Monday, March 18, 2013
The Big Picture
I watched Kramer vs. Kramer last night, as part of my continuing series of movies I can't believe I've never seen. Unlike a lot of movies in that category, it was pretty good, though about the most depressing way one could possibly spend a Sunday night. It turns out that a child custody battle is not the barrel of laughs I'd always been led to believe! But I was surprised by how well it held up, since these issues are not exactly groundbreaking cinema any more. Mainly the acting was just really good; Dustin Hoffman has never seemed so plausible as a human being, Meryl Streep brought a lot of complexity to what easily could have been a cartoonish role (and not the good kind, like in Pixar), and even the kid wasn't completely irritating like they usually are. So I retroactively approve the awarding of the 1979 Academy Award for Best Picture. Great news for everyone, I am sure.
Right now I'm watching Flight. The fact that I'm blogging while I'm watching it probably suggests a thing or two about how much I'm enjoying it, but it's actually fairly decent. The first half hour was honestly super great (you know, when the -- spoiler alert for people who have been in comas for the past six months -- plane crashed), but it's kind of been downhill since then. Just a lot of really self destructive behavior, which I could watch on Lifetime. I know we're supposed to hate Denzel Washington's character, but, well, he's doing a really good job with that aspect of the performance. Oh, and the John Goodman of it all. They keep playing this rollicking music when he arrives, like we're supposed to be dancing in the aisles, but frankly, I'd rather be back on the crashing plane.
I watched Kramer vs. Kramer last night, as part of my continuing series of movies I can't believe I've never seen. Unlike a lot of movies in that category, it was pretty good, though about the most depressing way one could possibly spend a Sunday night. It turns out that a child custody battle is not the barrel of laughs I'd always been led to believe! But I was surprised by how well it held up, since these issues are not exactly groundbreaking cinema any more. Mainly the acting was just really good; Dustin Hoffman has never seemed so plausible as a human being, Meryl Streep brought a lot of complexity to what easily could have been a cartoonish role (and not the good kind, like in Pixar), and even the kid wasn't completely irritating like they usually are. So I retroactively approve the awarding of the 1979 Academy Award for Best Picture. Great news for everyone, I am sure.
Right now I'm watching Flight. The fact that I'm blogging while I'm watching it probably suggests a thing or two about how much I'm enjoying it, but it's actually fairly decent. The first half hour was honestly super great (you know, when the -- spoiler alert for people who have been in comas for the past six months -- plane crashed), but it's kind of been downhill since then. Just a lot of really self destructive behavior, which I could watch on Lifetime. I know we're supposed to hate Denzel Washington's character, but, well, he's doing a really good job with that aspect of the performance. Oh, and the John Goodman of it all. They keep playing this rollicking music when he arrives, like we're supposed to be dancing in the aisles, but frankly, I'd rather be back on the crashing plane.
