Devil

Devil (2010)

Writer: Brian Nelson (screenplay), shama-llama-ding-dong ("story")
Director: John Erick Dowdle
Starring: Chris Messina,....it doesn't matter

Synopsis
the devil comes to earth and traps 5 people in the elevator to torture them in a game of whodunnit. my guess was colonel mustard in the billiard room with his stupid wiener, but i was wrong.

The Woman
this was just dumb. i have nothing more to say on the subject.

Killers

Killers (2010)


Writer: Bob DeRosa, Ted Griffin,
Director: Robert Luketic
Starring: Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher

Synopsis
"true lies" but with ashton kutcher and katherine heigl in the roles of schwarzenegger and curtis. he also is not technically in the biz anymore.

The Woman
T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. TERRIBLE. terrible. not only was this movie lame, stupid, and boring, it was TERRIBLE! filled with things like a wife who is paranoid that her husband of 3 years doesn't love her anymore because she's been wearing her "fat" jeans (because katherine heigl is such a fucking cow) and letting her fancy parts perhaps, maybe, go untrimmed. what-the-FUCK. i can't even begin. if you can't be comfortable being yourself because you know your partner loves you because it's you, and god forbid you gain 5 or 30 lbs and let the bush go jungle then prepare for a lifetime of neurosis, self loathing and divorce. oh and the plot was shit to boot. there was no real "action" dudes a spy. has a ton of spies coming to kill him, and yet he doesn't even get a scratch. it's like the power rangers. goody- goody at everything gets a little boring. not that i should be comparing because it's apples and heroin, but john mcclane gets seriously messed up and he's way more awesome.

have i mentioned that not only did katherine heigl not get cool and spy-ey by the end, she just bitched and whined through the entire movie. that's ok though, because she was pregnant. we all know how those silly females get when their pregnant, right? yeah. it's a good thing sandra bullock won an oscar so she can move onto more serious work because all her crappy romantic comedy roles have been handed down to katherine heigl. only katherine heigl is not nearly as endearing.

i looked at the timer at 8 minutes 36 seconds, ashton kutcher, full of the douchey mcdouchestein vibe, was hanging off of a copter, or repelling down a cable, i sighed and said a jeebus, this is crap. can i possibly get through another hour and a half? i did, folks. yes. i. did.

Letters to Juliet

Letters to Juliet (2010)

Writer: Jose Rivera, Tim Sullivan

Director: Gary Winick

Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan, Vanessa Redgrave

Synopsis

a chick who works for the new yorker, aspiring to be a writer rather than a lowly fact checker, goes to verona with her self centered fiancée. she eventually ends up on adventure, sans fiancée, trying to find a womans long lost love...and finds love herself. teehee.

The Woman

eeewwwwwww. i can't believe i'm going to type a positive review of this movie. it dug down deep like the head of a tick and found that one girly atom that rarely reveals itself. gross. i think MOster would perhaps, being the sentimental lady that he is, enjoy this movie too. it was all about the old couple to me. i couldn't really give two craps about amanda seyfried and christopher egan. it's strange too because generally i hate movies with a geriatric couple falling in loooove. it's a waste i can't over look to find a soul mate in the twilight of your life. perhaps i am just cold as ice....paradise...i couldn't understand wrinkle cream and the obsession with looking younger when i was a teenager either, and now if you look in my bathroom there will always be some sort of daily moisturizer that helps with  the reduction of fine lines located there. i got to be on top of that shit you know. anyway, all of this is a moot point because i didn't mind the senior quest for love in this. it was actually endearing. eeww.

Following

Following (1998)


Writer: Christopher Nolan
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Jeremy Theobald, Alex Haw

Synopsis
a guy follows people for fun until he follows a guy who follows people to break into their apartments and mess with their heads. he then becomes this guys student and learns his ways.

[I picked the Japanese poster because it was the first hit, not for any strange/subtle humor. -MOster]

MOster
There were some interesting things going on in this movie, and it's easy to see how it fed into Memento.  However, given that Memento is its successor, you can imagine how much money was available to Following.

I suppose they did what they could with that constraint, but the writing and the direction definitely outpaced the acting.  This was a movie full of unlikeable characters doing shitty things largely for no discernible reason, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.  But it didn't really leave me with anything special.

When you're writing your paper about the eleventh Batman rereboot movie, be sure to watch this.



