MovieHoovie's Movie Review-vys: November 2015

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

"VIVRE SA VIE" - MOVIEHOOVIE GRADE: B+

(1st Watch; 10/12/15 - HD on HULU+)

The title means "My Life to Live". Director Jean Luc Godard played around with the film medium here in fun ways - this is French New-Wave filmmaking, where traditional rules were broken and the medium as expressionistic art was in full-force (to later be huge influences on major modern directors like Scorsese). A traditional story told through inventive shots and poetic narrative. This is a film for film school students to watch to help recognize that not every rule in the book needs to be followed to create something good. I learned a thing or two. Anna Karina is one of the most captivating film actresses of the '60s too, so that helps.

Monday, November 2, 2015

"SOME VELVET MORNING" - MOVIEHOOVIE GRADE: B-

(1st watch -- 10/11/15 -- DVD)

Neil Labute! The guy I saw a few weeks ago (see Sept 26th on my FB page) wrote and directed this little two-person, one location chamber drama and it flows like clumpy syrup on a pancake... uh, like, pretty sweat but not delicious.

These two characters aren't having a good day with one-another and each has their secrets from the other. The clumps come in the form of Stanley Tucci having a few two many turns towards repressed hostility instead of some other more fitting reaction (a flaw in the writing, not the acting), and Alice Eve not being as a strong an actor, but decent enough for the most part. The ending's a sly little whopper though, after almost convincing me I'd wasted my time (from an awful scene just before, that gets smartly turned upside-down when all is said and done). I'd wanna make something like this, but better, one day.

"KINGPIN" - MOVIEHOOVIE GRADE: B

(1st watch -- 10/10/15 -- Netflix Instant Watch)

Randy Quaid dressed as a stripper and poll dancing is one of the funniest sight-gags ever. This movie has some strikes and more-than-a-few gutter-balls (yeah, I went there) but it's an overall winner. And had I seen this back when it came out it would have easily chocked up as many marathons as Dumb and Dumber did. Well, this late in the game, that's not gonna happen now, but I'm glad I finally got around to it. Definitely worth the easy Netflix Instant Watch for a good, dumb time.

"THE WALK" - MOVIEHOOVIE GRADE: A-

(1st watch -- 10/9/15 -- 3D Theater)

This should not have been a huge flop - it was great! It offers more than what just this one spectacular image has to offer; Joseph Gordon Levitt is a believable Frenchman and tightropist, it's a fun heist movie, it's funny, it's poignant, it's got a surprise cool performance from Sir Ben Kingsley, and the walk itself plus the touching, respectful WTC tribute epilogue packs a one-two punch. GO SEE IT IN 3D WITH YOUR FAMILY!

"BLACK SEA" - MOVIEHOOVIE GRADE: C+

(1st watch -- 10/8/15 -- DVD)

Pretty underwhelming submarine movie. Huge plot and character-motivation holes. It almost had something interesting to say about class warfare and Jude Law was good, but Ben Mendelsohn and Scoot McNairy, two of my favorite character actors, don't really burn up the screen with awesomeness the way they normally do. Looks pretty good though and it's got some suspense to it.

"WAITRESS" - MOVIEHOOVIE GRADE: C+

(1st watch -- 10/6/15 -- DVD)

I love this chick on the far right - Adrienne Shelly. She's in two of my favorite films: "The Unbelievable Truth" and "Trust". And she was real-life murdered before she got to see this movie of hers come out to theaters, after writing, directing and co-starring in it. A damn terrible shame. So checking out some of Shelly's other work in her too-short career held an interest for me.

Unfortunately Shelly didn't write love interests (Keri Russell and Nathan Fillian) I could side with, so the movie kind of fell apart; both characters are married people who have an affair with each other, which would be alright (cinematically, if still not morally) if Fillion's wife were depicted as a shrew - instead she's depicted as really nice and never gets to know! (Yeah, the husband's a jerk at least.) And every (other) character is depicted as lovable despite all this!

So Adrienne Shelly's character depictions and plot lost me almost entirely after introducing the affair, despite some otherwise great scenes of charming dialogue, good acting and capable if unremarkable direction. Adrienne Shelly left us with one last adorable performance at the very least.

"GLASS CHIN" - MOVIEHOOVIE GRADE: A-

(1st watch -- 10/5/15 -- DVD) (Also on Netflix Instant Watch!)

I loved this little film! It's very inventively written, shot, directed and colored. It's like a French New-Wave Film Noir - clearly directed by a film enthusiast with a lot of good influence; the kind of film I'd hope to pull off someday. Cory Stoll from "Ant-Man" is really good as the charismatic anti-hero, smaller supporting roles are great too; Billy Crudup is pretty awesome but he just over-reaches with a few of his lines like he's in a slightly different movie once-in-awhile, but I could see myself enjoying this more than once and maybe knocking that minus off. SEE IT!