Thoughts on 5 Films

1. Take Shelter - Intense. Subtle. Quiet. Ambiguous. All the qualities of this film that I love. While the film relies heavily on Michael Shannon's performance (which is fantastic), it is aided by the fact that he is just fucking creepy. Ever since I saw Bug I can't look at him without shivers going up my arms. Take Shelter is actually very similar to Bug because it delves into a paranoid atmosphere where reality is blurred but instead of bugs there are apocalyptic type storms. Curtis (Shannon) is a man who is slowly and painfully unraveling, yet he is fully aware of what is happening to him. Even as his vivid dreams begin to cross-over into his reality the only concern he has is to protect his family. The heartbreaking part is that everything he does seems to make things worse. The only bad thing I can say about the film is that it is slightly predictable and I knew exactly how it would end.

2. Thor - The good: An epic adventure, superhero story with extremely fun battle scenes, some witty banter and a hot actress (I'm referring to Jaimie Alexander...sorry Natalie). The bad: The plot was adequate but hardly memorable. Thor is not really that interesting and Chris Hemsworth did a terrible job convincing me otherwise. I certainly don't think a sequel is necessary.

3. Something Borrowed - What can I say...I'm a bit of a masochist when it comes to watching some movies. I know they are going to be torture and I say: "bring it on". But seriously, I don't think I can properly make fun of a film until I have actually seen it - that is why I watch crap like this. Also, it has John Krasinski and he makes me smile. The film, however, is a horrendous depiction of female friendship that pretty much centers around lies and jealousy. I am never convinced that these 2 girls ever actually like each other - and not just because they are opposite personalities. Sure, it would totally suck to fall in love with the same guy but if they were actually friends they would have discussed if from the beginning. My best friend and I communicate things like this as to avoid messy situations (she gets Ryan Gosling, I get Ben McKenzie - see how easy that was?!! or wait...It might be the other way around. I forget now...). Anyway, Colin Egglesfield is a truly awful actor and his character was lazily written. I didn't root for any of them to get together in the end so the romance part of this romantic comedy failed miserably (and it wasn't funny either).

4. In Time - The beginning voice-over by Timberlake's character explains that in the world of this film "time" is now a form of currency and the more "time" you have the longer you will live (you stop aging when you hit 25) - there is no reason, no history, no science, which, to me, feels lazy. It is an interesting concept, but the film focused so much on being a negative critique of capitalism that it became painfully obvious as to how it would end. Timberlake did a decent job but I still think he should go back to music (or hosting SNL).

5. Dream House - Maybe if I didn't see the trailer, I would have enjoyed this film a little. I thought it was weird that they give away the twist in it, but assumed that there was probably another twist that would compensate...but there wasn't. Aside from that, the film itself was a bit of a mess - not sure if it was supposed to be a horror or a psychological drama but it wasn't either. There was nothing scary about it and everything was spelled out for the audience so any thinking is completely unnecessary.