Cable Movie Roundup

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."

Cable Movie Roundup

This roundup is gonna be one big Post of Ambivalence. You'll see what I mean.

Burn After Reading: The Coen Brothers are brilliant...except when they're not. I often think my quality meter is askew when it comes to these guys. I tend to love films that many find disappointing ("The Ladykillers") while not getting into some of the acknowledged classics (I guess I need to watch "Miller's Crossing" again someday). Given the tepid reaction to "Burn," I half-expected to find it a neglected comic masterpiece. Instead, I thought this sort-of-madcap spy caper was reminiscent of "Intolerable Cruelty"--a movie that looked like the performers were having a great time, or working hard to convince itself they were, but just not getting those good feelings across to the audience. The lack of a real payoff wouldn't be as big a deal if the movie were funnier, but it's more often just frantic.

The Express: This is a competent biopic of the first African-American Heisman Trophy winner, Syracuse star running back Ernie Davis, who died of leukemia shortly after his outstanding college career. Goofy personal note: When the commercials for this were airing, my wife and I saw an ad where something got cut off right after the voice-over guy said, "The first African-American," and we entertained ourselves with the notion of someone making a movie about that.

As for the actual movie "The Express," it's a solid football flick that tackles (sorry) racism and makes Davis seems like a swell guy. It hits pretty much all the notes you expect, but there's no real spark, though. I'd recommend it for football fans, but I get the feeling this is a case where if you're really interested, you might be better off just reading a book about Ernie Davis.

The Promotion: This sounds a lot better on paper than it plays on screen: Seann William Scott (OK, maybe it doesn't sound so good on paper after all) and John C. Reilly are in the running for a promotion to manage a supermarket, so they engage in a bit of one-upsmanship to boost their own chances and and discredit each other.

Reilly is awesome, but he's fairly subdued here, and while I respect Scott's own self-tone-down of his standard wise-ass shtick, he can't carry a movie as a regular schlub. You keep hoping "The Promotion" will really take off, but it never offers more than mild amusement. Meanwhile, the movie casts the likable Jenna Fischer as Scott's wife and does almost nothing with her. There is a little bit of tension as Scott takes some financial risks before he actually GETS the promotion, thus endangering his family's future, but there isn't enough of it. This is a likable time-passer if you catch it on TV (and that's not at all difficult if you have HBO and/or Cinemax), not much more.

Cable Movie Roundup

Time for some brief thoughts on movies I saw on--you guessed it--cable! Premium cable, that is.

Paul Blart, Mall Cop: This wasn't a disaster or anything. I mean, it wasn't, like, good, per se, but it didn't totally stink. So, hey, I guess it exceeded my expectations!

You saw most of the humor in the previews, and you know what kind of a movie it is--the kind of movie where Kevin James can win over a pretty young thing like Jemma Mays (as a kiosk worker in his mall) by just going over, talking to her, and not splitting her head open with an axe. Even when he acts like a complete buffoon later after getting drunk around her (in a scene that makes little sense except as a way to get some wacky hijinks into the story), she still reciprocates his interest.

It's also the kind of production in which the lead character is really good at what he does, focused and committed, until the plot demands that he not be. Yes, folks, in other words, "Mall Cop" is a MOVIE, and a dumb one at that. But if you like James and the previews amuse you, it's not a bad way to kill an hour and a half when it comes on TV.

Frost/Nixon: I'm not a big fan of "Person/Person" titles. I mean, did anyone really think Coverdale/Page had a shot? I am a fan of history, though, and while I wouldn't call myself a fan of Richard Nixon, I'm intrigued enough by the former Prez to have bought two campaign buttons last month. Nixon--Now More Than Ever!

So I find Ron Howard's dramatization of the famous Frost/Nixon interviews entertaining, but how could I not? What I do NOT find the movie is, however, is Oscar-worthy. That is, the whole enterprise seems to strain for a weight that I just don't get from what's on the screen. The feeling I get from watching this well-made, well-told story is, "OK, that was pretty good, but what of it?" And I just want to go see more of the actual footage.

The Bucket List: Something Rob Reiner had to do before dying: Make a cutesy sentimental dramedy with two revered veteran actors. Done!

Why did I watch this? Well, I was half distracted, half lulled by the oppressive force of a winter storm, and half compromising my wife vetoed my other choices for On Demand viewing. It's not very good, but it offers a couple of revered veteran actors, so that has to count for something. It offers some ludicrous CGI work when Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson embark on their Bucket List Tour, and it's almost bad enough to make the movie worthwhile. I can only imagine how cheesetastic it looked at the multiplex.

So to recap: "Eh" to "Blart," thumbs down to "Bucket List," and Nixon's the One in 2012.

Cable Movie Roundup #3

And now, some more quick takes on films seen via free premium cable by yours cheaply--uh, truly.

Mr. Bean's Holiday: Never as funny as I wanted it to be, but with some good bits for Bean lovers, this is a worthwhile watch on TV or video, but I would have felt let down had I paid big screen bucks. I have to give special props to Willem Dafoe for his hilarious performance as a pretentious big-shot director (redundant?). I'd say he steals the movie, but come on, you don't steal a movie from Rowan Atkinson.

The Rocker: This is another one of those comedies with an ill-defined lead character who is alternately mockable and awesome depending on the current need of the screenplay (See also "Get Smart"). This does Rainn Wilson no favors, and while it may have seemed like a good idea to cast him as a drummer who is booted out of his band, then leads a group of high schoolers to success--hey, wait, this does sound funny now that I type it out. Where was I?

