A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. Thrives more on effective mood and style and ambiance than narrative strength. Too cool for its own good, in both sense of the word (for my tastes), but it’s fresh, and I like the genre-blending across western, noir, and horror. Soundtrack.
Ex Machina. One of my favorites of the year so far. Oscar Isaac’s Nathan is awesome, flipping back and forth from intimidating to genial. He’s a brogrammer archetype. Excellent critique here of tech sexism and overreach. His overconfidence makes him too casual, flippant about the ethics. Domhnall Gleeson’s Caleb has his own blinders, about gender in particular. Some of the dialogue was tiresome. I wish they’d felt more courage to just let people talk, and let the audience get lost a bit (if needed) without preface and theory. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised how they handled the ending. I’d imagined something more traditional. Loved it. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack for a couple weeks now. Good stuff.
The Town. This movie is so great. (Previously.) Follows that wonderful formula that Heat, uses: criminals + leader + wildcard teammate + romantic complication + the pressure to do just one more job = everything falling apart. Hall and Hamm’s characters seemed stronger on second viewing. Renner’s character? I can’t enough.
Doug MacRay: You can’t be up there killing people.
James Coughlin: Hey, you brought me.
Ida. It’s exceptionally lovely to look at. Black and white brings out the layers and textures and lighting. The boxy aspect ratio makes is a refreshing change too. I’m thinking it’s under-used these days. (Meek’s Cutoff is another recent example that does it well.) Story isn’t as invigorating as the visuals, but it packs a lot in and feels so much bigger than its minutes, in a good way.
I Walk Alone. Spins out of control really nicely! Solid.
Furious 7. On the whole, much more of a soap opera than the previous movies. Or just opera. It’s grand, it’s sentimental. The series seemed to transition from heist flick into slightly more of a superhero ensemble piece. The mission and conflict is much more personal through and through, rather than practical.
The bus scene up there is not in any way ruined by the trailer. So much better than I thought. Other good stuff: I like how they set up and executed the staircase scene. And this one felt funnier than the previous ones. It’s a bit slighter and choppier in hindsight, but when I was watching they really played the whole range pretty well.
I also have to mention that it was difficult to watch at times, for real-life reasons. Seeing Paul Walker doing dangerous things in cars, knowing the circumstances of his death, made me a little uneasy. In the theatre it made me think of Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight. It’s all too easy to make those eerie parallels with the real world. I trust that this one, too, will be easier to watch again later, because you also get to see him just having fun with his fellow cast, enjoying this ride like we do.
Filed under: The Fast and the Furious. I guess I have to go back and re-watch all of them now.
Casablanca. It’s perfect. Claude Rains keeps the whole thing moving.
Erin Brockovich. Roberts is great, but it’s hamstrung by its repetition. Manages to make paperwork interesting for a couple hours, though.
The Devil Wears Prada. It does a good job of playing both sides. I wish it would move a little more quickly.
The Social Network. I didn’t like the Zuckerberg characterization as much this time around (previously), but somehow I felt more sympathetic. Great movie. Filed under: David Fincher.
Run All Night. Well there’s nothing new here, but some good stuff, and also a groaner of a villainous re-appearance. I was surprise at how many nice photographs there are in this one, in particular some really lovely nighttime city scenes. Makes me more curious about Unknown and Non-Stop.
Mean Girls. Brilliant. Another screen-on-the-green viewing. This might be the movie I quote the most? (Previously.)
Blade Runner. Had the good fortune to see this on a big screen, in a big park. So rad. Filed under: Blade Runner.
The Equalizer. Second viewing (the first). I wish there were a prequel about Marton Csokas’ character.
Wild. Meh.
Nebraska. It’s good. Does it’s best work in the lighter moments, but that’s just me.
Lost in Translation. Bill Murray is the best. Johansson is really good, but I don’t see this movie working without him.
Top Five. Let’s see, a movie about an actor known for more mass-market-friendly work who’s anxious about trying his hand at something more serious. Sounds familiar, but worked so much better for me. I don’t follow the business side of movies very much, so I really hope this did well enough for Rock to do many more.
Nightcrawler. Second viewing, ditto everything I wrote before), and I loved it even more this time. This was the first of a handful I watched on a very long flight. Sorry not sorry for the deluge to come.
No Country for Old Men. Fourth or fifth time I’ve watched it, I think. Dear lord. There might be just a single-digit number of movies better than this one.
Mark Larson 