At the Cinema - February 2013

Beasts of the Southern Wild – 9
You’ll like this movie if you like
a.  A Unique story
b. Great amateur acting
c. Something completely different

What a unique movie.  This is the story of a Louisiana bayou community and a father and his daughter, before and after Hurricane Katrina lays waste to their surroundings.  Quvenzhané Wallis plays the 6 year old “Hushpuppy” who is being raised to be in harmony with the elements and yet struggle to survive them south of the levee.  If you like films that take you to a completely different place, you’ll sit in awe, at least for the first half of the movie.  Wallis was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress, the youngest nominee ever.  While she is worthy, Oscar missed out.  It is Dwight Henry as her father Wink, who carries this film on his back.  He is perfect in the role of the hard living fisherman.  Like Wallis, he was cast from an amateur casting call.  Wink fools us into thinking he doesn’t care about Hushpuppy, when in reality he is preparing her for his demise.
It appears that these people wake up in the morning and their job is to find and prepare the food to make it through the day, whether by hunting or fishing.  As Henry schools his daughter on this primal existence, storm clouds gather, and it’s not just the weather.

Director Benh Zeitlen was one of those directors nominated ahead of Ben Affleck for an Oscar.  I can see why.  His portrait of a place within America that we didn’t know about is raw, and yet sweet.  It’s like he’s saying to the rest of us, “quit your whining.”
I was enthralled.  Check it out.

Side Effects – 8
You’ll like this movie if you like
a.  Suspense
b.  Rooney Mara
c.  Mystery
Add Rooney Mara to the “star is born” list.  If you weren’t sold after seeing her as the girl with the dragon tattoo, prepare to be wowed.  She has to be great to make this film believable, and she pulls it off.  Director Stephen Soderbergh, in what is allegedly his last big screen film, weaves a tale reminiscent of Hitchcock.  By now, we’re used to the surprises in movies.  I call it the “Sixth Sense” effect – every movie has to try to surprise you.  While I’m not a big Jude Law fan, he’s effective as the psychiatrist under suspicion for his actions.  One of those actions is prescribing questionable meds.  When Rooney  kills her hunka-hunka husband, played by Channing Tatum in the midst of her depression, questions emerge that take Law the rest of the movie to figure out. 

Soderbergh plays it straight, and this is a better than average thriller. 

A Good Day to Die Hard – 1
You’ll like this movie if you like
a.  Explosions
b.  Headaches
c.  Lethal Weapon 4

I can remember leaving some movies disappointed.  I can’t remember ever going to a movie where I felt significantly worse coming out than I felt going in.  When I walked out of this atrocity my head was pounding and my senses were overloaded.  Imagine a Lethal Weapon 5.  How bad could that be?  Much like Lethal Weapon the progression of this series has gone from Classic to Excellent to Good to average, and finally just horrible.  I can’t think of one believable moment in this movie, other than when I was muttering “I can’t believe I’m sitting here.” 

No one can accuse Bruce Willis of going through the motions.  At my age my body gets out of bed in sections, each creaking a little more than the last.  I looked it up.  I’m just two years older than Willis and he’s falling through scaffolding multiple stories and constantly getting beat to a pulp in a variety of ways.  Yet he emerges unscathed through all these adventures, save for a little well-placed blood.  Not so much as a broken rib.  I hurt just watching him.

There’s an arms race going on in Hollywood.  Who can have the biggest explosions?  It's comical in this movie.If this wasn’t bad enough, I’m beginning to develop some real dislike for something I used to look forward to – Movie previews:

Pet Peeve # 1 – Revealing too much.  The Die Hard I Need A Paycheck crew give away a major story point on who the villain is, that isn’t revealed until two thirds of the way through this movie.  No respect for the audience

Pet Peeve # 2 – Scenes that are cut from the actual movies are seen in the trailer.  This happens all the time, even on TV.  When a preview is jammed down your throat  4 or 5 times, believe me, you notice this.

Pet Peeve # 3 – Too many long previews.  You’re going to get at least 6, and probably 7 previews of 2 to 3 minutes.  Some movies I’ve seen the previews of so many times I go from “can’t wait” to “no way” in the space of a few weeks.

Pet Peeve #4 – Target Marketing.  Let’s say you’re about to see an action movie.  Get ready for 7 action movie previews.  By the time your movie starts you’ve already seen 200 explosions.  If you’re about to see a chick flick, get ready for the Nicholas Sparks genre bombardment.

Finally, I’d like to offer up a remedy for these horrible movies.  Inevitably, the sequel has to move to overseas locales.  Just once, when Liam Neeson, or Bruce Willis or whomever kills 37 people in a foreign country, could you at least detain them for questioning?  The last scene should be the plane landing in the US, and surprisingly, no one gets off, because somebody in France noticed the dead bodies everywhere and decided to make an arrest.  Wish they had arrested anyone associated with this latest version of the declining sequel syndrome.

Here’s this month’s game.  What movies are your remote busters?  That is, the movies you have to stop on and watch whenever you see them.   There are some movies I loved, but I still don’t want to watch them again. However, there are some movies that for some reason I can watch them again and again.  Here are my current top ten:

Annie Hall
Serenity
Tombstone
The American President
A Few Good Men
Mr Smith Goes to Washington
The Long Kiss Goodnight
L A Confidential
Miracle
Collateral

Your top ten please?