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2 Minute Movie Reviews
Gone Baby Gone (C+)
I like the idea of this movie in hindsight but not sure I actually like the movie itself. It gets a C+ on pure acting skillz and plot alone. I don’t necessarily like dramas when it comes to movies. I could exist on a steady diet of romantic comedies and be fine. So a movie usually goes down a whole grade by default of it being in the “drama” category. I just don’t like suspense and being on the edge of my seat. While I don’t know that this movie was necessarily suspenseful, it was a drama and so I dropped it right off the bat. Casey Affleck is turning out to be a stud. Who knew from what we saw in the Ocean trilogy? He was very good in this. But I think he was great in the film below. Gone Baby Gone was essentially 4 short stories the way the film was broken up. Which didn’t suit my fancy either. The ending sucked and was so predictable that it was overly predictable. Like it wasn’t the cool, witty predictable. But the “roll your eyes” predictable. The girlfriend was an idiot. Especially at the end. So fake and no where near normal.
Bee Movie (C-)
This wasn’t good. Not even for an animated movie. The plot was what you’d expect. But it was choppy, they skipped all over the place, and it was just stupid. I love Seinfeld and expected him to at least make up for the apparent problems due to the genre. It didn’t happen. No Nemo. No Toy Story. Just bad story. I suppose the only redeeming quality and the reason it’s not an F is that the moral of the story was actually half way decent and I wouldn’t mind showing it to my kid and not feeling bad about it. Basically the world is integrated and we all play our parts, whether large or small. And we can’t treat the world like it’s our own colony for our own needs and ends. Blah blah blah. Bad movie.
The Assassination of Jesse James (B-)
This movie was really long. Like over 2 and half hours long. And it was all really slow. No gun fights. No big chase scenes. No epic fighting. It was a cowboy movie without the things you’d find in a cowboy movie which made it extremely slow and methodical to watch. Again, I like the idea of the movie. It just didn’t blow me away while watching it. It reminded me almost of JFK or some other serious/indie Schindler’s List type movie. It was very serious and “artsy”. The camera work was fantastic. And Casey Afleck was stellar and Brad Pitt was . . . well Brad Pitt. The film was very human. In that you felt the wide range of emotions that almost everyone was experiencing. Whether it was Bob (Afleck), Jesse James, or Jesse’s brother . . . you felt the entire range of emotions that each character was experiencing and going through. Honestly, I was expecting a cheap, typical cowboy movie. But it was a pretty serious look at relationships and power and struggle and humanity. And of course betrayal. All in all, and especially in hindsight and in theory, I really liked the movie. But while watching it I did get a bit bored and tired. So it was good in the technical sense of what a good film is supposed to be, but maybe it missed out on the “entertainment” point of the movie. So I’m really somewhere in the middle on this one. Anybody else see it? Have the same reaction or different?
Enchanted (C-)
Really, really bad. If they would have just tried to be what they were . . . a sappy, romantic movie . . . it could have worked. Instead they spent the first hour of the movie just being ridiculously over the top and waited until the last 20 minutes to try and be sappy and romantic. That would have worked for them. Instead they tried to be something they weren’t. This was an Anna pick by the way.
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i loved gone baby gone and the assassination. thought both were breaths of fresh air in a sea of mediocre films.
casey is a definitely a stud.
and has an awesome name.
i do agree with bee movie. although there was a hint of cleverness at times, for the most part it was just very plain.
I haven’t seen enchanted, I don’t plan too. But, your reviews are spot on with the other three, especially Jesse James. I loved the idea of the movie, but there were times I was bored.
I have to reprimand you a bit for your reviews.
Maybe you should stick to theological ramblings. leave the film reviews to others…
especially dramas. Maybe you can review romantic comedies. If you know you are going to dislike a movie, don’t review it (or watch it).
Needless to say, your review of Gone Baby Gone was lacking. I think you missed the entire point of the film and must have fallen asleep midway through. It was not predictable, especially to most watchers. it was a morality tale that had to have certain elements to be authentic. I am sorry you watched a different film.
I am going to be mentioning it in a blog soon. I have had great conversations about this film and how good it is.
Loved Gone Baby Gone! I’ll no doubt watch Jesse James because of Cassie’s performance. I agree with the “who saw it” comment.
You didn’t sabotage Seinfeld because of Bee Movie did you?
it’s a B+ then rick. if you take into account that i think all dramas suck. surely it’s not better than that? it’s disjointed and disconnected. it’s like 4 short stories. it was horrible story telling. i get the moral stuff. but freaking prince of egypt had good morals. doesn’t mean it gets a pass on story telling skillz.
i’ll agree with that josh.
i think it’s a B.
not a movie you’d watch again and again. not a superbly fluid story. possibly predictable ending.
but i love the ethical conversation that follows. my friends and i discussed this movie for weeks! there hasn’t been a movie like that for me since vanilla sky.
and can i just say…that i’ve been on the casey train since ocean’s 11. he’s lovable on screen and has definitely beefed up his skills a bit as of late.
I guess you are right… it is disjointed and disconnected. It is poor storytelling.
I guess myself, my friends and 93%* of the critics in America are stupid. We were drawn in by the morality tale and could not see how poorly done the film was.
I am sure you did not miss anything in your viewing.
*it received positive reviews from 93% of the critics according to an aggregater, one of the best reviewed films of the entire year.
You may also be interested to know that your poorly reviewed Enchanted was one of the best reviewed films of 2007 also.
I guess critics are idiots. Me, too.
haha. nice rick. i don’t think it’s horrible. i’m just saying it didn’t work for me. the acting was great. i just didn’t like the story-telling. i get the ethical and moral stuff. i just don’t feel like the story telling devices worked for it.
warning: i’m gonna sound lame
you totally missed out on enchanted. i’m a dude, and i like dude movies. i got sucked into this one because i went out for a (female) friend’s birthday (i promise that i’m not making this up just to sound manly) but i liked it. maybe you didn’t grow up on disney movies, but the charm is in how unbelievably cheesy the movie was. i mean, amy adams was amazing. how do you act like that, and sing those songs (her voice was great, btw) and still seem sincere? i liked it, and you should try watching it sometime without a cynical, cold hearted point of view. ;o)
oh trust me i tried. i’m the one who is always renting sappy love romantic comedies while anna wants to watch action and suspense. if it has drew barrymore i pick it up and repulses her. and if it has denzell in it she’s hooked and i’m repulsed.
/agree with Kyle.
I think you need to check yo’self befo’ you wreck yo’self.
Oh no, you did NOT just disrespect my boy denzel, joshua brown. Everything that man touches is gold.
True. Everything Denzel touches does turn to gold…because he plays one part that everyone loves. I loved remember the Titans. I loved Deja Vu. I LOVED American Gangster (told you I like dude movies) and pretty much everything else he’s been in. But his part is just always Denzel injected into another situation. He’s a leading man with a cookie cutter role-not a great character actor like Johnny Depp or Don Cheadle. (ps drew barrymore is horrible.)