I’ve seen a couple of movies over the past two weeks. First we went and saw THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS. It’s not totally successful, but it was very funny, the cast was terrific, and as one reviewer said — this was the Star Wars movie that Ewan McGregor should have made. Normally I hate voice overs, but this one worked very effectively to help bridge between events from thirty years ago and the present. They writers and director struggled to put in a frame that would bring these events up to the present day. It works, but it’s just not as fun and interesting as all the craziness that went on with this bizarre military project.
Jeff Bridges reprises The Dude from THE BIG LEBOWSKI very nicely, and it’s an amazing bit of physical acting when we see him in the present day, and he’s become this doddering old man. And I love Clooney. He is not afraid to be ugly or absurd in his roles, a rarity among leading men. I’ve never seen an actor who can be Cary Grant in one role, and this this batshit crazy guy in this role.
Yesterday I went and saw PIRATE RADIO aka THE BOAT THAT ROCKED with Ian and Parris. I like Richard Curtis, and he’s made the only romantic comedy I truly love — LOVE ACTUALLY. This movie is fun, the music is great, and I’d watch Bill Nighy read the phone book. I love this actor. I desperately want to cast him in something I write so I can just sit and watch dailies and giggle. And meet him. That would be very cool. The rest of the cast is equally wonderful.
But I digress. There were two stories in this movie, and they never comfortably meshed. The one story was about the startling changes that were ushered in with the early 1960’s, profound changes the most profound (in my opinion) being the advent of the birth control pill. This story was about the sixties in all it’s mad glory (and strange fashions). I liked that movie a lot.
The other movie is about a young man trying to discover the identity of his father. That story never really jelled, and I didn’t much care. I was fine if the young man was just our access character to introduce us, the audience, to this mad crew aboard this creaky old boat, and I was far more interested in whether he finally managed to de-virginate himself then whether he ever met his father.
Overall these were solidly good films. I didn’t feel like I had wasted either my money or my time. Thursday I’m off to see AN EDUCATION, and I’m interested in COCO BEFORE CHANEL thought Parris said the BBC gave it only so so reviews.
