I'm in New York for a couple of days ...
... so the postings will be thin for a while.
That said, I've seen White House Down, World War Z and The Great Gatsby, about which I will say:
The NYTimes said White House Down was "less stupid than you'd expect it to be." So I went and, armed with heightened expectations, was significantly let down. I found it far stupider than I thought it would be. And I became downright angry when they tacked a Rolling Stones song (Street Fighting Man, or some other really famous one -- I was so angry I forgot) onto the back of it. I said to my friend "They think they can save this piece of shit with a Rolling Stones song at the end?"
I found the smirky, self-congratulatory tone to be particularly grating, and Jamie Foxx has nowhere near the gravitas to play the President of the US. A disaster.
As regards WWZ, the theater was cold but shortly after the zombies arrived I felt slightly warmer. Turned out I'd peed in my pants.
And The Great Gatsby was great. Would have been better with anybody other than Tobey Maguire. But Leo and Michelle were excellent. Jordan Baker didn't get full shrift, in my opinion. Nor did the mechanic's wife, Myrtle. But those are quibbles. Lovely. More on this movie later, likely along the lines of: you know you've got strong and enduring source material if people are constantly fucking with it (See: Shakespeare). So Baz Luhrmann fucking with Fitzgerald's masterpiece was fine with me and, by and large, pretty well done. Or at least deserving of a nod of the head and the cautious murmuring of the word "okaaay."
That said, I've seen White House Down, World War Z and The Great Gatsby, about which I will say:
The NYTimes said White House Down was "less stupid than you'd expect it to be." So I went and, armed with heightened expectations, was significantly let down. I found it far stupider than I thought it would be. And I became downright angry when they tacked a Rolling Stones song (Street Fighting Man, or some other really famous one -- I was so angry I forgot) onto the back of it. I said to my friend "They think they can save this piece of shit with a Rolling Stones song at the end?"
I found the smirky, self-congratulatory tone to be particularly grating, and Jamie Foxx has nowhere near the gravitas to play the President of the US. A disaster.
As regards WWZ, the theater was cold but shortly after the zombies arrived I felt slightly warmer. Turned out I'd peed in my pants.
[That last part isn't true]
And The Great Gatsby was great. Would have been better with anybody other than Tobey Maguire. But Leo and Michelle were excellent. Jordan Baker didn't get full shrift, in my opinion. Nor did the mechanic's wife, Myrtle. But those are quibbles. Lovely. More on this movie later, likely along the lines of: you know you've got strong and enduring source material if people are constantly fucking with it (See: Shakespeare). So Baz Luhrmann fucking with Fitzgerald's masterpiece was fine with me and, by and large, pretty well done. Or at least deserving of a nod of the head and the cautious murmuring of the word "okaaay."
posted by Geoffrey at 9:50 AM
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