Saturday, September 4, 2010

Spacey-a-thon Post #5: Another 8 Reviews

The Men Who Stare @ Goats:
We watched this back in the beginning of May, & it's the 1 that started this whole ridiculous marathon. I wrote about it then, but I feel that a quick mention of it now is a good way to ensure it's connected to the official reviews. It's a fantastically weird movie. Great cast... great plot... great look @ the insanity inherent in the military.

Moon:
A co-worker kept telling me that this is cool, but we only got around to it a couple weeks ago. I really dig it. It's even weirder than The Men Who Stare @ Goats. See it. A man is alone on a moon mining base & Spacey does the voice of his companion robot. Things go wrong & we find ourselves deep in the middle of a nice existential discussion involving cloning @ subjectivity.

Recount:
This is about 3 years old & takes a close look into the Florida recount of 2000. Spacey plays a lawyer for Gore's people & we get John Hurt & Tom Wilkinson as Warren Christopher & James Baker. Oddly, 2 great British actors play the former Secretaries of State... & turn in great performances. It reawakened all the anger that lies deep w/in me concerning that election which I'm sure was part of the point, but all sides are considered in a pretty balanced way. Certainly more balanced than anything Fair & Balanced that we've become used to on Fox.

Ordinary Decent Criminal:
We watched this 1 the other night. It's a little caper flick that takes place in Dublin w/ Spacey as a master criminal w/ an Irish accent. It's OK, but not great. The capers are fun, but the cops are a but 1 dimensional & it seems to have trouble figuring out if it's an action/comedy or some sort of arty thing.

Henry & June:
The 1st ever NC-17 film is also the 1st Spacey film (other than See No Evil, Hear No Evil) that I ever saw. It's as good as I remember, but the pacing is a bit off. Maybe 10 minutes could be cut off. It's a fun look @ the writers' lives in Paris between the wars. Although, it's always made me want to read Henry Miller, I've never actually been able to get through Tropic of Cancer... it's more self-indulgent than this blog.

Glengarry Glen Ross:
I'd never seen this 1 before. The cast is amazing, but I'm sure you're all aware of that. I think I may be the last person on Earth not to have seen this. It's cool, but I wonder if the dialogue w/in each scene is more important than the overall plot which doesn't really go anywhere. BTW, Jack Lemmon is fantastic. Who knew? I think Some Like it Hot may be the only other Jack Lemmon film I've seen. That's kind of embarrassing.

A Bugs Life:
We watched this 1 w/ the kids a couple months ago. I'd seen it when Solstice & Aiden were little. It's good, but it's no Toy Story.

L.A. Confidential:
Awesome. Like The Usual Suspects, it's 1 of Spacey's defining films. I hadn't seen it in years, but I doubt I'll go that long w/o it again. The hard boiled story is fun w/ great writing & a fantastic performance by James Cromwell.

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