W.  Simpleton frat boy with a reputation as a quitter struggles in his father's shadow. Keeping with the theme, the cast employs several actors with famous fathers, and Oliver Stone's son created much of the DVD content. Bushie's portrayed exactly as I've always imagined him, stubborn and misguided, and Brolin's excellent, both in his impression and performance. Dreyfuss's Cheney is spot-on as well, but Condi is rendered as a total caricature in the film, just a nodding lapdog. The first 20 minutes are clunky in their exposition and dialogue, but it eventually settles in, crosscutting his path to Iraq with his college-to-politics journey as well. It's nowhere near as judgmental or controversial as it could be, but there's not much new here, either. We'll just see how, uh, history judges this film.
THE WACKNESS. A turn-off title for a not-bad movie. It refers to how "some people see the dopeness of life, and others just ________." Ben Kingsley plays a showy and over-the-top Robin Williams-type role that's still fun to watch in all its self-destruction. His psychiatrist character and the shy teen weed peddler (the understatedly-good Josh Peck) dating his daughter learn life lessons together as they discover how little each knows about women. It's too soon for a '90s period piece, however, and they lean too heavily on such references.
WAITRESS. A nice surprise. I couldn't help but filter the experience through knowledge of the director's tragic murder before its release, but this won me over in spite of Keri Russell's miscasting. It's funny and touching and sweet. Very sweet. Mmm . . . pie.
WALL•E.  This movie has that magic reminiscent of the first time I saw E.T. as a kid. The curious loner in a foreign world, making sense of all he comes into contact with. And they're shaped the same, which I can't help but assume was calculated. It's extremely cinematic as far as the angles, camera moves, lighting, and shallow focus, which takes balls, given how much time is devoted to constructing detailed environments. And of course we Mac dorks appreciate those subtleties like the startup chime, out-of-hand iPod accessories, and Macintalk voices. It evokes some of the computerized paranoia of 2001, and the social commentary of Idiocracy. The action in the second half is of course excellent, but for me it was really all about the first half where we come to love this little robot with the tiny vocabulary and his pet cockroach.
WANTED. Utterly ridiculous, and kind of awesome. Minority Report meets The Matrix with some of Fight Club's spirit, but nowhere near as good as any of them. The comic-book-inspired visual/special effects are incredible, James McAvoy does a good job with the material given, and the final sequence bookends the story nicely, but its emphasis on over-the-top action is just a sugar high. And the narration's gotta go.
WAR, INC.  Not written or directed particularly well, though the dialogue's pretty snappy and there are occasional bursts of satiric brilliance among the idiocy. A bigger budget would've been needed to render the film properly, as it's not a terrible concept, playing on our distrust of Halliburton/Blackwater tactics. In many ways, it bookends Grosse Pointe Blank. On the shittier end.
WHERE THE TRUTH LIES. Totally underrated. All the actors are fantastic, and Alison Lohman is deceptively cute. And naked. But so is pretty much everyone else. It’s a dark journey down the showbiz rabbit-hole with all the vices and dames that lifestyle affords.
WHY WE FIGHT.  Very revealing. The big business of war and the mongering necessary to keep it rolling. Sad, really, that people make their living off this and they expect me to feel bad when they're not needed. Fuck em. If you stop using my company's products, I lose my job like anybody else. Same thing with the postal service every couple of years talking about some e-mail tax. Hey, technology advances and we find new/cheaper way to do things. It's not my job to ensure your employment at my own expense. They're the ones who wanted to be privatized.
THE WIZARD OF GORE (2008). Crispin Hellion Glover in a white bolero tux (with codpiece) hacking up naked and tattooed SuicideGirls. Or is he? You're gonna watch, even before you realize Bijou Phillips is on the menu as well. This genre-bending, psychadelic horror-noir is proof the director ingested copious amounts of LSD in his youth. Despite my inability to untangle its yarn (I almost get it after watching the deleted scenes), the spectacle is entertainment enough.
WONDER BOYS. This film is like comfort food to me, and I honestly have trouble justifying its appeal in words. The happenings are pretty small-scale, and the characters aren't particularly likeable. Perhaps it's because of how well-sketched they are. Michael Douglas plays an English professor once hailed for a breakthrough novel, but who can't finish his follow-up, while editor Robert Downey, Jr. breathes down his neck (when not in the medicated company of transvestites). Meanwhile, jealousy over his prodigal student (Tobey Maguire, miscast as usual) mounts, as the kid seems poised for similar success if he could get his personal shit together. I suppose it's about how we deal with the world's expectations, and how glory fades. This could easily be a Coen brothers film.
THE WOODS. Lucky May McKee's new one that somehow died and went direct to video. Man, I really loved the first 2/3, a cool Carrie vibe, but then the bottom just fell out of the third act for me. Started kinda predictable, took some great turns, and then got predictable again. The sound and music were great. Bruce Campbell represented. Some very good editing for the most part.
THE WRESTLER. Gritty, understated, and extremely effective. You feel every creak of Mickey Rourke's body as he clings to the dregs of his career in the ring 20 years post-prime while paying the trailer rent behind a deli counter. Humility, faded glory, and second chances are the themes as he tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter and make an honest woman out of Marisa Tomei's cautious stripper character. I'd never have watched such a movie if it weren't directed by Darren Aronofsky with such restraint.
WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY. An indie fantasy flick about a purgatory filled with those who've offed themselves. I liked it for its sheer quirk. And it's got Tom Waits. So now you're compelled to see it.
|
