Friday, July 9, 2010

MOVIES FOR THE WEEKEND

Predators is a definite big-screen movie -- either this Saturday afternoon or one day next week after work. It looks pretty slick. And it's rated-R.

Despicable Me looks like colorful, cute fun -- I'd like to see that as well at some point.

Nothing from Netflix for this weekend -- just finished watching The White Ribbon last night. Cold, mean, calculating, and heady -- the typical ingredients in a Michael Haneke film. I enjoyed watching the film without ever actually loving what I was watching (if that makes any sense).

Last week I also saw the Neil Jordan/Colin Farrell mermaid movie Ondine and it's one of the best of the year. Modern-day fairy-tales are hard to pull off but this film casts a spell immediately. Sumptuous cinematography from Chris Doyle and a lovely script that twists and turns and adds up to something special. As usual, Farrell owned every moment that he was on-screen.

I also caught Greenberg, which was excellent, but in a low-key and very depressing way. Stiller has never been this good or focused (or at least since The Royal Tennenbaums) but the movie was completely stolen by the effortless charms of Greta Gerwig. Writer/director Noah Baumbach is a master of the awkward moment (of which there are plenty in Greenberg), and if the film didn't quite leave you with a major emotional uptick by the conclusion, it certainly showed you some characters who need a lot of therapy. As usual, the sly cinematographer Harris Savides brought his A-game.

2 comments:

Joel said...

I'm headed to see the acclaimed "Winter's Bone" here in about an hour and am thoroughly excited. Have heard nothing but great things.

"Predators" does indeed look slick, but my car is in the shop till Tuesday. So probably next Thursday before I head to the--ahem--MIDNIGHT SHOWING of "Inception."

"Despicable Me" looks amusing will be Wednesday in a family movie double feature with the fun-looking "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (hey, the kid-movie field worked brilliantly for Bruck last year with the massively underappreciated "G-Force").

Joel said...

And "Winter's Bone" was extremely satisfying as dark, gritty cinema. If you loved "Snow Angels" as much as I do (and I know you did), then "Winter's Bone" will work similarly. They're pretty much equals both cinematically and in their cumulative effect. Loved it.