All Without Popcorn
Posted on | December 31, 2004 at 3:45 pm | 3 Comments
How have I been spending my vacation? Catching up at the theater. It’s movie roundup time. Does any new movie receive the coveted zero on the Nod-O-Meter…? I love this new rating system of mine (the number of times I caught myself nodding off during the movie – lower numbers are better), since it’s entirely objective and I don’t have to think about it. On the other hand, it may not be a true indication of how much I liked the movie. Also, it doesn’t take into account that one or more of those nods may’ve been full-on naps, where I missed minutes or hours of the action. But anyway…
War is hell. France is hell. Polio is hell. But darn, that food sure does look good. Heck, everything looks good, even the crappy, muddy trenches. Yes, it’s A Very Long Engagement, brought to you by the director who gave us Am??lie, City of Lost Children, and of course Alien: Resurrection. All of Jeunet’s movies that I’ve seen look good and have a quirky visual flare that other directors can only imitate (usually badly). Audrey Tautou does her usual good job as the spunky pixie heroine and is surrounded by a quirky (there’s that word again) supporting cast. Jodie Foster (whom I didn’t know was French) has sex! The plot is mostly a detective story, with some romance and war horror mixed in. And you have to love any story that contains a zeppelin, because of what happens whenever there’s a zeppelin. I’m downgrading this a bit because I wasn’t all that interested in the mystery (you knew how it was going to end), and was thankful it was subtitled because otherwise there’s no way I would’ve been able to keep all the names straight.
This one gets a two on the Nod-O-Meter. Maybe a two point five. I do have a bit more trouble staying awake during subtitled movies, just like when I’m reading a book…
Hey, we’re big movie stars, but we can make a movie where we’re just goofing around and having fun! For a good slice of the back end, of course. I actually liked Ocean’s Twelve better than Ocean’s Eleven (which I was so-so on). It definitely has more of an “indie” flavor to it than the first movie, which is a good thing here. The plot is complicated, but it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is these big stars making fun of their images and hanging out together. It made me laugh.
I give it a one on the Nod-O-Meter. I’m sure that one nod came during some bout of non-essential exposition.
No matter how old he gets or how old of a role he plays, Leonardo DiCaprio always looks young. Nevertheless, he was believable as Howard Hughes in The Aviator. The movie covers about 20 years of Hughes life (from when he was around 22 to about 42), and Leo doesn’t look all that much different, aside from the scars and such, at the end than he does at the beginning. Actually, he looks about 17 all the time. But, as I said, no matter. It’s a good performance. It better be, since he’s in almost every scene. I was fascinated by Hughes’ story, since all I really knew about him going into it was “Spruce Goose” and “germaphobic eccentric rich old man”. Turns out he lived a very fascinating life and achieved a lot. I was surprised that his psychological disorder was apparently pretty evident even in his younger life – I always assumed it was an old man thing – and that he was able to function as well as he did with what the movie made out to be a pretty debilitating weakness. No matter what the critics say, I still thought Cate Blanchett’s Kate Hepburn was a bit over-the-top and had a little trouble buying into her. But I did like Kate Beckinsale’s Ava Gardner, especially in that shaving scene. I really enjoyed seeing Hughes tear into the Senator at the committee hearings, as so often those scenes in movies tend to go the other way.
Ta da! The Aviator gets that zero on the Nod-O-Meter. Even at three hours long, I was totally captivated the entire time.
Latre.
Comments
3 Responses to “All Without Popcorn”
January 3rd, 2005 @ 12:48 pm
Thank you, Swami! I might have skipped A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT, but now that I know Jodie Foster has sex in it, I am heading to an afternoon matinee. Like Phil Collins, I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life. Well, most of it anyway. Since I was 12, I’m 43 now, let’s see…two-thirds of my life. OK, gotta go. Thanks again!
January 3rd, 2005 @ 10:19 pm
Jodie’s had sex in other movies, right? The incest scene with Rob Lowe in Hotel New Hampshire comes to mind. (I almost typed “incense” there.) Although the one in Engagement is a little bit more graphic.
January 4th, 2005 @ 2:47 pm
I think I saw that movie, but can’t seem to remember that scene. Incest, huh? Interesting how scenes involving sex and Jodie tend to be disturbing: NELL pulling her dress over her head in public, THE ACCUSED, TAXI DRIVER, etc.