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Film Archives Update

I think Yes Man, Transformers 2, House Bunny and At War With the Army has killed any desire I have to watch a movie at this point.  Even after seeing great movies like Godfather, Moon, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I don’t watch to watch anything right now.  The scenes in House Bunny, basically the whole thing honestly, it was garbage, started it.  Then you have the karaoke scene, lowest point for a while.  But the big S-storm came in Yes Man and the god-awful scene with Jim Carrey [who I thought I liked, surely not the same guy in Eternal or even Dick and Jane] where he sings a bottom-feeder of a song by Third Eye GAY.  But all of that mixed with the awfulness and overhyping of Transfomers 2, the first wasn’t bad, maybe even good, but the sequel was straight trash.  But my visit to the Strand on Wednesday the 15th was the final nail in the coffin.  Words cannot describe the garbage on the screen, in retrospect I think the movie is actually a complete 0/5, heck, 0/100.  And the fact it is, and I quote this gem, “THE FUNNIEST MOVIE EVER”.  That says a lot right there.  I have a few good pages in the works and in the meantime those will keep the reader [aka YOU, yeah you, who else would I be writing this to?] busy enough.  Until then, do the dang thing.

Lymelife

Lymelife [2008] [d. Steven Martini] [s. Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Rory Culkin]

Fred Simmons: 4.5/5

Doc Gibbs: 4.5/5

There will be a write-up for the recent Lunchtime Theatre viewings and the special editions at some point this weekend.  As well as probable viewings of The Godfather Part II and 12.  And tommorrow will be the completion of the current Lunchtime Theatre selection, the first multiple day viewing this week, the Baxter.  All that and much more.

Sack lunch and two special ones.

At War With the Army [1950] [d. Hal Walker] [s. Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Polly Bergen]

Fred Simmons: 0.5/5

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [2004] [d. Michel Gondry] [s. Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst]

Fred Simmons: 5/5

Doc Gibbs: 5/5

One Last Thing… [2006] [d. Alex Steyermark] [s. Cynthia Nixon, Michael Angarano, Sunny Marbey]

Fred Simmons: 4/5

To Catch a Thief [1955] [d. Alfred Hitchcock] [s. Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Jessie Royce Landis]

Fred Simmons: 4.5/5

Doc Gibbs watched a film too, here is his thought.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind [2002] [d. George Clooney] [s. Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, George Clooney]

Fred Simmons: 5/5

Doc Gibbs: 4/5

The Savages [2007] [d. Tamara Jenkins] [s. Laura Linney, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Phillip Bosco]

Fred Simmons: 4.5/5

Doc Gibbs: 4/5

Summer Film Series Edition 8 Awards

THE FILMS

About Schmidt

Fred Simmons: 3.5/5

Doc Gibbs: 3.5/5

The Godfather

Fred Simmons: 5/5

Doc Gibbs: did not view

Junebug

Fred Simmons: 3/5

Doc Gibbs: 4.25/5

THE AWARDS

Best Actor

Fred Simmons: Al Pacino in the Godfather

Doc Gibbs: Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt

Best Actress

Fred Simmons: Amy Adams in Junebug

Doc Gibbs: Embeth Davidtz in Junebug

Best Supporting

Fred Simmons: Diane Keaton in the Godfather

Doc Gibbs: Amy Adams in Junebug

Best Picture

Fred Simmons: the Godfather

Doc Gibbs: Junebug

Equilibrium

Equilibrium [2002] [d. Kurt Wimmer] [s. Christian Bale, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs]

This has a feeling of V For Vendetta in the sense of the government and the talking head always delivering messages to the masses.  But the similarities end there, this is not a good film at all.  There is a good base story here and at times it looks promising but nothing ever comes from it.  There is a ridiculous amount of violence/gun fire almost just for the sake of saying they killed the most people in a film or the biggest gunfight between one man and an army of men.  One thing I laughed at was the similar style of fighting Christian Bale used that the women of Charlie’s Angels did as well with the whole arm moving after a nice move or whatever.  I did think Christian Bale was good and Emily Watson did good enough but I think both are way too good for this type of film.  For everything unique about this movie, it ends up just a basic mega-shooter film that had a couple of good scenes.  There was plenty of mass killings here and it was almost comedic in a way as it was pretty far-fetch even with the circumstances of the movie.  Taye Diggs is pretty basic here and doesn’t really much, same with “Father”.  The hints of a positive moments were all concerning Christian Bale with a couple of scenes with Emily Watson and his son [about two minutes combined with his daughter in the background].  Again, I think the story itself was good enough but it didn’t mix at all with the awful overkill of shooting guns and the over-choreagraphed backflip shooting and whatnot.  A little credit is due to the makers of this film, be it writers or directors for trying something different I guess but I don’t think it worked well nor did I really enjoy it.  1.75/5

The awards for the film series we just wrapped up will be worked on in a few minutes along with all the fun that goes with it.

