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Many movies
Jan. 13th, 2013 09:17 pmHaving complained about LEs Mis, I should mention some movies I liked in 2012. Of course the awards nominations tend to be for movies that happened near the end of the year - they always neglect a lot of earlier movies. And of course, there will always be movies that everyone loved but the critics will NEVER take them seriously and no one will EVER nominate them for an award, even though millions of people had more fun than anywhere else - yes, I am talking about The Avengers - so it wouldn't matter where in the year that opened, it wouldn't get nominated. And I will mention one more movie I didn't like, even though it's been nominated for several awards, and that's Beasts of The Southern Wild. I just did not like that one - I am not a big fan of magical realism, and I'm also not a big fan of "every lifestyle and culture has equal value" - that's just not true, when it's a lifestyle and culture that perpetuates ignorance, poor health, and the neglect of children. OK, not gonna do a long rant on that. But I did not like the movie.
On to what I did like. The Avengers, of course - it was fun, it was funny, it was fast, I was never at any point complaining about the acting or historical accuracy or realism because hey, we all came in knowing it was a comic book, and it was a damn well done comic book!
Moonrise Kingdom. Too neat - right about that year, I was right about that age, and my family, while not rich lawyers with a summer home, was the sort of culturally and intellectually inclined family where kids played "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" on the little portable record players. Besides all the Britten and Mozart in the score, I loved the newer music too, that was written as homage to Britten. And damn, it was a funny little movie, with the omniscient narrator popping up looking like a crazed Jacques Cousteau with a Boston accent, and the heroics of the scoutmaster after his total failure as a troop leader - oh, and the wedding!
Robot and Frank. Can't believe how few people saw this. In fact, I bet most of you never even heard of it. Go look for it. Funny, decently done science fiction touches, great performances by Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon - and how often do you get movies about cat burglars anyway? There were just SO many neat scenes - and though there's a happy ending, there's also the heartbreak in the scene where we find out just how serious the extent of Frank's dementia has been... it was really touching. Go find it and watch it, people! It should be a damn cult classic like Harold and Maude.
Argo - while Ben Affleck apparently can't act his way out of a paper bag and has only one facial expression, ever, nonetheless the suspense in this was great, and a lot of the performances by other people were superb. I mean, we all already knew how the story ended and nonetheless everyone in the theater was on the edge of their seats, rooting for them and practically holding our breath, until the plane took off, whereupon we all cheered. They really did good pacing and timing on this.
So, there's what I did like in the moooobies this past year.
On to what I did like. The Avengers, of course - it was fun, it was funny, it was fast, I was never at any point complaining about the acting or historical accuracy or realism because hey, we all came in knowing it was a comic book, and it was a damn well done comic book!
Moonrise Kingdom. Too neat - right about that year, I was right about that age, and my family, while not rich lawyers with a summer home, was the sort of culturally and intellectually inclined family where kids played "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" on the little portable record players. Besides all the Britten and Mozart in the score, I loved the newer music too, that was written as homage to Britten. And damn, it was a funny little movie, with the omniscient narrator popping up looking like a crazed Jacques Cousteau with a Boston accent, and the heroics of the scoutmaster after his total failure as a troop leader - oh, and the wedding!
Robot and Frank. Can't believe how few people saw this. In fact, I bet most of you never even heard of it. Go look for it. Funny, decently done science fiction touches, great performances by Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon - and how often do you get movies about cat burglars anyway? There were just SO many neat scenes - and though there's a happy ending, there's also the heartbreak in the scene where we find out just how serious the extent of Frank's dementia has been... it was really touching. Go find it and watch it, people! It should be a damn cult classic like Harold and Maude.
Argo - while Ben Affleck apparently can't act his way out of a paper bag and has only one facial expression, ever, nonetheless the suspense in this was great, and a lot of the performances by other people were superb. I mean, we all already knew how the story ended and nonetheless everyone in the theater was on the edge of their seats, rooting for them and practically holding our breath, until the plane took off, whereupon we all cheered. They really did good pacing and timing on this.
So, there's what I did like in the moooobies this past year.
