Something Borrowed (2011)
VERDICT:
5/10 Bridezillas
Better than I thought it would be, but still not my thing.
Something Borrowed is about a straight-laced lawyer who turns the big 3-0 and sleeps with her best friend’s fiancee after secretly being crazy about him for years, throwing back a handful of Heinekens, and telling him how she really feels (which works out beautifully since it turns out he’s been crazy about her for years, too). After feeling shame and mulling it over the next morning, they decide to keep things under wraps and come up with a solution so that they can be together without hurting her best friend. Being that polygamy is out of the question, they quickly realize that this idea blows, but they keep at it anyway and try to figure shit out as they go out to the Hamptons every weekend and pretend like everything’s gravy.
So I haven’t read the book, chances are I never will, and while I’m sure it’s as fine a read as my good buddy Fred tells me it is, I’m not exactly the target demographic here. And that’s fine, I knew what I was getting myself into and the good thing about these kinds of situations is that they don’t leave a whole lot of room for disappointment in turn. It’s a chick flick, you know the drill.
There’s not much to say about the directing here since the driving forces are story and the characters, and while I’m all for some fresh personalities in a genre that could use ’em, I don’t really think these are the ones I had in mind. On top of all the emotional drama that comes about thanks to all the sexin’ and such, there’s the whole dynamic between the two women of this story, Rachel and Darcy. See, not counting the affair she has with her best friend’s fiancee (which is a definite no-no), Rachel’s a pretty likable gal whose biggest flaw is that she doesn’t take charge when it comes to the things she wants most in life. And while I’m usually never that guy who’d give the go-ahead on sleeping around, that Darcy sure is a bitch.
I mean, I like to think I’m a pretty good judge of character and that my closest friends aren’t just around because I feel obligated or because I don’t have the balls to say, “Dude, you’re a dick. Friendship over.” Granted, none of these friends are ones that I had play dates with back in grade school so I can’t exactly put myself in Rachel’s shoes on that one, but the reason I’m not thick as thieves with those kids anymore is ’cause people change over the course of 20 years. Shocker, I know. Maybe things are different for girls who grew up together, but even with the lifelong history between these two characters, I can’t understand for the life of me why in the hell Rachel is still friends with Darcy. Like I said, the reason Rachel allows Darcy to walk all over her is because she’s never been able to say what she really feels, then again, I don’t buy it. Girl should have called up Darcy the morning after her birthday, informed her that she was a ho fo sho’ and then ran off into the sunset with her new man to have 500 babies.
As much as I’d like to chalk up Darcy’s behavior to just being aloof to the nth degree, it is really hard to believe that anyone would propose to her, let alone accept her friend request on Facebook. If you know that your best friend has had a crush on a guy for nine weeks, you don’t ask his ass out when your best friend is sitting right across the table. If you throw your best friend a 30th birthday party, you don’t make it about you and start dissing your best friend’s clothes on the way out like a drunken ass. God, I could write a thesis on all the crap this girl does and says that made me want to start chucking Milk Duds at the screen, but when push comes to shove, I think the fact that these two are friends at all is what really drove me up the wall.
But with Darcy aside, the rest of this movie was actually pretty decent. The biggest saving grace of the whole equation was actually John Krasinksi’s turn as Rachel’s best guy friend. Not to sound surprised or anything ’cause Krasinski’s always been great on The Office, it just seems like he’s been getting pigeonholed into movies like these for a while now and, from what I hear, it hasn’t really been a great fit. Regardless, he’s the most likable character of the bunch, he’s the only one who seems to have some genuine sense going on, and he’s even got some good lines to boot. And Ginnifer Goodwin’s good as Rachel, but that’s probably because I happen to be a minor fan of hers; Colin Egglesfield is good as the fiancee caught between this BFF love sangwich, Dex; and poor Kate Hudson continues to take roles that bring shame to the memory of Penny Lane.
I don’t think the fellas in the crowd are gonna get much out of this, and I really can’t say much for the ladies since Something Borrowed isn’t geared towards me anyway, but I’ve definitely seen worse. With the exception of a couple hiccups in the plot caused by prejudiced parents or the notion that someone’s sick mom will literally die from disappointment if a wedding gets broken off, I was generally interested to see how this story was gonna unfold and the unpredictability of how this was all gonna wrap up sure helped to keep me invested. Still kinda pissed off about all that Darcy stuff and the nagging feeling that both her and Darcy aren’t doing any favors for how women are presented in movies, but thank the heavens that John Krasinski signed up and helped turn this into something…fine.
Bridesmaids (2011)
VERDICT:
9/10 Funny Girls
Probably the best “chick flick” I’ve seen since Mean Girls.
