Saturday, June 12, 2004
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Excellent.
Dirty Pretty Things.
Very good. Review later.
Sunday, June 06, 2004
Human Nature
Rent this movie right now! It is HILARIOUS and so much better than most of the crap out there. Here's the deal:
Written by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind etc ...)
Directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine, brilliant music videos for Bjork, the White Stripes, basically everything wacky and French and technically astounding you've seen lately).
Cast: Tim Robbins in his best role in YEARS. Patricia Arquette being so damn good and chameleon-esque that I didn't even know it was her until the end credits, Rhys Ifans (best known as Hugh Grant's obnoxious flat mate in "Notting Hill" and as the original singer for Super Furry Animals) in a superbly funny role as a child-turned-ape-turned-savante-turned-feral-turned-asshole, and Miranda Otto (yes, THE hot woman from Rohan in Lord of the Rings) as a Frenchie lab assitant.
The whole thing is one fantastically twisted premise, as are all of Charlie Kaufman's scripts. The basic plot is easy to explain but hilarious to watch unfold. SO JUST GO RENT THIS FILM. IT IS SO FUNNY!
Written by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind etc ...)
Directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine, brilliant music videos for Bjork, the White Stripes, basically everything wacky and French and technically astounding you've seen lately).
Cast: Tim Robbins in his best role in YEARS. Patricia Arquette being so damn good and chameleon-esque that I didn't even know it was her until the end credits, Rhys Ifans (best known as Hugh Grant's obnoxious flat mate in "Notting Hill" and as the original singer for Super Furry Animals) in a superbly funny role as a child-turned-ape-turned-savante-turned-feral-turned-asshole, and Miranda Otto (yes, THE hot woman from Rohan in Lord of the Rings) as a Frenchie lab assitant.
The whole thing is one fantastically twisted premise, as are all of Charlie Kaufman's scripts. The basic plot is easy to explain but hilarious to watch unfold. SO JUST GO RENT THIS FILM. IT IS SO FUNNY!
My Wife Is An Actress
French films, hurrah!
Venus Beauty Institute
The thing about modern French films is the common stylistic choice to just show events happening, rather than formulating a clearcut Hollywood beginning, middle and end. Who are these people? Why are they so messed up? What happens next? French films (and other European and some indies) leave us with only a slice of time, a month in the lives of some random strangers. Are we any better for having watched their daily routines? In the case of "Venus Beauty Institute", I'd have to say yes, if only because their lives are so damn strange.
Set in Paris, the film revolves around Angele, a middle aged beautician (the sensational Nathalie Baye) and her attempt to find love. She works at a dainty salon with two other beauticians (including a pre-Amelie very cute Audrey Tautou) and a Mary Kay-esque boss. Angele clearly had some bizarre past love affair which physically scarred her lover and emotionally scarred her as a young woman. So now she throws herself into meaningless affairs, because at least every fling is different. But of course, one day in the cafe, a handsome man approaches her and says "I saw you in the station ... I have followed you everywhere ... I am in love with you!". Angele reacts with horror and confusion. But to have a plot, things must change. We get to see the obligatory naked French women, a nice little almost-sex scene with Audrey Tautou (she has on really hot stockings!), and lots of very Parisian comings and goings. Watching Angele work with pesky customers, eat at a lousy cafeteria so she can pick up business men, and swap gossip in the back room shows that Parisian life is just as obnoxious as our lives. Except their cafeteria lunches come with wine in little plastic tumblers ...
Set in Paris, the film revolves around Angele, a middle aged beautician (the sensational Nathalie Baye) and her attempt to find love. She works at a dainty salon with two other beauticians (including a pre-Amelie very cute Audrey Tautou) and a Mary Kay-esque boss. Angele clearly had some bizarre past love affair which physically scarred her lover and emotionally scarred her as a young woman. So now she throws herself into meaningless affairs, because at least every fling is different. But of course, one day in the cafe, a handsome man approaches her and says "I saw you in the station ... I have followed you everywhere ... I am in love with you!". Angele reacts with horror and confusion. But to have a plot, things must change. We get to see the obligatory naked French women, a nice little almost-sex scene with Audrey Tautou (she has on really hot stockings!), and lots of very Parisian comings and goings. Watching Angele work with pesky customers, eat at a lousy cafeteria so she can pick up business men, and swap gossip in the back room shows that Parisian life is just as obnoxious as our lives. Except their cafeteria lunches come with wine in little plastic tumblers ...
Friday, June 04, 2004
Duplex
And now, thoughts by a second author ...
This movie is unforgiveably horrible, boring, tedious, trite, cliched ..... um, where IS that thesaurus? We actually had to stop watching about a third of the way through - I think it was the scene where Ben Stiller had to give mouth to mouth to the old lady who was heavily lipsticked and choking on the gooiest chocolate caramel ever. Now if we had to turn off a movie on a night when we could not go anywhere else because of the storm brewing outside, that is bad. There is campy bad and just plain bad. I thought most of Ben Stiller's movies fell in the campy bad camp, and I kind of enjoy them when I have been working too hard and need some cheap laughs. But this movie, on the campground scale, does not even rate a pit toilet.
This movie is unforgiveably horrible, boring, tedious, trite, cliched ..... um, where IS that thesaurus? We actually had to stop watching about a third of the way through - I think it was the scene where Ben Stiller had to give mouth to mouth to the old lady who was heavily lipsticked and choking on the gooiest chocolate caramel ever. Now if we had to turn off a movie on a night when we could not go anywhere else because of the storm brewing outside, that is bad. There is campy bad and just plain bad. I thought most of Ben Stiller's movies fell in the campy bad camp, and I kind of enjoy them when I have been working too hard and need some cheap laughs. But this movie, on the campground scale, does not even rate a pit toilet.
