Having 24 hours of travel time to kill journeying to the other end of the world does have some benefits. For one, it gave me the chance to catch up with many films I have not had a chance to see yet. So, here are some quick thoughts on the flicks I watched (and a quick heads up, there may be spoilers).
First, the good:
Art & Copy
Like Mad Men? Well, then this one is a must-see (I recommend watching it as a double-feature with the classic Ad Biz comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?). This is a documentary on the history of modern advertising, with special focus on the creative side of advertising. Anecdotes about famous (and infamous) ad campaigns abound, and there are definitely some large egos on display. Entertaining and informative.
Moon
OK, I’m calling it: if Sam Rockwell is not nominated for best actor by the Academy for this film, then the Oscars are dead to me. As impressed as I was with Mickey Rourke’s performance in The Wrestler last year, I gotta say that Sam Rockwell is as good as Rourke was AND has a more difficult part to play. I will not get into WHY it’s the more tasking role (that gets into some massive spoilage that I will not spill – the less you know about this one, the better). Great movie, fantastic work by Rockwell, highly recommended.
Oh, and I will spoil one detail of the film – it takes place on the Moon.
And Kevin Spacey creeps me out.
The Hangover
Frakkin’ hysterical, with a plot that keeps ratcheting up the funny with every new scene. Can’t wait for the inevitable sequel.
Also, any movie that has cameos Mike Tyson, Carrot Top AND Wayne Newton… Well, that’s just my kind of movie.
The Hurt Locker
Wow. Kathryn Bigelow, what happened? You used to suck, cranking out C- summer flicks like K9: The Widowmaker and now? You direct what I now regard the Best Movie of 2009?! Somebody ate their Wheaties.
Actually, what I think really happened was Bigelow was delivered a bullet proof script, superb actors and found the perfect film for her to apply her directing style. Everything came together.
The film, about a group of bomb squad soldiers in Bagdhad, is about much more than that. This is the first movie about Iraq that really works, because it doesn’t try and editorialize; it just presents the situations and shows how these men deal with it, everyday.
And whatever we are paying these guys to do what they do, it ain’t enough. Not nearly enough.
And now, the bad:
Transformers 2
Sigh.
I’m a Transformers geek, and so I should have been thrilled – the script pushes all the fanboy buttons (“Look it’s Soundwave! And Ravage! And the Matrix of Leadership!” And Prime dies!) but it just left me cold. I think the mistake I made was watching it directly after the aforementioned The Hurt Locker, so the military porn and banal script, acting and dialogue was even more obvious.
And come on, Robot Heaven? Really?
When it comes out on home video, this one will be a great movie to use to demo your home theatre system… Or the disk will make a fine coaster.
Terminator: Salvation
James Cameron, why have you foresaken us? Why didn’t you buy the Terminator rights when you could have years ago and prevented this movie from happening?
And can we go back in time and terminate McG’s mother to prevent him from ever directing this movie?
Sorry, that last part was a bit harsh. But, seriously: Terminator: Salvation made me realize just how good Terminator 3 was.
I will admit, there were three cool things I liked in the movie:
– Seeing Muchael Ironside on screen again (I also realized just how much l look like him, so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice).
– The surprise cameo at the end (courtesy a body double and some really good CGI).
– It ended.