Tuesday July 26, 2011

What Lies Beneath- A modest work from Robert Zemeckis that is entertaining, but also probably too long and disappointing in the hopes of something better. The opening makes it seem like almost a remake of "Rear Window", with Michelle Pfeiffer's character spying upon the relationship of her neighbors and suspecting her neighbor of murder, but "Disturbia" it is not. The worst part is that with at least 40 minutes left of the movie, I was just waiting for Harrison Ford's character to reveal he murdered the ghosty that was haunting Pfeiffer. Okay, overall, but really only worth a watch at a point where I forget the plot of the film… or if I just want to see Ford make weird incestuous and crazy remarks about his daughter toward the end... Cause he totally does.



Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 3D- This is the second time watching this movie, the first time being at the midnight showing, where I professed my love for the film as the best of the series. It's high time I took back that remark, as I thoroughly enjoyed the first part much more on the second viewing than I did with this one. Originally, I thought it was perfect, but for some reason, this time, I was much more bored. It's still fun, and the scenes where Helena Botham Carter portrays the aneurisms of Hermione, that one bit where Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) gives Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) an awkward hug, and the life and times of Severous Snape (Gonna need a montage) are always affective. But for some reason, the war cutting midway into this movie not only makes the film feel like less went on in it, but also that maybe they could have cut an hour of it and fit it into a three hour version of part 1. I don't know, I might be wrong. It's not like it wasn't still great. Just, like a thrill ride, it's just not as surprising or exciting the second ride through.



Friends with Benefits- An alright script with a great cast makes exactly the formula this movie has. Sure it's funny and isn't the point of romantic comedies supposed to be that it has a predictable formula, but then again, it doesn't have to be that way (here's looking at you "500 Days of Summer"). The movie chooses to insult the cliche and then result in them, almost as an insult to the audience's attention span. Yes, we remember when you just complained about the "Soul Sister" song by Train playing just at the happy ending of the romantic comedy you were watching, and oh, now that song plays when you get together. I just don't get what point about generic romantic comedies the movie was trying to say. Is it for, or against? Either way, it doesn't matter because it is one. All the Woody Harrelson gay jokes, Patricia Clarkson sex jokes, Richard Jenkins alzheimer's disease jokes (played for laughs and sentimentality oddly), and amazing chemistry between Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake doesn't quite make up for that confusion… since that's kind of the entire point of the movie.



- Jeff Bassin