A couple of weeks ago we had a weather warmup - the kind where the ground starts to thaw and the air starts to smell like earth and just the faintest bit green. It was heavenly - I think I even opened the door to the balcony, just to get some fresh air, even though it was really too chilly still for that.
And then of course we plunged back into the cold; it's been snowing the beat the band - usually the day when I have to hop in the car and head somewhere more than a half hour from home. We haven't had any more blizzards, per se, but I'm certainly ready for spring. All the more so because getting bundled up in my coat with scarf and hat is starting to feel confining, and I'm ready to wear lighter layers.
Maybe soon.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Movie Review: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
I recorded this off IFC; the movie is from 2002.
When first we see Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), he's standing heavily bearded in a hotel room, watching Ronald Reagan's inauguration, and he's stark naked. He's unraveling after a life of making tawdry stupid game shows (the Dating Game, the Newlywed Game, the Gong Show - all of which I used to watch) and working as a hitman for the CIA. His erstwhile on and off girlfriend Penny (Drew Barrymore) is confessing her love for him but he turns her away. That's when we delve back into the past to figure out how he ended going all Howard Hughes.
By the way, Chuck has a lovely ass. Which is a good thing, since we see a lot of it. He spends a good chunk of the early movie in bed with somebody. (His brief scene with Maggie Gyllenhaal is funny just because she could be watching television for all the interest she shows.) He decides to get a job in TV and moves up the management ladder mainly as a way to meet women. Then he meets Jim Byrd (George Clooney) who recruits him to the CIA. From there on he not only creates game shows, he runs around killing people in weird locations. Byrd is his regular contact throughout the entire film, showing up regularly with assignments.
A lot of women love Clooney because of his movie-star good looks, his boyish attitude, his rollicking sense of humor. Me, it's that voice. So I was glad to find out he actually had a role in his directorial debut, but a small one. Still, he does it well, as he usually does, even if he's wearing a ridiculous mustache.
Rockwell is really pretty good in this movie; I admit I'm not familiar with his work but he's got an extensive repertoire and he seems to enjoy playing this randy, tawdry, self-loathing man, especially when he gets to sport 70s bellbottoms, big Kramer hair and a fedora. He struts like he's fallen out of Saturday Night Fever. And Barris never really seems to age - neither does anyone else for that matter - but Rockwell does a good job showing us Barris' changing mindset, which eventually devolves into paranoia.
Because this is a Clooney movie, and it's partially a comedy, keep a sharp eye out for Clooney's good friends. (Is there a name for this bunch? Clooney's Goonies? The Pitt Pack? Julia's Boys?) Julia Roberts has a fairly sizeable role as a shady contact with whom Barris carries on a long affair, and I just never got the feeling somebody like Julia would really get into licking Sam Rockwell's face - so there's never any real chemistry there. Barrymore is much more believable, and I did think at some points of this film that she looks good in clothing from the 40s and 50s - and her unique beauty gets much better treatment in this film than in, say, "Music and Lyrics", although she's shown in profile a couple of times, and that just emphasizes her sharp chin and nose.
The screenplay is vintage Charlie Kaufman - a mix of weird humor and pathos, peculiar behavior, strange on-screen visions. But it also has a much more realistic feel than some of his other work. Then again, this kind of film just doesn't quite grab me. This was an interesting movie but it's like angel food cake. It tastes good, but will you really remember it much later?
Animals: No animals are harmed, but "If I Had a Hammer" is severely abused a couple of times.
Overall: Not a bad movie, but not really memorable, Rockwell's backside notwithstanding. Two and a half stars out of five - that half star is for Clooney getting his friends to show up.
When first we see Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), he's standing heavily bearded in a hotel room, watching Ronald Reagan's inauguration, and he's stark naked. He's unraveling after a life of making tawdry stupid game shows (the Dating Game, the Newlywed Game, the Gong Show - all of which I used to watch) and working as a hitman for the CIA. His erstwhile on and off girlfriend Penny (Drew Barrymore) is confessing her love for him but he turns her away. That's when we delve back into the past to figure out how he ended going all Howard Hughes.
By the way, Chuck has a lovely ass. Which is a good thing, since we see a lot of it. He spends a good chunk of the early movie in bed with somebody. (His brief scene with Maggie Gyllenhaal is funny just because she could be watching television for all the interest she shows.) He decides to get a job in TV and moves up the management ladder mainly as a way to meet women. Then he meets Jim Byrd (George Clooney) who recruits him to the CIA. From there on he not only creates game shows, he runs around killing people in weird locations. Byrd is his regular contact throughout the entire film, showing up regularly with assignments.
