Here’s another lesson in theater etiquette, this time solely for theater managers. I currently intern at the Tribeca Film Institute, and was lucky enough to attend a private screening for staff of Tribeca Industries, which co-produced the film. The projecter at the theater was broken, and shut off multiple times throughout the movie. The difference between how this theater handled it, compared to AMC Garden State’s botched attempt, is where the lesson lies. After the second mishap, the theater manager came into the room and offered us all beer at the bar and lounge next door. The projector was fixed moments after we all accepted, but it was the offer that counts. I’ll surely show this theater my patronage again, should I get another opportunity.
Public Enemies was good. A great slam-bang historical shoot-em-up: plenty of bullets, dames, and fast getaway cars. It tells the story of John Dillinger, the highest-profile bank robber of the 1920s that the law just couldn’t keep its hands on. Johnny Depp is cool as ice in the role of Dillinger, and Christian Bale proves he is the master of flawless accents in the role of Melvin Purvis. Supporting performances from Marion Cotillard and Billy Crudup round out an excellent cast.
All in all, this is a fun, solid movie, with equal parts gunfights, love, and drama. It captures the feel and style of the time well. It paints Dillinger in just a positive-enough light to get us to root for him, but not too positive as to make us feel too sorry when this murderer and robber is eventually killed (if you can read about it in a history textbook, it’s not a spoiler). Certainly something to try and catch in theaters, but nothing to be heartbroken about if you have to wait for DVD.
Oof. I’m not going to dance around this, I’m just to start off with it: this movie was bad. I’ve heard of people saying a movie was so bad they didn’t even remember most of it, but I’ve always thought that was just something people said. Until I saw this movie. I just saw that trailer up there before writing this, and it was the first time I saw any footage of the movie since leaving the theater. And there were parts of the trailer I did not recognize.
Before I go any further, I should note that the movie was criminally out of focus for about a third of the running time, and the theater I was in was filled with jackasses who talked and actually played games on their cell phones, with the sound on. So this is also a lesson in theater etiquette, both for viewers and theater managers. If you’re going to leave the film booth unmanned, at least check on it every ten minutes.
Of course, this all begs the question, If my movie-viewing conditions were more optimal, would my opinion be any different? Well, not really. The movie has an incredible amount of talent attached to it: Jack Black and Michael Cera playing Jack Black and Michael Cera, respectively, and Paul Rudd, David Cross, Hank Azaria, Harold Ramis (directing, writing, and starring), Bill Hader, Paul Scheer, and an assortment of upcoming female eye candy that will soon be gracing the cover of Maxim at a newstand near you. Hell, I’d see any movie with a third of these names attached to it, you’d think that putting all these minds in a room would yield nothing short of brilliance.
But the movie just falls flat in every way. It’s really better described as a series of sketches tied together with a common theme and the thinnest of plots. The actors do a perfectly fine job in their roles- I think it comes down to the writing. The jokes are worn out, predictable, and hackish. I expected far better from Harold Ramis- a plot, for example. But the movie really was just bad. I should have known from the BIG RED TEXT:
Long story short, don’t go see this movie. It’ll be on DVD in time for Halloween and TBS by Thanksgiving. Wait till it’s 11:30 at night and you’re having “the dudes” over to pregame a huge party at the hockey house, and you need something to play in the background. It’s really not worth paying too much attention to.
Frickum frackum text message limits. If you read my last post before I deleted it, you may think that I now possess the quality of “no”, which is untrue in that I do not possess that quality, and also in that “no” is not a quality one can possess.
WHAT I WAS TRYING TO SAY, was that yes, I know I have neglected you, my dedicated, fabulous reader, over the past couple of weeks, and I have plans to right this. Look in the next few days for reviews of Year One and Public Enemies, plus a little bit of general what’s-what since my absence. I swear I haven’t forgotten about the huge movie fest I made such a hullabaloo not two months ago.
ALL THAT BEING SAID, I have exciting news. For me. You many not be interested, but damn it, I’m going to tell you anyway. I now live in Astoria! Yes, I know there’s a big beer garden there, everyone has told me that when I tell them I’m moving to Astoria and I have every intention of experiencing the crap out of that place. Anyone know anything about it?
Well, I’m sorry to say, ladies and gentlemen, that I did not make it out to see Up or Drag Me to Hell. I promise I will rectify at least one of those problems soon. However, I am not sorry to say, that I did get out to see The Hangover this weekend, which is an amazing movie and you absolutely must go see it this instant, drop all else and see this movie- well, you can read more of that here.
