Why do things when you can watch things?
So many damn movies have I watched (or re-watched).
Idiocracy - The new Mike Judge movie, dumped in minimal theaters with no fanfare for no apparent reason. Naturally, that means it's pretty damn funny. Although hobbled by a clearly tacked-on voiceover, there's a lot of clever stuff in this movie. Definitely catch it on DVD, where it will hopefully be restored to its intended version.
Babe: Pig in the City - What a great movie. I'm pretty sure Kim hated it, despite the fact that at the outset I assured her that all the animals survived, and that there was a happy ending. But the movie really is all about watching adorable creatures suffer for 90 minutes, so if you're not into that, I can't imagine how you'd get through this movie. But I love it so. I mean, it's only half as psychologically scarring as Return to Oz.
United 93 - Whew. This movie's quite excellent, but damn it'll wear you out. What I didn't know about this movie was how much of its running time is spent covering what happened on the ground as people twigged to what was happening. The movie's not for everyone, but it certainly lends an immediacy to the events of 9/11.
Spaceballs - Emory and I watched this right after United 93, y'know, to switch things up a little. We've both got this movie pretty much memorized, but hadn't seen it in years. It's wretched, but nothing can take away the pure comedic poetry of "Keep firing, assholes!" Or the bit where Dark Helment is playing with his Spaceballs dolls. Or "Now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb." Really, everything Rick Moranis does in this movie is gold. But it's a movie that's much more fun to remember than actually experience.
Fantastic Four - I hadn't actually seen this in the theater, but that's what HBO is for. It's perfectly mediocre and serviceable. There's some nice Thing/Human Torch interplay. Really, the movie nails both Johnny and Ben's characters. Shame Reed and Sue and Doom are so bland. The problem with Doom is that he's the great comic villain that would never work on the screen in his original incarnation, what with the theatrics and the talking in the third person and all. It would seem irredeemably goofy, even for an FF movie. This version's just fine, really. Much like the movie itself. It's not very good, but they don't do anything glaringly wrong, and they do several things right. That's really all I can hope for for a comic property in which I have so little emotional investment.
The Wire - *claps hands and shrieks like a five-year-old*
Idiocracy - The new Mike Judge movie, dumped in minimal theaters with no fanfare for no apparent reason. Naturally, that means it's pretty damn funny. Although hobbled by a clearly tacked-on voiceover, there's a lot of clever stuff in this movie. Definitely catch it on DVD, where it will hopefully be restored to its intended version.
Babe: Pig in the City - What a great movie. I'm pretty sure Kim hated it, despite the fact that at the outset I assured her that all the animals survived, and that there was a happy ending. But the movie really is all about watching adorable creatures suffer for 90 minutes, so if you're not into that, I can't imagine how you'd get through this movie. But I love it so. I mean, it's only half as psychologically scarring as Return to Oz.
United 93 - Whew. This movie's quite excellent, but damn it'll wear you out. What I didn't know about this movie was how much of its running time is spent covering what happened on the ground as people twigged to what was happening. The movie's not for everyone, but it certainly lends an immediacy to the events of 9/11.
Spaceballs - Emory and I watched this right after United 93, y'know, to switch things up a little. We've both got this movie pretty much memorized, but hadn't seen it in years. It's wretched, but nothing can take away the pure comedic poetry of "Keep firing, assholes!" Or the bit where Dark Helment is playing with his Spaceballs dolls. Or "Now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb." Really, everything Rick Moranis does in this movie is gold. But it's a movie that's much more fun to remember than actually experience.
Fantastic Four - I hadn't actually seen this in the theater, but that's what HBO is for. It's perfectly mediocre and serviceable. There's some nice Thing/Human Torch interplay. Really, the movie nails both Johnny and Ben's characters. Shame Reed and Sue and Doom are so bland. The problem with Doom is that he's the great comic villain that would never work on the screen in his original incarnation, what with the theatrics and the talking in the third person and all. It would seem irredeemably goofy, even for an FF movie. This version's just fine, really. Much like the movie itself. It's not very good, but they don't do anything glaringly wrong, and they do several things right. That's really all I can hope for for a comic property in which I have so little emotional investment.
The Wire - *claps hands and shrieks like a five-year-old*
posted by Jeff at 8:40 AM
4 Comments:
The distribution of "Idiocracy" has been truly, well, idiotic .. I can't wait to see it on DVD, which should, unfortunately, be very soon .. Babe: Pig in the City is easily one of the must underrated movies of all time ..it's just pure wicked fun, in the Terry Gilliam style
I'm interested in hearing more about your Idiocracy reactions, particularly since you are the only other person I know who's seen it. I'm not sure what about it would provoke anger, save for the voiceover that seemed to assume that the audience was as dumb as most of the characters. Anyway, feel free to elaborate here or in person. I'm curious!
Babe: Pig in the City contains my favorite use of Edith Piaf music in a movie EVER: the mice chorus crooning "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" in the Babe "rejection" scene.
I saw it last week. I liked it. While watching it I was constantly asking myself- "Is this dumb? Is it? I can't tell." But upon reflection I decided it's smart and effective and would probably be better upon another viewing.
It's painful to watch. Part me felt like everyone was actually too dumb and it was unrealistic, but that's the idea. That people get THAT dumb. And it was kind of scary since less educated people really are having way more kids. :(
I didn't mind the voiceover because it fit with the dumb tone of the movie. Like as if the movie is made in that dumb future telling the story of the smartest man alive. I thought it was intentionally cheesy.
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