It’s that time of year again where I watch almost a movie a day to get them all in before the new year. And because I don’t want to spend my entire Christmas break writing blogs, I’ll just do some quick reviews.
I’m glad that John C Reilly has finally been given the chance to headline a comedy in
Walk Hard. He began his career in quieter dramatic supporting roles (
Magnolia, Chicago, The Hours) but ever since
Talladega Nights, Reilly has shown what a gifted comedian he truly is. Just view his work on funnyordie.com and you’ll be laughing out loud. In this Apatow comedy, Reilly plays Dewey Cox, a fictional musician whose life closely resembles Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan. Like
Spinal Tap before it, the audience is treated to authentic songs with cleverly insane lyrics; the entendre-laden love song “Let’s Duet” and the incomprehensible Dylanesque “Royal Jelly” are fantastic, especially with the pleasant singing voice of Reilly himself. The plot nicely skewers many decades of music as we see Dewey Cox cross various radio formats. And let’s not forget the fantastic supporting cast: Kristen Wiig as the belittling wife, Jenna Fischer as the coy lover, Raymond Barry as the disapproving father, and Tim Meadows as the drummer who ‘accidentally’ introduces Cox to all kinds of drugs. (Actually, I’ve never seen Meadows this funny.) But the highlight of the movie would have to be the interaction between the self-referencing Beatles played hilariously by Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Justin Long and Jason Schwartzman. It’s solid gold. Unfortunately, the movie goes on a bit too long and drags near the end, but it still is one of the best spoof movies in recent years. It’s not one of those
Epic Movie-type films where they lazily show spoof scenes loosely scripted together. This one has an entertaining story that happens to steal from
Ray (like losing his smell) and
Walk the Line (with the constant destruction of sinks). This was a fun ride.
To be honest, I was hoping to see
Juno but was a day early, so we ended up watching
National Treasure: Book of Secrets instead. So I probably didn’t have the most open mind while watching this Bruckheimer flick. I also haven’t seen the first installment, not that it was too difficult to catch up. I would compare
National Treasure to a mixture between
The DaVinci Code and
Tomb Raider. I wasn’t a huge fan of those movies either. It’s not like this film is terrible, it’s just there. It’s a fine escape from reality. If you’re going in expecting
Indiana Jones, you’ll be disappointed; just wait a few months to see the real thing on the big screen. There are some fun scenes and Justin Bartha as sidekick Riley Poole has come great lines here and there. It’s also interesting to see Helen Mirren in non-
Queen attire jumping from cliff to cliff. Nicolage Cage is his usual over-the-top action figure which doesn’t bother me too much. The real disappointment in this movie however, was Ed Harris. Wow, they didn’t give him much to work with; he pretty much sucked, which is a great departure from his usually stellar work.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets is fine family flick but not much more. If this strike ends soon, I’m betting the third one will be out by 2009, and I don’t need a hidden message in an American monument to tell me that.
Atonement is ripe with powerful moments but has a hard time maintaining an engaging flow. The first thing that grabbed me about this epic period piece was the music. Normally, film music isn’t high on my list, but this haunting score punctuated with typewriter sounds hooked me right from the start. The cinematography is also nicely done with a wonderfully choreographed one shot as James McAvoy (
The Last King of Scotland) explores a busy soldier infested beach. McAvoy does a wonderful job as the wrongly accused Robbie as does Keira Knightley as the independent Cecilia (a nice departure from her
Pirate films). However, it’s the young Saoirse Ronan who will get under your skin. As the mistaken younger sister, Ronan’s eyes alone speak volumes, so much so that the camera even closes in on her viewing pupils. The story is nicely told with some well-crafted editing to show the true details of misconstrued events. This film is definitely for older audiences who have patience for a slower paced tale. Just as a warning, those in the older markets may a bit offended by a particular word that is typed but never spoken. As whole, the film is well done and is the kind of Oscar bait we expect year after year. Take that as you will.
I’m glad that John C Reilly has finally been given the chance to headline a comedy in Walk Hard. He began his career in quieter dramatic supporting roles (Magnolia, Chicago, The Hours) but ever since Talladega Nights, Reilly has shown what a gifted comedian he truly is. Just view his work on funnyordie.com and you’ll be laughing out loud. In this Apatow comedy, Reilly plays Dewey Cox, a fictional musician whose life closely resembles Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan. Like Spinal Tap before it, the audience is treated to authentic songs with cleverly insane lyrics; the entendre-laden love song “Let’s Duet” and the incomprehensible Dylanesque “Royal Jelly” are fantastic, especially with the pleasant singing voice of Reilly himself. The plot nicely skewers many decades of music as we see Dewey Cox cross various radio formats. And let’s not forget the fantastic supporting cast: Kristen Wiig as the belittling wife, Jenna Fischer as the coy lover, Raymond Barry as the disapproving father, and Tim Meadows as the drummer who ‘accidentally’ introduces Cox to all kinds of drugs. (Actually, I’ve never seen Meadows this funny.) But the highlight of the movie would have to be the interaction between the self-referencing Beatles played hilariously by Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Justin Long and Jason Schwartzman. It’s solid gold. Unfortunately, the movie goes on a bit too long and drags near the end, but it still is one of the best spoof movies in recent years. It’s not one of those Epic Movie-type films where they lazily show spoof scenes loosely scripted together. This one has an entertaining story that happens to steal from Ray (like losing his smell) and Walk the Line (with the constant destruction of sinks). This was a fun ride.
To be honest, I was hoping to see Juno but was a day early, so we ended up watching National Treasure: Book of Secrets instead. So I probably didn’t have the most open mind while watching this Bruckheimer flick. I also haven’t seen the first installment, not that it was too difficult to catch up. I would compare National Treasure to a mixture between The DaVinci Code and Tomb Raider. I wasn’t a huge fan of those movies either. It’s not like this film is terrible, it’s just there. It’s a fine escape from reality. If you’re going in expecting Indiana Jones, you’ll be disappointed; just wait a few months to see the real thing on the big screen. There are some fun scenes and Justin Bartha as sidekick Riley Poole has come great lines here and there. It’s also interesting to see Helen Mirren in non-Queen attire jumping from cliff to cliff. Nicolage Cage is his usual over-the-top action figure which doesn’t bother me too much. The real disappointment in this movie however, was Ed Harris. Wow, they didn’t give him much to work with; he pretty much sucked, which is a great departure from his usually stellar work. National Treasure: Book of Secrets is fine family flick but not much more. If this strike ends soon, I’m betting the third one will be out by 2009, and I don’t need a hidden message in an American monument to tell me that.
Atonement is ripe with powerful moments but has a hard time maintaining an engaging flow. The first thing that grabbed me about this epic period piece was the music. Normally, film music isn’t high on my list, but this haunting score punctuated with typewriter sounds hooked me right from the start. The cinematography is also nicely done with a wonderfully choreographed one shot as James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland) explores a busy soldier infested beach. McAvoy does a wonderful job as the wrongly accused Robbie as does Keira Knightley as the independent Cecilia (a nice departure from her Pirate films). However, it’s the young Saoirse Ronan who will get under your skin. As the mistaken younger sister, Ronan’s eyes alone speak volumes, so much so that the camera even closes in on her viewing pupils. The story is nicely told with some well-crafted editing to show the true details of misconstrued events. This film is definitely for older audiences who have patience for a slower paced tale. Just as a warning, those in the older markets may a bit offended by a particular word that is typed but never spoken. As whole, the film is well done and is the kind of Oscar bait we expect year after year. Take that as you will.
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