Duplicity: I enjoyed the hell out of "Duplicity," and I think people need to realize what an entertaining ride it is. You have to enjoy twists--self-conscious twists, even, but in a good way--and spying and having your mind screwed with, but if these characters are all about screwing each others' minds, well, then you the viewer ought to be able to take it, too.
Julia Roberts and Clive Owen make a great screen team, and their back and forth that makes up the heart of the movie is well worth checking out. "Duplicity," with its tale of corporate espionage and the amazing interpersonal dynamics of those in the spy game, is the kind of story that makes your head spin. I expected that, but I did not expect how funny it would be. I was laughing out loud for much of the movie at the absurdity of the escalating paranoia among the characters, and while this isn't quite supposed to be a comedy screenplay, I assure you it was a good kind of laughter, a rollicking, "Hey, this is a fun trip," kind of good humor.
All this and Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson being predictably awesome. This was an extremely pleasant surprise to come across on HBO.
Rachel Getting Married: This movie is a "ride," too, but more like a forced trip to the store when you're little and you don't really want to go because they don't even have toys there and I want to go to McDonald's, and WHY CAN'T WE? I actually think Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married" is a decent enough watch, but it's not something I want or need to see again.
I can appreciate raw emotion and honesty, which "Rachel" succeeds in delivering for much of its running time. But that running time feels longer than it should, and the whole thing is more a draining experience than a great movie experience. Mrs. Shark put it best when she said she felt like she was at a real wedding--notions of verisimilitude serving art aside, she didn't mean it as a compliment. We see a lot of the climactic wedding. I mean a lot.
Anne Hathaway rightly garnered tons of acclaim for this role, and her performance as an often unpleasant character does anchor the film. Even when playing a self-destructive mess, she's still an appealing presence (that's my overwritten way of saying she's "hot"). But seeing this family work out its many issues is a bit of an ordeal, and the wedding scenes don't offer much reward. Worth seeing...once.
Slumdog Millionaire: I may have out a blurb up about this in the "Shark Bytes" section, but I never really wrote much about this after I finally saw it a few months back, and there's a good reason: I just didn't have much to say about it. Hmm, come to think, I still don't. But it won all those awards and everything, so I feel I ought to say something.
It's quite possible that Mrs. Shark and I would have been more impressed with "Slumdog" had we seen it early on, before all the awards and the hype, instead of afterward. We enjoyed it but felt a little underwhelmed considering.
The gimmick of having star Dev Patel draw from his wild life to answer quiz show questions is a good one, though, and it's well executed by director Danny Boyle. This is another movie filled with depressing events and off-putting characters, and I don't think it all comes together the way it needs to. I'm happy this cast had its moment in the sun, but I don't know what kind of future there is for a lot of them. Still, "Slumdog" was a phenomenon, and I'm glad I saw it, even if I found it more "likable entertainment" than "Oscar winner."
Julia Roberts and Clive Owen make a great screen team, and their back and forth that makes up the heart of the movie is well worth checking out. "Duplicity," with its tale of corporate espionage and the amazing interpersonal dynamics of those in the spy game, is the kind of story that makes your head spin. I expected that, but I did not expect how funny it would be. I was laughing out loud for much of the movie at the absurdity of the escalating paranoia among the characters, and while this isn't quite supposed to be a comedy screenplay, I assure you it was a good kind of laughter, a rollicking, "Hey, this is a fun trip," kind of good humor.
All this and Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson being predictably awesome. This was an extremely pleasant surprise to come across on HBO.
Rachel Getting Married: This movie is a "ride," too, but more like a forced trip to the store when you're little and you don't really want to go because they don't even have toys there and I want to go to McDonald's, and WHY CAN'T WE? I actually think Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married" is a decent enough watch, but it's not something I want or need to see again.
I can appreciate raw emotion and honesty, which "Rachel" succeeds in delivering for much of its running time. But that running time feels longer than it should, and the whole thing is more a draining experience than a great movie experience. Mrs. Shark put it best when she said she felt like she was at a real wedding--notions of verisimilitude serving art aside, she didn't mean it as a compliment. We see a lot of the climactic wedding. I mean a lot.
Anne Hathaway rightly garnered tons of acclaim for this role, and her performance as an often unpleasant character does anchor the film. Even when playing a self-destructive mess, she's still an appealing presence (that's my overwritten way of saying she's "hot"). But seeing this family work out its many issues is a bit of an ordeal, and the wedding scenes don't offer much reward. Worth seeing...once.
Slumdog Millionaire: I may have out a blurb up about this in the "Shark Bytes" section, but I never really wrote much about this after I finally saw it a few months back, and there's a good reason: I just didn't have much to say about it. Hmm, come to think, I still don't. But it won all those awards and everything, so I feel I ought to say something.
It's quite possible that Mrs. Shark and I would have been more impressed with "Slumdog" had we seen it early on, before all the awards and the hype, instead of afterward. We enjoyed it but felt a little underwhelmed considering.
The gimmick of having star Dev Patel draw from his wild life to answer quiz show questions is a good one, though, and it's well executed by director Danny Boyle. This is another movie filled with depressing events and off-putting characters, and I don't think it all comes together the way it needs to. I'm happy this cast had its moment in the sun, but I don't know what kind of future there is for a lot of them. Still, "Slumdog" was a phenomenon, and I'm glad I saw it, even if I found it more "likable entertainment" than "Oscar winner."
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment