#129: Bridesmaids (7/10)

I don't like to read reviews before I write my own, but this time I did. After seeing Bridesmaids I wasn't blown away by it... at least not as much as all the hype that I'd heard about it from the public and critics alike. I had to check them out and see what everybody liked so much about it. I started with the staples... Ebert and Armond White. Everybody should read Ebert's review just to enjoy the awkwardness (fyi I am reviewing reviews right now... meta!). I read a few other reviews and I came up with a consensus of why everybody liked it... because it proves women actually can be funny and that is such a refreshing surprise from their usual bitching and moaning.

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#128: Wet Hot American Summer (5/10)

Back in high school, especially the last couple years of it, I didn't watch all that many movies. I felt like I did, but other than going out on dates from time to time I really didn't. Even in college I didn't see that many. Later on I started watching more, but for the first couple years I watched almost nothing. This means I have a gap from 1998 to 2003 where I saw very few movies (by comparison to what I see these days anyway). I missed out on a lot. I've been trying to go back and fill in the gaps. The good part is that I can pretty easily filter out all the crap movies that came out during that time and focus on the good ones. One that I'd been meaning to catch up with forever finally came to Netflix instant... Wet Hot American Summer.

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#127: Before Sunset (7/10)

Last week I treated myself to a couple of talkies... ones about love you see.  You should have already read my thoughts on Before Sunrise.  I couldn't wait to sit down to see what became of my two favorite jabber mouths. Most people who watched the original film in 1995 had to wait 9 whole years to know if they met in December on that train platform. I cheated the system and only waited mere hours before learning what happened to the young lovers.  I'm not sure if Before Sunset was better or worse because of that.

Celine and Jesse meet again, this time in Paris. Just as before... they walk and they talk. We resume our role as voyeur, taking in their conversational musings on life and love. Just as before there is a pretentiousness that makes each of them unlikable in their own special way. Now they don't have the naivety of youth to use as an excuse.  I am nearly 29 years old. I am much closer in age to the Celine and Jesse in this second film.  Yet, I felt much more connected to the younger versions. There is probably some meaning in that... I should think about that more at a later date.

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#126: Before Sunrise (6/10)

I'm still way behind on my movie watching, but I did manage to catch up with a 1995 Richard Linklater film known as Before Sunrise. I'd really never hear of it back in the day, but I was pretty young when it came out. The film was referenced a couple times on the Filmspotting podcast, so when I saw it on Netflix instant I decided to check it out. I had no clue what it was going to be like, but I was actually pleasantly surprised.

Before Sunrise is about an American traveling in Europe. He meets a French girl on the train and they decide to spend the day together until they will be forced to part ways. It is amazing that almost nothing happens in this film. They don't really do anything. However, they do talk a lot. Almost the entire movie is one conversation after another between the two characters. This type of "talkie" film doesn't appeal to everyone. If I'd watched it maybe 8 years ago I would have hated it. When I realized what it was, I probably would have turned it off.

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#125: Hot Tub Time Machine (5/10)

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I really haven't been watching many movies lately. The problem with Netflix instant is that I start watching lots of movies, but if I'm not interested I can easily turn it off and never finish it. I've been doing that quite a bit lately, and I just haven't had much time to watch movies. Maybe I should start posting about TV.

This week one of the movies I started watching was Love And Other Drugs. I've had it on dvd from Netflix for a couple weeks and I wanted to get it sent back so I forced myself to start it up. Right at first I thought it could be promising, but that hope quickly faded. It was horrible. The interactions between the main characters were so awkward. The brother was supposed to be there for some comic relief, but he wasn't even close to being funny. I made it about 50 minutes in, but when I saw there was another full hour left I decided to bail on it. It is a total piece of crap movie.

