Screened: At home, from personal collection
It'll be a small miracle of blockbuster cinema if we get to the summer of 2012 without Star Trek 2 and The Avengers both collapsing under the weight of their own hype.
August 5: Dear John
Screened: At home, DVD from Netflix
Okay, but not great, though I think part of my reaction was due to the way the movie was marketed. The ads pitched it as being more in the vein of The Notebook or A Walk to Remember, which it decidedly isn't. That in and of itself is not a problem, but accompanied by the flat, personality-free way Amanda Seyfried's character was written, which made it difficult to understand why anyone would be so angst-ridden over her, it was kind of deadly.
August 6: The Kids are All Right
Screened: In the theater
I kind of feel about this like I felt about Up in the Air this past year: I can understand why it's accumulated early Oscar buzz and I think the performances were great, but it'll probably only ever stay in the "good" column for me. I liked it, but it didn't rock my world. I will say that each successive performance I see from Mia Wasikowska just makes me that much more excited to see her Jane Eyre.
August 8: Step Up 3-D
Screened: In the theater
Gorgeous dancing, inventive use of 3-D, aggressively cliche-riddled script. Sequences like the water-drenched middle battle and the Donen/Minnelli redux of "I Won't Dance" suggest that with a solid script, director Jon Chu could have a truly great dance movie (or musical) in him.
August 11: Kick-Ass
Screened: At home, DVD from Netflix
The film wears its claims to geekiness a bit self-consciously - slapping a pair of glasses on Aaron Johnson and telling us what a nerd he is doesn't magically make him not hot. (Though it is kind of refreshing to see that tactic attempted with a male actor for once.) While I didn't think Kick-Ass was bad, after seeing this and Wanted I'm not quite sure that I "get" Mark Millar's whole ethos. There's something very...Nice Guy about his protagonists. Anyway, between this, Watchmen, and Scott Pilgrim, can we all agree that the fans of graphic novels are really, really great at creating hype disproportionate to their actual numbers and buying power, and start having realistic expectations of how these movies are going to perform at the box office?
August 11: 12th and Delaware
Screened: At home, DVR from HBO
A fascinating, nuanced portrayal of the fight over abortion rights. I love a lot of HBO's original dramas, but the documentaries make me feel like the twelve dollars a month is really worth it.
August 11: Death at a Funeral (2010)
Screened: At home, DVD from Netflix
I feel like my primary interest in this movie, which has to do with work I did in the past year thinking about race and the concept of the commutation test for film acting, is a little too dense to go into here. I'll just say that while neither is exactly my particular flavor, comedy-wise, I found this one slightly funnier than the British version. (I know, sacrilege!)
August 13: The Women (1939)
Screened: At home, from personal collection
August 19: Where the Wild Things Are
Screened: At home, DVD from Netflix
August 20: The Lake House
Screened: At home, DVD from Netflix
Because sometimes you just want to curl up with a Chipotle burrito and a beer and watch something that you know is not going to tax you intellectually in any way, shape or form. I liked that this movie didn't even attempt any sort of pseudo-scientific explanation for the time-traveling letters; Sandra and Keanu didn't waste time asking questions, just accepted the situation and moved on.
August 21: The Way We Were
Screened: At home, from personal collection
August 25: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Screened: In the theater
Good, but I ultimately find myself disappointed that Universal decided to put all six books together in one movie. It was insanely well-cast, but the super-fast pacing meant that we only got a few minutes at a time with each of the exes. I wish they'd done three and three, mainly because the third book is my favorite and I wanted more time with the Clash at Demonhead. I love Envy, and I was kind of bummed that the movie made her seem like such a huge bitch; I mean, she's totally a bitch, but she's so much more! The flashbacks to her relationship with Scott give such great background!
Reading reviews before I saw the movie, I was surprised by how many critics seemed to think that liking Scott Pilgrim meant that you had to like Scott Pilgrim, but it makes more sense now. Focusing on the Evil Ex battles means that a lot of what the books do in addressing Scott's need to grow up, or his past with girls like Kim, Envy and Lisa, got shuttled to the side and really drained some of the emotional resonance from the story. It felt sometimes like the whole thing was taking place over the course of a week, shifts in Ramona's hair color nonwithstanding.
Anyway, I don't want it do seem like I didn't like this movie, because I really did. I love Edgar Wright's work, and I don't think anyone else could have realized the visual and referential world of the books with so much panache. I liked the way that the movie nudged music a bit more to the forefront, particularly in the literalized battle of the bands with the Katayanagis. (Though I have to say, I would've kind of liked to see the "Come Watch a Robot Kick Scott Pilgrim's Ass" flier, but I digress.) Very good. I just find myself wanting so much more.
No comments:
Post a Comment