everyone’s goin’ to the movies

Saw Juno and Atonement for a Sunday double feature:

I wanted to like Atonement. I did. I don’t want to be labeled a “guy” who won’t like chick flicks, because I do. And I like Keira Knightly and James McAvoy a good deal, so I was actually looking forward to it. But I just didn’t like it. Not even a little. I thought the storytelling was suspect at best, in theme, material and execution. The premise is shoddy — using the testimony of a 14-year-old girl as the sole evidence in sending a man away for rape — and the characters just don’t have much likability. The performances were good from what they had to deal with — there just wasn’t a lot to go around. I could have cut a half hour out of this two-hour thing in a heartbeat, and it would have made it a lot more interesting. I think there is some kind of rule that when you make a sweeping British epic love story, if it doesn’t come in at over two hours, you didn’t do it right. And perhaps this is ignorance on my part, but there is a 10-minute scene of the British retreating from France during World War II. I don’t know enough about British history, but was this a huge thing or something? The filmmakers made it seem like there hasn’t been a more important 20th century British moment than that. Perhaps it’s like if an English person tried to watch Saving Private Ryan and said “D-What?” Maybe I’ll make a call to Englishman Stephen Washington over in John Siptroth’s office to find out if this was a big deal in British history. C-

(Speaking of John Siptroth, all the luck to a speedy recovery, good luck!)

Also caught Juno, and how happy, happy I was that this was the second half of the double header and not the first so that I could leave the theater on a high note. Ellen Page (Kitty Pride from X3) is a dang good little actress as knocked-up 16-year-old Juno — even if she was just a tad over the top in unnecessary spots — and this is probably the best screenplay of the year. Writer Diablo Cody is officially now the “It” girl and she deserves it for this script. IT’s been a great year for Jason Bateman already (Smokin’ Aces, The Kingdom) and this only solidifies it with what most likely is his best movie performance to date. I know what you’re thinking, how could it top Teen Wolf 2? But it does! The whole cast is great, and let me give props to Jennifer Garner for taking on a smaller, more complex role. She’s got enough Hollywood juice right now that she can keep making blah chick flicks like Catch and Release for the next 10 years and then never have to work another day in her life. But she took this little movie, and hopefully it pays off for her with even better roles being offered to her. A-

Only got through one DVD this weekend, but what a good one to get through. Once is the best take on a musical since South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut and is one of the true love stories you’ll ever see. If everyone musical were like this, I’d be a much bigger fan of them. Glen Hansard is downright cool as The Guy and Marketa Irglova as The Girl is just as good. They real-life singing tandem has instant chemistry that flows like the best of their songs — and the songs are really, really good — and is worth anyone’s 90s minutes of time, whether you’re a fan of musicals or not.

Not a bad box office weekend, even though Jerry Bruckheimer’s National Treasure 2 sits on top yet again. When will this reign of terror end?

I feel the need to stump for Friday Night Lights yet again. Friday’s episode was beyond incredible. We found yet another layer of Tim Riggins, the one that would kill for the Taylor family. Too bad things didn’t work out like they should have, but hopefully that gets corrected. And how awesome was Coach Taylor getting in the grill of that coach after he threw Riggins to the ground? I can’t believe he didn’t explode on him. Good to see Landry growing some testicles too, it’s about time. It’s been well-documented I know fairly close to nothing about women — but Tyra is just a crazy loon and Landry should just run as far and as fast as he can from her. Sucks to say because she owes him her life, but geez Landry, why did it take this long to get rid of her? Better late than never.