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#124: Burlesque (3/10)

I have become fairly pretentious about the films I watch, and Burlesque wasn't even considered to be worth my time. I am almost ashamed to admit I watched it. Even more so, I didn't hate it. Don't get me wrong, it is corny beyond belief, and cannot be taken seriously. Still... it has some entertainment value. It does feature Kristen Bell dancing around in her underwear, so that cannot be all bad... right?

I hadn't seen the great 2000 film Coyote Ugly since it first came out on dvd. I cannot speak to its quality, it has been so long. Burlesque felt like a straight remake of that film, with a slightly different setting, and a much less engaging protagonist... and overall much worse acting. Back when I saw Coyote Ugly I actually bought what was going on.  Burlesque felt more like a spoof of an actual movie.  Kristen Bell and Stanley Tucci did an admirable job making their performances feel genuine, everybody else was ridiculous.

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#123: Batman: Under The Red Hood

Of all the cartoons I used to watch as a kid, Batman: The Animated Series was always one of my favorites. I loved the style of animation and in general Batman is just awesome. He is my favorite super hero by far. Despite the awesomeness of the Christopher Nolan films, the animated series will always be my favorite Batman franchise. When I saw Under The Red Hood on Netflix instant I was super excited. Based on my nostalgia there was little chance I would dislike it. It did not disappoint.

I remember getting off the school bus, coming in the house and turning the tv on. I'd watch Batman, then spend the next hour playing with my action figures and Batmobile. It was the sweet looking Batmobile from the animated series and one of my all-time favorite toys. Unlike most most cartoons, Batman could get dark and almost scary to a little kid. It was violent and funny at the same time. Under The Red Hood brings that same grittiness combined with levity. I was surprised by the brutal violence in the opening scene. It was probably never that severe in the television show, and it was a bit jarring to see at first. It wasn't quite the same as I remembered it as a kid, it was almost better.

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The Low Point Of My Film Year

Every year around this time my film watching hits a pretty substantial lull. The weather is starting to get nice, so I am spending less and less time indoors. College basketball season it reaching its pinnacle, so the time I do spend in front of the tv is mostly spent watching sports. During the week American Idol is wasting three hours of my idle time. I have also been reading a lot more lately. I haven't seen a film in over 2 weeks. I tried to watch The American last night, but ended up turning it off about 30 minutes in.

Not only do I tend to stop watching film around this time each year, but I also seem to stop caring about all the film news and rumors. I still make sure and listen to the weekly Filmspotting and /Film podcasts, but other than that I don't spend a lot of time keeping up with all the stuff that's going on. Everybody is starting to talk about the summer movies, and I tend to disengage. It seems like a bad time to try keeping up with a film blog.

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#122: Dogtooth (7/10)

Dogtooth is a film that most casual movie watchers will not be able to stand. Even though I really enjoyed it, it is almost impossible to recommend. It is probably the first Greek film I've ever seen. It is shot in an art-house style reminiscent of Michael Haneke. There is lot of odd focusing and framing that will likely turn people off.  It is slow paced with almost no plot.  The characters speak with an unemotional, almost robotic style. It is entirely in a foreign language making it even more difficult to connect with the film.  It would seem to have a lot working against it, but it still resonated with me. More than any other film I have watched in the last several months, Dogtooth prompted me to seek out reviews, and demanded that I think about it further.  While it might not be the easiest film to watch, Dogtooth is one that will probably stick with you for a while.

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#121: Let Me In (7/10)

Let The Right One In is a 2008 Swedish film that I quite liked. You can read my post here.  Let Me In is the American remake. They both have the exact same plot... a girl befriends an outcast young boy... she is actually a vampire... young love blossoms.  Both films have a fairly deliberate pace and a distinct tone, which is also very similar between the two. This is basically a straight-up exact remake, but I didn't have a problem with that. It is a very good story that I was looking forward to seeing retold.

A lot of critics cast hate on Let Me In before they ever saw it saying there was no reason for its existence. I understand their point as Let The Right One In is a very good film that was very recently released.  However, nobody is holding a gun to their head forcing them to see Let Me In.

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