I went a little crazy at Family Video and rented quite a few movies…and went further crazy this Labor Day weekend and watched most of them with Brooke. I’m kinda surprised my eyes didn’t melt out…
1). Gran Torino – A recent movie from Clint Eastwood, this one centers on an old guy whose wife just died, and then seems to be losing the world around him as gangs move into his neighborhood. He slowly connects with his neighbors and begins to re-evaluate how he has spent his life and how he has treated the people around him. The acting aside from Eastwood is unimpressive, but the story was compelling. Honestly, we both thought the movie would focus on the gang stuff more than it did: it certainly played an important role in the movie, but the purpose of the movie was really Eastwood getting past his prejudices and making his neighborhood better a better place. Personally, I thought it was really good and well worth your time.
2). Tropic Thunder – Wow. This movie. I almost fell asleep. It was shockingly unfunny and I’m very glad I didn’t spend $8 to see it in theaters. To be fair, Robert Downey, Jr. was really, really good, and the sheer number of cameos was very impressive (watch for Tom Cruise…wow…). But other than that, it was amongst the least funny Ben Stiller movies I’ve seen, which is saying a lot, because Ben Stiller is generally unfunny except in Dodgeball and Heavy Weights.
3). Adventureland – Now, for some odd reason, this movie caught our eye when it came out awhile back, but we figured that waiting until DVD would probably be fine. It had quite a few people in it, but mostly B-level SNL people and some no-name folks. Anyway, the movie ended up being much more “coming of age drama” and less “comedy” than I expected for having Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig and Ryan Reynolds in it. I kinda think the movie had a few too many “threads” going on and really just made for a convoluted story, making it difficult to even tell you what it’s about, besides a bunch of folks working at an amusement part for “one crazy summer,” yadda, yadda, yadda. Regardless, it was an interesting movie, but not one I’ll ever need to see again.
4). Doubt – We watched this one last night, after wanting to catch it in theaters…it was one of those that came out at a time when we were pretty busy, so we never made it. In either case, I was quite pleased with it. It centers around a Catholic parish where a few nuns suspect the Priest of “associating inappropriately” with a boy at the school. The movie is based on a play by the same name, and you can see its stage roots by the structure of the story, and the characters (the play only has four characters, and this one only increased that number by a few, and only with very minor roles). Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Phillip Seymor Hoffman and Viola Davis were brilliant and deserved the Oscar nominations they were rewarded with – it’s rare when all four primary characters are nominated, two for the same role. Anyway, we both liked it quite a bit – I’d definitely recommend it!