Extract

Extract is a film about a guy who owns a mid-sized fairly successful business who works a lot of hours, doesn't spend much time with his wife, drinks a lot in a local bar, has an obnoxious neighbour, and has pretty bad judgement. There's a little more to it than that, but you get the picture.

I was looking forward to this one, from Mike Judge, who wrote and directed the wonderful Office Space. Extract was fun, and funny too. I thought there was a lot of gold to mine in the factory that received only a light surface treatment, and that was too bad. The plot was ordinary, with an occasional satisfying twist.

I'll call this one a fun night out. I was disappointed in that I felt it could have been something much better.

I give this one 2 and a half anchovies on the 5 salty scale.

Julie and Julia

Tuffy P wanted to see this film. I resisted, but today agreed to go.

On the basis of Meryl Streep's very fine performance as Julia, I found the film charming. I would have preferred it if it were Julia's story without the Julie part, but I also understand that the Julie part is the hook that got the piece made.

I remember Julia Child's television shows very well. I watched them with fascination growing up. Let me say that I have made Beef Bourguignon and it rocks.

Sunshine Cleaning

Sunshine Cleaning is a peculiar little film about two sisters who go into the crime-scene clean-up business. I guess you would call it a dark comedy-drama. Directed by Christine Jeffs, the film stars Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, and Steve Zahn.

Well done, quirky, well-acted and well written. Tuffy suggested we see this one tonight, and I think it was a very good choice.

The Visitor

We watched a lovely film tonight on DVD called The Visitor. This is a Tom McCarthy film - the same fellow who directed The Station Agent (which I liked very much but Tuffy P didn't care for).

The Visitor tells the story of a professor who has lost passion for his work, his writing, and well, life. He is sent to Manhatten to a conference. It happens that he owns an apartment there, but when he arrives, he finds it occupied. It turns out that the occupants, Terek and Zainab, have rented the apartment from someone who doesn't own it. The professor, Walter Vale played by Richard Jenkins, allows the couple to stay with him in the apartment. Terek is a djembe player and starts to give Walter lessons, marking some new beginnings in his life. I won't spoil the plot here - those of you who want that can find it easily enough.

This is a beautiful film, dealing with a number of themes, including post-911 issues. It's charming, engaging, and beautifully paced.

Very fine. See this one if you get a chance.

Slumdog Millionaire

This is a rollercoaster ride of a movie. It takes you through a gamut of emotions. It's totally romantic, beautifully shot, very very well acted. Fantastic business, and deserving of all those award nominations.

Straight

We had a couple friends over for dinner tonight and decided to watch a movie on DVD after. Tuffy P. suggested we watch the 1999 David Lynch film, The Straight Story. I've seen this one a couple times, but it is such a beautiful film, I'm always up for seeing it again. For those who haven't seen this one, it is based on the true story of Alvin Straight, an elderly man who traveled across Iowa and into Wisconsin on a lawnmower to reconcile with his ailing brother. It stars Richard Farnsworth as Alvin and Sissy Spacek as his daughter Rose.

I love the pace of this film. It is a gently compelling, sometimes funny, and mostly beautiful film about a man who goes on an unusual road trip on board a riding lawnmower to see a brother he hasn't spoken to in ten years. It's about facing one's mortality, and it's about the bonds of family. Mr. Farnsworth's performance is brilliant.

Appaloosa

We went to see this one so you don't have to. I like westerns. I even like mediocre westerns. I also like Ed Harris, so I was looking forward to this one. Let me say something good about it....


...the landscape shots with trains were lovely.

What was bad? The dialogue was stilted and artificial. The story was weak. Renée Zellweger poorly cast. It was boring. I couldn't suspend my disbelief after the first ten minutes.

Too bad.

On the 5 fish anchovy rating scale, I give this one half a can of wilted salties.

Three very brief movie reviews

Tuffy rented these...

Delirious...It has Steve Buscemi in it so it has to be good, right? We gave it a half hour or so but gave up after that.

American Gangster...Pretty good timewaster. Nothing great about it, but parts were pretty interesting. Russell Crowe normally annoys me a lot. I don't know why. The exception is 310 to Yuma in which his acting was quite compelling. In this film, he only annoyed me a little bit. The weakness of the film was that the plot was too simple and predictable (gangster gets powerful; gangster's world falls apart). Still, not a bad renter at all.

The Kingdom...It's still on downstairs and Tuffy's watching it. I abandoned ship. I thought it was a howler.

Movies: Fifteen Minutes and Transamerica

Fifteen Minutes
Robert De Niro is slumming it in this OK actioner from 2001. It kept my attention, but that's about it. On the 5 fish anchovy rating scale, the best I can give this one is a couple soggy ones from the bottom of the can.

