November 12, 2012 3:39 pm
By Matt Ford
It’s an exciting time to be a moviegoer.
Here’s why: movies like Skyfall are rebooting the action genre, which of course includes the James Bond series. Bond movies will no longer be formulaic flicks with pithy pick-up lines, vapid women and happy endings; the new Bond is flawed, injured, cynical, self-loathing, and even — occasionally — out-matched.
Bond is one thing, but it will not be contending for Oscars next March. (Although co-star Javier Bardem might.) The movie it topped at the box office this weekend — Ben Affleck’s Argo — most certainly will.
It’s hard to explain what’s so great about Argo until you see it. In brief, Argo is brilliantly paced — the plot covers a lot of ground quickly — well-acted, unpredictable, occasionally hilarious, and confidently understated. After the movie was over, I quickly hoisted it into the “Best Movies I’ve Ever Watched” category. I know — bold.
So, on one hand, we have an action movie trying to be more complex; on the other, a spy movie trying to keep it simple.
Does it work for both films?
October 16, 2012 2:36 pm
By Matt Ford
How to describe Seven Psychopaths:
Take a dash of goofy/gritty crime classic Snatch, throw in a Coen Brothers twist of nihilism, and sprinkle the disjointed (but purposeful) vignetting of Pulp Fiction. Then add a hearty helping of Christopher Walken, and you have Seven Psychopaths.
Shorter: It’s like a better version of Smoking Aces.
Seven Psychopaths is about a Los Angeles screenwriter, played by a (surprisingly?) capable Colin Farrell, whose writer’s block is mended by his homicidal homeboy (Sam Rockwell). The two end up teaming with a dog kidnapper (Walken) who steals Woody Harrelson’s shih tzu and has to suffer the consequences.
From the get-go, this movie is wildly entertaining. The humor is biting, the storytelling is suspenseful, and the character development is well-executed.
Here are five reasons why you should see Seven Psychopaths:
July 23, 2012 1:18 pm
By Matt Ford
The Good:
Rebounding from Maggie Gyllenhall, who wouldn’t sleep with you DESPITE KNOWING FULL WELL YOU ARE FUCKING BATMAN, to Anne Hathaway in full-body spandex. Let’s hope the girl who first played Rachel Dawes achieves a similar narrative.
Marion Cotillard. Quietly putting together one of the best resumes in Hollywood since 2009 — Inception, Midnight in Paris, Dark Knight Rises, Contagion, Public Enemies — Mademoiselle Cotillard is nailing down the “Not Bat-Shit Crazy Female Actress Who Is Not Just Hot But Can Also Act” niche previously occupied by Natalie Portman and never once occupied by Megan Fox.
Riding the wave of the Occupy movement. DKR manages to at least pay homage to the most significant cultural protest in half a century.
The Bad:
A truly ridiculous appearance by The Scarecrow, which caused the crowd in my theater to actually LOL the moment he appeared on screen. The only explanation I have for scenes with The Scarecrow are that Dark Knight Rises had to adhere to the International Law stating Cillian Murphy has to be in every Christopher Nolan movie.
Verdict: Tough to nitpick at a great movie — overall, DKR gets at least a 9 on the scale of 1-to-Dark Knight.
July 7, 2012 11:49 am
By Matt Ford
Five days off, unprecedented heat, way too many American-flag Budweisers and several NBA blockbuster trades are the fodder of Matt’s latest Completely Arbitrary Power Rankings.
2) My company for giving us the entire week off after July Fourth.
3) Roger Federer. Now, he’s on his way to a record eighth Wimbledon final. But a few weeks ago, many thought Roger Federer would be forever doomed to pointlessly chase the dominant Novak Djokovic and ubiquitous Rafael Nadal, like he was Quagmire chasing Lois.
Whoever Katie Holmes rebounds with. I like Channing Tatum for this role (the first role for which anyone has ever liked Tatum).
15) The Newsroom. Did anyone watch the second week? Literally, have you heard anyone talking about it since Week One?
July 2, 2012 9:30 am
By Matt Ford
Artists find inspiration from many subjects. Monet chose landscapes, Kim Kardashian chose reality television (just kidding), and Woody Allen chooses women and cities.
Rome is a living, breathing city of stories in To Rome With Love — an almost magical venue for people to fall in love, make mistakes, and experiment with happiness. Woody Allen has made many cities into aphrodisiacs and he does it once more; he makes old, rusty, bustling Rome look damn sexy.
Is To Rome With Love an amazing movie? No. Is it as good as Midnight in Paris? No. Should you see it instead of Ted? Probably not, if you’re a reader of this website. But if you want to be inspired by great filmmaking, excellent acting and a timeless city, it’s worth it. Woody Allen almost always is.
June 12, 2012 10:17 am
By Matt Ford
Prometheus can only be described as an un-scary horror movie that purports to be “thinking” movie, whose only problem is that it was written by someone with no brain.
Everyone values different traits in movies. Some value the experience of a visually amazing film, and Prometheus is surely that.
But when you see the girl who played Lisabeth Salander in the Norweigan Dragon Tattoo films zipping Michael Fassbender’s severed, yet still-speaking head into a duffel bag, you start to wonder exactly how long the screenwriters spent developing the plot.
Prometheus’ marketing and framing seems to suggest the main question behind the film is, “Who created humans and why?” That question is fairly heavy, right? The movie starts to build toward answering that question, but goes in a totally different direction, ultimately asking, “Who are the grandparents of the alien in ‘Alien?’” (I’m serious. Keep reading.)
May 21, 2012 11:08 am
By Matt Ford
Sacha Baron Cohen is In the Rafters because of what he shouldn’t do. He is so willing to go anywhere for a laugh that he is truly dangerous. We never know what to expect of him. He could kiss Will Ferrell on the lips. He could kidnap Pamela Anderson. He could run through a hotel naked wrestling another naked, obese man.
You or I might get the joke, but the people who don’t are Baron Cohen’s muse. And he tests everyone extensively to see if they can’t take a joke, or at what point they become the joke themselves.
The Dictator works because Baron Cohen’s “Supreme Leader Admiral-General” Aladeen is a really complete comic character (and will be the most popular Halloween costume this year, I guarantee that). He is as brutally offensive, sexist, racist, ignorant, and vain as you should expect. The humor has Baron Cohen’s weird fingerprints all over it.
May 14, 2012 5:47 pm
By Matt Ford
Think about how many superhero movies there have been in the last ten years. An incomplete, but wildly lengthy list: Three Batmans (pending Dark Knight Rises), two Iron Mans, two Fantastic Fours, Two Hellboys, and about 30 X-Men flicks.
With all of that superhero clutter, how do you make a good superhero movie in 2012?
Simple! Put 20 superheroes on screen together and have them all fight an army of aliens in New York City.