Bridesmaids is about a gal who’s down on her luck, can’t find a good guy so she settles for a stud who’s just in it for the nookie, and is making just enough money at a dead end job to keep her creepy British roommates from giving her the boot. Then her best friend gets engaged, so she takes the reigns as Maid of Honor and tries to plan the perfect wedding while butting heads with one of the bridesmaids who manages to steal the spotlight at every turn. Before long, both her life and the wedding turn into a complete train wreck and she finds herself struggling to salvage her friendships, her love life, her career and her dignity.
Geez, probably could have phrased that a little better so that this doesn’t sound like the biggest Debbie Downer of 2011, but then again, this girl does hit rock bottom like whoa after a certain point. Anywho, I guess I was kinda skeptical going into this ’cause it’s been a long freakin’ time since a comedy like this has come along. No, the whole “girl has to plan her best friend’s wedding” thing isn’t exactly news, but by and large, Mean Girls really is the last time I can remember that the women of comedy showed the boys what’s up. Not even gonna touch on Tina Fey and her continued reign as the funniest human being on TV, but when it comes to movies, Mean Girls was a high point.
Seriously, the first things that came to mind when I saw that poster were 27 Dresses, Runaway Bride, and every other movie that boyfriends/husbands/drifters across the globe got dragged to and didn’t laugh at because that’s just what good boyfriends/husbands/drifters do. And I’m not saying that because it’s called “Bridesmaids“, nor am I saying that ’cause I think women aren’t funny or anything, I just think we’ve gotten used to the idea of “guy movies” and “chick flicks” being two separate things and it wasn’t until pretty recently that women have really started getting their due in the male-dominated world of comedy. So, yeah, this movie’s breakin’ down barriers, y’all.
And I think the fact that this establishes itself as being nothing like 27 Dresses or Runaway Bride right from the first scene where Kristen Wiig and John Hamm are knocking boots like the marionettes from Team America is what surprised me more than anything else. It’s crude, it’s raunchy and it’s even got an awfully memorable scene filled to the brim with explosive diarrhea that would give Jeff Daniels’ career-defining moment from Dumb and Dumber a run for its money. With that being said, there’s something for everyone here, it had all the fellas laughing just as hard the ladies, but it’s balanced out with enough heart, likable characters and consistently solid comedic writing to keep it from becoming an exercise in bad taste. This is what The Sweetest Thing could have been had The Sweetest Thing been even remotely funny.
And another thing I that I loved about this is that there weren’t any lulls in the plot where the laughs disappear to make room for romance. Granted, the funniest parts are when the bridesmaids are together and everything’s going to hell, but when it shifts to Kristen Wiig’s on-again, off-again semi-relationship with local cop Chris O’Dowd, the laughs keep on comin’. Not an easy thing to find in romantic comedies, but it’s just one great scenario after the next filled with great dialogue and great ad-libbing backed up by a great cast.
Up until now, I wasn’t exactly on the Kristen Wiig bandwagon since I’ve never been a huge fan of Gilly, but consider me a convert ’cause this is clearly her baby and she totally rocks it. Girl’s got some killer timing and the deadpan shtick down pat. Maya Rudolph is also a trip as the bride; newcomer Melissa McCarthy is a flat-out riot as the femdom, fight club enthusiast of the bunch; Rose Byrne is perfect as the gorgeous, conniving bridesmaid; and even though they don’t get the kind of screen-time or development as the other four girls, Ellie Kemper and Wendi McClendon-Covey make the most out of what they’ve got. Bonus points for two choice cameos from Matt Lucas and Rebel Wilson as Wiig’s weird-ass roommates, and double bonus points for a random dance scene (to Wilson Philips no less) that didn’t make my eyes roll back in my skull. An achievement I once thought impossible.
So I’ll never be a bridesmaid and I won’t be losing any sleep over that cold truth, but regardless of whether or not you can relate to what these women are going through, this thing is a blast and is far closer to Superbad than it is to The Wedding Planner. I wish I had something other than praise to dish out, but Bridesmaids really is effing hilarious on a whole lot of levels and it’s so awesome to walk into a movie that had the potential to be sheer torture and walk out two hours later with sore cheeks from laughing so hard. After watching Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work not too long ago and realizing how hard it is for even the funniest of comediennes to get the respect they deserve, it’s great to see these ladies doing what they do best, doing it better than the men, and having themselves a time while they’re at it. Guys, win-wins don’t get much better than this when it comes to date movies, but all that chick flick/guy movie noise aside, it’s just a damn funny movie.
And the best Kill Bill is…
VOLUME 1!
Still one of the Top Three greatest movie-going experiences of my life, so I’ll give it to you in that regard. But what can I say, I’m a sucker for Volume 2. That fight between The Bride and Daryl Hannah in Budd’s trailer home really was better than any scene from Vol. 1. Then again, I effing loved that anime cutscene about O-Ren. Geez, I need to watch these two again. Both are awesome either way, so swell voting, y’all.
