Clash of the Titans (2010)

My opinion of this movie: it's pretty weak. I mean, sure, the special effects are better than those in the original version--especially with Pegasus--but the sorry effects of the original wouldn't take much to exceed. Plus, they re-used the monster from Cloverfield for the Kraken.

This movie wanted to be a cross between The 300 and The Lord of the Rings, but any attempted comic relief (like from the hunters, Lenny and Squiggy), just sucked all necessary dignity right out of it. Although I must admit that I enjoyed Bubo the Golden Owl's little cameo, there were far too many times when I shook my head and disbelievingly lamented that it was just so corny.

I'm not sure how I feel about an ancient Greek with a buzz cut. Sam Worthington looked like an anachronistic marine in a girly little skirt. But at least he's cute.

Maybe I would have been more impressed if I'd seen it on the big screen, or if I had turned the sound up really, really loud. I'm sure I would have liked it more if my expectations hadn't been so high. I thought surely the great old story put together with awesome new graphics would make an amazing movie. But . . . it didn't. I've seen worse movies, but this was not the movie I hoped it would be.

Shutter Island

Now, this is my kind of movie. I think I would have to call my favorite genre "psychological thriller." Even the ones that suck (Final Analysis, anyone?) are pretty great. Throw together some thrills, chills, twists and a few crazy people, and you've got yourself a good flick.

I just wish they had been a bit more ambiguous with the ending. I mean, normally ambiguity makes me want to tear out my hair, but in this case I think I would have preferred to be left wondering.

Wondering what, you ask? Well, of course, the big question. Is he or isn't he? If you've watched it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, what's wrong with you? Go watch the dang movie!

When you're finished, come back and discuss this statement with me: Mark Ruffalo is too This Century. Seeing him supposedly in 1954 is somehow anachronistic.

For the record, the only thing I can think of that would be creepier than a mystery in a mental institution is . . . a mystery in an abandoned mental institution. Like maybe this one. That looks like a place from my nightmares. 

I'm Not Scared

I read the book by the same name earlier this year, and finally got around to following my usual compulsion to watch the movie adaptation of every book I've read. This movie is in Italian with English subtitles, and it followed the book incredibly closely. This is not completely surprising as the book's author helped write the screenplay.

I was quite impressed by the acting done by all the children. What that means is that I was never distracted from the story by unrealistic or overblown portrayals. I was even more impressed when I discovered, by way of wikipedia, that the children were "local citizens with no filming or acting experience." It was pretty obvious that none of them had ever been on a Disney Channel TV show, anyway.

This movie strangely reminded me of an Italian Stand By Me (albeit with a very different soundtrack). That story didn't come to mind at all as I read the book, which is, I guess, why I found it strange that the movie made me think of it. More about the soundtrack: it was a string quartet, very beautifully done, and often very reminiscent of Pachelbel's Canon in D.

The ending of the film was slightly less ambiguous than the end of the book, but just barely.

Charlie Bartlett

For the first half hour of this movie I was re-wishing that old wish. I wish I had a system for keeping track of what induces me to put a movie on my netflix queue.

Then it hit me. Susan Gardner was Norah from Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist! Netflix must have recommended it to me because of her. I have decided that Kat Dennings is my new favorite actress. Unfortunately, in perusing her imdb filmography, I don't see anything else she's been in (yet) that I'm interested in seeing. But she's young, so there's still time.

Let's just hope Kat takes a better route than Amy Smart. I really liked Smart when I saw her in that silly Ratrace movie, but I was pretty disappointed with her turn in Crank. Maybe Kat will be able to stick with good roles. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, enough about Kat Dennings--the movie itself was really cute. Just as with Speak, I was so impressed by how real each of the characters seemed. With the possible exception of the school superintendent, I think every person in this movie was fully realized without being an over-exaggeration. I cared about them and related to them and was interested in them. They even made me laugh, too, but without sacrificing any of their real-ness. Even the premise of the movie--you might be tempted to consider it unrealistic, but the way it unfolds, you have to admit it could happen.

If Anton Yelchin (who played Charlie) had been in the Nick and Norah movie in place of Michael Cera, I think that movie just might have been perfect. And speaking of perfect, I can't think of a single thing to knock about this movie! (No doubt my husband could have, but he didn't watch it with me.)

