Currently doing a turn in Dune: Prophecy alongside Emily Watson.
A couple of early mornings ago I watched Once Bitten.
It’s a 1985 comedy with Jim Carrey where they asked him not to act like Jim Carrey. There’s a moment or two where he gets to be a little manic but otherwise the director must have asked him to be as dull as possible. Lauren Hutton is fine, I guess, as the vampire Countess looking for virgin blood in LA and Cleavon Little really stands out as her manservant. Karen Kopins is cute but she has the unenviable task of being Jim’s girlfriend who won’t have sex with him until it’s the right time. It has a couple laughs and it is definitely from the 80s (including a couple gay-panic jokes). Not a great movie but interesting to see Jim’s early work, otherwise I can’t really recommend it unless you are a bad 80s sex comedy completist.
In the sitcom The Duck Factory, Jim Carrey was the straight man more or less. It’s an odd watch.
I remember seeing Duck Factory when first aired then years later having a “Jim Carrey was in that?” moment.
I only saw it when Comedy Central briefly had the rights and aired it. It was not funny at all. I admit, though I didn’t realize he had already had a break in 1984. First I heard of him was In Living Color, though I was aware he had done some stand-up comedy before that.
The only movie I liked him in was Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind.
I agree - it was not. Although I remember the theme tune being kind of bouncy.
Recently saw Bank of Dave 2, in which heroic everyman Burnley banker Dave Fishwick once again saves the UK from evil financial skulduggery (in this instance payday lenders).
I have some knowledge of the subject and can confirm that the problems mentioned in the film were very, very real (and actually much worse). Mr Fishwick’s involvement in getting them addressed was…subject to quite a lot of dramatic license. And Def Leppard’s involvement even moreso.
Rory Kinnear and his Lancashire accent is fun to watch, and there’s a little romance of introverts as a B-plot, but on the whole you’re not missing much if you don’t see either of the “Bank of Dave” films.
It’s a worthy story, as you say, but I found it largely quite cringeworthy, from the gratuitous Def Leppard (more than a) cameo to the half-baked romance. Some of the acting, Kinnear aside, was pretty shonky too. I don’t think the writing helped. All in all I preferred the first film.
Learned a new word!
shonky in British English
adjectiveWord forms: -kier, -kiest Australian and New Zealand informal
of dubious integrity or legality
unreliable; unsound
Ha, didn’t even occur to me it was a Britishism, sometimes I forget I am definitely in the minority here!
I don’t think the 2023 version was widely distributed, and it’s much harder to find. I did watch it online, but I don’t remember where I found it. If anyone’s interested, I can probably find it again. It’s not the worst Nosferatu movie, but if you never see it, you’re not missing much.
I’m definitely going to be using that one!
Last night I was looking for something light to have on while I did other things and I ended up with a bucket of popcorn riveted to the couch watching The Great Outdoors (1988) with John Candy and Dan Aykroyd, written by John Hughes. It’s a light piece of fair that is thoroughly entertaining, if you ask me.
The wonder of movies, I’ve some friends who have lived in Burnley for a couple of years, and that place is the UK equivalent of Hicksville, Kentucky
Thanks for the suggestion! I’m always looking for something light. The trailer reminded me of the general spirit and wackiness of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, which was also written and directed by John Hughes And which, incidentally, I very highly recommend if anyone hasn’t seen it.
I thought the first one was mildly interesting, though I was disappointed to find out how much of it had been fictionalized. Based on your comments I probably won’t bother with the sequel.
Maestro. It’s on Netflix. It portrays Leonard Bernstein’s relationship with his wife.
Good acting, great cinematography, screenplay…meh. Hardly any music, except at the end where he conducts Mahler’s second symphony. Could barely sit through it. Used the fast forward a lot. Two stars, very disappointed.
It’s been on my watchlist for months. Does it have have Jonathan Cooper Clarke’s Imortalizing poem?
If that’s the one with Bradley Cooper (it was so boring I can’t even remember the title), I couldn’t get through it either. Rambling and utterly dull.
That’s it. It was…insufferable.
I didn’t care that he argued with his wife or that he was bisexual or that he smoked like a chimney or whatever. I wanted to hear more music. West Side Story is my favorite musical. Very little about that or anything else he composed or conducted, except for the ending with the Mahler symphony.
RED 2010 Bruce Willis, Mary-louise Parker, John Malkovich
Retired agent is placed on a kill list by the CIA. Mary-louise is very good as the reluctant civilian dragged into the fun.
It’s one of my favorite comedy/thrillers that Bruce made later in his career. The action is silly and totally unbelievable. This movie can’t be taken seriously. The story kept me guessing with a lot of unexpected twists.
There is a sequel. But it doesn’t capture the light-hearted fun of the original movie.
Both movies aired on AMC today.