Welcome back gang to a new post. Sadly, it is one of the worst weeks, if not the worst, I've had since starting this. Two really bad movies were seen, one of which is very disappointing. It's a short week, my energy for cinema kind of drained from the first two. If you wanna see me spit some vitriol, enjoy the ride. Stay tuned for more stuff, hopefully better than this week.
The Counselor (August 17th, 2014)
Director: Ridley Scott
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, and Brad Pitt
I really wanted to like this. I keep hoping that Ridley Scott could rebound and make something worthy of his legacy again, or even something on the level of American Gangster. Shit, I'll take Body of Lies at this point. And adding Cormac McCarthy as writer seemed like it could help Scott out of his funk. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. Getting a script that deals with all of McCarthys worst traits, this is an absolute failure of a movie. Fassbender tries his best to elevate a script that gives him an absolutely empty vessel of a character. He tries hard and does some decent work considering, but he's playing a rigged game. The only other person to give a decent performance is Pitt, and he just seems to be enjoying himself. Everyone else sucks. Cruz is saddled with a nothing of a character, but can't do anything with it like Fassbender. She's stuck. Bardem is just trying to be filled with weird little ticks and shit to seem deeper than he is, but aside from being stuck with a Brian Grazer haircut, he's worthless. But no one is as bad as Diaz. She's always sucked, and I don't know how she's managed to stay in the game. This may be her nadir. She's is awful on every level, trying to be the nihilistic femme fatale but failing so miserably and laughably. McCarthy doesn't help with the shit ass dialogue he gives her, nor does the scene where she fucks a car windshield help her cause. I never liked her, but holy shit I never thought she could be this bad. This could have been a good movie if McCarthy didn't always feel the need to have a cool story happening off screen with the stories he's telling. But there's that problem, added on to the fact that the movie is so steeped in misery that nothing really matters. You don't care for anyone, so the misery just plays as self indulgent bullshit. This movie really sucks, and only has one good scene where Pitt gets his head cut off. The movie sucks and has finally taken me away from Scotts side. I no longer anticipate his movies. Kinda similar to the next movie I saw this week.
Rating: 5/10
Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (August 21st, 2014)
Directors: Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Josh Brolin, Jessica Alba, and Joseph Gordon Levitt
I haven't been this disappointed in a long time. Not as long as it took for Rodriguez to get off his lazy ass and make a no brainer sequel to the last successful movie he made, but it's been a while. And I tried to defend this before hand to haters. Yeah, Rodriguez has been slumping and slumming for a while. Yeah, Miller lost his damn fool mind around 2001, unable to write anything interesting. But Sin City has stories already written and fits in both of these guys wheel houses. But they decided that Miller needed to write two new stories. Fuck, ok. Maybe Sin City is the only thing he can write for, being pure Miller. Nope. The two new stories are absolutely abysmal. Just pure nonsense, filled with the hatred and misogyny that has always filled his work but really became obnoxious in the last 15 years. One is just half assed and goes through the motions and ends on a sigh of crap. The other is just a long string of misery and pain, leading to an absolutely pointless ending that just wallows in hate. The lazy is story is headlined by Alba, and she tries. But she is saddled with another in a long line of worthless Miller women that are filled with hate and are nasty and is only complete with a man in her life. Levitt headlines the pointless story and it sucks, because this is one of the few roles he actually was good in and fit the world. But Miller has lost any sense of storytelling, so he is wasted. Then there is segment that is based on an old story, so it is the best of the 4 in here, but it still is missing something. Headline by Brolin and Eva Green, this segment could have been good. But Rodriguez just loafs through the story and puts no energy at all into it, so the segment suffers. Brolin is ok and tries his best, but looks really stupid when they put makeup on him to make him look like Clive Owen. Green is the best in the movie, because she seems to realize what movie she's in and that it sucks so she just vamps and has fun. The 4th segment is about Marv, and it's just bland. He kills some folks and that's it. Marv, who was great in the first movie, seems like Rourke forgot how to play him. This movie hurt. It looks really cheap, like a DTV sequel by some no name assholes trying to make a buck, but it's the same damn guys. I truly think Rodriguez took the failure of Grindhouse to heart and never recovered the way Quentin did, just content to make cheap crap for no money. The movie is boring, has no energy or soul and just wallows in misery for about 2 hours. I've been defending Rodriguez and hoping he hit a home run again, but he's off my list. I'm done with him until he shakes off the PTSD of making a movie that failed. Stay away from this shit fest.
