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08/11/16 - Quantum Of Solace
Boring. Of all the things to rip off
from Bourne, extremely shaky and terribly edited
action scenes is the wrong thing. And giving us
three of them in a row without any character or
plot... it's adequate, pedestrian, I barely cared the
whole way through. 4/10
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08/11/15 - Synecdoche, New York
Shortly after Real Time we get another movie about
facing mortality, but instead of the straight-and-simple
approach, we get the most complicated movie
I can think of. Actually I think it's about a lot more
than that? The first hour moves pretty
well, but then it starts to make a big fuss about
spinning its wheels and going kind of nowhere. Not
nowhere, but it folds in on itself. Intentionally.
It's tough, because Kaufman is putting us in the shoes
of a man whose grip on reality is failing, including
his grasp on identity, chronology, and his goals, so the
audience is likewise cast adrift without something to
root for or even understand. It's challenging.
It has some amazing touches, and it's memorable,
but I wonder if it would have come across better
Spike Jonze's way. This one seemed to lose pace and
not emphasize the right things. I even read an earlier
draft of the script afterwards, trying to get
a better handle on what the movie was actually about or
what might have been lost from page to screen. So it
looks like I have to go see it a second time before I'll
be confident in my take. If you're going to go, you
might want to look up Cotard Delusion. 8/10
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08/11/07 - Real Time
Great trailer. One of those trailers that I fear
suggests something so good that the movie itself
can't live up. The first half wasn't quite clicking
for me, but somewhere in the middle it turned an
invisible corner and I was hooked. It delivered
what the trailer promised. Heartbreaking.
The actors are great, the story lean and clean.
The subject matter is particularly up my alley,
it was the right moment in time, so I'm overrating it 9/10
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08/11/01 - Zack And Miri Make A Porno
Sloppy, the plot doesn't make much sense, but it's
funny enough to keep itself alive. It's basically
what you'd expect if Kevin Smith was to come up
with that title, get green-lit, and then write the
script in a week. 4/10
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08/10/26 - Rachel Getting Married
Want to be a guest at this wedding? It helps
that it's probably the most interesting wedding
ever staged, live music all night, world music,
african, blues, but for some reason they're
serving Indian food. Fantastic dance floor.
The speeches at the rehearsal dragged on too
long, but the Groom's speech at the ceremony
was nice. I guess the interesting part was
watching Rachel's sister teeter on the brink
of imploding. And getting to know the family. 6/10
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08/10/19 - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Now I want to go to Spain. Except I want to be
Javier Bardem when I'm there. Or at least hang
out with him? This is a really good movie,
comfortable, interesting, great to look at. 8/10
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08/09/26 - Tropic Thunder
It opens amazing but dwindles from there.
Pretty good, but I don't remember any of it now. 5/10
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08/09/20 - Burn After Reading
You know that bad cliche scene where someone is snooping
and then some comes home, and the guy hides in the
closet and spies on him, and then the guy goes to
get something out of the closet? This movie has the
best one of those scenes ever shot. Other than that,
it has a lot of hilarious exasperation. I guess it's
like a cross between Fargo and Lebowski, but fluffier,
less substantial. 7/10
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