Category: Film Page 56 of 101

50DMC #22: A Movie Most Hated But I Loved

On August 3, 2011

The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions.

Today’s prompt: What’s a movie that most fans and critics hated but you loved?

This is a little disingenuous, perhaps, because Speed Racer does have a good many supporters in the critical community, but it’s sitting at a squishy 38% on the Rotten Tomatoes meter, so I’m counting that as close enough to “hated” to work for this question. And there’s absolutely no doubt that I loved this film. It’s even sitting comfortably in my top ten for 2008. And the reason for that is because, quite simply, Speed Racer is the most immediately overwhelming visual experience I have ever had – I’m kicking myself that I didn’t see it in theatres, but when I got the blu-ray, I spent the full two and a quarter hours staring at the TV with my jaw dropped open.

The story itself is fairly simple and often simplistic, but it goes about even that basic kids-stuff story with a wide-eyed exuberance and joy that I rarely see from any films these days, let alone the children’s movie industry that has gotten too damn self-aware for its own good. The Wachowskis know exactly how standard this story is, but they allow it to go silly and campy and gloriously fun without ever resorting to irony or out of place juvenile humor. Because, really, the story of Speed Racer’s rise in the world of racing, his problematic relationship with his older brother, and his potential defection to a greedy racing conglomerate is all a McGuffin for the candy-colored world the characters inhabit. It’s somewhere on the cusp of live action and animation, and exactly where the line between the two is drawn is difficult to tell – and that’s precisely the point. This is the ultimate live action cartoon, and I mean that in a good way. Of all the movies I’ve seen in my life, Speed Racer is always my first thought when it comes to sheer visual overstimulation of the very best kind.

Here’s the first seven minutes, encompassing a bit of backstory and the first race. Even just watching this I get all wide-eyed and have a huge grin plastered on my face.

50DMC #21: A Movie Most Loved But I Hated

By Jandy

On August 2, 2011

In Film

The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions.

Today’s prompt: What’s a movie that most fans and critics loved but you hated?

There aren’t very many films I *hate*, and most of the ones I do are generally not well-thought of by critics or fans in general. So I had to think for a while to come up with Knocked Up, but I think it definitely fits the criteria, even if “hate” is still a word I hesitate to use. I do actively dislike it, though, so I figure that’s close enough.

Knocked Up is incredibly well-regarded by critics and fans alike, and even though Judd Apatow did other films before it, it’s probably the one the kicked off the current Apatow film trend. He usually just produces films rather than directing them, but he did everything on Knocked Up, so I feel pretty justified in saying that I just don’t like his stuff. It’s only funny in a juvenile sort of way, and most of the humor comes from this group of man-children being pushed into adult situations that they can’t handle. Like a maternity ward. I’d say I don’t get it because I’m a woman, but a lot of Knocked Up fans are women, so it’s not as simple as that. It just does nothing for me, I don’t believe these characters should be together (or would be in real life, which has NOTHING to do with Rogen’s physical appearance and everything to do with the mismatch in the two characters’ personalities), and if Allison is Apatow’s idea of a well-written female character, then yeah. I rest my case. Maybe she isn’t, but that’s the impression I get from reading other reviews.

What keeps me from *hating* the film is the Paul Rudd-Leslie Mann subplot, a more dramatic look at a marriage that’s not quite working. THIS is the interesting story in the movie, and if they do a spinoff focusing on these two characters (which has been rumored for a while), I will watch it – even though I’m prepared to be disappointed. But in Knocked Up, this intriguing and emotionally truthful story was utterly eclipsed by the mediocrity and boorishness of the main plot. Since I hate to be a total downer, here’s a short clip from the part of the movie I DID like.

50DMC #20: A Movie That Disappointed

By Jandy

On July 29, 2011

In Film

The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions.

Today’s prompt: What’s a movie you thought you would love that disappointed you?

When I first saw Pennies from Heaven (the 1981 version) on the schedule for the TCM Classic Film Festival, I was a little surprised – it was probably the most recent film of the festival, and I was like, this is a classic? Really? But the more I looked at it, the more excited I got to see it. It’s a musical, and I love musicals. It’s set in the 1930s, and I love Depression-era stories. It has Bernadette Peters in it, and I love Bernadette Peters (and the chance to see her in a film is rare). It also has Steve Martin, who’s fine, but his presence in a movie doesn’t influence my excitement one way or another. In any case, I was pretty stoked when I sat down to watch it.