Junebug

Junebug [2005] [d. Phil Morrison] [s. Amy Adams, Embeth Davidtz, Benjamin McKenzie]

With these review comes the end of another installment of the Summer Film Series.  This is a film I had seen a preview for a couple of times over the last year and some change, I just never got around to watching it.  I really didn’t know what to expect but I saw it had Amy Adams, who I have enjoyed very much in Sunshine Cleaning and Doubt, as well as the partying footballer in Goal: The Dream Begins, Alessandro Nivola.  Amy Adams is perfect in this role and her best I have seen thus far for her.  There is an odd cast of characters in this that I really did not connect with at all.  Embeth Davidtz, who I’ve never seen before this film, is pretty good in this as a complete outsider to her husband’s, Nivola, family.  There is a lot of silence that really makes the relationships between the characters known.  There is a lot of tension between the brothers, something happened in the past that is not known or talked about, and the family, aside from Adams, do not take to Davidtz.  There were some beautiful shots in this film of the outdoors and countryside in North Carolina but I don’t feel it did all the much to add to the film aside from looking great.  After it is all said and done, this film is very slow paced and I didn’t really enjoy it all that much.  It was a good character study of how the family interacts and is forced to adapt, or how they refuse to do so.  I really don’t have a whole lot so say about this film without completely spoiling the few big parts there were.  I did not like Nivola all that much here and Benjamin McKenzie is so unlikeable but no reasons are given as to why he is the way he is, and nothing hinted or anything.  Adams’ performance completely saved this film and her interactions and scenes with Davidtz were the highlight of this film as well.  Overall, I did not enjoy this outside of Amy Adams as the innocent and somewhat naive southern girl played perfectly and a few scenes here or there.  Not to say it wasn’t worth watching but not something I’d watch again anytime soon.  3/5

After Doc Gibbs watches Junebug, the awards will be done and we will start with the next installment.  Tommorrow will be a special edition, looks like it will be One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, B-Rad’s personal favorite.  And the Lunchtime Theatre selection for tommorrow, as selected by the Doc, is Equilibrium.  Good luck with that.

You pick the next special edition!

The winner of this poll will be viewed sometime this week.  So get to voting as I go watch Junebug.

The Summer Film Series Part Nine

It seems just like yesterday we were starting this film series, we are now on the ninth edition of it and here are the selections for this time around.  Let’s waste no more time getting down to business.

The Godfather Part II [1974] [d. Francis Ford Coppola] [s. Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton]

12 [2007] [d. Nikita Mikhalkov] [s. Sergei Makovetsky, Sergey Garmash, Aleksei Petrenko]

Yes Man [2008] [d. Peyton Reed] [s. Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper]

There are the films that were chosen for this edition of the Summer Film Series.  Tommorrow will be nothing but special editions and the now staple of the Film Archives, Lunchtime Theatre.  There may even be a poll or two for what special editions you would like to see us take part in.  Stay tuned for that and all kinds of other great adventures that the Film Archives will continue to bring you and take you on.

Fun With Dick and Jane: now with more Jim Carrey.

Fun With Dick and Jane [2005] [d. Dean Parisot] [s. Jim Carrey, Tea Leoni, Alec Baldwin]

I have not seen the 1977 version of this film so I went in fresh on this 2005 remake.  Jim Carrey is almost always good in comedies and I have enjoyed his films Dumb and Dumberer, Ace Ventura, The Cable Guy and Bruce Almighty.  I have not seen his more serious roles but am planning on watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in the near future.  So I had an idea what to expect from Jim Carrey in a comedy but I am unfamiliar with Tea Leoni aside from her role in Bad Boys, which I thought she was really good in.  Carrey was pretty great in this throughout and really made this movie a lot of fun to watch.  He does tend to go a little overboard on a joke like the scene he is jumping from the stairs to a chair, I thought it was more of an out-take than anything but overall he makes the little stuff funny by his facial expressions and movements.  Leoni was really good in this and I really didn’t know what to expect from her in a comedy like this but it definitely worked well.  Carrey and Leoni were a great married couple and had a lot of chemistry together.  The coffee shop scene is great and up there as far as the most memorable scene goes.  But that definitely goes to the great Richard Jenkins, who by no suprise steals every scene he is in, especially as the film goes on.  The scene with him in the car is one of the funnier scenes I have seen in recent times and is just a great example of what Jenkins is capable of.  Jenkins was great in Step Brothers but had one of the best performances of 2008 in his starring role in the Visitor.  This is a great supporting role that he makes a huge impact with.  I’m not really an Alec Baldwin fan by any means but he seems to be decent in most of his roles I have seen.  I enjoyed him a lot in the Departed though so he can be really good, this is just him being a total jerk so I guess it works because I did not like him at all.  And it was a treat to see Jack from She Spies, Carlos Jacott, aka the Pool Guy from Seinfeld.  The film wasn’t anything to blow my mind or anything but didn’t try to be.  It was a really funny movie that did it’s just by keeping me entertained and giving me some laughs for the entire hour and a half.  Another thing I enjoyed was Dick and Jane’s son and the housekeeper.  The two were really funny together and when the kid was mad they were taking the TV away, he said “not my telemundo!”.  That was one of the funnier scenes as was the ATM encounter with John Michael Higgins.  Overall I enjoyed the movie and I think it is funnier than a lot of the comedies that come out year after year such as House Bunny, etc as this actually had a story that was good and a really good cast.  4/5

After some very hard thinking, I have decided to sort of change the format of my write-ups.  Remember, this is my first stab at a movie palace of sorts, a memoir so to speak [what?], so I am fine-tuning stuff as I see fit and tweaking stuff to improve it and make it funner for me.  So there will be no spoilers like there were on a couple of the films earlier, though sometimes it is hard to say what I liked about the film without giving something away, even a minor thing, but I will try to make it more focused on the perfomances and the whatnot.  So enjoy the future write-ups as they are going to be even better.  And join us tommorrow for another Lunchtime Theatre when the film is….I’m not sure yet, Doc has to pick one.  Tonight, Junebug is on the menu and possibly a write-up, if not, it will be done tommorrow.  And since that is the final film of the current series, you can definitely expect awards and whatnot.  And in a few minutes the next film series selections will be announced.