365 films in a year (almost)

Saturday, February 9, 2013

#40 Side Effects (2013)

Another Steven Soderbergh experience.

Emily is depressed. .....Or is she...?

I am a fan of many of the Soderbergh movies. I haven't seen his most recent movies like Contagion or really most of the others. But I do remember liking Traffic and especially liking Bubble. This movie both did it for me and didn't do it for me. At times during the picture, I found myself very entertained trying to follow the interesting and rapid storyline, while also having the sense that something just didn't seem right. There were a few drawbacks to this movie that I saw. First, I strongly believe that this story could have been just as credibly told with "normal" looking people. I mean at a certain point you can't help thinking, is it really necessary for these beautiful people to be constantly forced down my throat. Can't I get a little bit of William H. Macy and Tilda Swinton and John Hawkes for crissake. Jude Law was as precise and professional in his acting performance as his boring psychiatrist character is with his work. Neither Mara Rooney or Rooney Mara or whatever her name is nor Zeta-jones are really very good, in my opinion. And the Tatum guy played a pretty good prick, although I don't know if his character really was meant to be one. He was the kind of guy you wouldn't want to hang out at the bar you like to frequent. The second annoyance was why the hell do so many hollywood movies and LA television shows assume that "regular" people are all rich as hell? I'm finding it harder and harder to be empathetic with the characters' plights when they all belong to a socio-economic class that also contains around 0% of the people that I know or interact with on a regular basis.

Anyway, as far as thrillers go, this one requires your brain at least a little bit. Probably better than most. 3 stars.

Friday, February 8, 2013

#39 Tiny Furniture (2010)

Written and Directed by Lena Dunham.

I love Lena Dunham. I think that Girls is the funniest new show in a lot of years. So much of her humor seems right on the money. So, I was excited to finally get to see Tiny Furniture. It's a great precursor to the fame and spotlight that Dunham is to achieve with Girls. The dry humor is great, although it doesn't quite achieve the best hilarious moments in Girls. And, as would be expected with Dunham, there is a pretty funny comically awkward sex scene. Jemima Kirke and Alex Karpovsky really steal the show in many of the scenes. If you like Jessa on Girls, don't miss this movie as Kirke is even better here. ("Yeah, they’re really being bad. Do you want something to eat? Listen, I want something to eat. Let’s go into the kitchen. Let’s scrum into the kitchen and get a crust of bread or cheese.") The same can be said about Karpovsky who gets more of a main role than he's gotten in the first season plus four episodes of Girls.

A remarkably good film debut for Dunham. I hope she and her peeps can continue to create their brand of comedy and that the sudden success of Girls won't affect her career (à la Dave Chappelle).