Saturday, December 17, 2011

Our Idiot Brother- I really enjoyed this movie. The performances were nice and natural all around, the story was interesting all the way through, and the film had a nice thesis message. Despite being a bit generic, this film goes above and beyond in making up for Jesse Peretz's earlier directorial effort, 'The Ex'. Paul Rudd puts on one of my favorite performances by him and the film just has a nice heartfelt tone. Even though a few of the concluding scenes felt a bit forced and overly happy, it didn't really hurt my overall impression of the film. I would recommend this for a nice warm feeling on a rainy day.



- Jeff Bassin

Friday, December 16, 2011

High Anxiety- Surprised I had never seen this one, I finally saw this Mel Brooks classic. Being a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock, this film actually seemed quite perfect in terms of what I wanted. A spoof of his films, with most notoriety going to 'Vertigo', I went into it with high hopes. And while those hopes were slightly diminished, I definitely enjoyed myself. Funny, absurd, and a bit too much slapstick, those are staples of the average Mel Brooks film, so you can forgive a few misses when it ones to his humor. It seems like most people forgot about this one, so I would have to say it is one of his underrated films, even though I probably wouldn't rank it too high in terms of his filmography.

From what I have seen by him, here's my top 5:
5) Dracula: Dead and Loving It
4) History of the World: Part I
3) Blazing Saddles
2) The Producers
1) Young Frankenstein

So I guess 'High Anxiety' doesn't really rank, even though I somewhat enjoyed it. It was at least better than 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' in my opinion.



- Jeff Bassin

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Stephen Merchant: Hello Ladies...- Merchant puts on an entertaining show, but in the end, he's just not as good as when he's partnered with Gervais. The two are a genius team, but in the end, Merchant plays more to his search for marriage than to jokes, and that grows tiresome. Sure, he has an entertaining voice to listen to, especially when you are packing clothing away and can't look at every hand gesture he makes, but his jokes were fairly visual (one with texting language) and that was a hassle in terms of missing jokes on an auditory standpoint and having to go back. He's definitely a funny man, and deserves far more credit for his work than he often receives by the general audience, but I wasn't that impressed with this comedy performance. I would watch another if he had one obviously, but I probably won't be spreading this one around like it's the new Kanye album.



- Jeff Bassin

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Melancholia- Not as good as I thought it would be. As a somewhat fan of Lars Von Trier's previous works, 'Antichrist' and 'Dogville', I expected something a little bit more… I don't know, entertaining. 'Melancholia' is slow, clearly indulgent, and a bit obvious. From the opening sequence (which is the best part of the film) you know what will happen, so you are just waiting to get to know the characters, in the hopes of getting to know them and their minds before they are turned to dust in the destruction of the planet Earth from the collision of the Planet Melancholia. But no, Trier isn't interested in that. I never felt close to any characters. Just when you think that you understand a character, he pulls the rug from you and makes them do something that seems out of character. Sure it's interesting to watch, but no, it's not really enjoyable or well written. Part 1 is an irrelevant wedding that is meant to show Kirsten Dunst's character Justine is just oh so depressed (though she does give a good performance). But why show her wedding if, A) she won't be married in the second part and B) the repercussions of her choices in part 1 hardly show up in part 2. Part 2 was actually entertaining. With the threat of Melancholia being prevalent (there is hardly any mention of it in Part 1) and taking the perspective of Charlotte Gainsbourg's Claire (much more interesting character), trying to keep the family together while realizing all of their time has come. Kiefer Sutherland and her worked well together, and they actually made a pretty realistic (but obviously troubled) couple with a child. Actually, I enjoyed part 2 even though it was kind of like watching a candle burn. When it comes down to it all, I chalk this film up to a naked Kirsten Dunst. Certainly not as life changing or even as depressing as I was told it would be. I though it was relatively tame in terms of making me sad. Don't say I didn't get it. I understood the back and forth metaphor for the depression and the planet colliding. It just wasn't all that surprising or interesting to me. The opening visuals are awe-inspiring but after that, it gets handheld and I just didn't care as much. It was okay, but not too special. I had high expectations so don't blame me for not loving it as much as you did.



- Jeff Bassin

Sunday, December 11, 2011

The Inbetweeners Movie (2011)- I'm not sure if this is how the series wraps up, but while a funny adventure, it fit far too many cliches to actually be good. Sure, the film remains in the tone of the series and the characters seem to be very in check in terms of writing… but the cliches! Oh the horror! Every guy ends up with a female counterpart, happy endings abound. The villain character gets what is coming to him. The lead gets a girl way over his league. It's just too much. Overall, it's like 'The Hangover' Jr. It has some of the risqué tones and dialogues that most R rated films have received these days, and ends with that hollywood ending that just makes you smile and frown at the same time. Entertaining and funny, but ultimately dry of anything wholly original.



- Jeff Bassin

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Auge in Auge: Eine deutsche Filmgeschichte - This is a documentary about famous directors' favorite German Films. It's slightly boring because I was unaware of most of the filmmakers outside of Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run) and Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire), so it was hard for me to catch that care that one would have if I had watched the American version of this film with people like Scorcese, Coppola, Spielberg, Cameron, etc. It was interesting, though not that informative. It's kind of like sitting down with people you don't know that well and comparing films you like. Sure, you have more on your netflix que, but in the end, you are just wasting the time you could be watching one of those films with. There were quite a few that sounded interesting.



- Jeff Bassin

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Zookeeper- Very unmemorable, and not even a good family film. All the voice work is terrible, the idea made no sense, and there was really no comedic moments. I liked 'Paul Blart' when I looked at it as a fat man's spoof on 'Die Hard', my favorite action film of all time. But this is dreadful. Poor Happy Madison Productions, which is slowly pit-falling into making me assume all their films are terrible. 'Jack and Jill', come on?!?!?!! Not as bad as 'Grown Ups' but still a waste of my time.



- Jeff Bassin