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As Good as It Gets 1997
I haven't seen this since it came out but rewatched having had Broadcast News fresh on the brain. It's... more of an odd duck than I remembered, and I mean that in a good way. Some of the craft and performance, especially the score, plays so light against a lot of other stuff which is downright nasty. Regardless what turns out is pretty compulsively watchable, and like a ping pong ball will have me back at Broadcast News again.
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Sunshine Cleaning 2008
Nothing crazy exciting but more going on character-wise than I expected.
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Pain & Gain 2013
So here's the surprise of the year, the result of a perfect marriage of dumb and dumber, the former being Michael Bay, and the latter being the true story of criminals so dumb even Bay can score points on them. Or maybe I should say, Bay drags them down into the dirt with him where they belong, and the results are hilarious.
I hate Michael Bay, and yet he's made the south Florida American Dream commentary I was hoping Spring…
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The Iron Lady 2011
Wow. So that was horrible.
Watched for the obvious reason of Thatcher's recent passing. I never knew much about Maggie but thought I would be lazy and let the movie tell me something. I expected a somewhat annoying typical biopic but instead this had slightly more ambition which it had no business striving for, because the craft of this film is barely competent. It plays like one of the fake movies on Extras. Only Streep knows what she's doing here,…
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JFK 1991
I liked this a lot more when I was younger. I think I've come to dislike Oliver Stone in some ways, from some of his editing choices and on the nose dialogue to his general long windedness. I still like this though. This is about as nice a presentation of a complete load of horseshit as you can find on film.
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The Last Detail 1973
I have yet to see a Hal Ashby film that I did not like. In fact all 3 I have seen are masterpieces (This, Harold & Maude, and Being There). Nicholson is a wiry firecracker and his co-stars are perfectly cast against him. A must see.
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Trance 2013
So Danny Boyle decides to combine the plots and/or concepts of Memento, Inception and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind into one film and what you end up with is more than a bit of a mess, but manages to find it's way through the bushes thanks to Boyle's kinetic style, combining his current visual traits with his early career nasty streak, forcing you to constantly question who the protagonist really is.
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Mean Girls 2004
How many times have I watched this not realizing Lizzy Caplan was Janis?
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Encino Man 1992
I loved this growing up but saw before this rewatch I had it at a 2.5 assuming I didn't like it anymore.
Turns out I still love Encino Man, and am not entirely sure I'm blinded by nostalgia. It's a pretty tight little 90s comedy, maybe fills the Teen Wolf gap for that decade?
What I'm saying is that this is clearly a future Criterion release and I'm signing up to write the booklet. I think it will feature some…
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Voice Over 2011
A great short film that takes place on a distant planet, at war, and underwater, and somehow ends up all cutesy poo. Seek it out.
