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This week, I decided to tribute the great Michael Jackson in a way that only YouTube can. Oh, the things grown men will do when left alone in their mother’s basement…
This Week: A Tribute to a Legend
Try to ignore the pop-ups, they aren’t mine and I couldn’t find the original.
I don’t know what’s sadder, the fact that he chose “Man in the Mirror,” or the fact that he took the time to make props.
No tribute would be complete without the great Baby James!
Kyle Terry is DrChocolate and my good friend from college who I asked to help me out with my movie reviews. My budget limits the amount of movies I can see and the good Dr, while having similar taste in movies as me, often has differing viewpoints that I think will be valuable to the site. This is one of those cases and has inspired me to write my own review, which will hopefully be posted shortly.
In an effort of full disclosure I’ll start with this opinion: I think Sam Mendes is vastly overrated. As a matter of fact I think he borders on being a hack. He strikes me as drama’s version of Michael Bay; drama for dramas sake, drama for those who don’t know any better. He knows all the paint by numbers for a drama, and every now and then he show flashes of brilliance (Road to Perdition), but for the most part, it all seems counterfeit and overly calculated. With that intro, onto his latest film Revolutionary Road. This impeccably acted drama asks a lot of the viewer. For one, it has no routing interest – both Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio are nasty, brutish, ugly people. When first watching this movie I honestly looked down at the time counter thinking I had skipped a scene or three. But no, the movie literally drops you, quite heavily, into the bitter, raging disappointment of a dissolving marriage. The film has that Mendes sterility and distance, like you’re watching everything unfold in a fishbowl where you’re never able to truly connect. I also am constantly irritated by Hollywood’s insistence on using the middle class and the suburbs as metaphors for wasted life and unfulfilled dreams. You do realize that the same people you’re asking to indulge your piousness with their hard earned middle class dollars are those that you are criticizing, right? (Yes, I know this film is based on a book from the 1960’s but my irritation still holds). See that steaming hot mess of overrated self-importance American Beauty for another example.
That’s not to say this movie isn’t without its positives. Winslet and DiCaprio have probably never been better. DiCaprio’s man-boy looks have never served him better than here as an emotionally stunted man-child fearful of his corporate future who struggles with the definition of what it means to be a “man.” The furor with which the two fight and steam and reconcile and fight again is monumental and engulfing. Their fights are cringe-inducing in their veiled, reprehensible brutality. That the actors are able to convey that nastiness with a level of care for each other is rather extraordinary. Michael Shannon as a mentally unbalanced neighbor is frightening and exhilarating as the only individual in the movie that sees the truth in their lives and isn’t afraid to speak his mind. He’s a revelation. The art direction, the submersion into the time, is immaculate as well. However, it still carries the Mendes sheen, where you’re never able to care about two people when it’s vital to do so. That sheen and veneer eventually muddles the performances and the message of the film. I felt like I was watching actors acting the hell out of individual scenes rather than an actual story arc. It’s definitely an affecting piece of cinema but it stays there instead of becoming something significant and powerful, something it could have been. Overall it’s a typical Mendes film, flashes of brilliance, flashes of hack, and some fantastic performances. I marginally recommend it, but again, with reservations. If you like Mendes other films you’ll probably like this.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – The third movie in a trilogy whose only real redeeming quality is the prehistoric squirrel. But who am I to judge, if you liked the first two, you’ll probably like this one. Also available in 3D.
~ Save to Netflix Queue
Public Enemies – Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral) directs Johnny Depp as the infamous gangster, John Dillinger. Also stars Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), but in a surprise move, the soundtrack contains not a single track from Audioslave. I’m always up for a Michael Mann movie.
~ Save to Netflix Queue
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – You may have heard of this one, it’s about a bunch of giant robot cars set on world domination and the giant robot cars trying to stop them. Oh, and there’s some humans mixed in there, namely Shia LeBouf and Megan Fox. Oh, and some explosions too … lots and lots of explosions. It is a Michael Bay flick after all. Came out today. Watch it in IMAX. Portions were filmed in IMAX on 70mm film (standard film is 35mm, IMAX doubles that and turns the picture on its side, making the picture 9 times larger than your standard release … I told you, giant robots), and let’s face it, if you’re going to spend all that money on the theater, you might as well get the biggest robots you can. This has turned into the largest description in the history of This Week in Movies. Michael Bay would be proud. BOOM.
~ Save to Netflix
My Sister’s Keeper – I haven’t heard anything about this one, but it stars Cameron Diaz, so I wouldn’t watch it with your eyes.
~ Save to Netflix
The Pink Panther 2 – Poor, poor Steve Martin. Let’s not encourage him. Maybe then he’ll go back to guest spots on 30 Rock instead of making Pink Panther 3.
~ Add to Netflix
Inkheart – Brendan Fraser reads books to his daughter and guess what, it comes to life. I think this one may be based on a book of some sort, but I’m way to uninterested to look it up.
~ Add to Netflix
Past Video Releases of Note:
Gran Torino – Clint Eastwood directs Clint Eastwood as a crotchety old man who learns to love his punk kid neighbors. It looks really good despite my lame description, but I have a platonic man-crush on Clint Eastwood, wrinkles and all.
~ Add to Netflix
The International – Clive Owen and Naomi Watts go to war against a national bank. It got mediocre reviews, but looks like a fun enough rent.
~ Add to Netflix
Kyle Terry is DrChocolate and my good friend from college who I asked to help me out with my movie reviews. My budget limits the amount of movies I can see and the good Dr, while having similar taste in movies as me, often has differing viewpoints that I think will be valuable to the site.
Whiz-bang fizz pop. That’s where director McG excels, and he shows it in Terminator Salvation with many many dogfights, fistfights, and gunfights. I’m sure anybody reading this knows the Terminator back story, so I’ll skip it and dive right in: McG, he of the infinitely vexing moniker, actually acquits himself quite well to the Terminator material and luckily for him, the parts that seem destined to spin off into la-la land are saved by an effectively gritty Christian Bale. The action scenes pop and move furiously, but not without a sense of purpose. They, barely I’ll admit, transcend the Michael Bay action-for-actions-sake vortex, but they plunge, swerve, and explode on a grand scale and are generally effective because you care about the cast. As mentioned, I think McG needs to graciously thank his cast for keeping this movie in line. The performances from Bale and Anton Yelchin as a young Kyle Reese are particularly good. Newcomer Sam Worthington is charismatic as a mysterious outsider (although the previews completely spoiled why he’s mysterious), this despite that fact that he doesn’t do much but glower and fight, though I believe that’s more the scripts fault than his. Bryce Dallas Howard is a victim of the screen writing as well; her role seems ancillary and underwritten. The entire Terminator saga has not come without its fair share of clunky, brick heavy dialogue and some poorly manufactured emotion and this installment is no exception in that department either. However, I ended up liking this movie far more than I thought I would. Recommended for a weekend of surprisingly well-made whiz-bang fizz pop.