A lot of women love Clooney because of his movie-star good looks, his boyish attitude, his rollicking sense of humor. Me, it's that voice. So I was glad to find out he actually had a role in his directorial debut, but a small one. Still, he does it well, as he usually does, even if he's wearing a ridiculous mustache.
Rockwell is really pretty good in this movie; I admit I'm not familiar with his work but he's got an extensive repertoire and he seems to enjoy playing this randy, tawdry, self-loathing man, especially when he gets to sport 70s bellbottoms, big Kramer hair and a fedora. He struts like he's fallen out of Saturday Night Fever. And Barris never really seems to age - neither does anyone else for that matter - but Rockwell does a good job showing us Barris' changing mindset, which eventually devolves into paranoia.
Because this is a Clooney movie, and it's partially a comedy, keep a sharp eye out for Clooney's good friends. (Is there a name for this bunch? Clooney's Goonies? The Pitt Pack? Julia's Boys?) Julia Roberts has a fairly sizeable role as a shady contact with whom Barris carries on a long affair, and I just never got the feeling somebody like Julia would really get into licking Sam Rockwell's face - so there's never any real chemistry there. Barrymore is much more believable, and I did think at some points of this film that she looks good in clothing from the 40s and 50s - and her unique beauty gets much better treatment in this film than in, say, "Music and Lyrics", although she's shown in profile a couple of times, and that just emphasizes her sharp chin and nose.
The screenplay is vintage Charlie Kaufman - a mix of weird humor and pathos, peculiar behavior, strange on-screen visions. But it also has a much more realistic feel than some of his other work. Then again, this kind of film just doesn't quite grab me. This was an interesting movie but it's like angel food cake. It tastes good, but will you really remember it much later?
Animals: No animals are harmed, but "If I Had a Hammer" is severely abused a couple of times.
Overall: Not a bad movie, but not really memorable, Rockwell's backside notwithstanding. Two and a half stars out of five - that half star is for Clooney getting his friends to show up.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Movie Review: Sweeney Todd
Hey there! I know it's been a while since I posted anything; the holidays were so crazy and now I'm getting ready for the upcoming wedding, and that's pretty busy too. So I'm a little behind about posting this movie review, but better late than never, right?
For those of you not familiar with Sweeney Todd, it's a musical, based on a play, so there's a lot of singing. That said, this isn't a typical musical with petticoats and love stories and the like. I call it a musical for horror movie fans. And fans of Helena Bonham Carter's cleavage. But more on that in a second.
Here's the basic plot of the film: barber Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is happily married with an infant daughter when a randy judge (Alan Rickman) decides he wants the wife for himself. He has Barker arrested on some trumped-up charge, and Barker is sent up the proverbial river for 15 years. When he comes back, he decides to go by Sweeney Todd. He's hellbent on revenge, even more so when he learns his wife poisoned herself, and his bosomy daughter Johanna is now the ward of said Judge Turpin. He's just a shade cracked, is Sweeney, and he retrieves his old barber knives (oddly enough, although silver, they have not tarnished a bit) and takes up residence above the bakery of Mrs. Lovett (Carter). Then he learns Judge Turpin - no stranger to 'crazy' himself - wants to marry Johanna. From there, things get bloody. Let's just say when Mrs. Lovett cooks up a meat pie, you might want to check for rings, toenails and other unsavory items before you consume.
To say this movie is bloody is the understatement of the year. You might want to skip eating anything during this film, and definitely don't bring in cherry Kool-Aid. Sweeney Todd, exacting his manic revenge on strangers, slits so many throats with his barber's knives that the movie is essentially three colors - black, white, and very very red. This is not a movie for those with weak stomachs. I spent a lot of the bloodiest scenes covering my eyes. Then again, it's Tim Burton. You couldn't expect anything else from him. Even watching Mrs. Lovett make a pie in the early part of the film is enough to make your stomach turn. It even disgusts Sweeney in one of the funniest sequences. (The by-the-sea scenario Mrs. Lovett cooks up is absolutely hilarious.)
Depp and Carter play off each other most of the movie, and they have good chemistry; his singing voice is that of a rock star, not a Broadway show, and her singing voice is thin but she can carry a tune. Rickman doesn't sing as well as I'd expected, but he's passable, and he and Depp sound pretty good together. Jayne Wisener, who plays Johanna, and Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Anthony, Todd's friend and Johanna's wooer, both sing very well. I don't know if either has a past in theater but I would assume so. (Bower though is so utterly pretty that I expect he's got a brand spanking new legion of teenage girl fans.)
