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The End or whatever it is called up there--Seth Rogan and a bunch of his comedic contemporaries play themselves as they attend a holiday party thrown by James Franco. Suddenly there is an End Of Days event and it turns into a crisis survival action comedy.

The good jokes are excellent--they each play themselves as lesser than likable, and some moments made me laugh out loud--particularly the depiction of lovable little Michael Cera as an obnoxious coke-snorting jackass. But overall, it's really quite horrible. All of these stars who achieved fame with Judd Apatow pulling the strings are now trying to cut him out of the action, believing that all they need to do is to keep making the same KIND of moves. I hope they can tell the difference.

I liked it too, but a lot more during the first 2/3 when it was mostly a parody of the actors' public images and less after it became a sic-fi adventure.

I thought THE END was terrific.

The End didn't do much for me. I liked Pineapple Express WAY more.

I saw American Hustle on Friday. A very fun movie. David O. Russell is not a subtle writer or director (for example: I cringe when I think of Melissa Leo's hammy performance in The Fighter and didn't care much for that film in general) but his over-the-top style, especially in this semi-farcical context with some effective comedy, worked well in this case.

For me, Amy Adams somehow managed to out-hot Jennifer Lawrence.

I'm pretty irritated that I can't find Inside Llewyn Davis anywhere around here. I've got lots of multiplexes and can see Thor in about 5 places and some Justin Bieber hunk of shit. Even Nebraska is showing somewhere, but no Inside Llewyn Davis. I think they were going to expand the release but haven't seen any evidence yet.

Update: They ramped up to 150 theaters but wide release isn't until January 10th.

Saw one of the strangest movies I've ever seen yesterday. It was in the "Holiday Favorites" list at Netflix, but it's mostly a pretty bleak Finnish horror movie. It caught my eye because it had the most stars of any film on that list, and was also rated R. And the rating isn't surprising because it's not only creepy, but has a lot of naked 60-year-old men running around in it. Really weird.



Edit: I forgot to mention the name--"Rare Exports"

Elysium

Not nearly as terrific as District 9, which I loved, BUT definitely worthwhile fun. Damon was good, but the guy from District 9 (Sharlto Copley) was over-the-top good. Jodie Foster's performance was dopey (along with some of the basic writing for the film). But Blomkamp shows the same pizzazz he did in his first outing. Sort of more of the same, but still his own unique brand of action sequences which to me stand out as uproarious entertainment.

I give it 3 1/2 Stones.

The Hunt

Excellent. I can't say enough about how well written and acted this movie is, as well as truly disturbing, and ultimately exhilarating. I've become an ardent fan of Danish drama, and this is as fine an example as any I've seen. If you like Mads Mikkelsen, don't miss this one.



Five Stones. The full monty.

stonemonkts wrote:The Hunt

Excellent. I can't say enough about how well written and acted this movie is, as well as truly disturbing, and ultimately exhilarating. I've become an ardent fan of Danish drama, and this is as fine an example as any I've seen. If you like Mads Mikkelsen, don't miss this one.

Five Stones. The full monty.

Liked this a lot too.

Terrific ending as well ...

Just watched a mildly funny, mildly annoying and occasionally laugh out loud flick starring Larry David as a marketing genius who angrily sells his stock back and walks away from his company when his boss, Jon Hamm, decides to name their flagship product (an electric car) "Howard." A week later, the stock skyrockets and David is out over a billion dollars.

I don't know the name up there--Rita might look it up for us. At times, it plays like a long form Curb Your Enthusiasm, and ultimately there is enough charm in the mix to make this an enjoyable movie. Some very funny sight gags. But my favorite aspect was the heavy use of music from Chicago's first and second albums--what an outstanding band they were. Truly innovative stuff for the time. They also have a fun cameo in the flick.

On a Larry David non movie note, I've been working through the Seinfeld series. I'm too dim for these things when they first appear.

On the movie front I watched Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, my first exposure to Le Carre but for an excerpt in Harper's a while back. What a fascinating take on British espionage from Ian Fleming's Bond series.

Also saw Death At A Funeral. Good for a few laughs.

Jazzooo wrote:Just watched a mildly funny, mildly annoying and occasionally laugh out loud flick starring Larry David as a marketing genius who angrily sells his stock back and walks away from his company when his boss, Jon Hamm, decides to name their flagship product (an electric car) "Howard." A week later, the stock skyrockets and David is out over a billion dollars.

I don't know the name up there--Rita might look it up for us.

I do have a Clear History of doing that sort of thing. But looky here---they have Google in Mexico!
I already filled in some search terms; go ahead, give it a click:

https://www.google.com.mx

Good flick. A little depressing........but in a 'funny' Coen way.
Probably need to see it more than once to catch everything.

Thanks, Rita. The truth is, I do know how to use Google, even here in Mexico. Sometimes it just feels more creative and honest to speak extemporaneously, whether I remember the name or not.

Heathen.


You will write "I will complete Google research before posting" 500 times on the blackboard.

Thanks, Steve. Can you tell me what 'heathen' means?

Heathen is the greatest compliment. It is when Jimmy, Percy & Tootie would gather to jam.

I wish Steve thought that of me.

Thanks--another thing I didn't need to look up!


Ok, back to the topic: I saw Don Jon yesterday, written and directed by its star, Joseph Gordon Leavitt I think. You know, it was pretty horrible in spots but always stylishly shot and framed, with moments of inspiration scattered throughout. JGL plays a porn-obsessed kook with the most obviously phony Brooklyn accent ever. He meets Scarlett Johannson and briefly considers abandoning porn at her request. He meets Julianne Moore who teaches him a thing or two about life and sex. I give the kid high marks for making a coherent and good looking although lacking movie. As for the topic, he had a good idea but he wasted it by trying to make it over the top (how many young men whack off to porn 10 and 11 times every day?).

Today, Walter Mitty.

Dredd, (2012). I'm a fanboy. I loved it. 2000 AD, baby.

Thumbs up for the Secret Life of Walter
Mitty. It isn't perfect, but it's great and that's more important. I thought it was a beautiful, smart and interesting "feel good" movie. The photography is magnificent.

At the end, I was stunned to see that Ben Stiller had directed it, because it is clearly the work of a gifted filmmaker. Excellent score by Theodore Shapiro, and great use of music in general.

I checked out The Wolf of Wall Street yesterday. It's good and perfectly watchable. I don't get the 4 star reviews, though. It's funny and all. I mean, I get it. They partied and nailed all kinds of hot chicks and did cocaine off of hookers' asses and did enormous amounts of ludes and other drugs. If they'd have cut 20 minutes of that out, I'd still have more than gotten it. They'd have had a tighter film if they'd have done some trimming. And Leo is a perfectly good actor but he never did much for me.

I've been digging going to the movies for the first time in a long time. The last time I saw a film by myself was Pulp Fiction. My wife won't go so I decided to start going on weekdays. The theater is almost empty and I sit there by myself and have a grand old time. I skip breakfast and make a large popcorn my lunch and dinner.

Here's what I've seen over the past few months and how I rank them:
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
The Wolf of Wall Street/Gravity (Tie)
The Hunger Games

I'm bad at ranking stuff. Only the first 2 are easy to rank for me.