drama set to mellow folk rocks tunes, Hal Ashby/Wes Anderson knock-off, let's-pretend-to-be-a-little-edgy-but-still-be-a-crowdpleaser genre that seems prevalent these days. Or, at least, I'm not inclined to liking it. Juno is one of the better examples, yeah, but it's like it has to start the exam with 10 points already taken off.

And it falls victim to the worst fault of these kinds of movies: the awful, awful fucking music. It's not nearly as bad as Garden State, which tried to underline every scene with some distracting, moody indie rock in such a way that you know this is significant. This means something. But Juno's soundtrack is still an obnoxious collection of mellow rockers that try sooooo hard to be quirky and funny and lovable that they make me want to vomit. Considering how good the rest of the movie is at being lovable without really trying, it's off-putting how desperately the music wants us to give it a hug and tell it that it's a good little boy. I realized maybe halfway in that the music was from the Moldy Peaches, or at least one of its members, and I really hate their fucking music. But then, I knew a dude in high school not unlike Juno who thought their music was, I dunno, funny or hip or something, so I guess it's accurate to put it in the movie. It still sucks though.

This has been a great year for Michael Cera, what with this and Superbad. And I'm going to have to say, although Juno seems to be getting all the praise and awards-buzz, Superbad was a better, funnier and more insightful teen movie. And I think that's, in part, because of how ambiguous or conflicted Superbad feels. Juno wraps up everything in a neat little bow at the end, and everyone lives happily ever after. That makes for a satisfying movie, but I think Superbad remembers that high school doesn't have a happy ending. It's a weird, confusing, transitional time. If 50 years from now, someone asks me for an example of what being a teenager felt like in my day, I'd point to Superbad before I'd point to Juno. It may be the less realistic of the two, but I still think it's more truthful.

I Heart Huckabees

Saturday, December 15, 2007

I've seen I Heart Huckabees a million bajillion times, but Shenan hadn't. I love David O. Russell's movies, even if he is an asshole or bipolar or whatever and called Lily Tomlin the c-word.

Flirting With Disaster is his funniest, and Three Kings is probably the all around best, but there is a very special place in my heart for Huckabees. It's just so damn odd and unique, and although I'm no philosophy buff, I really respond to its goofy exploration of the big, pretentious life-questions. Oh, and Mark Wahlberg gives what is maybe my second favorite comedic performance ever, right behind John Goodman in The Big Lebowski.

Good stuff.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Friday, December 14, 2007

Man, around 2000 or so, I really hated Lasse Hallstrom. He represented everything that that pissed me off in movies. The guy was the epitome of a hack, to me. I mean, I suppose he could like, film snow or European cities and make them look pretty and shit. But everything else seemed so manipulative and creatively bankrupt.

The Cider House Rules is on my list of all time least favorite movies. It takes a very sensitive topic that lots of people (not so much me) have strong feelings about, and simply uses it as a tool to make the audience emotionally involved in the story without really earning it. It doesn't really seem to hold a viewpoint on abortion, moreso it just sees abortion as inherently dramatic. And then, you know, in case that isn't dramatic enough for you, it kills off a character every few minutes to make you sad.

Damn, does that movie want you to be sad. It's maybe two steps shy of showing you photos of dead kittens while peeling an onion in front of your eyes. I'm all for movies making people cry, but it should come naturally, and not be thrust aggressively at the audience.

And then there was Chocolat, a movie that doesn't inspire as much hatred in me, but come on. It was fucking stupid. As much as I'm all for some movies being unsubtle, a la Beowulf, few things irk me more than a movie that wants to be deep and important, yet treats the audience like they are a bunch of fuckin' toddlers. My memory of this movie is vague, but I remember in addition to the glaring obviousness of the story itself, they actually threw in a needless whimisical-voice-over to explain it further.

Oh, and that part where Alfred Molina cries while eating chocolate is one of the most unintentionally funny things I have ever seen.


Ok, that was some good groundwork for my post that I just laid. Kudos, Dan.

Sometime back, I decided to extend the olive branch of brotherhood and forgiveness, or whatever the fuck, and give Hallstrom another chance with What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Because I'm a good guy like that. Grape seemed to be universally well liked, and I thought the cast looked good. And I had always been intrigued by the movie ever since my uncle Maurice told me that he was convinced for years after seeing it that Leonardo DiCaprio was actually a retarded kid that they had somehow gotten to memorize dialogue.

Wow, I've gone a long way here without saying if I liked it or not. Building some serious excitement here. And let me kill the tension by telling you that I did like Gilbert Grape. I didn't love it, like my girlfriend does, but it was leagues beyond Cider House Rules or Chocolat. Doubtful I'll be running out to see any more of his films, but now he's less of a cinematic Hitler in my mind. He's bumped himself up to maybe a George Bush.