And this weekend we have Moon and Dead Snow! I am really excited about Moon- Sam Rockwell is one of the most interesting actors I have seen recently, and the premise- well I mean just look at the trailer. Are you hooked? I’m hooked.
Dead Snow this weekend! Nazi gold, Nazi zombies, sexy co-eds. Are you still reading this, or did you faint from the awesome? It’s in Swiss or… something, so you might have to try extra hard to find a theater playing it. Let me know if you find one nearby.
If you see one movie all summer, make it this one. In that statement, I am referring to all the movies I have seen so far (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator Salvation, State of Play, Star Trek, The Girlfriend Experience), and all the movies that have come out or will be coming out that I haven’t seen yet* (Up, Moon, Year One, Fireflies in the Garden, among many others). This is it. This is the movie that will be the best one out of all of them.
See this movie.
I can’t stress that enough. Make sure this is the next movie you see. This is, categorically, one of the funniest movies of the 21st century. You can tell how I feel about the movie by now, I’m sure, so I’ll stop raving (by the way, see this movie). This is the immature, men-acting-as-boys, pure-id-unleashed extravaganza that Hollywood has been trying to get this movie right for years. It gave it a good shot with Old School, got even closer with Wedding Crashers, and f*cking nailed it with The Hangover. (Maybe because they got rid of Vince Vaughn? Could be. Worth some thought.)
Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, and Ed Helms, normally relegated to supporting roles, all have equal chance to shine marvelously in this masterpiece of an ensemble comedy. A lot of people are giving the credit to Galifianakis, and while there may be some truth in that, this movie works due to the three of them playing beautifully off of each other. They fit their characters incredibly well- Galifianakis as the inept man-boy, Helms as the neurotic, pushover dork, and Cooper as the epitome of cocky, frat-boy swagger. To be honest, I never saw Cooper as a comedic actor before, and really thought of him as more of a poor man’s Matt McConaughey, but now I’m seeing McConaughey as a poor man’s Cooper.
The reason this movie worked so well, while other movies that tried so hard didn’t, comes right from the actors and the characters they portrayed. Specifically, from what they didn’t do. Old School, Wedding Crashers, and movies like them have traditionally gone for one-liner-driven comedies filled with zany, wild characters (Frank the Tank, Chazz Reinhold). Where The Hangover differs is in its characters- they’re actually pretty normal. We all know someone like Phil or Stu, and we’ve all at least met one or two people like Alan (and if you haven’t, then sorry to tell you, but you’re Alan). These are characters that aren’t over the top caricatures, they’re real people going through absolutely insane situations. The audience sees that, relates to it, and it just makes it goddamn flippin’ hilarious. That’s the fine balance of comedy- either have real characters in ridiculous scenarios (The Hangover), or ridiculous characters in real scenarios (Arrested Development). Also, dick jokes.
I guarantee you will laugh your ass off at parts of, if not all of, this movie. Yes, there are fart jokes and masturbation jokes and dudity and drugs and alcohol (see: the title) and boobies and hookers and a tiger. It’s the gross-out, male bonding, ultimate id unleashed, blah blah blah movie of the summer. But it’s that movie done really, really, really well.
*Ok, except for Whatever Works. I’m not sure if I’m including that movie yet.
(FULL DISCLOSURE: YOU’RE GOING TO FIND THIS BORING)
At the beginning of 2009, I updated very infrequently. I saw maintaining this site as a chore, and I didn’t like that about myself. Here I was, considering myself a writer, and I wrote all of two times in February. I decided to step up my game- I redesigned this whole thing, gave myself items to keep up with (What I’m Loving Right Now, Funtime Film Fest), and started paying much more attention to and cultivating this blog. (That’s a word I hate to use, as there’s so much stigma attached to it, but guess what- I keep a blog. That’s what this is. And I like doing it.)
Quickly, writing became less of a chore, and more of an accomplishment. And the results speak for themselves- I posted 25 times in April, 20 in May. It’s less in May, sure, but the posts themselves are more involved- a lot of April was funny videos I found, whereas May is full of epic poem-length soliloquies on Wolverine. (I promise, I’m really working on that, writing more… efficiently now.) So here I am now, three posts and three days into June, keeping up a steady stream. And I do feel accomplished.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, writing is fun again, and I feel pretty good about it.
I'm Sean Curry, a 23 year old funny guy from New Jersey who thinks that dress is sexy but sensible on you. Right now I'm redoing this blog, it's a bit of a process. Bear with me, and in the meantime, play some Tetris.
RSS Feed