Depp is as usual intense, but because Todd is generally a miserable man, wrapped up in his grief and anger, the role doesn't give Depp much chance to shine beyond those particular emotions. Carter certainly looks the part for this film - her cleavage alone deserves its own screen credit. And with her large eyes darkened with shadows and paints, she looks sickly and as though someone took a perfectly beautiful doll and then went all Marilyn Manson on it - still attractive but very very creepy. (Not that I'm saying Manson is attractive. You get what I'm saying.)
Ed Sanders plays the part of Toby, a young lad who has a substantial part in the film, but I won't tell you more for fear of spoilers. But he's got a nice singing voice, and I expect we'll see him again. Watch for an unctuous cameo from Peter Pettigrew himself, Timothy Spall, and Sacha Baron Cohen as well.
Animals: It's never good to be a cockroach. Or a man in need of a shave. I don't recall any animal abuse but people get enough horror-show treatment on their own.
Overall: I had to sit down and think about it, but this movie really creeped me out more than anything. It's well put together, the casting is good, the singing is credible, etc, but it's just not my thing. I've got other Depp movies I'd rather watch again. Two and a half roses out of five.
For those of you not familiar with Sweeney Todd, it's a musical, based on a play, so there's a lot of singing. That said, this isn't a typical musical with petticoats and love stories and the like. I call it a musical for horror movie fans. And fans of Helena Bonham Carter's cleavage. But more on that in a second.
Here's the basic plot of the film: barber Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is happily married with an infant daughter when a randy judge (Alan Rickman) decides he wants the wife for himself. He has Barker arrested on some trumped-up charge, and Barker is sent up the proverbial river for 15 years. When he comes back, he decides to go by Sweeney Todd. He's hellbent on revenge, even more so when he learns his wife poisoned herself, and his bosomy daughter Johanna is now the ward of said Judge Turpin. He's just a shade cracked, is Sweeney, and he retrieves his old barber knives (oddly enough, although silver, they have not tarnished a bit) and takes up residence above the bakery of Mrs. Lovett (Carter). Then he learns Judge Turpin - no stranger to 'crazy' himself - wants to marry Johanna. From there, things get bloody. Let's just say when Mrs. Lovett cooks up a meat pie, you might want to check for rings, toenails and other unsavory items before you consume.
To say this movie is bloody is the understatement of the year. You might want to skip eating anything during this film, and definitely don't bring in cherry Kool-Aid. Sweeney Todd, exacting his manic revenge on strangers, slits so many throats with his barber's knives that the movie is essentially three colors - black, white, and very very red. This is not a movie for those with weak stomachs. I spent a lot of the bloodiest scenes covering my eyes. Then again, it's Tim Burton. You couldn't expect anything else from him. Even watching Mrs. Lovett make a pie in the early part of the film is enough to make your stomach turn. It even disgusts Sweeney in one of the funniest sequences. (The by-the-sea scenario Mrs. Lovett cooks up is absolutely hilarious.)
Depp and Carter play off each other most of the movie, and they have good chemistry; his singing voice is that of a rock star, not a Broadway show, and her singing voice is thin but she can carry a tune. Rickman doesn't sing as well as I'd expected, but he's passable, and he and Depp sound pretty good together. Jayne Wisener, who plays Johanna, and Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Anthony, Todd's friend and Johanna's wooer, both sing very well. I don't know if either has a past in theater but I would assume so. (Bower though is so utterly pretty that I expect he's got a brand spanking new legion of teenage girl fans.)
Depp is as usual intense, but because Todd is generally a miserable man, wrapped up in his grief and anger, the role doesn't give Depp much chance to shine beyond those particular emotions. Carter certainly looks the part for this film - her cleavage alone deserves its own screen credit. And with her large eyes darkened with shadows and paints, she looks sickly and as though someone took a perfectly beautiful doll and then went all Marilyn Manson on it - still attractive but very very creepy. (Not that I'm saying Manson is attractive. You get what I'm saying.)
Ed Sanders plays the part of Toby, a young lad who has a substantial part in the film, but I won't tell you more for fear of spoilers. But he's got a nice singing voice, and I expect we'll see him again. Watch for an unctuous cameo from Peter Pettigrew himself, Timothy Spall, and Sacha Baron Cohen as well.
Animals: It's never good to be a cockroach. Or a man in need of a shave. I don't recall any animal abuse but people get enough horror-show treatment on their own.
Overall: I had to sit down and think about it, but this movie really creeped me out more than anything. It's well put together, the casting is good, the singing is credible, etc, but it's just not my thing. I've got other Depp movies I'd rather watch again. Two and a half roses out of five.
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