lol, I have no idea what to blabber on about this week, so I will just head straight into the movies!
Diary of the Dead (2008): Eh, it's not bad. There are some interesting ideas regarding the spread of mass media (although a couple of bits are kind of corny), and there are a couple of cool characters (specifically, a badass Amish guy and a black militia man), but otherwise it is about the same as most other zombie movies (including the ones made before by director/writer George A. Romero).
Bullets Over Broadway (1994): A really funny movie that develops into something incredible after the first 45 minutes or so. Cheech (Chazz Palminteri), a Mafia man who also has brilliant writing talent, is one of the funniest characters Woody Allen has ever created. He's so hilariously crude and direct, and the way he busts the balls of David Shayne (John Cusack), is hysterical. Cheech's interactions with Olive (Jennifer Tilly) are also wonderful; Olive is a terrible actress who wants to be a great actress, and Cheech is forced by his boss to attend all her rehearsals and read lines with her. It's just amusing to me that a random side character suddenly becomes the best, funniest character in the movie.
Interiors (1978): And on the opposite side of the spectrum for Woody Allen is this quiet, austere drama about a family whose interior lives cause them to break apart from each other. It's well-written, well-acted and well-directed, but the tone of the movie deliberately cuts people off from the characters, which is fine for what Interiors goes for. After all, the characters are so insular and self-absorbed that they cut themselves off from each other. However, the price that comes with it is that I found it difficult to really become engaged with certain characters and certain parts of the story. I enjoyed that the movie made me think about each character, but I wanted to enjoy the story on an emotional level, too, and that was not always possible (although, to be fair, the end is plenty emotional).
Husbands and Wives 1992: One thing I like about Woody Allen's movies is that they never turn out the way you expect them to. This movie is filmed like a documentary, so you see how the story turns out, and at certain points in the story you also get reactions from the various characters. It follows one couple, Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis), whose decision to separate causes another couple, Gabe (Woody Allen) and Judy (Mia Farrow), to slowly question their relationship. There's a lot of funny stuff in this movie, and unlike Interiors, although the characters are highly neurotic and self-obsessed, you can still engage with them and learn something from what each looks for in love and marriage.
The Professional: Golgo 13 (1983): I enjoyed the first hour or so as an amoral James Bond movie taken to the extreme, but it falls apart for me in the final half hour. The reason for this is there are two dumb, ridiculous villains (Gold and Silver) introduced for no reason at all, and there is also a laughably dated CGI helicopter sequence (think of the effects in Time Chasers and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, for those who watch MST3K). There's also a rape scene that made me incredibly uncomfortable; I know why it's there (to make Snake more of a heinous freak), but it's a cheap tactic and very distasteful and repelling.
Lars and the Real Girl (2007): A very charming movie that somehow manages to be funny without making a mockery of its main character, Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling), a delusional man who is so afraid of normal human interaction that he orders a sex doll as a companion. It's very strange, but it works, mainly because Gosling's performance is so warm and caring, and because the characters surrounding Lars are people who genuinely care for him and want to see him function on a normal level.
On the queue for this week: Lolita (1962), Hamlet (1996), Iris (2001) and Quills (2000)
(Hamlet is going to be the greatest test of my attention span ever -- four hours, my gosh.)
Total Movies: 11 (Gaslight, The Last King of Scotland, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Darjeeling Limited, This Film is Not Yet Rated, Diary of the Dead, Bullets Over Broadway, Interiors, Husbands and Wives, The Professional: Golgo 13, Lars and the Real Girl)