RESULTS:
– Kill Bill: Volume 1: 18 votes
– Kill Bill: Volume 2: 11 votes
Badlands (1973)
VERDICT:
9/10 Humdrum Homicides
Not often that one associates the words “brilliant” and “poignant” when talking about killing sprees.
Badlands is about a 25-year-old garbage man falls in love with a 15-year-old small-town girl. They start going steady, but her dad disapproves and forbids her from seeing this trash-throwing lowlife. Not being one to let some judgmental bastard decide who he can and can’t love, the kid guns down her girl’s old man and they hit the road. As they book it over from the woodlands of South Dakota to the mountains of Montana in the hopes of starting a new life together, they meet a lot of folk along the way, and he shoots a lot of ’em while they’re at it with Johnny Law trailing close behind.
So there’s a couple things worth noting about this movie right off the bat. For one, this is more or less based on the true story of one Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate who actually went and did all that grisly stuff in the ’50s before the fuzz caught up to them, gave him the chair and gave her 17 years. The other factoid is that this is the debut effort of writer/director Terrence Malick, a guy that more and more people these days seem to regard as God’s gift to movies. And being that this is the first Malick movie I’ve seen in a long time that I can actually remember enough to write about, I gotta say, the hype ain’t too far off.
Going into this, I wasn’t really sure what to expect or what it was about this movie that would set it apart from something along the lines Natural Born Killers. I mean, it didn’t sound like there was much of a plot and I figured that there’s only so much one can say about two lovebirds on a homicidal rampage that hasn’t been said before. And the surprising thing about this is that Malick doesn’t have a whole lot to say on the matter, there isn’t much of a plot outside of the way they go from place to place while leaving a trail of bodies in their wake, yet those are the very things that make it stand out.
It’s all about the tone with Badlands. Most every movie you’ll come across that features ordinary people murdering folks in cold blood or watching on as their dad gets plugged full of holes by their boyfriend, you can bet that someone involved is gonna have a meltdown. And that’s understandable, nothing wrong with that formula and I’d probably be freaking the eff out too if this was the story of my life, but there’s something flat-out fascinating about the way all of Malick’s characters react to these very circumstances as though they were shooting Coke cans or that they’d been waiting all their lives to bleed out with some lead in their belly. I wouldn’t call it ruthless since these two kids aren’t exactly taking pleasure out of their actions like Mickey and Mallory, it’s more nonchalant and disconnected than anything else.
And that’s the tone I’m talking about, that’s why it works. It’s art imitating life and it revolves around such incomprehensible brutality that can only make you wonder why and how. One of those things that people will always wonder about and won’t get concrete answers for, and Malick’s not out to provide them either. There’s one phrase that Martin Sheen keeps repeating throughout the movie, that “it takes all kinds,” and that’s pretty much what this whole thing is about. There’s no telling why any of these characters do what they do and there’s no telling what the hell caused Starkweather and Fugit to do what they did, it just is what it is. No justifications, no judgments, no heavy consciences, just apathy amidst madness.
You probably need to see it and hear it for yourself to really make heads or tails out of what I’m talking about, but this is screenwriting at its best. This is a script after my own heart, a script that knows how to get a lot out of a little, knows when to shut up, and knows that using your inside voice is so much more effective than a screaming match. And, man, I just loved getting to know these characters, I loved listening to ’em talk about everything from James Dean look-alikes to finding a toaster after dumping a body when most scripts would have them losing their shit and acting a fool. Totally unpretentious and absolutely perfect in creating this very unique vibe.
And good lord is this movie pretty. I remember years ago when I worked as a production assistant on the set of Motherhood for all of three weeks and found myself talking movies with one of the grips (or whatever he was) and he told me that I had to check this out solely because of the way Malick filmed so much of it at the one hour of the day when the sun sets over the horizon and gives off just the right amount of natural light. Not the kind of thing I would ever notice on my own, but it sure makes the scenery look that much more gorgeous and makes you realize how intentional this movie is. Bonus points for showcasing some absolutely wild shootouts and one hell of a final car chase.
Great acting from Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, too. I always forget this, but Martin Sheen was such a badass back in the day and I couldn’t take my eyes off him as Kit. Just a larger than life kind of performance that not only complements the character to a tee but makes for a great contrast to Spacek’s soft-spoken turn as Holly. Come on, it’s Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, that should speak for itself.
Badlands started out good, only got better as it went on, and by the end it left me blown away. One of those movies that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about for weeks and it really is a testament to the strength of subtlety along with so many other aspects of great filmmaking that are rare to come by anymore. Truly is beautiful, truly is poignant, and deserves to be required viewing for anyone who thinks the best approach to writing a script is to rip off Tarantino. A word to the wise: let Tarantino do Tarantino.