Duplicity

This movie tries to be the love child of 2001's Ocean's Eleven and 1999's The Thomas Crown Affair. (By the way, did you know both of those were remakes of movies from the 60s?) I must admit it succeeds fairly well. It's pretty much just what the poster claims: "a cool, sexy caper" which heaps deception upon deception.

This movie's weakness is in the unoriginality of its premise. In fact, I was afraid this might be another case where I'd seen the movie before and had just forgotten, but the Corporate Giant Bum Fight on the tarmac at the beginning allayed my fears on that matter. And I give it props for the ending, which was a welcome surprise in that it wasn't exactly what I expected.

What is it about Paul Giamatti that makes me think of Edward Norton turned into a little gnome?

Kick-Ass

This is why I watch movies. Every now and then I stopped to wonder why I was laughing at all of this murder and mayhem, but I think my ability to be humored rather than horrified had much to do with the absolutely cartoonish quality of the movie. It was so obviously not real, but I was having too much fun to bother being annoyed by improbabilites.

This movie rocks. Don't let your kids watch it, don't let my mom watch it, don't expect to learn much from it, but don't miss it.

Reel Culture: My Additions

None of the movies in Reel Culture were released after 1991 because, as the author claims, "later movies are not really 'classic'--yet." But here are some pre-1991 movies that I think belonged in this book.

1. Star Wars (1977). Sure, everyone knows it, but everyone also knows The Wizard of Oz and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and both of those made the book.

2. Grease (1978). One of the few movie musicals I could watch endlessly, unlike, say, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

3. The Blues Brothers (1980). Not sure this needs to be on the list if Animal House is there. No, I take that back. I think this one is a classic all on its own.

4. Back to the Future (1985). But definitely only the first one of the series. I was eleven when this came out, and I went to see it with my favorite cousin. I was so enthralled with every bit of this movie that I gave my mom a blow-by-blow retelling of the entire thing when I got home.

5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). Maybe not as edgy as The Breakfast Club, but a funny favorite anyway. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

6. Top Gun (1986). Love the volleyball scene. This was Tom Cruise in his glory days, before I realized how short and weird he is. And I always cry when Goose dies, even though I already know he's going to.

7. Dirty Dancing (1987). Didn't every thirteen-year-old girl kind of wish she were Baby? Don't we all kind of wish that still, more than twenty years later?

8. The Princess Bride (1987). If you don't love this movie something is wrong with you. I don't care who you are.

9. Pretty Woman (1990). This would be my dream and fondest wish. You know, if I were a streetwalker.

Now here are a few post-1991 movies which I am sure are destined to stand the test of time.

1. Pulp Fiction (1994). OK, so some of it is hard to stomach, and my mom never ever needs to watch it, but I really think this movie is a masterpiece. I love the way the stories are woven together and told all out of sequence. Honorable mention in this category: Memento. Maybe not exactly a classic, and it's told in a more straightforward (or straightbackward?) way, but what a good movie! (Of course, by "good" I don't mean "feel-good.")

2. Titanic (1997). Maybe it's just the mushy romantic in me that makes me want to add this to my list. But it's such a beautiful movie. So what if I only ever want to watch the first half.

3. The Matrix (1999). Only the first one, unfortunately. There was so much promise for the sequels, but alas . . .

4. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Peter Jackson may have left out Tom Bombadil, but overall his movie adaptation of this book is perfection.

5. Harry Potter movies--as a group, because I don't think any single one of them excels in comparison to the others (2001 through 2011--notice I'm already including the last two installments, sight unseen. I have great faith). I am so glad the various directors have felt compelled to stay true to the beloved books. Sure, a lot has been left out, but overall they've done an excellent job with these movies.

What classics do you think have been left out? Are there any of mine you feel do not belong?

The Boys from Brazil

This was an unexpectedly good flick! You need to watch it!

I'd never heard of this movie until a guy I work with recommended it to me based on an article I was reading in National Geographic. I'll be kind and not tell you what the topic of the article was, since it would be a pretty big spoiler.

This movie was released in 1978, so don't expect one of today's slick productions, but it was a great mix of the intrigue of a James Bond movie (without Bond himself) and the mystery and suspense of a Hitchcock film. Throw in a few aging Nazis and there you have it.

The film begins with a young Nazi hunter, Barry Kohler, who is in Paraguay to gather information about a group of Nazi war criminals. One member of the group is Dr. Josef Mengele, who was known for his sadistic human experimentation during World War II. Mengele is putting a plan in motion that involves the assassination of a number of civil servants worldwide.

