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Thanks to the wonder that is NetFlix, I've been able to catch up on watching some things I never got around to seeing in the theater.
Over the weekend, I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Stranger Than Fiction.
I'll start with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (ESotSM from here on out). This was not a movie that you can watch casually. You'll miss a critical transition and suddenly it'll be incomprehensible because you'll be lost. The movie itself is very well done, and I enjoyed it and would recommend it to those who haven't seen it yet.
Jim Carrey is mostly portraying a serious role here (but he does get to let loose on occasion, and it's not over the top, so don't be expecting Fire Marshal Bill to show up on screen). I think, like Tom Hanks, Carrey is far more capable has a much larger range than anyone would have believed until given the opportunity.
Kate Winslet isn't portraying a character out of a Jane Austin novel (or a modernized equivalent as in Beautiful Creatures or Titanic). It's very different, and I think she did a bang up job. It's also apparently far easier for Brits to drop their accents and imitate us than the other way around (and why is it that UK actors can pull off American English just fine, but when you try and get a US actor doing UK accents it all goes to hell?) Her character has a ton of flaws, but most are realistic interrelated flaws that you'd find in real people. She's not in control of herself: she is probably an alcoholic and is very impulsive. She's also fun to watch.
The side plot involving Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Wilkinson is not just a tack on. It's relevant to what's happening with Carrey and Winslet, and has a significant effect at the end. Elijah Wood has gone from awesome kid protagonist (Radio Flyer, Deep Impact), to awesome creepy and disturbed in his post Frodo career.
Now, on to Stranger Than Fiction.
Okay, think of every Will Ferrell SNL skit, supporting role, and starring role you've ever seen him do. Now forget them all. Unlike Carrey, Will's not doing serious, he's doing very subtle and understated. And he's doing it scarily well. Will Farrell. I know, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it either.
This is a damn good movie that I think got mostly ignored. Emma Thompson doing funny. I haven't seen her have this much fun since Much Ado About Nothing (which I need to remember to pick up one of these days, love that adaptation). I've seen Thompson do Shakespeare, Austen, serious (Wit), and eccentric nut (Harry Potter), but I've never seen her do outright funny. Ms. Latifah plays the straight man in that pairing, and does a solid job.
Will Farrell is playing what amounts to a person with high functioning Asperger's Syndrome (it's never stated, but the behaviors, social dysfunction, and OCD are big giveaways. I'm not sure the writer or the director were aware of what they were portraying, they were just creating a quirky geek). He's got Thompson running around in his head while he's trying to figure out how to make Maggie Gyllenhaal like him. He's also working with Dustin Hoffman to try and figure out who his narrator is, and Hoffman is portraying this serious academic lit. prof. He gets to be more blatantly funny than Farrell too.
The movie works really well. I wanted to see it originally because I'm a fan of Thompson's, and she's never let me down with a performance. I was expecting Will Farrell to be annoying (not that I don't like Farrell, I do, I just couldn't see him and Thompson in the same movie), but he's not. At all. See above. He's totally not being Will Farrell. And it's working.
Over the weekend, I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Stranger Than Fiction.
I'll start with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (ESotSM from here on out). This was not a movie that you can watch casually. You'll miss a critical transition and suddenly it'll be incomprehensible because you'll be lost. The movie itself is very well done, and I enjoyed it and would recommend it to those who haven't seen it yet.
Jim Carrey is mostly portraying a serious role here (but he does get to let loose on occasion, and it's not over the top, so don't be expecting Fire Marshal Bill to show up on screen). I think, like Tom Hanks, Carrey is far more capable has a much larger range than anyone would have believed until given the opportunity.
Kate Winslet isn't portraying a character out of a Jane Austin novel (or a modernized equivalent as in Beautiful Creatures or Titanic). It's very different, and I think she did a bang up job. It's also apparently far easier for Brits to drop their accents and imitate us than the other way around (and why is it that UK actors can pull off American English just fine, but when you try and get a US actor doing UK accents it all goes to hell?) Her character has a ton of flaws, but most are realistic interrelated flaws that you'd find in real people. She's not in control of herself: she is probably an alcoholic and is very impulsive. She's also fun to watch.
The side plot involving Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Wilkinson is not just a tack on. It's relevant to what's happening with Carrey and Winslet, and has a significant effect at the end. Elijah Wood has gone from awesome kid protagonist (Radio Flyer, Deep Impact), to awesome creepy and disturbed in his post Frodo career.
Now, on to Stranger Than Fiction.
Okay, think of every Will Ferrell SNL skit, supporting role, and starring role you've ever seen him do. Now forget them all. Unlike Carrey, Will's not doing serious, he's doing very subtle and understated. And he's doing it scarily well. Will Farrell. I know, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it either.
This is a damn good movie that I think got mostly ignored. Emma Thompson doing funny. I haven't seen her have this much fun since Much Ado About Nothing (which I need to remember to pick up one of these days, love that adaptation). I've seen Thompson do Shakespeare, Austen, serious (Wit), and eccentric nut (Harry Potter), but I've never seen her do outright funny. Ms. Latifah plays the straight man in that pairing, and does a solid job.
Will Farrell is playing what amounts to a person with high functioning Asperger's Syndrome (it's never stated, but the behaviors, social dysfunction, and OCD are big giveaways. I'm not sure the writer or the director were aware of what they were portraying, they were just creating a quirky geek). He's got Thompson running around in his head while he's trying to figure out how to make Maggie Gyllenhaal like him. He's also working with Dustin Hoffman to try and figure out who his narrator is, and Hoffman is portraying this serious academic lit. prof. He gets to be more blatantly funny than Farrell too.
The movie works really well. I wanted to see it originally because I'm a fan of Thompson's, and she's never let me down with a performance. I was expecting Will Farrell to be annoying (not that I don't like Farrell, I do, I just couldn't see him and Thompson in the same movie), but he's not. At all. See above. He's totally not being Will Farrell. And it's working.
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