And we're back. What can I say to explain my absence? Well, its been a so so month for movies, and I got HBOGO this summer and had to knock out Game of Thrones (Yes), Rome (meh) and the final two seasons of Entorage (because I'm a masochist). So its interesting that in one weekend I saw two films that were pretty much polar opposites of one another. At least in terms of my reaction to them.
Lawless strives to be Goodfellas for the prohibition era. It stars Shia Labouf (I know I butchered that spelling and I don't care), Tom hardy, and another guy, as three brother running moonshine. There's a conflict when Guy Pearce and Guy Pearce's hair (seriously look at it, its amazing)
Arrive in the form as a crooked U.S. marshall. Stuff ensues.
The film looks great, has some fine performances (including a barely used Gary Oldman) and an amazing soundtrack. However, there are two problems that keeps it from being wholly successful. First, the story isn't as epic as the film thinks it is. By treating it as a story with more ramifications then it actually has, the film ends up feeling a little forced. The second problem is one inherent in these type of stories - that the protagonists are not really that likeable. Other films get around this by still treating them as heroes, but here it felt like the makers knew it and couldn't get completely behind the characters. While I think this is a truer approach, it did keep me from fully engaging with the story.
Finally a note on Shia. I haven't really had an opinion on whether he can act or not because, up to this point, I've only seen him in really bad projects (Transformers, Indiana Jones). And after this, I'm still not sure. He's not horrible, and since his character is supposed to be a doofus his lack of polish kind of works. Still its obvious he's out of his depth whenever compared to the rest of the cast (Hardy in particular who pretty much communicates with unintelligible grunts, and makes it work) so I still can't say I've made up my mind on him.
Anyway the bottom line on Lawless is that it's ambitious, has a lot of good elements, but doesn't stick the landing.
Total Recall on the other hand, well, its just cinematic white noise. It actually reminds me a lot of the Tron remake from two years ago. If competently executed, not really boring or offensive, and completely and utterly rote and forgettable. Sure it has problems but I don't honestly care enough to talk about them. So I won't.
Lawless strives to be Goodfellas for the prohibition era. It stars Shia Labouf (I know I butchered that spelling and I don't care), Tom hardy, and another guy, as three brother running moonshine. There's a conflict when Guy Pearce and Guy Pearce's hair (seriously look at it, its amazing)
The film looks great, has some fine performances (including a barely used Gary Oldman) and an amazing soundtrack. However, there are two problems that keeps it from being wholly successful. First, the story isn't as epic as the film thinks it is. By treating it as a story with more ramifications then it actually has, the film ends up feeling a little forced. The second problem is one inherent in these type of stories - that the protagonists are not really that likeable. Other films get around this by still treating them as heroes, but here it felt like the makers knew it and couldn't get completely behind the characters. While I think this is a truer approach, it did keep me from fully engaging with the story.
Finally a note on Shia. I haven't really had an opinion on whether he can act or not because, up to this point, I've only seen him in really bad projects (Transformers, Indiana Jones). And after this, I'm still not sure. He's not horrible, and since his character is supposed to be a doofus his lack of polish kind of works. Still its obvious he's out of his depth whenever compared to the rest of the cast (Hardy in particular who pretty much communicates with unintelligible grunts, and makes it work) so I still can't say I've made up my mind on him.
Anyway the bottom line on Lawless is that it's ambitious, has a lot of good elements, but doesn't stick the landing.
Total Recall on the other hand, well, its just cinematic white noise. It actually reminds me a lot of the Tron remake from two years ago. If competently executed, not really boring or offensive, and completely and utterly rote and forgettable. Sure it has problems but I don't honestly care enough to talk about them. So I won't.
