Safety Not Guaranteed

— Having seen Mark Duplass in “Safety Not Guaranteed” only a couple of weeks after seeing him in a much more minor role in “People Like Us”, maybe I suffered overload. Most people seemed to have loved “Safety Not Guaranteed” and I liked the somewhat low key feeling of the film and the offbeat characters spending more time than they should regretting their past but, in the end, I was only warm to Duplass’ character, thinking he was outshined by Aubrey Plaza’s character. SNG doesn’t stand a chance of getting in my top 500 movie list, but it was still a pleasant enough hour and a half.

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[2012. 86 min. Directed by Colin Trevorrow. Starring Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, and Jake Johnson.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/safety-not-guaranteed-2012

The Dark Knight Rises

— Went to “The Dark Knight Rises” for my summer blockbuster fare. Wow. I really enjoyed all 2 hours and 45 minutes. Thank you Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, and Anne Hathaway! A perfect film for when it’s 105 outside.

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[2012. 165 min. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Starring Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Matthew Modine.]
http://www.thedarkknightrises.com/

Jeff, Who Lives At Home

— I have to admit I like the cleverness of the Duplass brothers quite a bit and “Jeff, Who Lives At Home” gives me the eccentric and intriguing characters I want, making me wonder exactly what defines a “grown-up”. The people in this film all have middle-class lives that might make you a little desperate and questing what we can do to find happiness. I’m not one to make every common occurrence seem special, but I do think everything may be interconnected. How the day’s events in this film relate and come together is fairly clever and ultimately pretty satisfying.

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[2011. 83 min. Directed by Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass. Starring Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, and Judy Greer.]
http://www.jeffwholivesathome.com/

People Like Us

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[2012. 114 min. Directed by Alex Kurtzman. Starring Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde, Jon Favreau, and Michelle Pfeiffer.]
— Yesterday I finally saw “People Like Us” and liked it more than I expected. I was a little slow getting into it, but it ended up being a nice, heartfelt story of family and truth. I went hoping to shake the flashbacks my mind was having from “They Came Back” (“Les Revenants”), a DVD I watched over the weekend—definitely the most cerebral zombie movie ever made and worth your time to get a glimpse of undead who are nearly indistinguishable from the living, and the living’s reaction to having them back.

http://afflictor.com/2011/07/11/strange-small-forgotten-film-they-came-back-2004/

Martha Marcy May Marlene

— Watched “Martha Marcy May Marlene” today. Talk about a train wreck waiting to happen or, as Ann Hornaday said, “a textbook study in the inconclusive conclusion”. Well, as I think about it, maybe this ambiguity was acceptable in a filmic context, but I still groaned when the credits rolled and I was left there in limbo.

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[2011. 102 min. Directed by Sean Durkin. Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, and John Hawkes.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/movies/elizabeth-olsen-in-martha-marcy-may-marlene.html?pagewanted=all

Moonrise Kingdom

— No mistaking “Moonrise Kingdom” as anyone’s look at young love except Wes Anderson’s. A movie filled with gorgeous, perfectly framed, still images looking almost like retouched 1950’s postcards. And quirky, oh that doesn’t begin to describe these people, mostly seen from a low camera angle, more like you’re the house pet witnessing the eccentric characters who always speak in fully formed sentences a bit more matter-of-factly than they would in real life, and walking more like cardboard cutouts than humans. And they keep the viewers teetering too, with laughter coming unexpectedly half of the time. And it is funny, and heartwarming, and beautiful, but when it was done, I knew I’d enjoyed the craft of the film more than the story itself.

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[2012. 94 min. Directed by Wes Anderson. Starring Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton.]
http://www.moonrisekingdom.com/#home

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

— Well, yes, it may be geared toward seniors and it may be a little thin on plot. Yes too, it may be the anti-“Avengers” movie of the summer. But mostly it was funny, colorful, tale of adventure and reinvention. Probably doesn’t hurt that I’m part of its target demographic (although I’m part of the younger demographic!). Besides, I absolutely love Judi Dench. And it was nice to find a summer film without superheroes, cutesy kids, surround sound explosions, or three dimensions.

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[2011. 124 min. Directed by John Madden. Starring Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Dev Patel, and Maggie Smith.]
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/the-best-exotic-marigold-hotel-20120503

Shame

— Watched "Shame" yesterday and can't seem to shake it. So well done and yet, so, what's the word? Icky. Always unsettling when a good actor (Michael Fassbender) and a good director (Steve McQueen) make me feel voyeuristic much of time and the rest of the time the camera hold a shot for so long that I feel like I'm being forced to watch. Sparse on dialogue and really worth the journey.

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[2011. 101 min. Directed by Steve McQueen. Starring Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, and Jaems Badge.]
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/shame/