Transamerica
Tuffy and I both enjoyed this charming 2005 film, starring Felicity Huffman as a pre-op (male to female) transsexual who discovers she has a son and takes him on a road-trip west. He doesn't know she is his father, but instead thinks she is a Christian missionary. This turns out to be a dysfunctional family film, more so than a movie about gender...and it's very well done. On the anchovy scale, I give it a case of premium anchovys. Highly recommended.

Iron Man

We finally got around to seeing Iron Man. What a gas. Thoroughly entertaining, and quite funny too. On the 5 fish anchovy rating scale, I give this one enough anchovies for an extra large pizza, with a 6 pack of cold brew thrown in to wash it down.

Pulp Fiction revisited

Pulp Fiction was on the tube the other night. I guess I hadn't seen it in several years. Back when it was made, I thought it was a really good film, bold, inventive, well-made and well-acted.

Watching it again, Tuffy P and I both thought it felt dated and stale. The whole Bruce Willis thread in the film just didn't seem to hold up at all at all at all. There were good sequences in the film for sure. It just didn't seem nearly as good this time around as I thought it was. Maybe it was simply the right film for its time, but not for today? I don't know. I was kind of surprised at how disappointed I was.

I'm Not There

I've been avoiding I'm Not There since it came out last year. I had heard about it. They had a half dozen actors playing characters which kinda/sorta were Bob Dylan in different times and spaces. I had heard that Cate Blanchett was fantastic. I had heard the soundtrack was really good. Still, how could this film be anything but a chaotic mess?

Tuffy P rented it and we watched the film this afternoon. It is much better than I imagined it would be. I liked the way the film ducked back and forth between the various characters. I liked that fact that most of them (including an 11 year old African-American kid actor) didn't look much like Dylan and the fact that Cate Blanchett kind of did.

The film turns out to be a really respectful bio-pic. The various covers of Dylan material were also very respectful and very well done. I liked Ritchie Havens performance a lot, as well as the Calexico version of Goin' to Acapulco, and the fine cover of a tune from Dylan's gospel bag of tricks, Pressing On.

Here's Pressing On, covered by John Doe, from the film:


And here's weird Bob himself, performing Pressing On live, I'm guessing from back in 79.


A taste of Cate Blanchett's performance...


Finally, here's the real deal interviewed on 60 minutes in 2004.

Get Smart

Those of us old enough to recall the Get Smart television series may have a slight advantage going in to see this one, as there are some specific references to the old show throughout.

I had pretty low expectations about this movie. How good could it possibly be? Aren't we all sick to death of producers with no imagination coughing up old ideas over and over again?

I was wrong. I'm not going to write that sentence very often on these pages, so savour it friends. Get Smart is very funny and very well made. No small part of this was due to Steve Carell, who seems to be able to make anything worth watching.

On the 5-fish anchovy rating scale, I give this one a pizza full of tasty salties, washed down with a cold brew. Well worth watching.

For fans of old TV, here's a clip from a 1965 episode of the original Get Smart
Enjoy Barbara Feldon's hat. Har!

Wanted - a movie review

I watched Wanted this afternoon. What a tremendously stupid movie. It had lots of well-done action effects, some remarkably bad acting, a lame script, and a silly premise. If all you need is a roller-coaster ride, maybe you'll like this one. Not me.

On the Anchovy 5-fish Rating Scale, the can was defective and wouldn't open and all the salties were stuck inside.

Death at a Funeral

Death at a Funeral is a goof-ball little British funeral farce film. During parts of it, I laughed until I was almost choking. Slightly slow start, but this movie gets funnier and funnier as it goes. This one is a must-see next time you have a bad day.

Zodiac

I watched this film from sick bay. I avoided it when it came out because I thought, how can a film based on an unresolved series of killings be any good. OK, I was wrong. Zodiac was well-written and very well-acted. It was interesting that there were really two threads going on - the killings - and the obsession with the killings. Creepy business.

Gone Baby Gone

We watched this one last night. Still feeling crappy, I think I faded in and out. Not the feel-good movie of 2007, that's for sure - but mostly nicely done with an excellent array of plot twists.

The only thing I didn't understand was why the character of Casey Affleck's girlfriend is even in the movie?

Excellent film for sick-bay recovery. (It's Saturday early morning now, and while I did get a decent sleep last night, I need a couple more recovery days).

Movie trivia

While laying about at home today, wishing I was feeling better, I watched Fargo, and was totally surprised by a scene I had completely forgotten about. Does anyone remember the accordion reference?

The Bank Job

I like heist movies. The bank job is a splendid example of the form from England. It comes complete with a motley crew of robbers, a sordid royal angle, secret agents, corrupt and not so corrupt cops, and best of all, politicians who like to get tied up and whipped by hookers. The whole business is suitably complex and well played to make for some top rate entertainment.

I don't keep up with actors and directors much these days (Hitchcock is dead, you say?), and this one stars a bunch of them whose names I don't know, but all of them did a fine job.

On the Anchovy Heist-o-meter, The Bank Job gets a heaping bucket of salties, just the way I like it.

Godzilla vs JBL