Movie Reviews From The Home

Yes, I'm back on the block. . . for about four days. Then I have to go out again. Anyway, I had the opportunity to see three movies last night I hadn't seen before, so that's what you get, because I don't have the energy to be creative right now. I've slept less than thirty minutes in the last 24 hours, so please excuse any lack of coherence. Oh, and I''m fairly sure there are spoilers in here somewhere, but I've forgotten where I placed them. Mind's scattered a bit right now, you see.

Drillbit Taylor - So this is what Alex and I (along with some of his other friends) wound up seeing at the theaters. It's a fairly stock plot, with three rather geeky fellows who need help to survive high school, and Owen Wilson plays the guy who claims he can help, but plans to help himself to all the high-priced electronics in their homes, except he decides he cares about them, and everybody gets a moment to confront their fears, and we learn about the importance of honesty and friendship, and you know all this stuff. It's kind of like Chicken Run in that regard, or any of several other movies (The Ladykillers, perhaps?). All of which makes me feel a bit bad that I enjoyed it, but I suppose it's like what Brian Cronin says sometimes in those Judging Books By Their Covers posts, how the reason something is a cliche is because it works well. or something like that.

I did laugh at several parts of the film, though there were also parts I didn't want to watch, as I felt the characters' (not the actors', but their characters') embarrassment too keenly in that moment. It's a weakness of mine, I hate to see generally good people make fools of themselves, so I chose "T-Dog's" freestyle rapping as the moment for a strategic bathroom break (though I believe it went well for him). Like I said, I laughed about several things (The Mexican Judo comment always gets me), and even though Drillbit seems to be the same guy Owen Wilson always plays, he plays him in a way where I feel for him, even when he's ripping off poor gullible kids I also sympathize with. Plus, there was a pretty decent fight at the end, though I still wonder why no one ever punches anybody in the throat during these things. If you do that, they can't breathe! No breathing = no fighting! So I would cautiously recommend at least renting it at some point for some cheap laughs. I would advise viewing with friends, that way if you decide it's horrible, you have people to converse with about how much you dislike it.

We Own The Night - Watched this movie back at Alex' place. I'm disappointed in it, mostly in Joaquin Phoenix' character. Early on, when he was having a good time running a night club, I sided with him against his brother (Mark Wahlberg) and father (Robert Duvall), who are both cops, and seem disappointed (especially the old man) that Joaquin didn't follow their career path. Then they start trying to push him to help them wreck some drug trade they say involves a prominent person inside the club (they're right, but Joaquin doesn't know that). Anyway, as long as Joaquin was telling them to get lost, sticking to his guns, I was with him. But about the time he shifts perspective (owing to a tragedy in the family), he started to lose me. Probably because it seemed like his family looked down their noses at him, so what the hell did him owe them? I know it's about doing the right thing, and I'm usually for that, but not when it benefits people who treat you poorly.

What's interesting is that he never seems to debate his decisions much, at least not in front of the camera. He's deadset on going one way, then something happens, and he quickly seems to reverse course. I know that's the way things happen in life, especially when your life takes a serious hit, but he just seems to change his decisions too easily for a person who was able to resist his father's desire for him to join the force. Maybe it's a mellowing with age. Also, that was an abrupt ending. 'I love you. I love you, too.' Credits. Um, OK then? I get the point (I think), as it relates to reconciliation, but it seemed too sudden.

So after that generally disappointing film, I put in Dead Silence. . . then promptly took it out about the time it became clear the possessed ventriloquist doll had ripped out the lady's tongue (demonstrated by the blood pouring from her mouth). At that point I still figured I was going to sleep a bit after the film, rather than just hit the road in the wee morning hours, and I didn't need that in my dreams. Which means it's still waiting for me to go to sleep. Nooooo!

Ahem. Sorry about that. So instead we watched 3:10 to Yuma. This felt like a movie that wanted to play with conventions of the genre a bit. Members of an escort posse that can barely handle a gun outlast seasoned gunmen. The notorious stagecoach robber Ben Wade can be an extremely brutal man, but also an aspiring artist, and possibly a romantic. He's got a bit of the Bruce Wayne in him, shaped by the (separate) circumstances under which he lost his parents, though I'd need to watch it again, knowing what happened to them to have a better idea of what it did to him. Meanwhile, Christian Bale's Dan Evans character reminds me a little of Joe Kidd, and a little of William Munny from Unforgiven, and maybe a little of Dean Martin's characters from those Westerns he did with John Wayne (Rio Bravo?). He's missing a foot, an unsuccessful farmer, with an older son who's openly disdainful of a father who refuses to fight those who wrong him, but even with everything he lacks, and how powerless he seems, he's got his pride, and that carries him forward quite a ways.

I was talking about playing with convention. Early in the film we learn that Dan was in a sharpshooting regiment during the Civil War. naturally, I expected that this bit of information would prove critical during the film. Well, unless you count shooting a gently lobbed package of TNT with a revolver on a horse as sharpshooting (though it's certainly more than I can manage), Dan never really demonstrates any great skill at shooting humans, at least not compared to what we've come to expect of "sharpshooters" in movies. Another thing was that for a long time, we don't know how Dan lost his foot, but Wade's righthand man, Charlie Prince, is wearing a jacket that reminds me of a Confederate uniform, and we learned that Dan was fighting for the Union. Plus, there's a scene where Dan could shoot Charlie as he rides away, but doesn't, and Charlie sits atop his horse along the horizon, in what seems a significant moment. So I was sure there was history between those two. well, Dan not shooting Charlie became relevant later (since Charlie commands Wade's forces in the man's absence), but it, again, wasn't what I expected.

The thing I like is the film didn't feel rushed, like it needed to hurry to the next gunfight (though there's plenty of people getting shot throughout the film). It took its time, and gave us some interesting character interaction at several parts, usually involving Wade, and how the others play off him.

So hey, maybe something comic-related tomorrow, in case you'd forgotten what this blog normally traffics in. I had, until I started looking through the archives. Been away so long. . .