The Hunt for Red October (1990) - "In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine Captain in their newest sub violates orders and heads for the U.S. Is he trying to defect or to start a war?"I watched it because: it is #1 in the Jack Ryan series; I have the DVD box set. I wanted something predictably good.
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer 89%, Audience 88%
story: 3/5--when it comes right down to it, soooooo much of this is miraculous coincidental nonsense. It is delectable, popcorn flavored nonsense.
visuals: 4/5
acting: 3.5/5--standouts: Scott Glenn (Bart Mancuso) and Sam Neill (Captain Borodin)
intangibles: 3.5/5--fun. Silly, but fun.
Academy Award winner: Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Sound
• Best Film Editing
overall: 3.5/5
I watched it because: it is part of a box set of "black comedy" films. I hadn't seen any of them before, so I booted this one up while I prepared my tax returns.
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer 63%, Audience 72%
story: 1/5--really not certain how to react to this. It is an insane story about literally insane people doing some incredibly stupid shit. I don't get how this is funny?
visuals: 3/5
acting: 1/5--imagine the worst, most painfully overacted local theater you've ever seen, multiplied by 13 million....
intangibles: 1/5
overall: 1.5/5--God. Awful.
One Night (2012) - "Two lonely strangers seek refuge in a one night stand and are shocked to uncover a remarkable connection. They realize they must risk exposing their secrets and painful pasts with each other, for one last chance at love."I watched it because: it was recommended on Amazon Prime - the recommendations matrix on that site is extraordinary, but I'm giving it a whole lot of disparate information with which to work, so it's remarkable that I get anything worth watching at all. This one caught my eye because it looked borderline porn-ish but sounded kind of romantic...and it was very short.
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
story: 4/5--short, tight, and true
visuals: 3/5--meh. It's indie.
acting: 4.5/5--two characters, two actors, both wonderful. Steven R. O'Brien wrote the film and played Max. O'Brien is a Dax Shepard doppelgänger who can really act. Tierney Deaton played Sid, a barista with a heart of pudding and an outer coating of hardened shellac and exploding nails.
intangibles: 3.5/5--this is a tense, uncomfortable, strange, sad little movie. I loved it.
overall: 3.75/5
I watched it because: the person who knows me better than anyone else on the planet watched it - and given that experience and review, I wanted to know whether my experience would be the same.
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer 54%, Audience 52%
story: 4/5--the description sounds trite, but the story is more than that (of course). The real point, I think, is that these are lifelong friends, and that they have reached "a certain age." The book in question (which shall not be named) is a catalyst, but the events that occur were within them all along.
visuals: 3/5--remember the good ole days, when a little smear of Vaseline on the lens would soften the edges of a film? My TV is only 55" and I'm watching from probably 15' away, but I can still make out every f'ing pore in each of these women's (and men's!) faces. This isn't a medical experiment; it's entertainment. A little less, visually, would be fine. That's all I'm saying.
acting: 3/5--in an undeniably all-star cast, I was genuinely surprised by which performances I enjoyed and which left me cold. I usually like a couple of these women but didn't dig these roles at all. Diane Keaton (Diane) tends to play the same role (and in the same. damned. costume. seriously, ditch the hat and scarf already lady) but this one was more deft than usual, and I particularly empathized with her character's desire to knock her daughters into next week. Candice Bergen (Sharon), as always, was wry and funny. Arthur, Don Johnson's dedicated-yet-assured DJ, was well done, as was Richard Dreyfuss' earnest and slightly silly George.
intangibles: 2.5/5--anyone who's still round from the library days (or who's read back into the archives!) will know that I have zero tolerance for the book upon which this movie was based. To paraphrase my dear friend Fluffy Knutson: "I would rather read [H@rry P0tt#r] than [that series]." That being said, I am glad that I got off my book snob high horse and watched this, because I liked it. I am still learning....
overall: 3.125/5
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) - "A man must struggle to travel home for Thanksgiving with a lovable oaf of a shower curtain ring salesman as his only companion."I watched it because: I'd never seen it (yes, yes.) and it's in my Steve Martin box set, and I wanted something funny for the first weekend of the state-mandated lockdown
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer 93%, Audience 87%
story: 3/5--the bare bones of the story are good: guy is in New York, trying to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving, delayed because of bad weather and various other problems.
visuals: 3/5
acting: 1/5--there is no acting here. This is just careening from one slapstick skit to another. It is eerie to watch John Candy, too.
intangibles: 1/5
overall: 2/5
I watched it because: it was recommended on Amazon Prime, upon my search for martial arts films.
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer N/A%, Audience 19%
story: 2.5/5--I don't want to come right down and say this is a bad story, because the idea behind it is not bad. The execution, though, is choppy, blocky, and awful. A high school freshman with an iPhone could dream up a better movie than this one.
visuals: 4.5/5--utterly gorgeous. Some of the best lighting I've ever seen.
acting: 1/5
intangibles: 1/5
overall: 2.25/5
This last score alone is an indication of the statistical unreliability of my rating system. I clearly need to start including more quantitative elements. And there often seems to be a roughly inverse relation between the Rotten Tomatoes composite score and my review. My charitable response is that what I like is not for everyone - and different strokes, etc.
[the title quotation is from White Christmas]
The fact that Sam Neill is able to deliver the line "I would have liked to have seen Montana" and not make the audience laugh at it's pure silliness, is proof of how good he is as an actor.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! I teared up, watching that Irish actor play that Russian naval captain, talking about a place I've never been.. and I felt like an idiot for doing it. But in that moment, I believed it. A good actor, indeed.
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