Indeed, one of the most upsetting things to come with the shuttering of the Miramax label was the lack of any push that my PICK OF THE WEEK got upon release. It was a real shame since it was a fantastic film. It's:Everybody's Fine
Robert De Niro gives one of his very best performances in this dramedy about a father who finally begins to learn about his children now that they are all grown up. It's one of the most touching movies that I saw in 2009, and since it tanked at the box office, now is the time for everyone who missed this flick to check it out and enjoy.
-Other releases getting a recommendation from me this week is the sports biopic The Damned United, which has an excellent performance from Michael Sheen and is a film that has grown on me with successive viewings, the Anna Wintour documentary The September Issue, and the Nazi zombie horror flick Dead Snow. Three very different films, but three quality ones which I think have a great deal of appeal.
-The rest of the releases are a mixed bag. There are flawed but decent films like Steven Soderbergh's The Informant!, the parenting comedy Motherhood, the sci-fi flick The Box, and the claymation drama $9.99, which is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch. There's also just plain flawed flicks like the horror adventure Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant as well as the horror remake Sorority Row. None of these are awful flicks, but they all should have been better, in my humble opinion.
-My Vintage pick is, in honor of this week's release of Cop Out, 2 of perhaps Kevin Smith's most underrated films. They are Jersey Girl and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Both had great expectations, and while some consider them failures, I see them as minor gems in Smith's underrated career. If you haven't seen either yet, ignore the grievances and give them a shot and see what you think.
-What will you be watching on DVD this week?
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Everybody's Fine NEARLY cracked my top 10 of 2009, so if that entices anyone, consider it a hearty recommendation...
ReplyDeleteOne of the most underrated films of 2009 comes to DVD his week:
ReplyDeleteAnd that would be The Informant!
...
Did anyone like that movie besides me?
"The Informant!" is certainly worth a watch, though I agree with and fully endorse everything Joey said about "Everybody's Fine".
ReplyDeleteThe Informant! didn't do much for me, but fair enough, though I still hold firm on Everybody's Fine.
ReplyDeleteI thought Everybody's Fine was terrible. De Niro was meh, Bekinsale was awful, and Rockwell was criminally underused. The terrible writing and plotting put it on par with Lifetime movies.
ReplyDeleteWell, that seems to be the other school of thought. Even at the press screening where I saw the film before it came out, the room was split between critics who were incredibly moved by it and critics who thought it was a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved The Informant!, one of my favorites of the year. I have yet to see Everybody's Fine so I look forward to it.
ReplyDelete-Robbie
Give it a shot, and feel free to report back.
ReplyDeleteI thought that "Everybody's Fine" was decent, but certainly nothing to write home about. I would slightly recommend it, solely for De Niro's performance (although I didn't think he was as good as Nicholson was in "About Schmidt", nor was it a "return to form" for the actor).
ReplyDeleteWhere's the love for The Damned United too?
ReplyDeleteAnd I just noticed that you called The Informant! flawed in your post. It would be nice to hear what an intelligent person with decent taste in film didn't like about the movie...
Bryce...on the subject of The Damned United, I think very few people actually saw it for starters. It didn't even crack 450k in the U.S., with a little over 3 and a half million in the rest of the world. I thought it was missing something on the first viewing, but I've eased up on it since then and find it to be a very interesting character study.
ReplyDeleteAs for The Informant!, first of all, I appreciate the rare compliment. In terms of the movie being flawed, my 2 cents is that (and keep in mind, I only saw it once, so I won't claim to be the final word on the flick) it's a film that just never adds up to enough. I wasn't in love with Matt Damon like a lot of people were here, but I thought he did good work. My main issue is that it's either a comedy that isn't really funny or a drama that's way too goofy for what it is. This is not to call it a bad film, I just expected better. Perhaps a second viewing is in order, but that's where I stand today...
You're kidding about Zacki and Miri and Jersey Girl, right? The latter was saccharine and predictable, and the former was so absurd I nearly threw something at my TV. Elizabeth Banks has sex with a fat slob and instantly falls in love with him? Yeah, like that's not a pathetic fantasy perpetuated a million times by Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteSmith was pretty interesting as a filmmaker at first, but now he's a hack with a ridiculously loyal cult following.
I'm not kidding at all. I disagree intensely, but you're entitled to your opinion, as am I.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am of the overwhelming opinion that "Jersey Girl" is a bad film (and Smith's worst work as a filmmaker), I do believe that a second viewing is in order for me. When I saw it, I honestly found it to be boring and way, way, way too sentimental for its own good. Perhaps the biggest problem with that film is that most of Smith's other films are sentimental as well, but their crude situations counteract with the sentimentality, making it much more tolerable.
ReplyDeleteAs far as "Zack and Miri" is concerned, I thought that it was very underrated and extremely charming. Also, in response to Robert's post, Miri didn't fall in love with Zack just because she had sex with him -- they had both had a relationship which had more to say beneath superficial exchanges, and the occurrence in the film is when they both realize that their relationship is much more than a friendship.
In my opinion, Kevin Smith has always been an incredibly interesting writer, and no matter how his films turn out, there's usually something good to be taken from all of them. Having said that, I may be biased since I do think he is a writing genius, but I will also be the first to point out that his talents as a director are nowhere near his talents as a writer.
I'd also add that Miri saw Zack take the initiative for the first time in his life (as a director), and that was another attraction for her. I also loved how it's essentially a love letter to do it yourself film-making and at its core, the story of how Clerks was made (minus the porn and romance aspect).
ReplyDeleteAs for Jersey Girl, I'm a sucker for a good romantic comedy, and Kevin Smith happened to hit a lot of right notes with it. I also like Ben Affleck, so it was a good combination from the start for me.
I really liked the part with Will Smith.
ReplyDeleteJoshua, you're right in a way as far as conveying what I'm sure was Smith's intent, but what makes that development fail for me was the sex scene itself (immediately blissful and intimate the minute he, uh, enters her, without a hint of awkwardness or discomfort at their situation) and Miri's reaction after Zack left. She literally fell over and looked as though it was the most amazing sex she'd ever had.
ReplyDeleteLet me put it this way, how loud would the laughter in every theater in America be if they saw a scene where Ryan Gosling had Miri's reaction after having sex with Kelly Osbourne?
I liked Zack and Miri but in my mind Seth Rogen can do no wrong. I am really excited about Cop Out i enjoy Kevin Smith movies. My personal favorites are Chasing Amy and Dogma.
ReplyDeleteRobert, why does what the character looks like have to do with anything? Does personality count for nothing? Also, it's only a movie, and a funny one at that, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI'll be seeing Cop out tomorrow Matt, so be on the lookout for a review soon...
ReplyDeleteC'mon, Joey, let's be real here.
ReplyDeleteAll that talk about "personality" and "what's on the inside" is all well and good so long as it's the woman who finds the inner beauty of the man. It is NEVER the other way around (unless the "inner beauty" is displayed via a magic trick to make the woman hot on the outside, like the unforgivable Shallow Hal). It is pure Hollywood bullshit and Kevin Smith plays right into it in Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
If we're being real, Hollywood is the most vein and image obsessed place on the planet, so it's far from Hollywood bullshit, in your words. I also think your undersell guys a bit in saying they never find inner beauty in girls, but that's not a film issue. You didn't like the film, I did, we disagree, life goes on.
ReplyDelete