I’ve been watching a lot of not-too-current movies (and one current) over the past week, mostly DVDs, so I thought I’d do some short reviews/commentary. What the hell, I’m bored.
You Don’t Mess With The Zohan: I already brought this up in the movie’s thread, so I’ll keep it short here. Funny as hell movie, on par with Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights and Happy Gilmore as opposed to Nicky and Waterboy (neither of which I’ve seen, but the premise for each was just stupid on paper). John Turturro darn near steals the stage every time he’s on-screen, too.
Heathers: I hadn’t heard anything about Heathers going into it, other than it’s one of the old movies Comedy Central occasionally runs, so it turned out to be a bit of a mindfuck. I read reviews afterward that call this a satire of the John Hughes teen movies that were popular in the 80s, and in that light I can see why so many people like it, but it was just…strange and unrealistic and more than a bit unsettling, for me at least. The dark nature of the plot combined with the happy peppy 80s teen movie atmosphere threw me, although my friend dug it like crazy.
The Usual Suspects: Brilliant. I actually had heard about the ending before seeing the movie; you have to be very deft at avoiding spoilers online, especially when you previously don’t have an interest in seeing a particular movie. Even so, I was hooked by Kevin Spacey’s narration, and seeing how the plot actually got to the end was entertaining in itself.
Ocean’s Twelve: I’d gotten a recommendation on this board to skip Twelve and go straight for Thirteen. I’m glad I didn’t; Thirteen builds on Twelve just as Twelve builds on Eleven, and in itself the movie was pretty fun. It’s definitely the weakest of the set, but Vincent Cassel as the Night Fox was a decent character.
Ocean’s Thirteen: Both Ocean’s Eleven movies, the original and the remake, are classics. But by the time you get to Thirteen, the characters as played by the new cast have had time to grow on you, and their interactions and motivations are pleasantly familiar. There’s a reason beyond money for the heist that gets pulled in this one, and it had me grinning ear to ear by the end of the movie. I have to say I think I like this one best of the three. This may be the one instance where not only is a remake as good or better than the original, but the cash-in sequels are just as good. The plots aren’t that strong, but just watching everyone work is pure joy in itself. I’m absolutely sold on everyone in this film as good actors, especially contrasting them with other roles, like Bourne for Matt Damon and Tyler Durden for Brad Pitt. Seeing the contrast really drives home how skilled they are. And Andy Garcia clearly just loved being a part of all of it.
Clerks 2: I’m sorry to say, but this was kinda meh. I admit I’ve never seen the original Clerks, but in general I like Kevin Smith’s movies: Mallrats, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Dogma, etc. This…well, it was almost self-consciously wrapping the View Askewniverse up, which isn’t bad in itself, but it seemed more like something Smith felt he had to do than anything else. I didn’t laugh at this movie so much as gaped at Randal’s sheer fucktardedness. I never saw Clerks, but I did see the Clerks cartoon, and I liked Randal in that. He was just a purely unlikeable dick in this one. And the donkey scene, just…wow. At some point I left Smith’s target audience, I guess.
Fight Club: Just saw this one today, and…well, swap Kevin Spacey for Edward Norton and you have the same paragraph as for Usual Suspects. I think knowing how this one ended changed things, though; I consciously understood I wasn’t experiencing the movie the same as if I’d seen it with no prior information, and that hurt a little. It also wasn’t quite as good as I’ve heard it said to be, although it was quite good. Still and all, Brad Pitt was a lot of fun to watch.
Smokin’ Aces: This is the last one I’ve seen so far, and I sort of wish I’d watched it earlier. After the Ocean movies, Usual Suspects, and Fight Club, this one comes in on a real flat note. It’s not a bad movie, really, but there’s little other than Ryan Reynolds and Andy Garcia to recommend it. Even Jeremy Pivens’ performance seemed lackluster, and I like the guy a lot. It’s a good thing it was only 90 minutes, as I was more than ready for it to be over when it was over.
I also had Doom at some point in there, but apparently HD DVDs are very easy to render unusable even with the slightest of scratches, and I didn’t have the energy at the time to find a better copy. Shame, because I’m always up for watching the Rock’s movies.
Right now I have Live Free Or Die Hard waiting to be watched, but that will have to wait for another day.
Any comments on these or other random movies, feel free to throw them in here.