Very sweetly done.
Thursday, April 26 2012
A Single Man (2009)
By Chris Pepper on Thursday, April 26 2012, 09:30 - drama
Wednesday, April 25 2012
Winter's Bone (2010)
By Chris Pepper on Wednesday, April 25 2012, 22:00 - drama
It's funny that we saw two Jennifer Lawrence movies in a row. This was a lot different than The Hunger Games, although Lawrence 'again' got to be tough & smart. Absorbing and frequently confusing.
Saturday, April 21 2012
The Hunger Games (2012)
By Chris Pepper on Saturday, April 21 2012, 21:15 - action
Given the constraints of a teen movie, I was actually less bothered by the movie's limitations than by the book's. They cut and simplified a lot, and it was a shame to lose all the internal monologue, but it wasn't too bad. The riot made the ending work out better, but the focus on Seneca seemed unnecessary.
Some of the things that didn't make sense in the movie -- like the size of the districts and the stupidity of a government that forces children to get murdered but gets offended when lovers decline to murder each other -- were de-emphasized or handled slightly better in the movie. Amy was a bit surprised at how little violence the movie contained compared to the book, but a movie with over 20 children killing each other in that level of detail would be a snuff film, and the intended audience of teens wouldn't be able to get past its MPAA rating.
Sunday, April 1 2012
Moneyball (2011)
By Chris Pepper on Sunday, April 1 2012, 23:30 - drama
Fascinating to us both, despite my lack of interest in sports or statistics. Flawed too. I realize they had a couple hours to work in, but from this glimpse like there were only two managers (Pitt & Hill) running the team and making all the decisions, and halfway through the season they suddenly take over all coaching too. Hoffman's job is just to stand there and frown, occasionally stepping onscreen to be Pitt's enemy & foil. Nobody in baseball understands the experiment while it is running -- instead everybody gets it exactly backwards.
And you have to hate the fictionalized daughter, who almost manages to derail the critical streak -- and the recovery in the process -- and then wrecks her Dad's career & life with her vicious song. Why isn't there anything about the idea man in the closing notes?
Thursday, March 22 2012
21 Jump Street (2012)
By Chris Pepper on Thursday, March 22 2012, 16:30 - comedy
I was pleasantly surprised that the reviews were positive, and I enjoyed it. But... The obnoxiousness and foul language bugged me a bit -- and I cannot remember the last time I felt that way, but it might have been Superbad. They were clearly trying to make a comedy and an action movie, but the comedy detracted from the action movie.
The cameos and nods to the TV show were mostly great, but... the ending went completely off the rails. As did the meta-humor around the address. It's like they were jealous of Charlie's Angels and decided to make their own, mining Jump Street instead, but their shame about loving Jump Street and copying Charlie's Angels got in the way.
I didn't know James Franco had a brother -- I kept seeing "Zach" and getting confused, as he was obviously too young to be James.
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