One of the cool things about having many more movie nights lately is that I finally actually have opinions on newer movies!!! This past "weekend" (My 2 days off were neither Saturday or Sunday) I got to watch two great, recent movies. Two you say? Yes, indeed I did... Which gives me the opportunity to steal a segment from my favorite podcast: Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast (http://billburr.com/) called "overrated/underrated"!
Overrated: Moneyball.
Don't get me wrong, it was a great movie, one which I now own on DVD (Thank you ;) ) and will certainly watch many more times, but yeah, for all the hype it got for best actor and best supporting actor my expectations were pretty high. Actors seem to get nominated for roles in which they play handicapped people (Not breaking new ground calling out that one) or carry a prop. De Niro is good at this one- Watch Copland (I know, I said new movies and here I am mentioning one from 1997...) where he acts circles around everyone with a friggin' sandwich.
Or Alec Bladwin in Glengary Glenn Ross. Best performance ever!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-AXTx4PcKI) And yes, it's another older one...
But yeah, so Brad Pitt walks around with a spit cup the whole time.
Eh.
The thing is he's so good in everything he does that this really doesn't stand out for me. On the other hand, Superbad was awesome in this! I totally didn't think of him as Superbad other then the fact I can't remember his real name other then to call him Superbad. He really should just change his name to Superbad, although I am sure he's afraid of some sort of typecasting...
The other knock against this movie is it's "hey, lets try to add to the storytelling by dropping out he sound" shtick. Also stinks of "hey, we're trying to be artsy so give us an oscar" to me... And yeah, they set it up in the car when Pitt was listening to the game on the radio turning it on and off, but when it continued to happen I honestly thought the TV was broken and did actually get up to jiggle the wires hoping the sound would stop cutting in and out. After he "explains" it I felt like a rube on the midway, and I could have reviewed the movie without brining it up I guess, but it annoyed me so you people have to sit through my venting about the crap now.
Now underrated: The Ides of March
Damn George Clooney is a good director and chooses (Or, in this case, writes himself) some great, great movies! Great story, extremely well-acted, beautifully shot... Speaking of beautiful, this had something else lacking in the other movie: Ass. As much of a shock as this might come to those of you who know me and know of "the rotation", I was completely unfamiliar with Evan Rachel Wood until about 8:20 last night.
But not to get off topic. Or, actually I'll bring it all together... She was not only eye candy but really, really good in it as well, and as someone much older then she is I get to break out one of my favorite old man expressions that I am so happy I get to use now that my beard contains more curly grey hairs then Barbara Walter's bikini bottoms: That kids got some talent. And for you ladies out there the other kid, Ryan Gosling, is also very, very good in this. Him, her, friggin' Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman (Yeah, the guy from Twister, I know!!!) , Paul Giamatti (As much as I dislike Howard Stern Giamatti will always be Pigvomit), and Marisa Tomei (From "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"... Yeah, she's been in better known movies, but if you've seen this you'll know why its listed instead, and if not you'll thank me)...
Well, this movie review turned into a low rent version of Mr. Skin (Or, thanks to my buddy Frank while we were in high school, "The Bare Facts Video Guide"- Mr. Skin before Mr. Skin)... Did ya ever notice it's easier to write about things you don't like then things you do? I mean really, I had like 2 nitpicks to Moneyball and it takes up most of the blog here, and the movie I was really blown away by and totally impressed with quickly degraded to dirty jokes and nude scene recommendations...
Uuuumm, how am I going to wrap this up and tie everything together??? I got it: The Notorious Bettie Page! The perfect mix of it being a great, great movie, and Gretchen Mol is like nekked through the whole thing... So there's something for everybody...
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