Yesterday must have been Bad Movie Day on Sky, at least for me. I thought I would catch up on some recent releases not viewed previously, but what a dispiriting effort. I started off with a kiddies' cartoon series called "Land Before Time" which is now (believe it or not) up to part eleven or in movie parlance "XI" -- the mind boggles. Actually this is a rather sweet little series suitable for the under fives about baby prehistoric animals and their escapades -- but maybe not too suitable for your writer. But my theory was that I had seen the first ten... I know, I'm sad!
This was followed by "Son of the Mask" a very belated sequel to the Jim Carrey film from 1994 but needless to say without Carrey. It starred a singularly talentless actor (there seems to be an endless stream of these in US so-called comedies; they must come off equally unfunny TV shows) and a convoluted story that was heavily dependent on CGI. The first film certainly had its moments; this one had only the occasional amusement. The movie also suffered from casting Alan Cumming (who must be one of the most mannered and annoying actors available) as Loki, God of Mischief, and an unrecognizable Bob Hoskins as an oversized Thor. Good grief.
I had higher hopes for M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village"; after all, "The Sixth Sense" was pretty intriguing and "Unbreakable" was interesting, if not as good. The fact that I hated "Signs" should have prepared me for this disappointment. To put no finer point upon it, the movie was appallingly bad with little believable mystery, only one or two jolts, and very indifferent acting. Ron Howard's daughter in her first lead had good notices for playing the blind heroine, but I had all I could do to put up with her mumbling. She was matched mumble for mumble by Joaquin Phoenix as her love interest who is stabbed by the village idiot, played by an over-the-top Adrien Brody. As for William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver playing the elders, they both seem to have wandered in from other movies in search of an elusive paycheque.
I tried to round out the day with a DVD of "The Strong Man", a Harry Langdon silent comedy from 1926. I had seen this before and I thought it might cheer me up; however it was nowhere near as good as I remembered and Langdon hardly deserves the "rediscovered genius" tag on the cover. An occasional chuckle, but nowhere near the versatility or appeal of a Keaton or a Harold Lloyd.
1 comment:
I don't consider myself a movie buff at all, I'm sure I watch less than average, but being an artist I will happily sit through anything created by "dreamworks", and I will watch absolutely anthing with Kathy Bates in it because I consider her to be such a totally convincing actress!. I will read your blog regularly as it will be interesting to find out what something is like BEFORE I watch it, as it is very informative, keep it up!
chunk x
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