Last Sunday was another dreary, foggy day (of course,
because it’s summer in San Francisco) so the perfect day to go see a movie. We
wanted to go see the new Woody Allen movie, “Blue Jasmine,” but it’s only
limited release right now and all showings were sold out. As a second option we
ended up seeing “Fruitvale Station,” which I’m glad I ended up checking out.
It’s a portrayal of the 2008 shooting of 22-year-old black man at a BART
station in Oakland that sparked a lot of riots in the Bay Area. While I was
worried the movie would be a little slow, it was such an interesting look into
someone else’s’ life that it didn’t drag at all for me. I felt that the
filmmakers did a good job not making Oscar Grant (the man who got shot) out to
be some kind of perfect person. It showed all of his flaws and the time he
spent in prison, but also showed that he was a good person, amicable, friendly
and trying to be a good father. The release of this movie could not be more
perfectly timed, because while different it had a lot of similar parallels to
what’s going on with Trayvon Martin and the rally movement the verdict sparked.
The lead actor who plays Oscar, Michael B. Jordan, is starting to get a lot of
buzz for his work on this and may be a contender next award season.
The weekend before we went to “The Wolverine,” not to be
confused with 2009’s “X-Men Originals: Wolverine.” The 2009 movie was just
awful. But I was with a friend and we both love all the other X-Men movies in a
completely nerdy way so we decided to go check it out. While this one was not as good as the overall
X-Men movies, it was much better than the 2009 version. This one got a little deeper into Wolverine’s
psyche and provided more background into what would have otherwise been a lot
of random, violent, action sequences. However, the plot did continually hop
around and try to throw numerous bad guys Wolverine’s way without a clear
nemesis for the film. Hugh Jackman did a good job as always. For an actor who
can sing and dance, he shows he’s truly versatile by being able to become the
rugged Wolverine in a believable way. No need to rush out to the theater for
this one though, and if you’re not an X-Men fan I wouldn’t even worry about the
rental. This one has cable rerun written all over it.
Last night I was feeling under the weather so I went to see “Elysium”
with a friend. I’m normally not into sci-fi/alien/space movies but its Matt
Damon and the same writer/director who did “District 9” (Neill Blomkamp). “District
9” pleasantly surprised me with its heartfelt story of loner turned alien and
underlying political commentary on slums, so I was hoping this one would have
the same kind of layers. The movie is set in the year 2154, where the quality
of life on Earth has deteriorated. The wealthy 1% has fled earth to live on a
space habitat named Elysium. On Elysium they have the technology to heal the
ill and stay young, so the sick and injured on Earth keep trying to illegally
flee to Elysium. As with most sci-fi movies, there’s that underlying yet never
too subtle political theme of not only the elite 1% and the difference in
quality of life, but also of the reaction and treatment of illegal aliens. But
the actual plot was kind of all over the place and outside of Matt Damon’s
character, there wasn't any character development. Jodie Foster played a
domineering defense secretary that we never learned anything about. There was
also a very pathological hitman working for her that could have been
interesting to learn more about as well. They threw in a lot of gory,
turn-your-head moments for show. In general I liked it more than I thought I
would but I don’t really like sci-fi. And I didn't think it was as good as “District
9.”
Not too many rentals of note. I had heard a lot of hype
about “The Place beyond the Pines,” and was sorely disappointed. Ryan Gosling’s performance was magnetic but he
was a part of the plot for much less time than expected. Overall, the movie was
2.5 hours long and dragged on and was depressing. The only rental of note was a
nice surprise. I had never heard of this movie but ended up watching it with
the parents while visiting Minnesota. The film is called “I Give It A Year,”
and is a witty look at modern relationships. So many people rush into marriage
but don’t end up staying married. This was a humorous look at one couple who
really tried to make it work. Plus it took place in London and the British have
that lovely cheeky humor that was infused into the movie. There were three recognizable actresses, Rose
Bryne, Minnie Driver (where has she been??) and Anna Faris. The only male lead
I recognized by name was Simon Baker from “The Mentalist,” but a lot of the
English men look familiar. Anyway, I recommend checking this one out when you’re
in the mood for something light and silly. Definitely a good pick for any fans
of “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”
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