More Movie Rentals

[dreamshark]

Movie rental spree continues, but with some unfortunate choices. Barb came over and wanted to watch "Spider" with me and Thorin, but the first 15 minutes were so painful that we gave up and watched a predictable comedy instead. "Spider" may well be a good movie, but 2 hours of watching overly medicated schizophrenics shuffle around their halfway house staring at things with dead eyes seemed like too much of a sacrifice to make to Cronenberg's directorial vision. Tried to watch "About Schmidt," but gave up after finding absolutely nothing to like in it after 1.5 hours. I don't know what happens at the end, and I find that I couldn't care less, so I guess that was the right decision. Then I tried to watch "Punch Drunk Love." You know, that arty little movie that the critics loved because Adam Sandler turns in a surprisingly sensitive performance totally against type.... I made it about 45 minutes - it is absolutely the creepiest movie I have ever tried to watch in my life. Even the girlfriend (who I THINK was supposed to be likable) comes off as an unbalanced stalker and everybody else is worse - far worse. Possibly I misunderstood the concept, and it's supposed to be a horror movie.

Our one big win in the rental movie sweepstakes this week was the original 1957 version of "Twelve Angry Men." What an incredible movie! Shot it black and white on a single claustrophobic set - probably cost less to make than the opening credits of most of this summer's movies - but it's on my top-ten list for sure. It works as a psychological drama, as a murder mystery (the classical type, where it's about logic rather than action), a civics lesson, and a film-making exercise.

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

B. (20) and I, the family film buffs liked "Punch Drunk Love" quite a bit. P. (16) thought it was OK. The Babe has seen it on video but I haven't asked what she thought. It is not particularly pleasant, but we thought it was a good character study and also had some interesting insights into (dysfunctional) family dynamics.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I'll watch for a copy of 'Twelve Angry Men,' the other sound not worth the effort.

I still haven't seen Pirates of the Carribbean.