Catch up time.
Tabloid - I remember reading reviews of this when it was playing in theaters and wanting to see it, but I never got around to it, so I was happy to see ti show up on the movie channels. This is an Errol Morris documentary about Joyce McKinney and the "Mormon sex in chains" case. Loved it. Took me a little bit to get the hang of Morris' style, but the story was engrossing and entertaining and McKinney herself was kid of fascinating. She comes off as a down-to-earth southern gal, but there are little hints of crazy that peek out enough to make you wonder whether or not she's telling the truth. Highly recommended.
To Live And Die In L.A. - I don't know why I waited so long to watch this (I've had it on DVD for years), but this is a great ****in' flick. I'd have to think about it, but this might be my favorite Willem Dafoe performance, and I LOVE that guy, so that's something. He plays a counterfeiter who is being chased by a cop played by William Peterson, after Dafoe and co. kill his mentor. Peterson's character becomes obsessed and willing to do anything, including break the law, to catch him. ****ing LOVED this movie. It's intense, funny and Dafoe is ****ing perfect. The ending is brilliant. Go watch it.
Goon - I sure do love it when HDNet Movies gets these movies before they go in theaters. Saves me the anguish of not seeing them. Sean William Scott is a hockey fan who has never played hockey. During one game, he gets into a fight with someone in the stands and beats the **** out of him. The coach of the local team sees this and immediately offers him a contract to play. There's funny bits of him learning to skate and play hockey mixed with funny bits of him getting in fights and beating the **** out of other hockey players. Eventually, he becomes a fan favorite and is signed by a real minor league team, where similar antics occur and he also shows his new teammates how to be a "team". Really funny, full of heart and the best hockey movie since Slapshot easily. Might even bet better than that'n. You owe it to yourself to see this.
The Reef - A bunch of Australians decide to go visit a remote island for vacation, but the boat hits a reef and capsizes, so they're stuck in the middle of the shark infested ocean and have to swim if they want to survive. It's pretty standard and about what you'd expect. They did a good job building tension and making you yell at the characters to quit just sitting and there and ****ing move, but the film is brought down some by most of the cast being annoying and/or stupid. By the end, you kind of feel like they all deserve their fate. Meh.
Paper Man - Almost didn't bother with this because the reviews for it were pretty bad, but the Emma Stone factor made me want to give it a shot, anyway. That chick is cool. And I'm glad I did because I thought it was a pretty good movie. The acting was solid all around, but the relationship between Stone and Jeff Daniels was developed really well. Definitely more drama than comedy, but the funny bits worked well. I wouldn't buy it, but I liked it.
Pulp - I can't believe I hadn't even heard of this movie until the day I saw this was on. Pulp was my favorite band for a while in high school and I didn't even know they'd taken their name from a movie. Lame. What a great movie to take a name from, though. Opinions on it seem to be pretty well divided, with half saying it was boring and incomprehensible and the other half loving it. Well, count me in the latter half. I thought it was really funny and clever in the way that only Brits seem to be able to do. Really dry and strange, but I was laughing quite a bit. The DVD is
only $4 on Amazon, so I already own it, as well. BoobyTrap hated it, but I recommend it highly.
Daydream Nation - Kat Dennings is the new girl in school. She dresses kind of weird and acts different, so she hangs out with the stoner kids, which doesn't do any favors for her popularity, but still doesn't really feel like she fits in. And then she meets her new english teacher, Josh Lucas, who is similarly disaffected because his students don't seem to care. So, naturally, she starts having sex with him. At the same time, one of the stoner boys develops a huge crush on her and try as she might, she starts liking him back, as well. And thus, the drama unfolds. I really like Josh Lucas and think he did a good job in this and I like Kat Dennings (though not as much as some here) and together they made this movie watchable, even though you never see even a hint of her chest. In fact, you wouldn't even know her chest was significant if this was your only exposure to her, but she had funny, sarcastic lines and handled the drama fairly well. The movie was pretty good for most of the way through, but the ending was a bit off. As things grew and headed towards the climax, they got a bit silly so that by the end of the film, I wasn't much of a fan of it anymore. Add this to the fact that most of the music played during the film is really, really bad and the one Sonic Youth song they used was used at a strip club (Daydream Nation is the name of a Sonic Youth album, fyi). Oh, and the music played during the climax sounded like a half-baked Requiem For A Dream ripoff. So... yeah. Rent it if you feel like you need to see it for Kat, but go in knowing her boobs are absent.
Naked Fear - So this chick gets kind of tricked into coming out to New Mexico and being a stripper without any money and without anyone friendly that would be willing to come get her, just as a bunch of strippers and prostitutes are disappearing all over town. Bet you can't guess what happens!!! I don't know why I watched this. Ok, no, I do. It has Joe Mantegna in it and I wanted to see some boobs and violence. I'm not ashamed. Well, there were some boobs in this, but there wasn't any violence. That was all offscreen. Actually, I'll just say this: this movie sucked and was a complete waste of time. Most of the acting was hammy, the plot was entirely predictable and ALL THE VIOLENCE WAS OFFSCREEN. I fast forwarded through the last 45 minutes or so. Wish I'd never bothered.
Room Of Death - Ever since seeing Inglorious Basterds, I've wanted to see more Melanie Laurent, so I was really happy to see this show up on Sundance channel, even though Sundance channel isn't in HD. I braved the stand definition waters to see if this movie could clue me in as to why Tarantino chose her for the lead in that movie. I don't know if this movie had any direct influence on QT's decision, but I wouldn't be surprised. Laurent plays a rookie detective, who is also the single mother of two baby boys, fighting to show what she can do amongst a team of seasoned veteran cops. Her first case ends up being the death of a child and the death of her father, who the cops discover was killed on his way to pay a ransom for his kidnapped daughter. From there, the movie twists and turns and gets a little weird, but Laurent anchors that **** like a ****ing pro. She was excellent and totally cute as a brunette. The movie is very heavily influenced by Silence Of The Lambs (Laurent even has a copy of it on her bookshelf), but beyond the main character being a rookie female and some similarities during the climax, it stands on it's own as an excellent thriller. I'll probably buy it at some point, though the US release looks pretty ****ty, so maybe I'll look for an international copy.
