"You're supposed to stare at me. I'm a good-looking cliche, dammit!"
George Clooney plays George Clooney awkwardly attached to some daughters and a lot of entrusted land by his ancestry. The only truly interesting scene comes when George Clooney realizes that selling this land will enrich a realtor who had an affair involving some unrequited feelings with George Clooney's wife, who is now in a permanent coma awaiting death after a boating accident. We are in a bar with happy Hawaiian musicians out of focus beside Clooney's distraught and enlightened profile. As he sits back in his chair, we cut to his point of view as his daughters attempt consolation and seeking answers for their own confusion.
George Clooney may have proved himself in Syriana (2005), but he still feels more like a personality. This character rarely feels authentic or believable. It's almost an attempt to cast him against type, and it fails. He just stumbles through a series of predictable cliches that try to demand laughs, sighs, and sobs. Never mind the fact that the first...who knows how many minutes...of the film are just a bland voice-over (I thought that was strictly taboo in film unless necessary...).
Alexander Payne made a string of intelligent films full of dark humor and insight: Citizen Ruth (1996), Election (1999), and Sideways (2005). This is his first film since then, and it's unfortunately disappointing. The humor is so on-the-nose, it's embarrassing to hear the audience laugh at such cheap attempts at humor from the youngest tomboy daughter whose trademark is giving dad the finger to the hanger-on stoner (whose purpose in the story seems nil; he just seems there for entertainment value) who says stereotypical stoner things. Yeah, that's so edgy and layered.
The good: Robert Forster and Matthew Lillard give great (small) performances. It's nice to see the latter still able to get a different role after being typecast in the 1990s. I probably would have rather seen whatever story there is here from their perspective. At least their characters were convincing.
Frankly I'm shocked at the glowing, positive reviews for a movie that breaks no new ground and offers very little in style or emotional involvement. Likewise, Clooney's other 2011 film The Ides of March was cinematic garbage--phoned-in performances by usually great actors, cringeworthy dialogue, and characters so flat you won't care. It's just an ill-informed, malformed attempt at dissecting political figures in an unoriginal way, and it feels like it was made in the 1990s--dated already. Of course this all leads me to the prelude of a 2011 end-of-year compilation of sorts, though I haven't seen many films from this year yet, so this is pointless, but so far...
The Best:
The Tree of Life
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Both made by directors whose films are intensely personal, fiercely stylistic, and few and far between. They both commit to a unique style that makes their films unforgettable despite their shortcomings.
Best Leading Performance: Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Is there any film she graces that doesn't benefit from her presence? Just last year I probably would have given the same honor to her performance in I Am Love.
Best Supporting Performance: Hunter McCracken, The Tree of Life
Maybe "supporting" is demeaning, but as far as child actors go, and an amateur at that, he really made it work. Whenever the film hinges on understanding the childhood perspective, he delivers.
My list of 2011 films to see:
Carnage
Margaret
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Weekend
Take Shelter
The Interrupters
A Dangerous Method
Shame
Project Nim
George Clooney may have proved himself in Syriana (2005), but he still feels more like a personality. This character rarely feels authentic or believable. It's almost an attempt to cast him against type, and it fails. He just stumbles through a series of predictable cliches that try to demand laughs, sighs, and sobs. Never mind the fact that the first...who knows how many minutes...of the film are just a bland voice-over (I thought that was strictly taboo in film unless necessary...).
Alexander Payne made a string of intelligent films full of dark humor and insight: Citizen Ruth (1996), Election (1999), and Sideways (2005). This is his first film since then, and it's unfortunately disappointing. The humor is so on-the-nose, it's embarrassing to hear the audience laugh at such cheap attempts at humor from the youngest tomboy daughter whose trademark is giving dad the finger to the hanger-on stoner (whose purpose in the story seems nil; he just seems there for entertainment value) who says stereotypical stoner things. Yeah, that's so edgy and layered.
The good: Robert Forster and Matthew Lillard give great (small) performances. It's nice to see the latter still able to get a different role after being typecast in the 1990s. I probably would have rather seen whatever story there is here from their perspective. At least their characters were convincing.
Frankly I'm shocked at the glowing, positive reviews for a movie that breaks no new ground and offers very little in style or emotional involvement. Likewise, Clooney's other 2011 film The Ides of March was cinematic garbage--phoned-in performances by usually great actors, cringeworthy dialogue, and characters so flat you won't care. It's just an ill-informed, malformed attempt at dissecting political figures in an unoriginal way, and it feels like it was made in the 1990s--dated already. Of course this all leads me to the prelude of a 2011 end-of-year compilation of sorts, though I haven't seen many films from this year yet, so this is pointless, but so far...
The Best:
The Tree of Life
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Both made by directors whose films are intensely personal, fiercely stylistic, and few and far between. They both commit to a unique style that makes their films unforgettable despite their shortcomings.
Best Leading Performance: Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Is there any film she graces that doesn't benefit from her presence? Just last year I probably would have given the same honor to her performance in I Am Love.
Best Supporting Performance: Hunter McCracken, The Tree of Life
Maybe "supporting" is demeaning, but as far as child actors go, and an amateur at that, he really made it work. Whenever the film hinges on understanding the childhood perspective, he delivers.
My list of 2011 films to see:
Carnage
Margaret
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Weekend
Take Shelter
The Interrupters
A Dangerous Method
Shame
Project Nim
"Hey, I'm, like, being totally serious right now. Seriously...............I'mGeorgeClooney."The Descendants (2011)
Directed By: Alexander Payne
Written By: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash, based upon the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Grade: C-
Directed By: Alexander Payne
Written By: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash, based upon the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Grade: C-
Well, that's good to know. Couple days ago I went to see Young Adult with RMM and a few of her friends. I would have rather seen The Descendants, which was also playing, but I got outvoted. Maybe I got the better deal... Young Adult is not a transcendent film, but it was enjoyable enough.
ReplyDeleteNeed moar 2011 filmz!!! You should do a year-in-film post; it doesn't need to be traditional. You can rant. You can talk about pre-2011 films. Anything goes on 100filmz, you know.