Badmouth » drama

Badmouth » drama http://www.badmouth.net Look, Ma! No pants! Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:04:13 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Public Enemies http://www.badmouth.net/public-enemies-2009/ http://www.badmouth.net/public-enemies-2009/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:24:32 +0000 Brian McDonough http://www.badmouth.net/?p=1211 Public Enemies is a well-drawn period drama, a look at America’s historic love affair with the colorful gangsters of the Depression era without celebrating them. Johnny Depp, a master at playing outsiders, gives us a John Dillinger who’s both a driven, aggressive man and one who’s realizing that he has no future. Related posts:

From Hell

]]> http://www.badmouth.net/public-enemies-2009/feed/ 0 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button http://www.badmouth.net/the-curious-case-of-benjamin-button-2008/ http://www.badmouth.net/the-curious-case-of-benjamin-button-2008/#comments Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:45:36 +0000 Brian McDonough http://www.badmouth.net/?p=995 [rating:3] Director: David Fincher Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a hard film to review. On the one hand, it’s gorgeously shot, with a sprawling scope, fantastic actors working with amazing aging effects, and a love story tinged with wonder and wistfulness. On the other hand, two hours and 45 minutes later, what the hell was it about? Related posts:

]]> http://www.badmouth.net/the-curious-case-of-benjamin-button-2008/feed/ 4 Valkyrie http://www.badmouth.net/valkyrie-2008/ http://www.badmouth.net/valkyrie-2008/#comments Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:31:20 +0000 Brian McDonough http://www.badmouth.net/?p=986 [rating:4] Director: Bryan Singer Starring: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Brannagh When Angelina Jolie does a serious movie, people crawl out of the woodwork to moan that they can't accept her as a dramatic actress because they can only see the pouty-lipped tabloid goddess, overshadowing anything she might do. I don't get that. If there's anyone that should apply to, it's not Jolie, it's Tom Cruise, because he's been playing the same character his entire career. Specifically, he's been playing the guy who jumps up and down on Oprah's couch because he's finally been "cleared" of Xenu's "Thetans." "Nuh-uh," people say to me. "What about Magnolia?" Totally the guy high on the self-help fake-philosophy Kool-Aid, jumping up and down on Oprah's couch. "What about in Tropic Thunder?" Jumping up and down on Oprah's couch in a smugly self-loving fat suit. "But, but, Top Gun ..." Jumping up and down in a flight suit, same cockiness, more homoerotic undertones. Related posts:

]]> http://www.badmouth.net/valkyrie-2008/feed/ 0 The Reader http://www.badmouth.net/the-reader-2008/ http://www.badmouth.net/the-reader-2008/#comments Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:04:28 +0000 Brian McDonough http://www.badmouth.net/?p=983

[rating:4.5] Director: Stephen Daldry Starring: Kate Winslett, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross The Reader is an actors' showcase, with Kate Winslet sublime in a low-key, emotionally distant performance, Ralph Fiennes a bundle of middle-aged constipation, and a young actor named David Kross giving a great performance as a younger Fiennes. It's a cool, emotionally distant film that manages to inject a little ray of hope at the end, but it's not an upbeat film. Be ready to tough that out. Related posts:

Valkyrie

]]> http://www.badmouth.net/the-reader-2008/feed/ 0 Frost/Nixon http://www.badmouth.net/frostnixon-2008/ http://www.badmouth.net/frostnixon-2008/#comments Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:24:27 +0000 Brian McDonough http://www.badmouth.net/?p=970

[rating:4] Director: Ron Howard Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt Frost/Nixon is a damn fine movie, but it probably requires a certain kind of audience to fully appreciate it. Any monkey can see that Frank Langella (a.k.a. Sexy Dracula and Skeletor) is giving an absolutely genius performance as Tricky Dick Nixon, and that he's surrounded by equally inspired actors performing for a laid-back Ron Howard. But, y'know, if you're not into media issues and politics, and don't have a sense of the importance to American civic life of Nixon's downfall, then you might find this two-hour look at the preparation and execution of David Frost's 1977 interview with Nixon a bit slow at points. Related posts:

]]> http://www.badmouth.net/frostnixon-2008/feed/ 1 Changeling http://www.badmouth.net/changeling-2008/ http://www.badmouth.net/changeling-2008/#comments Fri, 24 Oct 2008 05:29:06 +0000 Brian McDonough http://www.badmouth.net/?p=954

[rating:3] Director: Clint Eastwood Starring: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich Clint Eastwood is an excellent director, and Angelina Jolie, when given an excellent character and excellent director, is excellent. So the fact that Changeling is not quite an excellent film is frustrating and perplexing. Eastwood's laconic direction and his unsentimental recreation of late-1920s Los Angeles are terrific, and as in A Mighty Heart, Jolie demonstrates, for those obsessed with her tabloid exposure, that she can act. The trouble with Changeling is that the story is never quite sure of what it wants to be. Reportedly spending a year researching the true story, J. Michael Straczynski (of TV's Babylon 5 and a sometimes controversial run on the Amazing Spider-Man comic) presents a story with all the zig-zags and scope of real life, but some of his and Eastwood's choices in how to present the messy and unsatisfying material of a real-life tragedy are a little disorienting. Related posts:

