I caught a badass swine flu bug or something on Friday and was incapacitated on my couch for much of the past 60 hours. So all I did was sleep, watch some baseball, sleep, watch some movies and sleep. Here are some quick recaps of the eight flicks I watched, which ranged from atrocious to pretty good.
I Love You, Man – 7/10
Pretty good. There are a few good lines/gags and — even if it was overdone — I enjoyed Rudd’s penchant to garble phrases into gibberish when he was ending an awkward conversation. Mainly cause I do the same thing constantly. I can’t even remember the number I’ve times I’ve gone with salutations like “take ya later” instead of “take care” or “see ya later.” Or just dropped an infinitely retarded “you too” after the airport lady at the gate checked my ticket and wished me “have a nice flight.” Ultimately, however, the flick is really not particularly memorable, despite Paul Rudd pretty much being my hero and Karen from The Office being utterly gorgeous.
Role Models – 7/10
More Rudd with a little Stifler and McLovin thrown in for kicks. I’d probably take I Love You, Man for re-watchability and memorable lines, but this one was the better story.
Robocop – 8/10
Never saw this before somehow. Really good, even now. The ED-209s look absurd, but everything else holds up for the most part, although it obviously has the inimitable 80s vibe and sensibilities going for it. Amazing ending though. God, do I wish movies nowadays would just end when the plot does rather than add an unnecessary and overly explanatory extra 15 minute-epilogue.
Sunshine – 2/10
Second time for this one for some reason. Just pure morbid curiosity. Unless there is some poorly done religious metaphor that I’m missing here, this is still the worst movie I’ve ever seen. So much promise for an hour and then it turns into complete, unwatchable garbage.
Ghost Town – 5/10
I really like Ricky Gervais, which is probably the only reason this one isn’t getting a 4/10.
W. – 7/10
Better than I expected, actually, but still ridiculously cartoonish and silly. Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney, Toby Jones as Rove and That Guy as George Bush Sr both put forth really good performances, as did Brolin, but even though that made the flick worth my time, the whole thing was just a total farce, which given the subject matter is tough to really appreciate even for someone who probably agrees with Stone politically on many things that have happened since 9/11.
Year One – 8/10
I’m guessing I like this more than most will and I imagine most people would definitely rank it below I Love You, Man and Role Models in terms of recent comedies, but I’m a sucker for Michael Cera. He was good and I thought the whole thing was clever, even if some of the jokes were pretty dumb. Whatever though, some of the others had me cackling and it was most enjoyable thing I’ve seen Jack Black do since, perhaps not so coincidentally, Orange Country. Overall, it has a great ensemble cast (Bill Hader as the village shaman in particular) and I really like Harold Remis.
Sleeping With The Enemy – 6/10
Like Ghost Town, this just happened to be on starting right as I was waking up coughing, so I watched it mainly cause it was the only game in town at 2:30 am. Not terrible. Just corny and silly. It did make me wonder though: How did Julia Roberts get so famous in the 1990s? Has she ever been in anything good? Like a single movie that wasn’t Ocean’s Eleven (which came well after she was pulling in $20 million per), Michael Collins (which no one saw) or Charlie Wilson’s War (which came out like a year ago)? I guess Pretty Woman and Erin Brokovich weren’t horrible, but they were both pretty damn dumb. I’ve got nothing against her or anything, but it’s just puzzling.
I call it The Octigoon.
Related Topics:
Bill Hader,
Cillian Murphy,
Danny Boyle,
Ghost Town,
Harold Remis,
I Love You Man,
Jack Black,
James Cromwell,
Jason Segel,
Josh Brolin,
Julia Roberts,
McLovin,
Michael Cera,
Oliver Stone,
Paul Rudd,
Rashida Jones,
Richard Dreyfuss,
Ricky Gervais,
Robocop,
Role Models,
Stifler,
Sunshine,
Toby Jones,
W.
