30 MINUTES OR LESS
Talk about a disappointing follow-up to Zombieland. I loved the director, I love Jesse Eisenberg, Nick Swardson has great stand-up (but isn't that great on film, generally), and Aziz Ansari is good on Parks and Rec. Oh, and it co-stars Rebecca from Greek! This wasn't awful, but it just wasn't that great, either. It was just pretty mediocre. The comedy wasn't fantastic. I maybe smiled once or twice throughout the film. The best parts were definitely Fred Ward and Michael Pena. But on the whole, it could have had more heart, more comedy, and more... everything, really.
Stop Saying OK! OK.
WARRIOR
Wow, talk about cliches. There was not one original idea in this movie, and it took everything straight out of the genre playbook. It could have been more a parody of this type of film than what it was. I was more blown away by the fact this movie was getting so much praise rather than the movie itself. I just could not get into it. At least for the first half. Then the fighting stuff started. The last hour of the movie has some amazing MMA fighting (though I've heard through the grapevine it's nothing like actual MMA fighting). Still, it was highly entertaining stuff. And yeah, the performances were great all around. It was just a very flawed and unoriginal movie saved by some nice action in the back-end.
I Am McLovin!
DRIVE
Talk about one of the most overrated movies of the year. Now, before you get out the torches and pitchforks, let me explain that I still liked it. I just didn't think it was the total SCREENGASM that everybody else on the planet said it was. And perhaps that's because I had it so over-hyped for me by the time I saw it that I couldn't be anything else but let down. I patiently sat through the first half of the movie, waiting for really anything to happen. I kept in the back of my mind that it was supposed to get intense and brutal, and the "elevator scene" was apparently this year's hamster wheel or something by the way it was talked about. So color me disappointed when all I could say afterwards was "...that's it?" I'm also giving the film the benefit of the doubt that it could have been the format in which I viewed it. Let's just say it probably wasn't the best way to see this film. Was Ryan Gosling great? Yeah. Was the film good? Definitely. I just don't think it fell into the insane quality that I'd heard about for the last 4 months or whatever. (Note: Funnily enough, this was the last 2011 movie I saw last year. The first 2011 movie I saw last year? Drive Angry.)
A Keanu 'Whoa'
Haven't seen Warrior, but I liked both of the others more than you. 30 Minutes or Less ain't great, but it's pretty funny, and I absolutely loved Michael Pena. He cracked me up every time he was on screen. My general affection towards most of the rest was enough to have the rest skate by - even your boy Swardson was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteDrive...I know I can't fault you too much given the hype, but it's almost as though you didn't know what you were walking in to and I feel you should have. You knew this was the guy behind Bronson, and you should have known that this wasn't some balls-to-the-wall action flick. Expecting anything like the hamster wheel is ridiculous. This movie's all about style, so if you missed that, well...
Though how you can deny the brilliance of the opening 10 minutes? Surely my favorite part.
Oh no, trust me... I knew what I was getting into. I'm not like the lady who thought it was the next Fast and Furious.
ReplyDeleteThe hamster wheel comparison wasn't meant in terms of insane action, but rather something more like... the most incredible, awesome scene of the year--action-wise or otherwise.
Either the format through which I saw the film really hampered the style of the film, which is ENTIRELY possible... or it just wasn't my style. (See what I did there?)
The first 10 minutes was really good, yeah. I did like how the baseball game (I think) was juxtaposed with the getaway and was essentially the music of the scene. I also really dug the diner scene about 45 minutes in where he just suddenly shows his insane side on the guy without even really changing expressions. It's like "holy shit."
I said I really liked the film, I just didn't go ga-ga over it. The same exact thing happened to me with Let The Right One In.
"but rather something more like... the most incredible, awesome scene of the year--action-wise or otherwise."
ReplyDeleteI guess I just don't get where you got that impression...at all. It's a jarring scene, no doubt about that, but it's nowhere near incredible or awesome from an action standpoint.
Basketball game. :)