krista4
Footballguy
Not much to add this week as I've been too busy to watch. Wondering if anyone has had experience with the following phenomenon... I seem to watch movies with a common "theme" without intending to. For instance, I once watched three movies in a row in which someone kept pigeons (yes, Ghost Dog was one). Or I watched two in a row that happened to have Casey Affleck in them even though I'd never seen a movie with him in it before. Or recently I watched two in a row that dealt with physical handicaps--one was about a deaf woman and one about a blind man. Or I'll watch two in a row that have the same song, or an obscure actor or actress (there was a French chick that showed up in three in a row once), or something else, none of this intentionally.
Anyway, the only two I have to report this week had an odd connection. Bonus points for whoever identifies it.
This So-Called Disaster - The title of the movie should have omitted the word "so-called", as this was simply a disaster of a movie. It's a documentary that follows a group of actors--including Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, and Nick Nolte--staging a Sam Shepard play. If you're a big fan of Sam Shepard, you might find this interesting. Otherwise, stay far, far away. The movie was boring and self-indulgent and featured horrible camera work and unbelievably bad sound editing. Ugh. If you want to watch a somewhat self-indulgent quasi-documentary about the staging of a play, I highly recommend Looking for Richard (Al Pacino staging Richard III) instead. I'm from now on adopting Smoovy's rating system: 1/5
Shopgirl - I had never intended to watch this but was looking for something light and easy. The good part: Claire Danes is just a lovely actress and is a joy to watch. She acts with a lowercase "a" and does it beautifully. Steve Martin, usually one of my favorites, gave one of those performances that was so low-key as to be non-existent, and I never really understand the relationship between the two of them, which was completely lacking in chemistry. Jason Schwartzman was a highlight as the other love interest. In addition to the lack of chemistry between the two leads, there was one thing that bugged me enormously in this film, which was the use of music. There were several times in the movie where I felt that silence would have been the right call, but instead the film employed this overly dramatic, heavy music. It was distracting and drove me crazy. Overall, a nice enough movie, but nothing really to recommend it. 3/5
I'm trying to go on a movie binge today before going out tonight and am most of the way through one movie...will be reporting in all day.
Anyway, the only two I have to report this week had an odd connection. Bonus points for whoever identifies it.
This So-Called Disaster - The title of the movie should have omitted the word "so-called", as this was simply a disaster of a movie. It's a documentary that follows a group of actors--including Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, and Nick Nolte--staging a Sam Shepard play. If you're a big fan of Sam Shepard, you might find this interesting. Otherwise, stay far, far away. The movie was boring and self-indulgent and featured horrible camera work and unbelievably bad sound editing. Ugh. If you want to watch a somewhat self-indulgent quasi-documentary about the staging of a play, I highly recommend Looking for Richard (Al Pacino staging Richard III) instead. I'm from now on adopting Smoovy's rating system: 1/5
Shopgirl - I had never intended to watch this but was looking for something light and easy. The good part: Claire Danes is just a lovely actress and is a joy to watch. She acts with a lowercase "a" and does it beautifully. Steve Martin, usually one of my favorites, gave one of those performances that was so low-key as to be non-existent, and I never really understand the relationship between the two of them, which was completely lacking in chemistry. Jason Schwartzman was a highlight as the other love interest. In addition to the lack of chemistry between the two leads, there was one thing that bugged me enormously in this film, which was the use of music. There were several times in the movie where I felt that silence would have been the right call, but instead the film employed this overly dramatic, heavy music. It was distracting and drove me crazy. Overall, a nice enough movie, but nothing really to recommend it. 3/5
I'm trying to go on a movie binge today before going out tonight and am most of the way through one movie...will be reporting in all day.
I would also add "Q & A". He coaxed really good performances out of Tim Hutton and Nick Nolte.
. Chamberlain is laughable, and the movie's very dated. Still excellent, though. . .