Rating: 4/10
Naked Lunch (August 23rd, 2014)
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, and Roy Scheider
This movie is really weird. It's got a narrative in a sense, but it's all a bunch of hallucinogenic nonsense. Weller plays a pest exterminator who ends up getting roped into a conspiracy/spy story with bugs and centipedes and god dammit this is just silly to type out. It's insane but I found myself entertained, despite this being something that I normally wouldn't like. But I guess Cronenberg is a veteran who knew what to do. It's not perfect, but it's watchable. Weller is a non character, a passive non entity in his own story. He has moments where he comes to life, but it's rare. The strengths of the movie lie in the wild imagery Cronenberg brings to life. It's fine enough, not his best but far from his worst. If your interested in him or in William S Burroughs, this is a decent enough time.
Rating: 7/10
The Fisher King (August 23rd, 2014)
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Mercedes Ruehl, and Amanda Plummer
After the sad passing of Williams, I decided to see some of his acclaimed stuff I hadn't seen yet. Being that I work on my own retarded schedule, it took me a while but I got to one. This is a solid little movie, a rare down to earth flick by Gilliam. Bridges plays a Howard Stern like shock jock, a loud mouth asshole. One day on his show, he gives a caller some advice in his typical dick fashion. Later that night, it turns out that caller went on a killing spree, taking his own life too. Three years later, he is off the air and not dealing very well. When he decides to take his own life, he meets Williams. A homeless man with a good attitude, Bridges finds out he was at the restaurant that got shot up and his wife died. It drove him crazy and now he's homeless. Bridges, feeling responsible and looking to make amends, tries to help Williams get with the woman he is in love with. It's a bit Hollywood for Gilliam, but he gives it enough grit and heart and soul to not make it an eyeroller. Bridges and Williams are great in this, completely embodying the characters. The movie is more dramatic than laugh out loud, but it has its moments. And Williams brings alot of genuine emotion to the movie, breaking hearts every now and then with his immeasurable talent. It's got some dry spots here and there, keeping it from truly great status, but it is a damn good showcase for the two main men. Gilliam shoots it like he usually shoots a movie, it's not a game changer for him. It can be a bit off putting for me, making a realistic for the most part movie look a little off. It's little stuff to decrease the rating, but it can absolutely demolish some people emotionally. A good flick and well worth seeing to honor Williams.
Rating: 8/10
Best Movies
1. The Fisher King
2. Naked Lunch
3. The Counselor
4. Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
Top 5 Moments
1. Parry tells Lydia how he feels - The Fisher King
2. Brad Pitt Gets Decapitated - The Counselor
3. Parry Wakes Up - The Fisher King
4. Parry Saves Jack - The Fisher King
5. Eva Green Being Naked - Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
Top 5 Performances
1. Jeff Bridges - The Fisher King
2. Robin Williams - The Fisher King
3. Eva Green - Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
4. Michael Fassbender - The Counselor
5. Brad Pitt - The Counselor
Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (August 21st, 2014)
Directors: Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Josh Brolin, Jessica Alba, and Joseph Gordon Levitt
I haven't been this disappointed in a long time. Not as long as it took for Rodriguez to get off his lazy ass and make a no brainer sequel to the last successful movie he made, but it's been a while. And I tried to defend this before hand to haters. Yeah, Rodriguez has been slumping and slumming for a while. Yeah, Miller lost his damn fool mind around 2001, unable to write anything interesting. But Sin City has stories already written and fits in both of these guys wheel houses. But they decided that Miller needed to write two new stories. Fuck, ok. Maybe Sin City is the only thing he can write for, being pure Miller. Nope. The two new stories are absolutely abysmal. Just pure nonsense, filled with the hatred and misogyny that has always filled his work but really became obnoxious in the last 15 years. One is just half assed and goes through the motions and ends on a sigh of crap. The other is just a long string of misery and pain, leading to an absolutely pointless ending that just wallows in hate. The lazy is story is headlined by Alba, and she tries. But she is saddled with another in a long line of worthless Miller women that are filled with hate and are nasty and is only complete with a man in her life. Levitt headlines the pointless story and it