I Love You, Man – 8 – An enjoyable comedy featuring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel’s continued ascension as comedy stars. They have believable chemistry in this story of Paul’s search for a suitable best man for his upcoming wedding to Rashida Jones as a too good to be true fiancée. There’s actually more charisma and star power than story here. My guess is that we’ll look back at this movie as another stepping stone to stardom for the three leads. I got a kick out of the music scenes, but I won’t give that away. See it – you’ll laugh. And check out Role Models on DVD if you like Paul Rudd.
Knowing – 7 – A good but strange movie. Nicholas Cage, whom I’ve never been a fan of, (Other than his great performance in Leaving Las Vegas – his every-squirrel-finds-an-acorn moment), gives another in a series of bland performances, but the movie is an interesting story that I won’t spoil here. It morphs from suspense to science fiction and has some impressive special effects in the disaster scenes. One of the strangest things to me in the movie is that Cage looks like he’s riding a horse. In several scenes he stands with his feet wide apart like he’s about to do a broad jump. Never quite figured that out.
I just learned that Cage has 2 homes in New Orleans, including Anne Rice’s old house. So, he obviously has good taste, and I’m sure he’s a great guy, although how would you like to know you’d shared a wife with Michael Jackson? (They both were married to Lisa Marie Presley, who has now kept Graceland through several marriages)
Let me explain my distaste for Cage, who’s my Lionel Ritchie of movies. How did he get this career? I think the best way would be to give you my
Top Ten Movies I just didn’t get.
I remember once Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel having a spirited discussion on why Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was considered a classic. Neither of them liked the movie, thought it was way overrated, and just could not grasp its popularity. I, like most, consider it a classic, but was always fascinated by the personal taste factor of movies. So, keeping in mind that this is purely a personal thing, here are the movies that I just never “got.”
10. Caddyshack/Jerry McGuire Two universally acclaimed sports movies I totally fanned on. I found Caddyshack mildly amusing but never the great sports classic that so many others go nuts over. I’ll take Bull Durham or Major League for sports comedy. Caddyshack was just silly to me, but I seem to be alone. As usual. As for Jerry, other than the star-making performance by Renee Zellweger, I found nothing else remotely believable and the first half in particular made me want to turn my head, with Cruise so far over the top he made me cringe. Just didn’t get these 2, and I love sports movies. (#1 – Hoosiers)
9. The Big Lebowski/Rocky Horror Picture Show. Two cult favorites. I finally watched “The Dude” last year and had the mature reaction of “huh?” As for Rocky, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to make it through the whole movie and I’ve tried several times.
8. The English Patient. The endless patient to me. Thought it would never end
7. Two classics: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Godfather. While I appreciate the artistry and acknowledge the depth, I just never went gaga over them the way the rest of the world did. This will undoubtedly remove all my credibility forever, but I’m just being honest. I actually like Godfather II better in which the Pacino/DeNiro acting was phenomenal. Which is why I can forgive Pacino for
6. Scent of a Woman. Any movie with a blind man driving is ridiculous to me and for Al Pacino to have finally gotten his Oscar for this, instead of Serpico or Dog Day Afternoon is like giving an MVP award to Andruw Jones at this point in his career.
5. 2001 A Space Odyssey/Eyes Wide Shut. How can the same iconic director that made Dr. Strangelove, Clockwork Orange, and Full Metal Jacket, have made these? I’m sure 2001 has some mystical meaning that I never got, but I’ll never concede that on Eyes. An idiotic title that means nothing is just the beginning. It’s excruciating from beginning to end and was one of the few movies where I wanted my money back. People have tried to tell me what this was about and I tell them they’re making it up. There’s no “there” there.
4. Anything with Adam Sandler. The Nicholas Cage of comedy. I find him likable, but I just sit there wondering what everyone else is laughing at. Just shows how personal comedy is.
3. Pineapple Express and other Seth Rogen vehicles. This guy’s a star? Really?
2. Schindler’s List. Sorry. I know this is another classic, and it’s politically stupid to say so, but if the US government ever wants to send me to Gitmo and torture me, I’ll take waterboarding over having to sit through this again.
1. Moonstruck. Everyone I know loves this movie and it is “nails on a blackboard” to me. Let’s start with Nicholas Cage. Never believed him for a minute, but at least he’s half Italian. Cher as an Italian? Please. I kept asking myself was this the same woman who sang “Half Breed?” Now that was a believable performance! And the fact that she campaigned her way to an Oscar is a blight on the books. Can we get a recount? I just looked at this as a movie where they threw every Italian cliché up on the screen and called it a soup. I never bought it for a moment. I hate being manipulated and this movie lays it on so thick that by the time they pulled out “That’s Amore” to officially go over the top, I’d had enough. Sometimes I watch it just to see if I just was sick that day or something. Nope. Can’t stand it, and the fact that it launched Cage to stardom makes it that much tougher to take.
Now you know how weird my taste is. Send me some of the movies that you didn’t get. I’m sure you’ll want to tell me how wrong I am, but as I said, purely personal – and never afraid to give a contrarian opinion.
Next Month: My top 10 underrated movies.
Nominees?
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