]]> http://www.badmouth.net/changeling-2008/feed/ 0 What Just Happened http://www.badmouth.net/what-just-happened-2008/ http://www.badmouth.net/what-just-happened-2008/#comments Sat, 18 Oct 2008 06:10:20 +0000 Brian McDonough http://www.badmouth.net/?p=945

[rating:1] Director: Barry Levinson Starring: Robert DeNiro, Robin Wright Penn, Catherine Keener, Bruce Willis, Sean Penn The press blurb for Barry Levinson's masturbatory Hollywood dud promises a "sharp" comedy, but this thing is as about as sharp as a Nerf basketball. It's like listening to your dad drink crap beer and sit around for an hour and fifty minutes complaining about how everyone at the office/factory is an idiot. Only the office is Hollywood, and your dad is Robert DeNiro, who remains an excellent actor even in a self-indulgent, crassly art-hating, smug piece of rotting meat like this. Problem One: Hollywood thinks it's interesting. Problem Two: Specifically, Hollywood executives think that they and their struggles are interesting outside their insular little bubble world, when if "the masses" are interested in anything, it's who makes mean eyes at whom when Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston cross paths at the Beverly Center or, for an even more limited subset, whether it's possible that Kim Kardashian's butt is less than 80 percent silicone. (Actual quote from an online article I just googled in the process of writing that joke: Plastic surgeon Dr. Tony Youn said, “While her [Kim’s] bottom does appear to jut out unnaturally, this may, in fact, be hereditary. I have seen some patients with similar figures who have not had any work done.” Do you feel dirtier now? I do. But you'll still click to see whether there are pictures.) Meanwhile, back at the review: Related posts:

]]> http://www.badmouth.net/what-just-happened-2008/feed/ 1 Miracle at St. Anna http://www.badmouth.net/miracle-at-st-anna-2008/ http://www.badmouth.net/miracle-at-st-anna-2008/#comments Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:01:54 +0000 Brian McDonough http://www.badmouth.net/?p=937

[rating:4.5] Director: Spike Lee Starring: Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller, Valentina Cervi Spike Lee movies vary in quality to a degree rarely seen among filmmakers. You can always count on a Scorcese movie to be pretty damned good, at minimum, and you can always trust Michael Bay to deliver something between a steaming turd and a turd. Spike Lee, however, will comfortably crank out something as unbearably awful as 2004’s She Hate Me, and yet it’s no surprise when he can come up with something as engaging as his latest, The Miracle at St. Anna. Related posts:

]]> http://www.badmouth.net/miracle-at-st-anna-2008/feed/ 0 Traitor http://www.badmouth.net/traitor-2008/ http://www.badmouth.net/traitor-2008/#comments Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:17:09 +0000 Brian McDonough http://www.badmouth.net/?p=919

[rating:4] Director: Jeffrey Nachmanoff Starring: Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Said Taghmaoui, Jeff Daniels Don Cheadle is a hell of an actor, and it's always a good thing when he gets something of substance, like a Hotel Rwanda, that's worthy of his talent. In Traitor, he makes a strong performance from potentially difficult material, and is the key reason this introspective thriller about Islamic terrorism is worth your ten dollars. No related posts.]]> http://www.badmouth.net/traitor-2008/feed/ 0 21 http://www.badmouth.net/21-2008/ http://www.badmouth.net/21-2008/#comments Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:00:41 +0000 Brian McDonough http://www.badmouth.net/21-2008/ [rating:3] Director: Rob Luketic Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne A bunch of MIT math whizzes are so good at counting cards that they go to Las Vegas every weekend to win big. Because casinos, ah, aggressively discourage card counters, they develop a team system that makes them harder to catch. Our main character is just a likable nerd who only wants to earn the money to afford Harvard Med, and maybe score with fellow scammer Kate Bosworth.

He has no idea that he'll have to contend with embattled casino security officer Laurence Fishburne and his group's sinister mastermind, MIT math prof. Kevin Spacey. In a high-stakes game of of-the-chart brain power and nerves of steel, can a poor young genius blah blah blah ...? The film has four things going for it: A very likable young cast, fairly tight direction from Rob Luketic (Legally Blonde), the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, and toward the end there, Kate Bosworth in a little black dress and a Louise Brooks wig. These are not inconsiderable assets, but the more discriminating viewer may find they don't outweigh skeletal writing with a perfunctory attention to plot logic. Related posts:

]]> http://www.badmouth.net/21-2008/feed/ 1