Stuff I've Been Watching
We've been back on the Netflix train recently. After holding on to movies for weeks at a time, we've been through three in a week. Well, two movies and a comedy special, to be technical.
Transformers was utterly, completely, and totally bad. Bad, Bad, Bad. I want to take Michael Bay out to the airport and repeatedly slam his head in a closing airplane canopy while vaguely inspirational music plays in the background and we are perpetually backlit by a setting sun. I want to go all Jules Winfield on him, misquoting the Bible while threating to beat him with a copy of Apocalypse Now: "It's called story structure, you ass! Can you see it! How can you make Turoturo into a bad actor?! Why does the f#$@^& army decided to take the McGuffin into the middle of a city?!! JESUS MAN, ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS SHOW ROBOTS FIGHTING AND YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A PILE OF AWESOME BUT YOU STILL MANAGE TO SCREW IT UP!!!!"
Knocked Up, however, was really good. It had crudity, humor, and almost painful honestly at times in equal measure. I laughed hysterically at times (Seth Rogan's message to the obstetrician, the bouncer's confession to the sister). I said to myself "I've had that fight with my wife" at least twice. And it made Sarah and I talk about having another kid, which won't happen anytime soon but it was nice to think about anyway. Apatow certainly has an uncanny ability to blend truth and humor.
We also watched Dimitri Martin: Person last night. Funny stuff. I especially like the flip chart. I also discovered I only have about a 45 minute span for stand-up. I nodded off at the very end. But it was some musical number about how his jokes spread into the universe, so I don't think I missed much.
Transformers was utterly, completely, and totally bad. Bad, Bad, Bad. I want to take Michael Bay out to the airport and repeatedly slam his head in a closing airplane canopy while vaguely inspirational music plays in the background and we are perpetually backlit by a setting sun. I want to go all Jules Winfield on him, misquoting the Bible while threating to beat him with a copy of Apocalypse Now: "It's called story structure, you ass! Can you see it! How can you make Turoturo into a bad actor?! Why does the f#$@^& army decided to take the McGuffin into the middle of a city?!! JESUS MAN, ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS SHOW ROBOTS FIGHTING AND YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A PILE OF AWESOME BUT YOU STILL MANAGE TO SCREW IT UP!!!!"
Knocked Up, however, was really good. It had crudity, humor, and almost painful honestly at times in equal measure. I laughed hysterically at times (Seth Rogan's message to the obstetrician, the bouncer's confession to the sister). I said to myself "I've had that fight with my wife" at least twice. And it made Sarah and I talk about having another kid, which won't happen anytime soon but it was nice to think about anyway. Apatow certainly has an uncanny ability to blend truth and humor.
We also watched Dimitri Martin: Person last night. Funny stuff. I especially like the flip chart. I also discovered I only have about a 45 minute span for stand-up. I nodded off at the very end. But it was some musical number about how his jokes spread into the universe, so I don't think I missed much.
This is not a matter of aesthetics. You are wrong. Transformers is totally awesome, and if you can't see that, then I henceforth am taking a moratorium from your blog for ninety days, lest I hurl insults about walking trees. Ninety days should be enough time for me to simmer down. See you in '09.
ReplyDeleteSorry. '08.
ReplyDeleteStuff that was awesome about Transformers: Robots fighting. Man fighting Robots. Exception: Jon Voight et all fighting stupid little robot in Hoover Dam (THAT KILLED ITSELF WITH ITS OWN ROBOT NINJA STARS -- come on!!).
ReplyDeleteStuff that was not awesome: Anything not listed above.
And bring on the walking trees stuff. Ents fighting = awesome. Hobbits tricking ents into fighting = not awesome.
ReplyDeleteI am going to have to go with Transformers is frickin cool. I can live with some story flaws due to the complete bad assness of the robots themselves. They did a great job with it even though they had to do extream close-ups with the action alot of the times. I mean the robots look like hockey players checking each other across the ice.
ReplyDeleteThe one down side to the movie has to be Turoturo. But I am going to have to blame Turoturo for part of it. In the special features Turoturo states that he got to play the character how he wanted to play him. Bay just let him be. I personally hated his charactor.
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Knocked Up, one of the funnest movies I have seen in a long time. I though it makes you either really love the person you are with or totally loathe them. Great movie.
Christy and I really, really loved Knocked Up. It *totally* captured so much of what we had experienced during the whole pregnancy thing. And then there's the married couple (I already forget their names). Yes, they capture a certain degree of truth as well (the guy sneaking out to play fantasy baseball cut waaaay to close to the bone). Funny in a it's sad but also funny way. But parenting can do those things to people. Fortunately, people can still be cool and love each other through all of it.
ReplyDeleteApatow is great at the "so true it makes you cringe a little watching it" stuff. It was that way in Freaks and Geeks, for sure.
ReplyDelete