Ms. Memo's Movie Madness Marathon.
Recently, I opened my wallet and a peering, young store clerk remarked “Blockbuster card, they still have those stores?” I admit it, I still go to Blockbuster. I tried Netflix last year for a few months and I just wasn’t feeling it. I know the kids are downloading movies for free online and others are using On Demand from their cable networks. I like to leave the house sometimes, even in cold, dead January in Michigan. And besides, they have M&M’s there. There are not many reasons to go out in the winter when you’re a freelancer working from home. Movies are one. These are the ones that got me out last week.
Extract
Brought to you by the creators of "Office Space" attempting to fit it into the same formula with similar characters. Jason Bateman carried this movie and I liked the dynamic between his and Ben Affleck’s character, though cliché, was funny, if you like Spicolli in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” and who didn’t love Sean Penn in that iconic ‘80’s movie? They tried to rehash the “mmm…yeah, I’m going to need you to go ahead and come in this weekend…” line. It doesn’t work anymore. It’s been over-killed by popular culture. There wasn’t a single funny thing about the stereotyped factory-worker characters; the stupid tattoo-punk, the non-English-speaking immigrant, the busy-bee hag in the cat t-shirt, the…hot, scheming temp…And, as much as I love SNL’s Kristin Wiig, her suburban-wife character came across dull. I guess they were all just the backdrop to Jason Bateman’s role of mid-life crisis. It’s good for a laugh or two and will resonate some old “Clerks”-like humor but it doesn't break much ground or make people want to run out and quit their office job on Monday.
500 Days of Summer
Get ready for the adorableness. This movie is so damn cute it made me want to pull out my Smith’s CD (yeah, I still listen to CD’s too…) and tell that cute guy that I have a crush on how much he makes me want to sing Karaoke, write poetry, and buy an Ikea sofa. You will want to run out and hold hands with the next messenger-bag- wearing guy on the bus (there aren’t any of these in Detroit by the way) pull out his iPod earpieces and plant a big kiss on him. As we know, these crush relationships can’t last forever though and in my own recent case, exactly 10 days. But this movie gives me hope that the next guy in line at Blockbuster could be the one and how am I going to meet him if I don’t leave the house to get my movies? I loved this movie because I’m a romantic and relate to bliss, obsession, and angst and it made me forget for 90 minutes that I was just dumped by my crush. Who wouldn’t love a movie that made them feel like a teenager again?
Nine (not even an eight)
Don’t bother. The women are gorgeous and the period costumes are beautifully sexy ala "Moulin Rouge" meets "Breakfast at Tiffanys" but really, hasn’t this been done a million times? The story of Daniel Day Lewis’s character was an excellent reminder of why I never, ever, ever, ever want to be in a relationship with a film director again. Ever. Let this movie be a warning, there is a certain breed of director that is so self-absorbed, egocentric, self-proclaiming and behaving, tortured, creative genius that they are boring with themselves and nobody will stick around forever waiting for them to get their act together. They need to stay on their manic-depression meds and stop trying to make movies and create drama in the lives around them. Whoa, where did that come from?
Notable mentions:
The Road
Frightening, depressing, and touching with unthinkable and realistic potential. It is about love, death, and acceptance. I wouldn’t go see this if you have a terminal disease but otherwise, I found it human and questioning. I’m still thinking about it. You always wonder how you would handle yourself in a disaster, world’s-end scenario. This movie will change your mind about your will to survive.
I did see Up in the Air, but so did everyone else. It stars George Clooney at his finest, which is pretty damn fine. It’s very watchable, with well thought-out direction. I liked how they gave some of the scenes an indie feel and made is much less predictable than it could have been. For a big movie, it felt small, which goes a long way for this story. Just get it over with and see it if you haven’t yet. If you're unemployed and living in Detroit, you might want to ask your college-age son to download it for free from the internet.
