2011 post 4: Revenge of the Nachos

Entry relating to 1/22/2011 – 1/28/2011
Movies Seen: First Time Viewed*
Escape from L.A. (1996 John Carpenter)
L.A. Confidential (1998 Curtis Hanson)
Spies Like Us (1985 John Landis)*
Exit through the Gift Shop (2010 Banksy)*
No Strings Attached (2011 Ivan Reitman)*
The Siege (1998 Edward Zwick)

Even amount of revisits and brand news. I think I am going to try to watch a documentary every week. That way I’ll feel edu-ma-cated. Uh helk! I have the machinations to start a project soon. I would like to tell you about it when I have more of the details nailed down. It will include an audio portion, so if you hate my voice, tell me now.

Escape from L.A.:
What a stupid movie. Do I need to write anymore? Seriously? Fine. A revisit for me, I remembered this movie being bad. So far with these revisits I actually seem to recall things perfectly well. I understand that this movie was supposed to be over the top fun, BUT COME ON!!! Bad stereotypes, stupid characters played by great actors, and NO BOOBS! Ok, it didn’t need boobs, I just wanted something to spice up my complaints. If you want to see Peter Fonda playing a surfer… who rides tsunamis… and…. You know what? There’s no reason to watch this movie. Just erase it from my mind now.

L.A. Confidential:
I didn’t do the double shot of L.A. on purpose, I swear. This movie is still really great. I don’t think I have to go into what makes this movie so good. You other love it or you don’t. I’ve been hearing a lot about how Kevin Spacey is an over-rated actor lately, and honestly I don’t see it. He may not have very many notes, but he is always very solid. Another thing that occurred to me while watching this, the whole casting foreign actors as Americans? Nothing new. Never was. The complaints that foreigners always play Americans just does hold any water, because it’s all about the acting. Stellar movies, great cast, beautiful cinematography.

Spies like Us:
Ha! Oh sorry, I was just remembering that part, with that guy? Yeah, yeah, that was good. I was warned that this movie would be bad, and you know what? I guess I like some BAD movie, because I really liked this one. It had some pacing issues for sure. Every time they left Aykroyd and Chase, there was a bit of a lull, but what can you do. In my opinion it was a pretty solid comedy. Looked terrible off of Netflix, but whatever.

Exit through the Gift Shop:
So, I am not an advocate of street art. Even after seeing this movie I can’t really get behind it; sorry if that makes me seem like a prude. Anyway, the doc was great. A little slow to start, in my opinion, but after it got going I couldn’t look away. It was really very funny, and I think that because no one is really sure if it’s a real doc or not there was an added charm. Either, it’s funny because this is the way it really is, or it’s funny because it is very creative and pokes fun at the right people. You should watch it, not because it’s education, but because you’ll get a kick out of it. Fer reals.

No Strings Attached:
Don’t make fun of me! I wanted to go see True Grit, and Sarah and I were all set to go, when I decided I might be hungry. Mistake. Meal took to long to get to us, all my fault, yadda yadda yadda. So, I wasn’t just going to let the evening escape me, and I knew Sarah wanted to see No Strings Attached, so we went. I’ll tell you know, prepared for you to laugh at me, it wasn’t that bad at all. Unlike the Apatow stuff, there weren’t any way out there situations thrown into the plot to add a sense of goofyness to the movie. Nothing too unrealistic. Sure, Ashton Kutcher being charming seems kind of unrealistic, but I digress. It had a lot of laugh out loud moments for me. Just good dialogue driven humor. No boobs though. It’s a sex comedy! Where is my nudity!?

The Siege:
Every time I type “The Siege” I spell it wrong!!!! Sigh. Another revisit for me, I remember this movie being pretty good. I also remember the plot being more complicated than it actually was. He did this, she didn’t do that, Denzel wins the day, bam. My question is, did anyone go back and revisit this movie right after 9/11? There were some pretty scary ideas in here, certainly the kind of stuff that would make people fearful and ignorant. Or was that the point? Anyway, Bruce Willis did it. There, I said it.

I am feeling kind of bored with the films I have been watching. I need to watch something that will wow me, blow my socks off, you the sort of thing. Have any suggestions for me? Please email me and JDTMovies@gmail.com or write me on Twitter @JDTMovies. Also, I have that facebook page so people can tell me what to do. I need direction and structure!!!

Thanks for reading.