Oh, yeah, problem is, I personally don't think Wilson can carry a comedy feature as a lead, and this movie does nothing to dispel that opinion, but on the other hand, it's not his fault he's saddled with a contrived romance with Christina Appelgate and other phony movie-ish moments. This ain't "School of Rock," but it tries mightily to get that kind of heart. Special props to Emma Stone, however, for her charming turn in this. She's taken not-stellar roles in "Superbad," "House Bunny," and this, and turned each into something worthwhile. I think she should get some more buzz as a go-to young actress. Maybe she should do something with Willem Dafoe.

Be Kind Rewind: Not at ALL what it was marketed as. I mean, not at ALL. Seriously. You get what I'm saying here?

Maybe I missed the tweet that told everyone this wasn't a zany comedy about Jack Black and Mos Def recreating famous movies and renting their versions to an increasingly appreciative video store customer fanbase, but ultimately a thoughtful meditation on truth, community, and mythmaking. So I was particularly jarred when the movie abruptly became that, and maybe that transition combined with my preconceptions to put me out of commission on this one.

I might pick up something on a rewatch, but I had trouble getting through it, with the laughs just not there in enough numbers to hold my attention till the story became more thoughtful.

Cable Movie Roundup #2

Time for another series of quick takes on movies I enjoyed (or wanted to enjoy) this summer while enjoying free premium cable...

The Incredible Hulk: I sound like a wise-ass when I say I didn't expect much from this and it delivered, but I wasn't disappointed, exactly. This version of the Hulk moved faster than Ang Lee's version, but it lacked the ambition. And oh, yeah, I thought the idea was to get more Hulk and get to him faster, but it STILL seemed to take forever to actually get Edward Norton to go green.

Bottom line for me: This was just kind of there, with some entertaining scenes, a pleasant enough diversion on the tube, but it wasn't nearly special enough to justify yet another Hulk movie in the near future. If you want to put him in an Avengers blockbuster, that would be the best way to go.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Everyone wanted to think of this as a Judd Apatow movie, but he didn't write or direct it. Yet like many Apatow-branded flicks, it is too long, not nearly as funny as you want it to be, and straining to inject "heart" into an often-tasteless story.

I'm a big fan of Jason Segel's work as Marshall on "How I Met Your Mother," so I hoped this film, which he wrote as well as starred in, would be a bit sharper. Instead, it set up its premise--his girlfriend breaks up with him, then they both wind up at the same resort in Hawaii--and then goes nowhere with it. Well, actually, it does go somewhere eventually, but it's the same place all those other generic romantic comedies go, and it takes too long with too little payoff (though many might enjoy Segel's character's puppet show extravaganza at the end).

The most interesting thing about "Sarah Marshall" was the casting of the title character. Kristen Bell is a glamorous TV star, but co-star Mila Kunis, the "sweet girl" in this scenario, is actually much sexier. Bell is attractive, but not the kind of knockout that would warrant obsession from Segel, especially considering how unappealing her character's personality is. So Kunis is the hot, super nice woman who appreciates Segel for who he is. What's the conflict here?

Hancock: An interesting movie with some unique ideas. Interesting movie--not a great one. It seemed like there were too many themes competing for attention, with the result being a movie that starts out as a fairly loose comedy--Will Smith as a drunken, loutish "superhero"--and suddenly becomes something quite different, but not necessarily to its overall benefit. I think fans of superhero movies should see this because it presents a different take on the genre, but don't expect too much.

By the way, there's a significant twist that occurs in this, one which was withheld from the marketing but which plays out relatively early and changes the whole tone of the film. I watched "Hancock" with my wife, and, though I forget how the subject came up, she quickly got the info out of me. So neither one of us experienced it "cold," but maybe that enhances your enjoyment of the story.

Cable Movie Roundup #1

Here are some thoughts on a few movies I watched recently as part of my effort to take advantage of a free premium channel deal I got goin' on through FIOS...

Jumper: This is the one in which Hayden Christensen can teleport himself all over the globe, I guess because of his high midi-chlorian count or something. It's kind of a cool concept, with an attempt to develop a "mythology" for these Jumpers and those who pursue them, but it's a disappointing movie. The relationship between Christensen and Rachel Bilson never works, serving only to take time away from cool teleporting stuff. I'm never a big fan of Christensen, anyway. I enjoy some of director Doug Liman's other films, but this one never comes together for me. At least I never heard the dumb Third Eye Blind song of the same name, or if I did, I blocked it out.

You Kill Me: Another disappointment from a talented director, John Dahl's "You Kill Me" is an offbeat story of an alcoholic hitman who heads out of town to dry out, finds love, but may find he can't totally leave the past behind. This blend of low-key comedy and gangster hijinks has its moments, but it doesn't really go anywhere. It's more of a pleasant time filler than a must-see. Still, you have to love the casting of "Hey Now" Ben Kingsley in the lead as a Polish hitman, with Tea Leoni as his love interest, and if that pairing strikes you as at all interesting, you should see this.

Into the Wild: This is the most disappointing of these films. After all, it got all the acclaim and the attention. But though there is some beautiful scenery, I just can't get into the lead character enough to care. Perhaps it's director Sean Penn (and of course the writers') decision to make him look like such a self-absorbed bozo so early, then pile on the "his parents suck" angle throughout, but Christopher McCandless annoys me early and never wins me over despite an earnest performance by Emile Hirsch. This problem is especially acute given the long running time.

Plus Penn keeps doing things to separate me from the story: Letting Hirsch, in character, look directly at the camera, putting obvious overplayed oldies on the soundtrack when the Eddie Vedder original songs are so much more effective, and casting Vince Vaughn and apparently asking me to take him seriously.

"Wild" has some virtues, such as the cinematography, the Vedder music, and I'll be damned if Hal Holbrook doesn't nearly make the whole thing worthwhile with his all-too-late and all-too-brief appearance. Overall, though, I was glad I never saw this in a theater, though perhaps I might have felt more involved in that setting.