Movie Reviews from February
Movies Reviewed by Comedians for that Funny perspective
Spiderman 3 - justice not served
Sometimes the critics get movies very wrong. They often times feed off each other and the buzz of the first, becomes the momentum of the many. Spiderman 3 received some bad reviews and in retrospect, it was the reviews themselves that were bad not the movie, nor the direction nor the plot nor the acting.
The acting was actually excellent. There wasn’t a bad actor / actress in the bunch, and their performances were terrific. Each added depth to their characters on multiple levels. Its actually pretty rare for the 3rd movie in a series like this to present new levels to the characters, but the cast pulled it off.
| Tobey Maguire played up the schizo and angry Spiderman very well. The Saturday Night Fever sidewalk foot jive was a bit much, but the gloomy brooding part was excellent.
Kirsten Dunst similarly did a great job as well both with the display of confusion and mixed emotions when she was forced to break up or lie to Peter (not sure what was really happening for that part). James Franco was all over the place in this movie and that was exactly what the role seemed to require. It was actually very cool watching him tie things up neetly at the end. Thomas Church delivered what was probably the best performance of the movie. That serious sad look that he was perplexed with throughout the movie was very intense and showed a new depth to the man that usually plays it straight in comedy routines. I didn’t even recognize Topher Grace and was very impressed with his performance from the Church seen forward. Rosemary Harris delivered and probably doesn’t get enough credit for her on screen presence. Her sage advice and screen presence remind me of Morgan Freeman. Even JK Simmons delivered the good. Who would have thought that J J Jameson would have a little depth in his hard ass editor routine. |
|
My only criticism (besides the jive street dancing) was the chase / fight scene between Spiderman and the Goblin when they were flying between the narrow buildings before the Goblin fell down and bumped his little head.
The sequence flew by far too fast to follow what was going on there and that took away from the suspense a bit. Fortunately, it wasn’t too long and the movie came around to getting back into the depth of the characters.
I don’t know that I’d but this up there with Batman Returns, but as comic book movies go, this along with Superman Returns definitely shows some promise for the concept of long lived good sequels.
Don’t Worry About A Thing - I am Legend
I saw I am Legend at the movie theater the other day. I hadn’t been to a theater in about 8 months. More and more I watch movies from home and truly avoid the theaters whenever possible.
The movie was excellent. After watching the trailers and things, I initially thought that the movie would be 2 hours of just one guy doing strange stuff in New York City all by his lonesome.
Fortunately, it was nothing like that at all. First, the movie had a whole lot more substance than Will Smith (Legend) goofing on an empty New York City. The movie is very deep, very compelling and even sucks you in with a sound track that Will Smith makes completely relevant to the plot line at just the right time.
The main song of the movie is Bob Marley’s "Three Little Birds".
Dont worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin: dont worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right!
The song, which I knew long before the movie came out has been running through my head non-stop since I saw the movie. The great thing about the song, Will’s Smith’s performance and the movie itself is that they all mesh together to make a perfect fit that makes the whole thing together better than the sum of its parts.
Great Acting by Will Smith
Will Smith really delivered in this movie. He played alone for much of the movie, but the movie was cut to move the plot line moving back in time.
The movie is based on a book and the people that have been transformed by a virus are supposed to be essentially vampires in the book. In the movie, they are not really vampires at all even though they get burned by sunlight or UV rays and they seek blood.
All in all the movie has great action, great depth of acting and its even a bit of a tear jerker as well. Watch out for the ending. If you want the happy stuff at the end, wait for the DVD and then make sure you play it with the alternate ending on. The alternate ending on the DVD is probably the ending they should have stuck with as it would have tied up a number of things in the movie with a cute little bloody vampire virus bow. Unfortunately, they didn’t do that so you have to walk away from the film performing a number of assumptions off the cuff.
That may get you talking with your friends, but I think it would have been better this time to watch the movie with the bow.
Youth Without Youth
When the Godfather of Cinema comes out of desuetude after ten years to make a film, you see that movie even if it’s about a piece of lint it stars Dane Cook. Now, I’m in no way insinuating that “Youth Without Youth” was a Category Gigli Disaster, but it would be a complete disservice to call it a Coppola.
Francis Ford Coppola’s first new film in ten years is an utterly arcane concoction. Youth Without Youth tells the startling tale of an immortal linguistics professor (Tim Roth) on the run from the Nazis who is enamored with an attractive woman (Alexandra Maria Lara) who falls into trances and speaks in ancient Babylonian — and that’s just the opening sequence.
For me to properly expound on the meaning of Youth Without Youth, it would require a meth lab, a chemistry set, and every book by Jean Paul Sartre. I wouldn’t go so far ast to call it stilted and pretentious, but the story definitely appears too preoccupied in its own outre realm. I was told that Francis Ford Coppola financed this film with the monies earned from his wine vineyard . . . Fuck it! I have to be a sour grape.
Carwash
This evening I watched Carwash for about the tenth time. I first saw this movie at the Drive-in back in the seventies when I was some age under 10.
Back then I remember thinking that it was very funny watching a guy go through a car wash in a body cast.
This almost Disco movie has a number of similarities to its much more popular cousin Saturday Night Fever. There’s not really all that much dancing in it and the sound track really only brings to mind the disco song Carwash as opposed to an entire master piece by the Bee Gees.
But there are many dark undertones throughout the movie. Surviving the early seventies, Vietnam vets working in a car wash sporting a silver star, prostitution, drugs, Beverly Hills Yuppie Mom’s in Mercedes even. Even a mad pop bottle bomber terrorizing the city.
Where’s the funny?
Now, each time I watch this movie, I do so because I expect to find something funny. Tonight, I realized that even though two of my favorite comedians are in this movie (cameos or almost a walk on part), the movie isn’t that funny. Its much more human than it is funny.
There are some things that slip through and are funny today. Such as the ‘best hand job in town’ sign.
The movie is essentially the day in the life of several people that live and work in the ecosystem of a carwash (note I am the first person ever to write the words ‘ecosystem of a carwash’ and publish it.)
There is no plot for the most part, just a journey through the day. In Saturday Night Fever there was a journey to win a dance contest and all the tension and sub plots, but Carwash is just a journey through the day. There are character level sub plots, and even at the very end, an elder and wiser man helps a younger man (Bill Duke a very good character actor and a director/producer type) avoid making the mistakes of youth.
That’s the spiritual uplifting aspect of a movie that also features bottles of urine crashing on the street and dog shit on the car roof jokes, but it is actually pretty poignant.
Maybe back in the seventies this movie was a lot funnier with a nickle bag of pot. That funny journey through the day capped off with something deep man . . .