The Jan Brady section of the movies I saw this summer,
following yesterday’s Pa
rt I.
The $300 Million Budget Club
16. Spiderman 3 (imdb) (official site)
15. Pirates of the
A tough call between the two ridiculously inflated giants of May. Ultimately the return of Geoffrey Rush breaks the tie, as well as the borderline Days of Our Lives moments happening near the end of Spidey 3.
Sam Raimi’s reportedly well over-budget and rushed into theaters third installment walked a careful line between self-parody and idiocy for its entire run-time, before the infamous “butler scene” pushed it well over, if goofy dancing Peter Parker hadn’t already done that for you. One crazed fan even attempts to edit out the butler scene on YouTube.
I was braced, once again, for a much worse film when I went to see Spiderman 3, because of the way the trailers implied that they were retconning Spiderman’s origin story (“We’ve found your uncle’s real killer!”), so I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out not as soul-killing as Brett Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand Moreau-creature of a film.
Strangely enough, I own the first two Pirates movies, but not the Spidermen (probably because of their ubiquity on TNT and TBS). Thus, Johnny Depp and co. get the coveted “number fifteen on a list no one cares about” spot.
The Captain Malcolm Reynolds Special Award
Nathan Fillion is one of my favorite actors, for what should be obvious reasons, so in my crazy brain- and probably the brains of more than a few other fans- I had the irrational hope that if I saw this movie, Universal would greenlight a Serenity sequel (plus my girlfriend wanted to see it). No luck so far.
But it was a decent film, and it had a lot of goodwill brewing from the director’s untimely and tragic death. But ultimately it was a little too “Yep, we’s pretty darn Southern ‘round here, ain’t we?!” for me to take it quite seriously.
The “Maybe for $9.99 at Best Buy” Section
I own the other two, because I’m a sucker for Soderbergh (that should be a bumper sticker). And a taught, actual-gambling-focused script from the Rounders guys keeps the series fresh.
12. Becoming Jane (imdb) (off.)
Last year, anyone with a frivolous, shopping-oriented girlfriend had the perfect birthday/Christmas present movie starring Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada.
This year, anyone with a sensitive, literate, and thoughtful girlfriend (like me) has an ideal gift movie starring Anne Hathaway in the low-key Becoming Jane. It’s a little sleepy, but so are Jane Austen novels, and James McAvoy (who, if my girlfriend ever meets in person, she will probably accidentally address as “Mr. Tumnus.”) puts in a very solid supporting role.
The Supreme Quotability Honorable Mention
It’s possible that “McLovin” et al. references are already dated and annoying (much like any quote from Borat about two hours after its release), but the general King Midas touch of Judd Apatow hasn’t failed yet.
In perhaps the last appealing nerd-centric vehicle (before the glut of awful looking, Heroes and Dwight Schrute inspired fall tv shows hit and kill the phenomenon), Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, and the other guy (Christopher Mintz-Pease, but no one will remember that in two weeks. Sorry, walk-on.) bring back the 80’s wild and crazy night genre for one last hurrah.
The Helping Me Be More Pretentious Foreign Film Designation
10. After the Wedding (Efter Brylluppet) (imdb) (off.)
I know, I know, this came out last year, and it’s Danish. But after losing out on the Best Foreign Language Osacr in February, it finally came here to
And also, it’s not to be missed. Le Chiffre from Casino Royale (Mads Mikkelsen) puts in such a nuanced performance here, you wish that they’d written his stiff villain role with far more complexity. But I suppose Bond villains aren’t largely known for emotional depth.
This is a film with a borderline-ludicrous plot that is mystifyingly brought completely back to earth by the performances.
A foreign, fictionalized take on the great satirist’s life that I expected to be passable, but found surprisingly moving. The film’s star, Romain Duris, does fairly well, but a powerful performance by Italian actress Laura Morante(right) puts Molière over the top.
It’s not often that someone can move me through the veil of subtitles, but she was that good.
A more than worthy addition to the fictionalized-author biopic subgenre (i.e. Shakespeare in Love, naturally, and Becoming Jane above).
That’s it for today. Stayed tuned tomorrow for the veritable caviar on a fancy plate of the summer in Part III (8-1).
1 comment:
Did you read the article on IMDB the other day entitled, "Who Are the 27%-ers?"
It was an article that explained that particular actors make a movie 27% better (Don't ask me how/why they came up with that number) than you thought it could have been, merely because of one particular person's presence.
Nathan Fillon was one of them.
There, I just dropped some knowledge.
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