And as every second ticked by my enjoyment fell further and futher and further until I was fairly hating the film by the end. First, the film has a bleak reality/joyful dream structure to it that can be fine, but put me off here because they’re integrated so poorly into each other. It’s just drab drab drab oh, sunny dance number. Second, all the songs are from the 1930s setting time period, but not only that, the original recordings are used so Steve and Bernadette are lipsyncing to them. That’s offputting, though I can kind of see, in theory, where they were going with that. But really, you put someone like Bernadette Peters in a movie and make her lipsync to someone else? WHY?! Third, I hated everyone in the story. They’re all despicable characters with no redeeming features, they make decisions that make no sense, and I didn’t believe anything that any of them did. When the end came around (*SPOILER* it involves Martin being framed and executed for murder), I just wanted them to shut up with the singing and kill him already, even though he was innocent. I didn’t care. I wanted out.

I tried and failed to find a clip of the recreation of the Fred and Ginger dance number “Let’s Face the Music and Dance”, because it was the only part of the movie I kind of liked, but even then I would’ve liked it a whole lot better if I had just been watching Follow the Fleet. Instead, here’s the first number from Peters. It’s not bad, per se, but the tone is weird and again, it’s not Bernadette singing.

50DMC #19: A Movie I’m Surprised I Enjoyed

By Jandy

On July 28, 2011

In Film

The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions.

Today’s prompt: What’s a movie you’re surprised you enjoyed?

There are quite a lot of these, actually, as I’ve been going through some filmographies and knocking off some classic “must-sees” that I wasn’t entirely looking forward to. Turns out most of those are “must-sees” for a reason, even if they didn’t initially appeal to me. Along those lines, I’m going with Nashville. It was the third or fourth Robert Altman film I got to in my New Hollywood marathon last year, and while I liked all the others, to one degree or another (more so The Long Goodbye and McCabe and Mrs. Miller, less so M*A*S*H), I still wasn’t particularly looking forward to Nashville. I mean, it’s about a bunch of Nashville-based country music performers converging on the city at the same time as a major political rally. I’d be generous if I described myself as apathetic towards both country music and politics.

But Nashville transcends its setting, weaving together stories of individuals with perfect balance and pacing, letting us into their lives, their joys, and their heartaches. Altman is known for his ensemble work, and though I admittedly haven’t seen all that many of his works yet, I don’t know that any of them will be able to surpass this. It’s incredible how well-drawn each of these characters are, despite the short amount of time the film is able to focus on any of them – none of them are caricatures, though all of them do represent some facet of the music scene (and sometimes stand in for real-life singers and musicians). In addition to being perfectly-crafted, it’s also a joy to watch throughout its extended running time. It was pretty easily one of my favorite films that I saw last year, and I look forward to getting even more out of it in the many times I will certainly rewatch it.

The aspect ratio isn’t quite right on this clip, but the sound is better than the other ones on YouTube.

50DMC #18: A Movie That Disturbed You

By Jandy

On July 23, 2011

In Film

The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions.

Today’s prompt: What’s a movie that disturbed you?

I went through a few different options with this one, and almost put in Quills, one of the few movies I’ve ever seen that put me off so much I can’t separate myself from it enough to appreciate the good acting and stuff that I know it has. But I don’t necessarily think disturbing is bad; sometimes disturbing is exactly the right thing for a movie to be, and that’s what makes it good. (Some people might say that’s true of Quills; I don’t.) So instead I’m choosing A Clockwork Orange.

Kubrick’s dystopian film (based on Anthony Burgess’ novel) sets up Alex as an amoral sociopath whose only goal in life is to perpetuate a bit of the old ultraviolence, and proceeds to do so by brutalizing an elderly couple for no reason whatsoever. That’s already disturbing. You want someone to stop him, even as you find him weirdly charismatic. But in the second half of the film, he is arrested and subjected to behavior modification treatment, rendering him utterly passive and debased. And as horrible as Alex’s actions were, you basically end up feeling like the treatment is as inhumane as what he did to others, and you begin to sympathize with him, even as you remember what a terrible person he was. I still don’t ultimately know what I think about the film, but I can’t argue that it’s effective…and disturbing.

YouTube seems to have most of the clips unembeddable, so click here to see Alex being set up for the treatment.