Here is the latest after I went out in Barcelona last night and saw Juno.
I guess it’s hard to live up to the hype. I saw the movie in a small, rundown, dank theatre in Barcelona. Hard to have a group laugh when the rest of the audience is reading the subtitles. I ended up being the only one laughing in many parts. The girl in this film (Ellen Page) does a great job at being the eccentric, interesting, and fun chick to hang around with. So much so that Bateman starts re-evaluating his life. I thought that Bateman, Garner and the supporting cast were all good (I liked the Dad (James Jameson from Spiderman and the step-mother). I guess where it failed for me was in the resolution which on the face of it is a very kind gesture (giving up the baby) however I keep thinking that finding the supposed love of your life (and a guy who could not look you in the eye at any time in the movie) is probably not what is realistic. Maybe he is, but let’s not leave us with the impression that this is the end resolution….maybe it’s just the resolution for now.
Beowolf – saw this on the plane coming over. It was okay. The realistic graphics of actors known and unknown was remarkable. That in itself is an achievement. The nearly naked scenes with Angelina Jolie will make any teen blush and are worth the price of admission whether she looks like that or not. Somehow I believe not, given the kids and the tattoos that she’s done. It’s typical fable territory with the old drunken King having to deal with a demon of his own creation. Someone else gets to clean up the mess and get the Kingdom he wants (for a time). It kept my attention although I can’t really recommend it.
The Assassination of Jesse James – talk about a movie with plenty of hype, but that no one has really seen, and now I know why. It’s boring! Nothing happens here, and what happens is very slow to get going. I did not even see the end (the flight descended) but I don’t care. I think by the title I know what happened. Casey Affleck is a weird guy here. It filled time, but that’s really as far as I can go.
The Proposition – given your positive review I was anxious to catch this, which is likely a kiss of death. We have a good cast here. There is an interesting premise, but for me it was too slow. The Emily Watson character was interesting in her blind devotion to her husband but by the end I was predicting where this story was going to go. I had not thought that you could wring out a whip (surely they would have done so in The Passion of the Christ) but here they managed to. Do 100 lashes cause that much damage really? I don’t really need to find out.
Mondays With Robbie 