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Bourne Again

1 Aug

From the very beginning, the Bourne movies have been thinking person’s action films: they’re dense with plot, well-acted, and filled with exciting action scenes.

The Bourne Ultimatum is no exception to that rule.

It starts off with a chase in Moscow, filmed with handheld cameras in a style that puts you right in the middle of the action and heightens the suspense, and doesn’t let up until its conclusion less than two hours later (talk about an efficient film).

Damon, as always, is great, and he’s joined here by Joan Allen (reprising her role from The Bourne Supremacy), David Strathairn, and Albert Finney.

The handheld camerawork continues throughout the film, giving it a jittery look, and director Paul Greengrass (also returning from Supremacy) stages an edge of your seat chase through Tangiers and a short but effective one in New York with Bourne driving a police car, both of which are really cool.

But some of the dialogue feels stilted, and I don’t think the movie’s as good or exciting as Supremacy was.

Still, calling Ultimatum the lesser of the three films is like saying chocolate is the worst ice cream flavor — it may be lacking in ingredients, but it’s still pretty darned good.

And that’s why I’m giving Ultimatum a B+.

Back to the Drawing Board

29 Jul

Truth be told, I can’t remember the last time I watched an episode of The Simpsons TV show. And yet, The Simpsons Movie I just had to see. It’s funny enough, but I feel like it was just another episode of the show, unlike, say, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, which was so much more than an expanded bit. Still, I don’t want to discount the movie too much, because I did laugh from start to finish (and by finish I mean midway through the end credits when the Simpsons get up out of their seats — there’s no need to stay all the way until the very end). And it’s pretty clever at points. But yeah, I can’t say the movie made me want to go home and catch up on all the reruns and start watching again when the new season starts in the Fall. I guess that’s a shame. It’s exciting that the Simpsons have made a movie, but something about it still feels like a missed opportunity. I think I may have enjoyed making my Simpsons avatar a little more (and the version that’s in my profile came from SimpsonizeMe.com.) Oh well. I’m giving The Simpsons Movie a B.

The Beat Goes On

16 Jul

I have to say, I really enjoyed the movie adaptation of the Broadway adaptation of the film Hairspray.

It’s so much fun that even non-fans of Broadway shows might like it.

It’s bright, colorful, full of great songs and showstopping musical numbers, and it just leaves you with a huge smile.

Director Adam Shankman seems to have perpetual jazz hands on and directs in a style where every song seems engineered to be a crowd pleaser.

And thankfully, most of it works pretty well. Continue reading →

Can’t Say It, Can’t ‘Spray It

12 Jul

I saw a really fun movie Thursday night, but I was asked to hold off on publishing a review until next week. So, don’t consider this post an official “review.” I can’t even mention the film by name. But this movie — I’ll call it Airsprayhay so you’ll never figure out what I’m talking about — is totally bright and colorful and fun and perfect for the summer. AND, I am totally and completely in love with Amanda Bynes now — even more than I was. The girl is totally adorable in this movie, with her sunkissed tanned skin and cute cluelessness and upbeat teenage playfulness. How many times did I turn to Farrah and say, “I love that girl.” (And yes, Amanda is legal.) But alright, I’ve probably said too much already. More on this film when my thoughts have a chance to gel.

Super Funny

10 Jul

My dear friends, if you’re looking for ’80s nostalgia this summer, forget that silly Transformers movie.

Instead, the real whiff of the past comes from Superbad, a little sleeper film in the spirit of Porky’s, Sixteen Candles, Better Off Dead, and The Last American Virgin that you’re gonna want to see multiple times and will be quoting lines from for months to come.

McLovin’ is truly in da house. Continue reading →

Catching Up

9 Jul

After a few days off, here are a few quick items that weren’t significant enough for posts of their own:

Real estate porn: I’m starting to really enjoy this whole buying real estate thing. Every Sunday I try to hit up a few open houses to see what’s out there, and it’s fun to see the nice kitchens and views and cleaned up bathrooms and stuff. Equally fun (though also frustrating) is seeing the places that sound nice and are photographed well, but in actuality are dumps. Who are they kidding?? And then there are the places I walk into off the street because there’s an “open house” sign out front, only to find it’s way out of my price range. Ha! Either way, it’s all good and worth seeing just for comparison. And one day, one of these nice kitchens will be mine. Then, I suppose, I’ll have to cook. But first things first.

All junk: I’d like to spend, like, two minutes in the mind of a spammer. What good is it to send out all your messages for discounted software and “enhancement” drugs and all that other crap on a holiday weekend, when it’ll just get lost amongst all the other junk emails of the sort? I got close to 100 of these messages in my work email box between Friday and Monday morning. And I moved them all into the trash.

In their place: I’m so far away from being married that sometimes I can only look at my married or engaged friends and laugh at some of the things they do. Like when my engaged friends register for “silly” stuff I know they’ll never use. For example, one of my friends registered for, like, 20 bjillion placemats. And not just the same kind, but, like, six of one kind, a dozen of another, and 15 of another. How many times has this couple eaten dinner together at home recently? Let’s just say that everytime I call them at 5:00 (the time they say they’re eating dinner) they’re not home. And I know this friend will enjoy that I’m making fun of him publicly. Still, I look forward to the day when he tells me the dinner placemats actually got used.

