January 8 – 14
Cinema movies: 0
Home movies: 6
TV shows/mini-series: 1
The second week in and dangit: no cinema movies. Granted, there’s a health issue kicking off at the moment, so I’m chalking up this week’s MoviePass efforts to that. I did manage to watch a fair few flicks at home, however.
[su_note note_color=”#ffff66″ radius=”8″]If you like this article, you’re gonna love these:
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Braving the weather for Into the Storm, this 2014 disaster movie that appealed to me for two reasons. One: Veep’s Mike appears in it. Two: so does Sarah Wayne Callies whom I may have had a crush on since her stint as Prison Break’s Dr. Tancredi. Oh, Doctor Tancredi, even your unique attributes can’t save Into the Storm.
Sliding away into another brand of disaster – Brad’s Status.
For some, watching Ben Stiller in a role that’s neither funny or warm is an unpleasant prospect. I’d heard whisperings about his performance in Brad’s Status, and have to say, that while it’s uncomfortable to the point of me taking the lord’s name every five minutes, watching him as the titular character is car crash telly. Because he’s so damn good at embodying the feckless idiot.
The movie follows Brad over the course of a few days. A successful family man, his life spirals out of control upon hearing the news that his son might be accepted to Harvard. He’s not overjoyed as you might expect from such good fortune, instead flitting between excitement and jealousy towards his offspring. This catapults him down a road of introspection that’s jaw-droppingly cringeworthy. I watched through the bars of my fingers as he screws up dinners with old college friends, and constantly puts his foot in it, a victim to his own barbaric social mores.
Stiller shines in a role that’s not flattering. He shows character chops, and a willingness to put himself out there by playing Brad as a colossal dickwad.
American Made. The movie where Tom Cruise wears high-waisted trousers and somehow manages to be a believable drug runner.
This is like Blow, the late ‘90s Johnny Depp flick, on… well, blow. It doesn’t let up in its two hour-run time, taking the rags-to-riches story of a commercial pilot-turned-Escobar lackey into dizzying heights of excess. It’s something we’ve seen before countless times onscreen, but that upward trajectory – signified by increasing objectification of women and poor jewellery choices by men – is still a rush to watch. An enjoyable evening’s action.
Ah. It.
A fan of King’s for over twenty years now, I was never a huge devotee of his doorstopper tome, compared to works like Carrie and The Shining. Still, I was intrigued by this latest adaptation of his iconic horror fable, due to the favourable responses from some of my favourite film critics.
Going in on a flick that’s been buoyed along during marketing as simply, the most terrifying thing you will ever see, I went in expecting at least of a month of poor sleep. Weeks of seeing Pennywise out of the corner of my eye, suggestively peeking out from beneath the steps at work, waving at me gently across the meat section at the supermarket, clutching his beloved red balloon and a glare that would brown anyone’s trousers.
Sleepless nights were a guarantee.
Astonishingly enough, that didn’t happen. BUT: I loved it. Don’t get me wrong: it’s scary. It’s hard for a film about an ancient evil that chooses to adopt the physical attributes of a clown to terrorize children not to be.
What makes King’s work thrive onscreen is the characters, and in this instance, you’ve got an ensemble of actors who fully bring to life what matters most in a film like It: the true feeling of being young. I mean, is there a point to being scared to death if your life isn’t brimming with possibility?
The Glass Castle. Lots of prestige, Oscar-winning actors, based on a true story, and yet, it didn’t quite do it for me. Brie Larson is great, as are Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts too, but something was missing.
Men, Women & Children. Jason Reitman, who I love for giving us Juno, delivers a less amusing look at modern life through our interactions with devices.
It’s a rather bleak affair, settling on why we revert to screens for validation, rather than ourselves or each other. It doesn’t exactly say anything new on the topic; I mean, what’s the solution for our insistence on immediate communication? We’re all shallow and looking for meaning and…? No answers come.
We rounded out the week with the superb HBO miniseries, Olive Kitteridge. A limited series appeals to me for one reason: it knows its own ending as it begins. No going on and on for seasons without saying anything new.
Olive Kitteridge is tight and punchy.
Frances McDormand’s portrait of a woman whose flaws are out in the open, ugly and uncompromising, for everyone to see is mesmerising. To learn that she nabbed a Golden Globe for her performance is no surprise. As her husband, Richard Jenkins plays off against McDormand’s hard-knocks approach with a soft, emotional core. It works because their marriage is strengthened by their inherent differences: he’s gooey and in touch with his feelings, whereas she refuses to be swayed by them. I highly recommend it.
Until next week, dear readers.