This weekend we were only semi-productive, and managed to get three movies in. Go us! Not really I guess…
Into The Wild
, 2007 (Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener): This movie would have you think that Chris McCandless’s story is romantic or inspiring. But one quick wiki search and you can see that it’s mostly just sad and unreasonable. Since I knew that going into the movie, maybe it was ruined for me. Positives include beautiful scenery, tangible emotions and good performances from Catherine Keener and Hal Holbrook. Negatives: slow pacing, hollow relationships and general melodrama.
Amistad, 1997 (Djimon Hounsou, Anthony Hopkins): Spielberg cranked out this movie between Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan - before going with lighter fare like Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal in the early 2000s. Parts of this film were gut-wrenching and powerful, but subtlety is lost. Djimon Hounsou does it up right, and Pete Postlethwaite is underused, but the instant you realize Matthew McConaughey is the second lead… ugh, there just aren’t words. The beginning of the film is by-far the strongest. It loses momentum along the way, and then the end-while not exactly happy-is a little too tidy.
Lars and the Real Girl, 2007 (Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer): This slow-going, quiet film is absolutely definitely worth the wait. An infra-feel of awkwardness pervades the film, but it’s balanced by a calm and commanding performance from Patricia Clarkson, who plays Lars’ counselor/slash/the Real Girl’s physician (seriously).
Clarkson puts the people in her world at ease, and by extension, the viewer mellows as well. Face it, a chunky, anti-social Ryan Gosling is wheeling a Real Doll around town proclaiming her as his Brazilian, missionary girlfriend, Bianca - so you need a good dose of normalcy. Come to this movie with an open, tender and observant mind, and you will love it.
I watched the end of Ghostbusters and the beginning of Real Genius too, in an effort to get rid of some of the drama-taste in my mouth. I will spare you words on them though - all you get is this Chris Knight-ism:
Chris: Kent put his name on his license plate.
Mitch: My mom does that to my underwear.
Chris: Your mom puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?
