Quick takes: Movies I saw during 40 hours of air travel last month


Watching four movies in a row...not as fun as it sounds

Well, actually I doubt it sounds fun to anyone to be on planes for 10 hours at a time, repeatedly.

But here are my quick takes:

1. Rachel Getting Married
Yes, Anne Hathaway gave a really wonderful performance that I believed, but much of this movie was not of the same authentic, immediate stuff. Rather it seemed overwrought and over-thought. Like, OK, we get it: This is the most amazingly multi-culti clan to ever gather, certainly in Connecticut! And they're all musicians, duly noted. But I really thought that pre-wedding dinner and wedding reception would go on forever with the scenes of every talented guest in attendance. We had the rapping grandmas, the random salsa people (where did they come from?), the rock version of "Here Comes the Bride". Was that klezmer I heard? I also thought the dishwasher loading pissing contest between the groom and the father of the bride (criminally under-used Bill Irwin) was completely unbelievable and lame. Not saying there aren't people that are anal about how to load a dishwasher, but don't envision having a time contest to see who could load it fuller, faster would really happen, and not the day before the weeding when plenty of other things were going on...and it certainly wouldn't draw a crowd of people who'd be interested in watching the insanity. I wanted more dialog, more scenes like the one between Hathaway and her mother (played by Debra Winger)...more actual, real drama.

2. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
I can understand why Penelope Cruz got so much attention for this role. In a movie where everyone else just did a lot of talking about feeling and talking about doing things, Cruz's character actually seemed to feel and do things. Gotta admit I don't get the Scarlett Johanssen thing. (Didn't like Lost in translation...there, I admit it!) She's a beautiful, blank cipher. So what? Don't we have a lot of those?When I think of her off-kilter beginning in Ghost World, I wonder where that actress went. Anyway, beautiful scenery of Barcelona...definitely want to go there. Didn't love the movie, but it passed the time.

3. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Charming movie from a genre I usually hate. I'm not into movies where the characters are trapped in an endless urban quest to get home. Griffin Dunne's "After Hours" being the best (worst?) example of one such annoying movie. I spent the whole movie wanting to scream "Dude, the entire island of Manhattan is less than 10 miles long...fucking WALK HOME." Anyway, obviously I'm still bitter, so it's shocking I liked this movie at all, but I did. Who'd have thunk that Michael Cera would be a charming leading (young) man? Only one moment rang false, and that was the script's fault not his. And oh, there's another disgusting moment that I wish I could scrub out of my memory that I ever saw, and I'm not sure it was at ALL necessary, but these are quibbles. This was the modern day equivalent of a John Hughes movie, and I can still enjoy the slightly overblown, slightly stereotypical travails of teenagers as much as the next gal.

4. Tropic Thunder
Totally funny, sometimes totally gross, but mostly really funny. Love Ben Stiller. Love Robert Downey Jr. What else is there to say?

5. Wall-E
This is a bit of a dark film to see on one of those little airplane seat monitors. I kept moving my monitor back and forth, but still felt I wasn't getting the full effect of the movie. I'll tell you the one thing that bugged me about the movie. It really seemed to be saying, in a nutshell, that fat people will destroy the planet. Yeah, yeah, I get that the laziness led to the obesity, but no, a big part of it seemed to be that fat people=planet destruction, not so much the other way around. Leaving that aside, I just loved the many sly pop culture references, and particularly thought it was an off-the-wall and wonderful choice to have the film version of Hello Dolly be so pivotal. Seriously, who came up with that one?

6. The Wedding Crashers
Harmless bit of fun. Not sure it made me laugh out loud. But 30 hours in a plane will do that to you.

Notice how there's always way more to say about dramas than silly comedies? Makes sense I guess.

I have the feeling I'm forgetting a movie, but that was it for now. Mostly just wanted to complain about Rachel Getting Married and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, to be honest :)

Posted: Sun - March 22, 2009 at 07:06 PM       EmailFeedback

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