The Woman
meh. i was not in the mood for this sort of a movie. moster picked it because there was nothing on the television and it's length is only a little over an hour. unfortunately, it was a little too heavy and too black and white noir for what i was feeling that night so i only partially paid an annoyed attention. i don't think it was anything special. and i'm sticking to that.

Interview

Interview (2007)


Writer: Steve Buscemi, David Schechter, (screenplay) Theodor Holman (original screenplay)
Director: Steve Buscemi
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Sienna Miller

Synopsis
Washington reporter gets stuck doing a semi-fluff piece interviewing a popular TV / movie star.  After a shitty start, circumstances conspire (as they often do in film) to bring them into her apartment for a second chance.


The Woman
meh. i fell asleep a little i must admit. it seemed very play to me. one set, two actors, character analysis and all that. very deliberate in every way. after sitting in the sun all morning watching the parade i guess i just wasn't feeling it. it was the complete opposite of a michael bay action movie. not quite as boring as "my dinner with andre" but there were similarities. it wasn't bad, but it could be skippable.

MOster
I liked this one pretty well.  It gets a solid 3 from me.  While the credits say it was based on a movie--and some of the digging which I actually bothered to do supports that assertion--it really does feel like a play.  The vast majority of the movie is set in one location and it's a story of two people who are essentially lying to each other.

This was acted well, directed well, and shot well.  It also had an ambiguous ending, and I'm a sucker for a lack of closure.

Send Me No Flowers

Send Me No Flowers (1964)


Writer: Norman Barasch & Carroll Moore (play) Julius Epstein (screenplay)
Director: Norman Jewison
Starring: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall

Synopsis
a hypochondriac thinks he's dying and conspires with his best friend/neighbor to make sure his wife is taken care of after he dies.

MOster
We have one more of these in the house, and I think after that I'll be cured of my Hudson/Day curiosity.  A lot of this was funny and the way the misunderstanding continued to play out was pretty good, until an ending which embodies all the worst marriage stereotypes.  The actors, Paul Lynde in particular, all appear to have had a good time.  Tony Randall was great as a lush of a husband on his own while the family vacations.  There was also some good social commentary on the need to medicate the fuck out of every condition imaginable.


This is one of those prototypical movies where it seems to me like the plot was a lot newer 45 years ago than it is today.  Maybe not; maybe my dissatisfaction with the modern movie industry is bleeding into my opinion; that certainly happens all the time.


The Woman
funny in parts. the beginning was way more entertaining than the middle and the middle was way more entertaining than the end. if you can't tell by this description it started to get old and drag after awhile. it was interesting to see the drastic changes that have happened in domestic life in the past 50 years. this is where i started to find issue with some of the things that were going on. for example: the whole husband + affair= just turn your head the other way and try and forget about it thing. this movie made it seem like a very commonplace thing. in fact, the best friend was quite the lovable character to me until it comes to light casually towards the end that he's had a couple flings outside of his marriage. no biggie. it was just little things like that which prevent me from saying i really liked this movie. i guess you take it with a grain of salt because of the era, but still. it's a doris day movie. all sunshine and fun...and housewifey. perhaps this should be a must watch for the artist collective i'm in....mental note.

Saint John of Las Vegas

Saint John of Las Vegas (2009)


Writer: Hugh Rhodes
Director: Hugh Rhodes
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Romany Malco, Sarah Silverman, Dinklage!

Synopsis
Sad-sack insurance adjuster aspires to become a happy-sack (or, at least, contended-sack) fraud investigator.  He travels with the star investigator of his employer and learns things about the world and himself.  There is also a romance.



The Woman
i thought this was just going to be yet another indie slightly boring indie movie. you know what i mean. it was not. i was pretty entertained! it was a great quest sort of a movie. i like quests. i like steve buscemi. i love myself some peter dinklage! yay!

MOster
I'm a big ol' Buscemi fan, but there are times when I feel like he ends up being typecast as one particular kind of sketchy dude.  When he has the right material, however, he really brings the depth of that type and differentiates it from other roles which on paper appear to be quite similar.  I'm happy to say that this was one of those times.

And it was a good time.  Buscemi's loser is the eye of a tornado of B-list stars (and a couple of arguably A-list cameos) in this C-budget production.  Traveling the road with Malco's super-cool-yet-fairly-odd office star they encounter some great characters and have some odd times, all of which is brought together by decent work behind the scenes.

This was fun.  Don't go out of your way to watch it, but don't skip it if you're surfing the guide.