sucks, because this is one of the few roles he actually was good in and fit the world. But Miller has lost any sense of storytelling, so he is wasted. Then there is segment that is based on an old story, so it is the best of the 4 in here, but it still is missing something. Headline by Brolin and Eva Green, this segment could have been good. But Rodriguez just loafs through the story and puts no energy at all into it, so the segment suffers. Brolin is ok and tries his best, but looks really stupid when they put makeup on him to make him look like Clive Owen. Green is the best in the movie, because she seems to realize what movie she's in and that it sucks so she just vamps and has fun. The 4th segment is about Marv, and it's just bland. He kills some folks and that's it. Marv, who was great in the first movie, seems like Rourke forgot how to play him. This movie hurt. It looks really cheap, like a DTV sequel by some no name assholes trying to make a buck, but it's the same damn guys. I truly think Rodriguez took the failure of Grindhouse to heart and never recovered the way Quentin did, just content to make cheap crap for no money. The movie is boring, has no energy or soul and just wallows in misery for about 2 hours. I've been defending Rodriguez and hoping he hit a home run again, but he's off my list. I'm done with him until he shakes off the PTSD of making a movie that failed. Stay away from this shit fest.
Naked Lunch (August 23rd, 2014)
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, and Roy Scheider
This movie is really weird. It's got a narrative in a sense, but it's all a bunch of hallucinogenic nonsense. Weller plays a pest exterminator who ends up getting roped into a conspiracy/spy story with bugs and centipedes and god dammit this is just silly to type out. It's insane but I found myself entertained, despite this being something that I normally wouldn't like. But I guess Cronenberg is a veteran who knew what to do. It's not perfect, but it's watchable. Weller is a non character, a passive non entity in his own story. He has moments where he comes to life, but it's rare. The strengths of the movie lie in the wild imagery Cronenberg brings to life. It's fine enough, not his best but far from his worst. If your interested in him or in William S Burroughs, this is a decent enough time.
The Fisher King (August 23rd, 2014)
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Mercedes Ruehl, and Amanda Plummer
After the sad passing of Williams, I decided to see some of his acclaimed stuff I hadn't seen yet. Being that I work on my own retarded schedule, it took me a while but I got to one. This is a solid little movie, a rare down to earth flick by Gilliam. Bridges plays a Howard Stern like shock jock, a loud mouth asshole. One day on his show, he gives a caller some advice in his typical dick fashion. Later that night, it turns out that caller went on a killing spree, taking his own life too. Three years later, he is off the air and not dealing very well. When he decides to take his own life, he meets Williams. A homeless man with a good attitude, Bridges finds out he was at the restaurant that got shot up and his wife died. It drove him crazy and now he's homeless. Bridges, feeling responsible and looking to make amends, tries to help Williams get with the woman he is in love with. It's a bit Hollywood for Gilliam, but he gives it enough grit and heart and soul to not make it an eyeroller. Bridges and Williams are great in this, completely embodying the characters. The movie is more dramatic than laugh out loud, but it has its moments. And Williams brings alot of genuine emotion to the movie, breaking hearts every now and then with his immeasurable talent. It's got some dry spots here and there, keeping it from truly great status, but it is a damn good showcase for the two main men. Gilliam shoots it like he usually shoots a movie, it's not a game changer for him. It can be a bit off putting for me, making a realistic for the most part movie look a little off. It's little stuff to decrease the rating, but it can absolutely demolish some people emotionally. A good flick and well worth seeing to honor Williams.
Best Movies
1. The Fisher King
2. Naked Lunch
3. The Counselor
4. Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
Top 5 Moments
1. Parry tells Lydia how he feels - The Fisher King
2. Brad Pitt Gets Decapitated - The Counselor
3. Parry Wakes Up - The Fisher King
4. Parry Saves Jack - The Fisher King
5. Eva Green Being Naked - Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
Top 5 Performances
1. Jeff Bridges - The Fisher King
2. Robin Williams - The Fisher King
3. Eva Green - Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
4. Michael Fassbender - The Counselor
5. Brad Pitt - The Counselor
- Tom Lorenzo
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