This Week in DVD Rental
I had a free rental coupon with an expiration date, so I went to Blockbuster on Thursday afternoon. I can never get in there and rent just one movie. The result of my not seeing movies very often is that when it comes time to pick one out, there are a whole bunch I'm reminded that I want to see.
I got four: Lost in Translation, Thirteen, Morvern Callar, and But I'm a Cheerleader.
When I opened the case up for Thirteen, I was looking at the shiny side of a DVD and I thought, "Nice that the last person couldn't put it back in the case right and nice that the fine folks at Blockbuster didn't even check it." But then I looked at the fine print 'round the middle and it turns out it's a two-sided disc. Full screen on one side and widescreen on the other. I didn't know they had these. Nifty!
I watched Thirteen and Lost in Translation right away because they were due back today. Thoughts on those below.
Thirteen: Oh, my god, I do not ever want to have kids. Especially not teenage girls. Jeebus Crisp. The emotional highs and lows! The drama! The pressure! The world is ending! No one knows how to fix it! Leaving the old, nice, normal friends behind for the obviously dangerous, destructive new friends. Everything Is Such A Big Deal. I was cringing the whole time. Imagine the worst behavior you can from your 7th grade daughter. It's all rolled into this movie. Frantic camera movement mirrors frantic pace of life. Evan Rachel Wood plays a really good budding crackwhore. Holly Hunter's got some guns. And I've been in that Skechers store on Melrose. Put this in the "Good, but not Enjoyable" category.
Lost in Translation: Frustrating! Lots of Japanese being spoken with no translation. You can certainly feel Bill Murray['s character]'s frustration. And following the red-haired girl around -- on the subway, through the streets, to a shrine, whatnot -- I was thinking of Kat the whole time. "Lip my stockings!" This movie has such a sad, desperate, pathetic aura. Makes you feel glad you're not one of these people, and then hope that you're not one of these people and you didn't know it. But then you hope you can someday get cracked over the head with the Right Place at the Right Time bat and have the experience that these people had. It was good and all, but I don't think it's the Movie of the Year that folks made it out to be. Was that just because Bill Murray did something a little different than he usually does? Because even though it was an unusually serious role for him, I didn't feel like it was much of a stretch. Maybe that's the point, though. The scene in the strip club was funny. The end was unsatisfying. Sofia Coppola's whole awkward adolescent thing annoys me.
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was lost on me. I'm sorry, but I would not recommend this movie to anyone. It seemed to be my type of movie. It had all the pieces. Yet, in the end I was happy it was over and not... Read More
But I'm a Cheerleader is so bad it's amusing. Enjoy!
I loved "But I'm a Cheerleader" -- it's a campy, hoot of a movie. Intentionally bad. Reminiscent of a John Waters film; actress Mink Stole has starred in many of Water's films. RuPaul is hilarious and what dyke doesn't love Clea Duvall?
(Clea Duvall is currently in HBO's series Carnivale -- it rocks and so does she.)
You will like this one!
I'm interested to know what you think of Morvern Callar. Last year, I talked a friend into seeing that with me at the artsy cinema in Cork, and neither of us cared much for it. It's interesting, and I enjoyed the soundtrack...so yeah. I shall eagerly await your review of it. :)
I highly recommend Swimming Pool if you're into interesting European flicks. :)
*kisses*
i agree totally about LiT. i thought i would be alone. it was missing something for me. it failed to keep my full attention. i watched it again trying to see if i would not get bored but i failed. i was about to blog about it then i thought i'm gonna be soooo alone in not saying this is the end all be all movie.
That's the second less-than-stellar personal review I've heard of Morvern Callar. Now I kinda can't wait to watch it.
I have seen Swimming Pool. I sat at the end of that and thought, "Huh...." Wasn't really sure what to think. And I was confused. I think I Googled a bit trying to find out what exactly happened, but I never got a satisfying answer. I liked it, though.
Too bad about "Lost in Translation" I had wanted to see that.... Thanks for the heads up!
I kind of like that confusion at the end of movies. That's what my friends call the Eurotrash in me. :) Movies that leave me pleasantly confused and had a good thing going on throughout generally agree with me. Like Mullholland Drive and Donnie Darko. Of course, I'm just a big fan of messing with the concept of reality on the whole. ;)
"Thirteen" made me want to stab my ovaries with a letter opener.
The first DVD I ever bought was one of those nifty double sided ones. Spaceballs.
That two-sided DVD came in handy when the wife and I rented Six Degrees of Separation. We were watching the widescreen version and it started screwing up, so we just flipped it and kept on keepin' on, to coin a phrase...