Movies 2010, Week 7

February 14-20, 2009
Too many bad or mediocre movies as evidenced by yesterday's post.
52) Couples Retreat. Stupid movie about couples who go on a retreat... predictable, predictable, predictable with too much freedom for the actors to improvise without the editors leaving some of that crap for the editing room floor or dvd extras.  2 stars.  Don't ever ask me to watch this movie again.
53) Humble Pie. What was the point of the opening scene?  Why were the opening credits so long?  Is an entire song really necessary?  Early on the film looks like one designed to make fun of fat people.  Not cool.  And quite boring.  2 stars
54) The Philosopher Kings. Documentary about custodians who work in universities, including UF.  Free showing on campus with a q&a with one of the custodians.  Very nicely shot and some really interesting stories.  Unfortunately there were too many stories which meant some of the interesting ones got short shrift and some people had a line or two and got lost in the shuffle.  Keeping it to 5 or less would've made for a more cohesive film.  The first 20 minutes or so were really great.  I was admiring the job the director did in weaving together so many stories but still giving me an idea of each person's personality.  Then it started to fall apart a bit because there was a lot of jumping from person to person.  There was also an over-reliance on quotes as devices to transition between scenes which became wearying after a while.  There were also 2 or 3 times where it felt like the movie ended before it did.  Still, overall worth watching.  3.7 stars
55) Coco Before Chanel.  Audrey Tatou stars as the formidable Coco Chanel before she was who she is.  Slow-moving French film.  I really don't think you'd want to watch it if not for Tatou and the fact that it's supposed to be somewhat related to Chanel.  However, that combination is still not enough to make this movie something I'd want to see again.  What a disappointment.  2.9 stars
56) Summertime.  Katharine Hepburn film about a woman who visits Venice alone and finds herself lonely.  But the film focused on this loneliness far too long.  50 minutes?  I mean really.  More than half of the film?  We get it.  Especially since it didn't jibe with the perception set forth about the character at the beginning of the film.  Lots of staring, sighing and watering eyes.  Then the end was incredibly melodramatic.  Boring.  3.3 stars
57) The Invention of Lying.  Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey.  Why does not lying mean blurting out everything on your mind instead of just not lying when someone ask you a question?  I think my most enjoyable moment happened in the first 10 seconds.  The rest of it was just ridiculous.  Bad script.  How much did PizzaHut pay to get into this horrid movie?  Ridiculous.  And the overly long q&a session scene?  Just a way to get some black people cameos.  Dumb.  And just kept getting dumber.  One smart scene with 20 minutes left in a film that seemed like it should be over already.  And worst of all, predictable.  Sigh.  2 stars