There was a good concept here, excellent production values, solid actors, all the makings of a good movie. But it was not a good movie, alas. There were many things that went wrong, but I think one of them was the weirdness of having everyone be 25 years old which meant there was no gravitas to any of them.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.
Like nearly every movie I’ve watched that stars Channing Tatum, this was much better than expected. It was free of poop, gratuitous sex, and possibly profanity (my filter isn’t very good in that realm anymore) and was populated with solid actors (I went home and looked up all of them, saying repeatedly, “Oh yes! I remember him/her!”) and interlocking stories. Though some of the plots fell apart upon reflection, ultimately this was just a tremendously nice movie, which I mean in the best possible way.
Cost: $10.50 (I know! But Channing Tatum calls.)
Where watched: Regal Fox Tower. It was me and one other guy and that was it. I can’t even remember the last time I was so alone in a theater.
poster from:
http://www.impawards.com/2012/ten_years.html
ps. This movie has a forgettable title and probably the worst poster I’ve seen all year.
I knew this would be a tense film and I didn’t want it to keep me up late at night on a school night, so I came prepared with knitting to distract me. This was a fine film, with fabulous performances by all and some excellent cinematography. I’m quite glad it won best picture, even if it did take me over two years to see for myself.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.
This was much better than I remember it* and fun in an incredibly embryonic Joss Whedon way. First of all, it’s totally the “girl gains her power” story I keep complaining there aren’t any of in the movie world and it also provided me with the bonus that fashion in the movie coincided with my high school fashion years so I know that I wasn’t being weird when I wore a dress with dorky shoes and socks, that was actually a fashion forward move on my part. Also, I have now been reminded what that Luke Perry thing was all about.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.
*I can clearly recall that I found it to be “kind of weird.” when I saw it during high school. And maybe Ms. Sterner and I saw this together? Maybe at Overland Park?
Having never seen this movie on the big screen, I was happy to spend a Sunday afternoon seeing Harrison Ford in the glory days before he developed his wattles. The movie holds up pretty well and it’s an interesting contrast to see Action Adventure before CGI (like in this movie) compared to the previous night’s viewing which was all CGI. Also, Karen Allen is the best Indiana Jones heroine.
Cost: $8.50
Where watched: Regal Lloyd Cinema 10
I greatly enjoyed this movie when we saw it in May, but if you had asked me to recount the plot to you, I would have only been able to stammer “Uh, it’s pretty funny. Um, and. Uh.” Watching it this time was an experience of repeatedly thinking “oh yes! I remember this part, this was quite enjoyable.” I think it was the frantic pace that caused the post-viewing amnesia in that I was all in during, but there was so much that happened my brain just got overwhelmed and forgot it all.
Cost: $3.00
Where watched: Portlander Inn Cinema. (at the Jubitz truck stop)
This was one of those amazing movie experiences that make all those so-so flicks worth sitting through. I’ve seen Michael Shannon’s fabulous acting on display in two other films* and he carried me away during this one too. This is completely worth your time and money so go and find it today.
Cost: Free from Library
Where watched: at home.
*Revolutionary Road, where he was the key turning point in Leonardo DiCaprio & Kate Winslet’s marriage and The Runaways where he played sleazy Kim Fowley. The first role was a quiet crazy building to an explosion, the second an exuberant, bacchanalian picture of rock and roll excess.
So the thing about movies with “alternative” plots is that they nearly all of the time end up in the traditional way.* The trick of such a movie is to be able to bring me along, so I agree with the traditional ending by the time they get there.** This was a very smart, funny movie*** and I can report I was quite happy with the ending so now you are left to figure out if it kept an alternate solution, or if it was just well written enough to charm me into agreeing with the traditional ending.****
Cost: $1.20 from Redbox (impulse purchase on the way out of the store)
Where watched: at home.
*I’m not saying this one does, but most of them do.
The first few minutes of this movie had me wondering if I was going to like it this time around, because I had fond memories from my first viewing when it was originally released, but this time I found the introduction incredibly obnoxious. But once Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes showed up I loved it all over again. There was a lot of kissing–the poster is quite accurate in its representation.
Cost: Free from Library
Where watched: At home.
ps: I almost couldn’t find this in the library catalog because it’s not Romeo & Juliet it’s Romeo plus sign Juliet. So now I call it that in my mind. It’s also from the era of movies needing to tell us who their famous authors are, as if we don’t already know. I recall “Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter” also being a title of the same era.
This movie had promise with the fun dancing and Kristen Bell and all that, but it took a turn for the worse about halfway through and never recovered. I don’t think Cher is a very good actress (sorry!) and Christina Aguilera seemed to be channelling Cher at times which was incredibly distracting. Not even the usually saving presence of Stanley Tucchi came to my rescue, this movie was just bad.
Cost: Free from library.
Where watched: At home.