Sunday, March 29, 2009

QUICK COMMENTS

I Love You, Man is the first laugh out loud movie I have seen this year. Often hysterical and always enjoyable, it's a very entertaining comedy.

Duplicity is a movie for people who like to engage their brain while sitting in a movie theater. The script is pretty ingenious and the dialogue is really strong. Clive Owen is the coolest of cats and Julia Roberts was extremely sexy.

Full reviews to come for both, but in short, I really liked both of these flicks.

4 comments:

Joel said...

I think it's ironic hearing these viewpoints.

I follow a critic named MovieBoy who gave "I Love You, Man" half a star and called it "appallingly unfunny and about as charming as a natural disaster." I still wanna see it, if for no other reason than I still cry laughing at the dog crap scene in the trailer when Jason Segel goes all wild and crazy on that guy.

Now, he delegated "Duplicity" with the rarely-awarded ZERO STARS (last one of those was for "Disaster Movie," so you know the kind of quality he thought it had). He said that it "goes so wrong in so many ways that it's irredeemable."

But then, MovieBoy liked "Freddy Got Fingered" and "Speed Racer" but DIDN'T like "Minority Report." So...not sure I trust his judgment very much.

On another note, "Knowing" was amazing. WAY better than I thought it'd be. You should be anticipating the DVD release A LOT, now. :P

Also, I saw "Let the Right One In." Amazing stuff. I liked "Twilight" okay, but this was so much better, it's not even funny. Well, okay, a LITTLE funny. Your VERY high recommendation is well-deserved.

Actionman said...

Not sure what planet "MovieBoy" calls home but I Love You, Man was extremely funny and anyone who sais that Duplicity is worthy of a zero-star grade really needs to learn a thing or three about film.

I am cautiously optimistic about Knowing. Seems that moviegoers have liked it way more than most critics, but Ebert's **** rave leaves me with some hope. Plus, it's Proyas, so it's gotta at least look nice, right?

Glad you loved Let the Right One In. I think it's perfect. That pool-hall finale is just remarkable.

Joel said...

Oh boy do I agree with you about MovieBoy. Here's his review of "Transformers": http://www.themovieboy.com/reviews/t/07_transformers.htm
And yes, even though I have reservations about the film (thought the final action sequence drug on a tad too long), I think he was idiotic about this one.

I think I watched the final scene in "Let the Right One In" about six times. In a row. Don't know if I've ever done that. It was literally (not "literally" meaning "figuratively")...LITERALLY flawless. I think it has to do with the composition of that underwater shot (on that note, the cinematography was breathtaking), the use of primary but strikingly opposite colors (blue and red), and the sheer ideas it brings across. Absolutely perfect ending to an already-perfect movie.

In that respect, it reminded me of the final moments of both "Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Synecdoche, New York." It truly blindsides you. You're not sure of your feelings at first...but then it hits you. Beautiful. Have reviews in the works for both. Or, should I say, the best estimations of reviews I can give. There was nothing wrong with either film--and I do mean "nothing"--so...I'll take the position of cheerleader, I suppose? :P

Joel said...

To somewhat give you faith that MovieBoy isn't entirely useless, I must tell you that, while he thought "Let the Right One In" was majorly flawed from a narrative point-of-view, he LOVED "Synecdoche, New York." It was one of four **** films from him last year and he awarded it the second place in his Top Ten. The other four were "Cloverfield," "Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and "Dark Knight."