The movie is a fairly charming comedy/drama about a small town family with a whole mess of issues. The acting is, across the board, really good. Johnny Depp is, pretty obviously, top notch, but so is every one else. And I think Hallstrom does a good job of showing how they are all bascially good, likable people but with some serious flaws. It's a lot more melodramatic than real life, but still a relatable representation. It's funny and always entertaining, and I think at least skirts the edges of being touching, maybe not quite succeeding but still a good effort.

One interesting shot, and I wish I could remember specifically which scene it was in, comes during one of the big emotional points of the movie. There is a big fight amongst the family, and right at the peak of drama, Hallstrom cuts to a far away shot of the action. The characters are seen as just small figures in front of the house and the fields. I'm not really sure what they were going for, maybe trying to show the characters as part of their environment? Or maybe Hallstrom thought it was too painful or private to stay in tight on the scene? Anyway, for a movie otherwise unshy about taking a close look at the characters, it was a curious choice.

I think there were still some of the Hallstrom-isms that I bitched about before present here. Like Gilbert is fooling around with a married woman at one part, and she's sexily feeding him ice cream with her fingers, when her husband comes home. Hallstrom stages it so that, when they come out to greet him and act like nothing's up, the wife is still tucking in her shirt and Gilbert still has ice cream on his face. I mean, come on. There must have been a less blatant way of making their actions look suspicious. As it is now, they might as well have had Gilbert pulling his pants up on the way out the door.

So occassional moments like that did bother me. And in Cider House fashion, someone diess o that you know this movie is dramatic and not just a comedy. But here, at least, it feels like the movie is building to it, and it fits into the larger tapestry of things. I didn't feel like it killed the character off just to make me cry, more like it's an important part of the story, but they're still hoping you will cry so that you know it was a good movie. Please give them an Oscar, etc.

Well, hey, I still said that I liked this one, so let's end this review on a positive note. There's a scene, the morning after Gilbert loses his shit and beats him up, where Gilbert's retarded brother is hiding in a tree for fun. And Gilbert, just to cheer the little raggamuffin up, makes a big show of pretending not to see him. Anyway, my point is that the scene is really and truly delightful, and that at the very least makes What's Eating Gilbert Grape a worthwhile movie.

The Darjeeling Limited

Saturday, December 8, 2007

I keep meaning to go see Beowulf in 3-D over in Georgetown, but no one ever wants to go with me. I kind of had my girlfriend agreeing to see it on Saturday, but we got caught up helping with the Christmas decorations and before you knew it, it was too late to go.

I scanned the paper for another movie, and was a little surprised to see that The Darjeeling Limited was still playing up the street. It came out a while ago, and wasn't exactly a blockbuster hit.

I had not bothered to see it, mainly because of how much I didn't like The Life Aquatic. Wes Anderson has a distinct and amusing style, but to a fault. As much as I loved Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, it was becoming clear that he was just making the same movie over and over again. The Life Aquatic seemed almost like a parody of his style, with the goofy characters and story even more over-exaggerated than usual, and then randomly having a character die in the middle of all the goofiness to let you know that it's, like, serious, man. Oh and then a guy sings David Bowie songs in French for no fucking reason. OMG it's sooooo quirky!

It was so disappointing that I actually went back and saw it again, figuring that there must have been something wrong with me and not the movie. The 2nd viewing just confirmed my initial reaction.


Any shit, this was all just a long preamble to get to the part where I am happy to say that I liked The Darjeeling Limited. It's not one of Anderson's best, and it is basically the same movie he's already made 4 other times, but it's a satisfying experience. Maybe it's just a cover song, but it's a good rendition.

Like Aquatic, this one is more colorful and energetic than his earlier movies, but here he keeps the zaniness modulated to a perfect, non-distracting level. And unlike Aquatic, most of the humor actually seems to derive from the personalities of the characters instead of just being a bunch of arbitrary lunacy. Darjeeling stays mainly focused on its three leads, and knows that it can rely on their interactions to create most of the entertainment and drama.

Before, I complained about the way that Aquatic randomly killed off a character just so there would be some drama. For a minute, it seems like something similar is happening in Darjeeling and I was growing disappointed in how the movie seemed to be creating false drama and expecting me to be moved. Then, however, the movie flashes back a year earlier to the funeral of the main characters' father, and you realize how this is stirring up all sorts of confused emotions and memories with the characters. And then it really does become a little moving.

Hopefully, this means that Anderson has regained his footing. At the very least, Darjeeling is a step in the right direction. Unlike this time, I will actually be looking forward to his next movie.