The Swamped Thing

Just started classes at North Texas University last Thursday and time is at a minimum throughout the week, so to compensate I'll be scrapping formal reviews for more off-the-cuff reactions and commentary on the films I see.

I will still be filing as much as always - that won't change - I just can't afford to spend 1-2 hours writing reviews anymore, even though it's something I really enjoy. The new "impromptu" review style will debut sometime in the next two days when I see Anton Corbijn's The American and Daniel Stamm's The Last Exorcism.

We're F****** Matt Damon

Movie City News' Noah Forrest brings up a good point in a week old 8.22 post that I've been thinking for a while now but haven't really said out loud and that is that Matt Damon seems grossly under-appreciated in terms of awards potential and serious acting chops.

Forrest uses Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! as his launching point, claiming that his Oscar nomination should have come from that film opposed to Clint Eastwood's Invictus and I completely agree.

It also goes back to films like The Departed and The Talented Mr. Ripley in which Damon gives, in my estimation, two tremendous performances that were largely ignored - the former saw Damon excluded from almost any awards season participation despite the fact that it won big at the 2006 Oscars.

Jake-Neytiri Anti-Climactic Scene

I didn't go see the 171-minute Avatar this weekend, but I know many people who did and when confronted about the big Jake-Neytiri sex scene, it wasn't a big talking point. ("Oh yeah, I don't know, not much, etc.")

And then I saw a quote from James Cameron this morning where he attempted to downplay the additional scenes beforehand: "Just so that we correctly manage people's expectations," he explained carefully, "it does not change our rating at all. I would call it more of an alien foreplay scene. It's not like they're ripping their clothes off and going at it."

Listening To...

Beach House, the moody, electronic pop duo and this song off of their new iTunes EP, "White Moon". I love it, apparently Beach House aficionados don't. I'll have to listen to their earlier stuff.

Blu-ray Catch-Up: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)

A competently made yet dopey teenage fantasy, Percy Jackson & the Olympians makes no mistake of its intentions - the resemblance to the Harry Potter series both in form and in content is downright blatant.

Yet without half of the imagination, charm, alliterations or jumbled folklore of its obvious influence, it's disappointing to discover that the film rather rudimentarily indulges in the mythology of the pre-disposed variety, simply adding a twist that the Greek gods once partook in a little mortal awakening, leaving overly tan, blue-eyed demigods waiting to be exhumed by the hands of destiny.

Chris Columbus (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) was an obvious, safe choice to direct - his handling of potentially troublesome visual effects appears professionally seamless for the most part - but this fantasy just doesn't have a discernible personality or pulse.

From its awkward humor to its mugging supporting performances from the likes of Uma Thurman, Pierce Brosnan and Rosario Dawson, Percy Jackson simply lacks the charm and the British class of J.K. Rowling's multi-million dollar adaptations - what it does have is a bad Vegas drug experience...no, seriously. [C-]

Blu-ray Catch-Up: She's Out of My League (2010)

A lively supporting cast and two likeable leads ultimately can't save this blabbering and preachy romantic comedy that's equal parts endearing and offensively bland. It covers all of its bases as a part of the aftershocks still rippling through megaplexes courtesy of Judd Apataw - a gaggle of curly-haired dim-witted friends, post-adolescent aloofness, manscaping jokes, etc.

It would all be fine if it wasn't so effortlessly clichéd and insufferably obvious in its message of self-confidence above insecurity, an attempt to outwork the audience's suspicion that this girl would seek-out and attach herself to this guy.

It's a bit of shame if only because relative newcomer Alice Eve is so appreciatively refined and grounded, even going so far as to acknowledge the desperate awkwardness of her rail-thin boyfriend (an endearing Jay Baruchel) on their first few dates. Inevitably, the material sinks below her and the film concludes in a shower of underlined poignancy and mawkish formula. [C]

Blu-ray Catch-Up: From Paris With Love (2010)

Pierre Morel's Paris-set spy-thriller is high on absurd terrorist plots and low on substance, but overall it's a pretty good time when it isn't playing things too close to the chest.

John Travolta, who played a similarly-styled short-haired killing machine in Tony Scott's The taking of Pelham 123, is actually much better here thanks to favorable material which allows him to play off of his moral ambiguities and always altering spy motivations.

It's when the action ceases to crackle and the plot takes a turn towards solemnity that From Paris With Love oversteps its boundaries and forgets what got it to where it is. It's dim-witted and structurally trying (wait, so what's going on here?) but it finds enough smooth terrain to ultimately recommend. [B-]