I fear that to tell you more will ruin the story for you, but I need you to watch this movie so you can tell me if you understand the significance of the shark tooth necklace.

Withnail and I

Netflix is evil. We have already established the fact that I will never be able to cancel my subscription, which is because of my addiction to movies just as much as because I will never reach the end of my queue. But I will never figure out how it was that I ended up choosing a "classic British art-house dark comedy." Not only had I never heard of it before, but I'm not sure I even know anyone who has heard of it before.

This is no Monty Python movie, but it did make me laugh, although I fear I may have laughed at all the wrong parts. I know I missed some things that were probably funny. (For instance, I didn't catch why the farmer's leg was wrapped up, or even what it was wrapped in). I guess I needed subtitles. My favorite part was probably with the chicken, especially when Withnail asks if it shouldn't be more bald, and then they try to stuff it in the teapot. Didn't need subtitles for that.

Though this movie is nothing like Raising Arizona, it seems to me to have that same sort of dry humor. The sort that is funnier when you're drunk, or it's 2 a.m., or you're watching it with a bunch of people who find it hilarious. Better yet, all three. I also think perhaps it's one that is funnier each time you watch it, but I don't intend to confirm that theory.

Here are a few random observations: Vernon Dursley makes a really creepy predatory gay man. (I'm not sure if that "attempted burglary" was supposed to be funny. I didn't laugh.) The actor who played Withnail also played Hugo in Henry & June, and I was no more impressed with him here, although it was interesting that he was the opposite of the wooden post he played in that movie; here he was an overly-dramatic ham. Also, I couldn't stop thinking that "I", especially when wearing his little round glasses, looked just like Harry Potter all grown up (even though this movie came out before Daniel Radcliffe was even born).

I read on wikipedia that the original ending was to be Withnail pouring a bottle of wine into Monty's shotgun and then committing suicide as he drank it. This ending was left out because it was "too dark." I'll say! That certainly would have changed the tone of the entire movie for me.

Reel Culture: The ones I've seen, Part III

The last 10 of the 50 Reel Culture movies that I've seen. These range from 1977 to 1991.

1. Saturday Night Fever. What I remember most is John Travolta swinging those paint cans down the street.

2. Superman. Honestly, I'm not sure I've watched this all the way through, but I'm sure I've seen most of it. I've ordered it from netflix so I can make sure I've seen the whole thing. I want to be able to prove I'm American.

3. Animal House. I might have never seen this if Epstein hadn't put it on my Must See Movies list in high school. That, and Caddy Shack.

4. Apocalypse Now. I don't think my husband would have ever married me if I hadn't watched this with him first.

5. Airplane! Totally corny. Unfortunately, corn makes me laugh.

6. The Shining. One of the creepiest movies I've ever seen. There are a few scenes when I have to cover my eyes.

7. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Speaking of covering my eyes, I always cover my eyes when Indy says to, just before the Nazis' faces start melting. Just in case. Anyway, Indiana Jones is awesome. Harrison Ford is awesome! Just how cool can one man be? Indiana Jones and Han Solo??

8. Blade Runner. My husband likes this movie a lot more than I do. Not that I don't like it. But I do want to read the novel it came from (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick).

9. The Breakfast Club. One of the best "high school" movies ever. I love it! It is hilarious without being gross. Sure, my mom would not approve, but that's part of the fun.

10. Silence of the Lambs. I actually saw this in the theater when I was in high school. Freaked me out so bad that I promised myself I would never, ever watch it again. Though I suppose it does bring new meaning to the phrase, "eat it or wear it" . . .

Cinematic Espionage

Bride of the Screen God's newest post about The Illusionist reminded me of something. Have you ever noticed that some movies seem to come out in near duplicate? I've always wondered if there is such a thing as a studio spy. When one producer gets wind of a movie idea that's in the works, he scurries back and forth with information so that whichever studio he's loyal to can "scoop" the other studio.

Here are some movie combinations that I remember thinking were awfully similar:

The Prestige and The Illusionist

Antz and A Bug's Life

Babe and Gordy

Deep Impact and Armageddon

Dante's Peak and Volcano

The Truman Show and EDtv

Rob Roy and Braveheart

Have I missed any?