No Dice: Halfway through the season and I’m still not impressed with Dice-K. He lost again on Sunday. Six runs and 10 hits in five innings. That’s no ace. As for the whole team, I’ll worry about them when the second place team (be it Toronto or the Yankees) make it within five games. Until then, much as I’d rather they be dominating everyone, I can’t get upset that they lost the series this weekend. The season’s on cruise control.

Wild thing: I’m really looking forward to the movie adaptation of Into the Wild, which is a book I’ve actually read. Granted, it was a few years ago, but I remember really liking it, and the film’s trailer looks really promising. Speaking of which, I expect to have finished Cabin Pressure by week’s end (only 25 pages to go). That’ll be the second book I’ve read in three months. (That’s right, two books in three months. Go me!) Next on the reading list: The Year of Living Biblically, by A.J. Jacobs. It’s not out till October, but A.J. himself sent me an advance copy (with a personal note and everything) because I interviewed him a few years back to promote his last book. Yaaaaaay, A.J.!

Say What?

2 Jul

One thing I hated about the movie Fever Pitch was how utterly unrealistic I thought the Drew Barrymore character was. How could it be possible, I wondered, that a person living in Boston was that clueless about the Red Sox, and baseball in general? Isn’t it, like, a mandatory part of your citizenship in this city that you have to be a baseball fan? Or at the very least, how could you avoid it, what with the incessant press coverage of the Sox and the way the city seems to be totally devoted to the sport during the season. So imagine my surprise when, on my way home on the T this evening, a fellow passenger started to engage the driver in conversation.

I tried not to eavesdrop — really, I did — but she was right behind me, and certain things she said and questions she asked stood out. For example, “I haven’t been paying attention. How are the Red Sox doing this season?” “I heard they’re playing the same team tonight that beat them yesterday.” “A series is three or four games? Why do they play so many?” “What’s the team from Texas called?” I thought she might have been kidding, but no. She was genuinely clueless about the whole thing. It was as if she was talking about something that some people do, like a movie that those kids are all talking about, or the cult tv show that she’s heard is good, or something that happens in a foreign country that hasn’t yet reached the States.

I swear, I’ve never heard someone talk like that about baseball in Boston. I knew people like Jimmy Fallon’s character actually existed, but now I guess I’ll have to look at Drew’s character in a new light.

Wrong Man, Wrong Time, Wrong Movie

30 Jun

Not much really needs to be said about Live Free or Die Hard.

It’s the worst of the four Die Hard movies, and actually, it doesn’t really feel like a Die Hard movie at all.

Rather, it’s like there was a buddy action script out there that Bruce Willis was attached to, and they made it into a Die Hard movie. Continue reading →

D’Oh!

29 Jun

If I was a character on The Simpsons (and didn’t wear glasses), this is what I’d look like. At least that’s what the web site for the upcoming Simpsons movie thinks. Try it for yourself: go to SimpsonsMovie.com and click on “Create Your Simpsons Avatar.”

Mighty Good

21 Jun

Like the woman at its center, A Mighty Heart has a real quiet dignity. Which is not to say it’s a quiet movie, but it’s not a big, showy one, and it’s not exactly the kind of movie you enjoy — which makes it perfect counter-programming in a season of blockbusters — but the way it deals with its subject matter with grace and humanity only helps its cause.

Basically, A Mighty Heart tells the story of the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl from the perspective of his wife, Mariane. It’s been filmed with handheld cameras in a documentary, you-are-there fashion, which gives it a real sense of immediacy and realism. There isn’t a score playing underneath the action to tell you how to feel, and there aren’t grand speeches about the horrible people who have done this to Pearl. There’s not even a re-enactment of what happened to Pearl when or while he was kidnapped. There’s just a group of Americans and Pakistanis working together and taking action to save him before it’s too late.

Of course, we all know what happened to Daniel Pearl, which makes the film somewhat frustrating. I would have thought that maybe half or two-thirds of A Mighty Heart would have been spent on the kidnapping and the rest would have been spent on Mariane’s struggle afterward, and how she handled it. Instead, we generally see her sitting around a table, trying to hold herself together and stay positive, trying to save face in what is certainly a devastating situation, gazing at pictures of Pearl that have been sent from the kidnappers as if they were wedding pictures, and basically waiting for her husband to come home. Which, sure, demonstrates her grace under fire. But it doesn’t adequately convey how she dealt with her husband’s brutal death in a heroic and positive way, thus giving relevance to the film’s title, and I wish more time had been spent on that.

That all said, I think A Mighty Heart is certainly worth seeing. As a document of how these people tried to save Pearl, for all their varied reasons, it is very good. And Angelina Jolie definitely gives an effective performance; race issues aside, given Jolie’s very public efforts to better the world, the role of Mariane Pearl seems to fit her like a glove. Thankfully, she doesn’t make the movie about her (ie: Angelina) and lets Mariane’s quiet actions speak for themselves.

Mariane might be pregnant in this movie, but A Mighty Heart is no Knocked Up. If you can deal with that, and you have a tissue handy, then you’ll likely find A Mighty Heart worthwhile. I’m giving it a B+.

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