Kids: 1995 drama written by Harmony Korine,
directed by Larry Clark, and starring Chloe Sevigne, Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin
Pierce, Harold Hunter and Rosario Dawson.
A teenage girl tests positive for HIV and spends the day trying to track
down the 16 year-old lothario who gave it to her, hoping to prevent him from
exposing anyone else. The surrounding
plot is a mess of teenage drinking, drug use, violence, sex, and rape. At its low points it’s a glamorization of
asshole behavior disguised as harmless rebelliousness, meant to shock and
titillate viewers into ignoring its utter lack of substance. In the very few moments of redemption it’s a
study in ‘90s urban teen life, poignant and heartbreaking. But for me those moments were too sparse. I tried to view it through the eyes of my
high school self, to no avail. I don’t
know if I’m too square to appreciate this movie or if it’s really a total pile
of shit. Probably a little bit of both.
The Imposter: 2012 documentary directed by Bart
Layton. In 1994, 13 year-old Nicholas
Barclay disappeared from San Antonio, Texas.
Three years later, authorities call his family with amazing news – he’s
been found alive. In Spain. What follows is an account of how a French
con man named Frederic Bourdin impersonated this missing boy, fooling U.S. and
Spanish authorities and even the Barclay family – despite being in his early
20s and looking almost nothing like Nicholas.
Yeah . . . how did he manage to convince the Barclay’s? HOW, INDEED.
It’s a visually gorgeous movie with
unexpected twists that kept me on my toes until the very end. The reenactments were a bit much at times,
and the ending was kind of unsatisfying.
Even though the lack of resolution made me feel weird, I still liked it
a lot.
Margin Call: 2011 indie drama directed by J.C. Chandor and
starring Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn
Badgley, Simon Baker, Demi Moore, and Stanley Tucci. Junior risk analyst – no seriously, stay with
me – Seth starts an ordinary workday by watching his boss get fired in a mass
layoff. His boss then quietly palms him
a USB drive and says he should “be careful.”
By the end of the day Seth has discovered that his firm is holding a
serious amount of toxic assets and is about to suffer a severe loss. He takes it to his supervisor and the dominos
start to fall. People are fired and
rehired when it’s determined they have value to add or secrets to protect,
severance packages are doled out, fingers are pointed, people are unceremoniously
thrown under proverbial buses, and the world of international finance braces
itself for collapse.
I think this would have been more
shocking like 10 years ago. None of this
is surprising even though it’s clear that’s what they were aiming for. If you’ve paid any attention to the global
recession then none of this will be new to you.
The acting is pretty solid, only a few empty shirts. It’s decent, not great.
The Watch: 2012 sci fi comedy directed by Akiva Schaffer
and starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade. Evan is a hyper-productive citizen of
Glenview, Ohio, where he manages the local Costco. When the night security guard at his store is
murdered and the bumbling local authorities take little interest in the case,
he decides to form a neighborhood watch.
He teams up with a construction worker looking for some Quality Dude
Time away from his family, a high-school dropout looking for redemption after
failing to pass the police academy exam, and a recent divorcee looking to
impress the ladies with a semi-dashing volunteer gig. And then I guess they accidentally stumble
across some aliens. I honestly didn’t
make it that far into the movie.
It’s
crap, and I’m honestly surprised. It was
written in part by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the same duo responsible for Superbad, Pineapple Express and This Is
the End. I freaking love Richard
Ayoade, and Ben Stiller is slowly redeeming himself to me with movies like Tropic Thunder and Greenberg. But ouch,
this. It wasn’t funny, even Vaughn
looked tired with his own schtick, and after 30 minutes of hoping it would turn
around I gave up.
Chernobyl Diaries: 2012 horror film directed by Brad Parker and
starring Jesse McCartney, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Devin Kelley, and Jonathan
Sadowski. A group of Americans visiting
Kiev decide to go off the beaten tourist path with an “extreme tour” of
Pripyat, the abandoned town in the shadow of Chernobyl. They team up with Uri, their local guide, and
another intrepid tourist couple, and head to the Exclusion Zone where they
enter through an unmanned checkpoint.
After exploring the creepy deserted apartment complexes they return to
their van that night to find that the wiring has been chewed through. There’s no hope of fixing their ride, their radio
calls to the military go unanswered, and they’re starting to hear strange
noises outside the van.
At first I thought it might be an
interesting twist on the zombie genre – a nice premise, poorly executed. It provided a few little jumps, and
considering the material the acting was solid all around. So much more could have been done with this
idea, and it just sort of fizzled out by the end. I’d say give it a shot if you come across it
randomly, I wouldn’t seek it out.
The Day of the
Jackal: 1973 thriller directed
by Fred Zinneman and starring an large ensemble cast including Edward Fox and
Michael Lonsdale. It’s the summer of
1963. A French militant organization
called OAS is livid after the liberation of Algeria. Their first attempt to assassinate President
Charles de Gaulle in retaliation was a massive failure, and now they are
underground after the capture and execution of several OAS leaders. They decide to hire a hit man known only as
The Jackal and he begins his preparations. Meanwhile, French Intelligence has discovered
the outline of the plot and is feverishly working to prevent the assassination.
This is such a good thriller – it
has a nice balance of tension, surprise, and dry humor. And I loved that the movie skips back and
forth between The Jackal and the French deputy commissioner on his trail. The juxtaposition is excellent: the Jackal – a slight, blonde, dashing
assassin – as he commissions a custom rifle, works on his disguise, and scouts
the perfect location; and Claude Lebel – quiet and lumbering, with basset hound
eyes – as he tracks down leads, uncovers OAS moles, and races against the clock
to save de Gaulle. It’s the detective thriller
versus the spy movie, all in one.
Maybe
when this was made a history lesson wasn’t necessary, but as a modern viewer I
needed it. That being said, I loved it.
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