Let's Talk About Some Damn Movies!

It had been near forever and a day since last I spoke about some fil-lums I seen. So let's do this.

I am unsure if Michel Gondry will ever make a film that even approaches Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I haven't seen all of his stuff, dude makes a bunch of stuff, but I'm talking mainly about his feature films. His Hollywood feature films. Cuz Be Kind Rewind was not good. It had about half an hour of really good stuff in it, all the home-made/hand-made stuff. The rest was piffle.

The Green Hornet is maybe a bit better. Trade out Jack Black falling back on the most annoying of his schtick with Seth Rogen and his most annoying schtick. I like Rogen most of the time, but I pretty much hated his character by the end of this film. I know his incompetence and self-centerdeness are supposed to be played for laughs, but it just stopped being funny.

Kato never stopped being awesome And the film is at its best when he is on screen. The action scenes are the only time this film ever truly feels like it has a bit of life to it. The script is poorly paced and goes on for too long, and Gondry just lets it happen.

I am disappoint.

Not at all disappointed by True Grit. Not at all. I want to read the book to see which version is closer, as they end quite differently. Which could be due to the fact that the John Wayne True Grit is the story of the story, whereas this new one is the story of he girl. She narrates it, it is told from her perspective. So the two versions hit many of the same beats, but each has its own feel. And I like the feel of the Cohens' version better.

Right from the very first shot. I love that first shot. And the last shot. There are some good ones in between, too.

The earlier True Grit was not an ugly film by any stretch, but this new one... I just like how the Cohens see things. And I like Jeff Bridges, I like Matt Damon (whereas I can understand why people would prefer the Duke's version of Rooster, I cannpt comprehend how anyone could not prefer Damon's Texas Ranger), I like every damn body in here.

So yeah, Tue Grit is awesome and I hope it comes out as a double feature when it comes out on video.

I waited to long to blog about the moving pictures and some of them have done moved clear out my head.

Whip It

Whip It was good. Full of people I like. Some that I forgot I liked. And one lady who I don't like but was used perfectly. Julliette Lewis strikes me as strange and unpleasant, which is what she was in this film. And what he hell has Daniel Stern been doing? And why isn't Ellen Page in more stuff? She is adorable! And Drew Barrymore plays a good violent stoner.

And the plot wasn't quite as cookie cutter as I was expecting. It was way more of a Rocky 1 ending, when I was expecting a Rocky 2 and up ending. It was a happy ending sure, but not near as syrupy and over the top as it could have been.

Do I want to recap the plot? Not really. Ellen Page is unhappy, she discovers Roller Derby, and falls in love. Simple story, simply told. And adorable.

The Theatre Going Experience

There are some people I know who don't like going to movie theatres to see movies because they never seem to have a good experience. I used to think they were silly, or just had a run of bad luck, but I am starting to come around to their way of thinking.

Saw Tron Legacy a few weeks back. The movie? Pretty. The theatre? Gah!

No one there to take our tickets. (In fact, a harried looking girl with a broom and a walkie talkie growled into her walkie "Seriously, for god's sake, someone man the ticket counter!"

No one had cleaned out the theatre, crap everywhere. Not literally crap, but vomit. There was vomit though. Vomit on a seat in the row in front of us. We could have sat further (farther) back from the puke, but we wanted to see if any poor unfortunate souls would unknowingly sit in the puke seat.

No one did.

Someone did sit in front of my lovely wife. Someone bathed in perfume. And wearing a hat. She done did herself up to sit in the dark.

And someone, somewhere forgot to close a door so the cold Saskatchewan winter was there in the theatre with us as well.

That was a better theatre going experience than yesterday's Harry Potter clustermuggle.

Never sit near old people. Their minds are gone. They don't know how to act in polite society.

One of the old men behind us asked my brother in law to remove his hat. Okay, I thought to myself, he's old school. That's cool.

Then they all talked loudly through all of trailers. Okay, I thought, lots of people talk through the trailers.

Then they didn't shut up for the entire fucking movie. Okay, I thought, this sucks.

I din't yell at them, because they were old. Maybe a little early onset dementia or something. But they didn't look that old when the lights came up at the end. Old enough to chew and breathe loudly, and to need a potty break during the movie. They were thoughtful enough to not all go at the same time. Old fucks. One of the old fucks knocked over a girl's drink and popcorn. Didn't apologize. Probably didn't even notice. Senile old shit. He also giggled every time someone died or something dramatic happened. I wanted to move, but we were trapped in the middle of the row. And there weren't any good seats anywhere else.

And they discussed everything that happened onscreen. They always seemed surprised when someone did magic. Also: "What's that, a sword?" "Yep, that's a sword."

Guh. But halfway thru the film, a switch got flipped and I stopped being annoyed by the horrible old people and just being amused by them.

Afterwards, my sister-in-law mentioned that she overheard some of the annoying people behind us talking in the bathroom beforehand. This group behind us was comprised of an older couple taking their parents out for a movie. Also: they stuffed their ears with cotton cuz movies these days is just too dang loud. Also also: they didn't wash their hands.

Gross. Gross old people.

The new Harry Potter movie? Good.