October's Occupations Part Two

Holy fuck, it's almost time to do the year-end round-up, and I still haven't managed to get through October yet. I've been insanely busy with shooting the sitcom, but that's another story. Meanwhile, on with the movies.

The Brave One
Jodie Foster is always captivating onscreen, and never more than when she's playing hard and tough characters. But like it or not, this is a concept firmly rooted in trashy B-movie revenge flick territory. Director Neil Jordan tries his best to lift the material, but doesn't always succeed, muddying his message in the process, to the detriment of the film as a whole. A nice, pat Hollywood ending rings especially false, but overall it still gets a pass due to Foster.

C+ 偵探 (The Detective)
Aaron Kwok is becoming quite a decent actor these days, and he manages to carry this genre flick reasonably well. As usual, the Pang Brothers don't care too much about the plotting of things, and there are more than a few head-scratching moments here. But hey, they don't aim very high, and as pure entertainment, this works.




Death at a Funeral
Despite having an all-British cast, this still feels very American, which shouldn't be a surprise, considering that Frank "Yoda" Oz is directing. All in all, it's somewhat amusing, but definitely not as funny as everyone claims it is. One has to wonder how different it might have been if a Brit had helmed it - probably the humor would be very much more wicked.



兄弟 (Brothers)
A cookie-cutter plot serves as the excuse to reunite 4 of the original 5 "Tigers" in the Hong Kong entertainment scene. And as a result the movie is also a sorry excuse. The pacing is horribly slack, and the movie is full of pointless transition shots that have their focus on some random object that's supposed to be "symbolic". It's rubbish, and if that's not enough, it's pretentious rubbish. There's a fine lead performance to be enjoyed from Miu Kiu Wai though, rising above the crappy script with his sheer charisma.

Mr. Woodcock
I hate Seann William Scott, and I want to slap him. He was only ever funny in American Pie, and he's long worn out his welcome. I don't know what on earth possessed Susan Sarandon to sign up for this abysmally unfunny shit. Billy Bob Thornton needs to get a new schtick, pronto. A complete waste of your time.




Superbad
I'm McLovin' this movie! From the opening scene, its hilarity never lets up, and neither does its crassness. But I'm using "crassness" in the best sense of the word, as in "it's full of rude words, but there are no dumb fart jokes involving animals". Despite all this, there's still a wonderful touch of humanity, with surprising insight into the nature of friendship and the mini-tragedies of life.



The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising
Honestly, I expected rubbish, so I was surprised by its adequacy. I've never read the books though, so no opinion on the adaptation. It moves along, and is engaging in places, but never really rises above mediocrity.






Alpha Dog
It's a movie about the pointless lives of SoCal's over-pampered rich brats and how their stupidity causes a simple problem to escalate into a horrific mistake. But the many scenes of them partying and drinking themselves into oblivion almost derail the whole thing in to pointlessness. Fortunately, the gripping and tragic final act redeems everything that came before. Justin Timberlake proves he's more than a pretty face and music maker by turning a fine performance, and newcomer Anton Yelchin also stands out with his innocence and puppy-dog likability.

Ensemble, c'est tout
(Hunting and Gathering)
The "ensemble" in the title is accurate - there's a good ensemble here, and all of them play well off each other. There are no real surprises in the script, but there's lots of quirkiness to go round, as well as plenty of humanity and, well, niceness. Being French, it manages to be genuinely feel-good without too many calculated scenes and remaining Hollywood saccharine-free.

Molière
Touted as "the French Shakespeare in Love", but since Molière wrote comedies, there are lots more jokes thrown in. There's wordplay, slapstick, farce and other such fun stuff to keep it entertaining without being outright stupid, unlike many of today's "comedies". Still, medieval slapstick looks weird, no matter what. All in all, it's still a nice distraction.