Just the Ticket #96: Her & I, in Bad Country
Hello again, Ticketholders. I am currently in the middle of two characters, one a shaded re-design and the other a brand-new character (who is also my first neutral creation). Until then, I'll get back to movie reviews with a trio of Critical Quickies from this week.
Her--Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams: Theodore Twombly (Phoenix) falls for his new, artificially intelligent operating system, Samantha (Johansson). Though there is more to the cast, and blunt instruments of social commentary can be drawn from every nook and cranny of this overdrawn concept piece, there isn't much more to the story. Except Kristin Wiig (Saturday Night Live) asking Joaquin Phoenix to choke her with a dead cat during phone sex. And Scarlett Johansson cheating on him with over six hundred other guys. And me wasting two hours of my life. Okay, that's all there is to the story.
D-
I, Frankenstein--Aaron Eckhart (A History Of Violence), Bill Nighy (Underworld), Yvonne Strahovsky (Chuck, Dexter, Louie): Speaking of blunt instruments and blondes who cheat with other guys, I, Frankenstein follows the legendary literary monster into the modern world, where he finds himself in the middle of a war between gargoyles and demons for the right to save or crush humanity. Decent fight scenes and graphics, but it feels like a patchwork of the Underworld series, stitched together and re-animated by shocks of light and fire on the way to its cold and inevitable demise.
C
Bad Country--Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, Fred Weller (In Plain Sight), Matt Dillon, Kevin Chapman (Person Of Interest), Neal McDonough (Justified): In this adaptation of true events, Louisiana cops (led by Dafoe and Weller) hire Dillon's imprisoned middle-man as a confidential informant in an effort to bring down Berenger's imposing crime boss. Most of the cast can hold an accent when they need to, and the dialogue is deceptively punchy for a film of such dramatic tone. But too much time was devoted to the monotonous percussion of mostly ineffective gunfight scenes. Take out a few of those, up the body count in the others, and give everyone a touch more charisma, and it might have been perfect. Seeing Chapman in a bad wig was a real treat, though.
B-
Stay tuned for more characters from my cranium. I'm off to watch Hell's Kitchen. So goodnight, you donkeys!
Her--Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams: Theodore Twombly (Phoenix) falls for his new, artificially intelligent operating system, Samantha (Johansson). Though there is more to the cast, and blunt instruments of social commentary can be drawn from every nook and cranny of this overdrawn concept piece, there isn't much more to the story. Except Kristin Wiig (Saturday Night Live) asking Joaquin Phoenix to choke her with a dead cat during phone sex. And Scarlett Johansson cheating on him with over six hundred other guys. And me wasting two hours of my life. Okay, that's all there is to the story.
D-
I, Frankenstein--Aaron Eckhart (A History Of Violence), Bill Nighy (Underworld), Yvonne Strahovsky (Chuck, Dexter, Louie): Speaking of blunt instruments and blondes who cheat with other guys, I, Frankenstein follows the legendary literary monster into the modern world, where he finds himself in the middle of a war between gargoyles and demons for the right to save or crush humanity. Decent fight scenes and graphics, but it feels like a patchwork of the Underworld series, stitched together and re-animated by shocks of light and fire on the way to its cold and inevitable demise.
C
Bad Country--Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, Fred Weller (In Plain Sight), Matt Dillon, Kevin Chapman (Person Of Interest), Neal McDonough (Justified): In this adaptation of true events, Louisiana cops (led by Dafoe and Weller) hire Dillon's imprisoned middle-man as a confidential informant in an effort to bring down Berenger's imposing crime boss. Most of the cast can hold an accent when they need to, and the dialogue is deceptively punchy for a film of such dramatic tone. But too much time was devoted to the monotonous percussion of mostly ineffective gunfight scenes. Take out a few of those, up the body count in the others, and give everyone a touch more charisma, and it might have been perfect. Seeing Chapman in a bad wig was a real treat, though.
B-
Stay tuned for more characters from my cranium. I'm off to watch Hell's Kitchen. So goodnight, you donkeys!
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