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Nov. 6th, 2005 02:04 pmSince I haven't posted for a couple of days, and I just saw a movie, have a couple movie reviews.
* Shopgirl is boring and pretentious, with flat uninteresting characters, a poorly constructed story, and a soundtrack that consists of the same six bars of music played too loudly over and over (regardless of the actual mood of the scene, mind you, it was that same goddamn overblown string intrument crap that tried way too hard to make the movie seem grand) that made me want to run screaming out of the theatre.
It is produced by Steve Martin, based on a novella by Steve Martin, adapted for the screen by Steve Martin and oh yeah, one of the major characters is played by Steve Martin. Vanity project much? I'm amazed he didn't direct, too. I do want to read the story now, though, just to find out if Jason Schwartzman's character's story arc makes more sense there; it was so badly told that it felt like a lot of his story had been cut to make room for shots of Steve Martin making out with Claire Danes.
* A good movie, which I found in the five-fifty bin at Wal-Mart much to my delight, is The Ref, in which Denis Leary plays a burglar who screws up a burglary and resorts to taking a couple hostage in their home. The couple, who really should have divorced years ago, argue constantly and drive him crazy, oh and also they have family coming for dinner and it's too late to call them and cancel. It sounds like a set-up for some wacky hijinx, but it's genuinely funny, plus it does what so few holiday movies manage: it has emotion without turning into sentimental garbage. This is just about the only Christmas anything that doesn't make me want to vomit. (Yeah, I hate the Christmas season. I love the holiday, I hate the two months of bullshit and terrible music that precede it.) I'm so excited that I found it for cheap; it is my antidote to the holiday season (see also: Lehrer, Tom - "A Christmas Carol") and I'm sure I'll end up needing it this year like I have every year since I discovered it.
* Shopgirl is boring and pretentious, with flat uninteresting characters, a poorly constructed story, and a soundtrack that consists of the same six bars of music played too loudly over and over (regardless of the actual mood of the scene, mind you, it was that same goddamn overblown string intrument crap that tried way too hard to make the movie seem grand) that made me want to run screaming out of the theatre.
It is produced by Steve Martin, based on a novella by Steve Martin, adapted for the screen by Steve Martin and oh yeah, one of the major characters is played by Steve Martin. Vanity project much? I'm amazed he didn't direct, too. I do want to read the story now, though, just to find out if Jason Schwartzman's character's story arc makes more sense there; it was so badly told that it felt like a lot of his story had been cut to make room for shots of Steve Martin making out with Claire Danes.
* A good movie, which I found in the five-fifty bin at Wal-Mart much to my delight, is The Ref, in which Denis Leary plays a burglar who screws up a burglary and resorts to taking a couple hostage in their home. The couple, who really should have divorced years ago, argue constantly and drive him crazy, oh and also they have family coming for dinner and it's too late to call them and cancel. It sounds like a set-up for some wacky hijinx, but it's genuinely funny, plus it does what so few holiday movies manage: it has emotion without turning into sentimental garbage. This is just about the only Christmas anything that doesn't make me want to vomit. (Yeah, I hate the Christmas season. I love the holiday, I hate the two months of bullshit and terrible music that precede it.) I'm so excited that I found it for cheap; it is my antidote to the holiday season (see also: Lehrer, Tom - "A Christmas Carol") and I'm sure I'll end up needing it this year like I have every year since I discovered it.