Thor (2011)
VERDICT:
3/10 Valhalla Fallings
One more reason I’m not looking forward to The Avengers.
Thor is about one Norse god of thunder who’s in line to take over his dad’s spot on the throne as the king of Asgard thanks to the epic amount of ass-kickery he’s been dishing out across the universe since childhood. But because he’s an arrogant dickhead and winds up instigating wars with frost giants for no good reason at all, Odin up and banishes his ass from Asgard, strips him of all his powers, and sends him on down to Earth to grow the eff up. Down on Earth, he runs into a trio of junior astrophysicists, starts to fall in love, then tries to reclaim his superpowers so he can take down his jealous bastard of a brother and make things right again.
So I’ve never been much of a comic book nerd, but I know enough about the Marvel Universe to get by and bullshit enough conversations so that it sounds like my grandpa is Stan Lee. And if there’s one thing I know about good ol’ Thor, it’s that he’s more or less Marvel’s answer to Superman and could wipe out creation with the same degree of effort that it takes me to fart. He’s the cream of the crop, he’s a freaking god, and his hammer, Mjolnir, is without a doubt the most outrageously unfair weapon any hero has ever rocked.
With that being said, it’s pretty disappointing how much time this movie spends on him not being a walking, talking apocalypse. Granted, the best superhero movies tend to be the ones that do focus more on the human side of things, but the problem is that Thor’s human side fucking sucks. I can’t remember the last time I saw such a one-dimensional dude with a more predictable character arc backed up by a story you’ll be able to figure out from beginning to end within the first five minutes. It’s just that when you have a hero like Thor who’s interesting not so much because of his human side, but rather because of the sheer amount of wrecking power he can dish out, the smart choice probably would have been to stick to his strengths. Seems like an easy call from where I’m sitting and it would have made for one kickass thrill ride of a movie, but alas, this is what we were given.
Because you know what this movie is? It’s Michael, only with a fallen god who swears by P90X instead of a fallen angel who likes dancing to Aretha Franklin. And you know what? Fuck that. Thor’s not supposed to be the comic book equivalent of Mother Theresa, Thor’s the textbook wrecking train of unstoppable badassery and the last thing that the pitch for this should have been was “A Norse god walks amongst Southwestern scientists and yokels with comedic (and romantic) results.” Seriously, save that shit for Kate and Leopold ’cause I wasn’t laughing at all the forced humor this kept shoving my way and I don’t know who the writers thought they were kidding when they stewed up the notion that it’d be totally reasonable for a normal woman of science like Natalie Portman to fall in love with Thor, the god of effing Thunder, and that he’d totally love her right back. Ridiculous.
It’s just that the plot, the story are as cookie cutter as they come, I couldn’t have cared less about any of the characters, and the lighthearted tone that fuels so much of it is way off, too. On top of that, there’s something very screwy going on with the mythology and the logic this script uses to explain it. Maybe I just need to do some more research on Thor’s backstory, but if Stellan Skarsgard’s character (who looks to be in his 50s) talks about how he was raised on stories of Odin, Thor and all the other Norse heavyweights, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to show Thor as a kid and have played by a guy in his late 20s. Might not be explaining that perfectly, but it’s pretty unusual to hear stories about a someone else’s life before they’ve even been born. Also, if Odin, Thor and all the other Norse heavyweights are immortal (I’m guessing they are since they always refer to Natalie Portman’s character as “the mortal woman”), it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to have Odin’s life hang in the balance due to a heart attack of sorts. I don’t know, I’m no expert on the matter, but there’s too much of that shit in here too just shrug off because a lot of it ends up being so integral to the story. Way too much deus ex machina malarkey going on here, too.
But I don’t want to make this sound like I’m moped throughout the whole movie ’cause there wasn’t enough action or ’cause the logic didn’t add up, because it does have its moments and Kenneth Branagh does make it look pretty with all his epic setpieces and whatnot. Still, considering that this is the guy who directed Henry V (arguably the greatest marriage between Bill Shakespeare and movies that we’ll ever get), it seems like an odd choice. And even though he looked the part, I wasn’t a huge fan of Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Not that he had a whole lot to work with, but he really hammed up the Old English to a fault and only made the character come off as that much more of an assclown, especially since it seemed like everyone else had a relatively normal vocuabulary going for ’em. Anthony Hopkins also could have toned it down a bit as Odin; Tom Hiddleston is actually the one actor of the lot who was solid and made for a convincingly sinister villain as Thor’s brother, Loki; and everyone else either serves their purpose or could have been written out entirely.
Folks, I hope I’m not coming off like a movie snob or anything, because, as a fan of the character and superhero movies in general, that really is the most disappointing aspect, far more so than the technicalities or nitpicks. Look, Thor is entertaining to a degree and it absolutely delivers if you’re jonesing for some mindless action fueled by eye candy galore, but it’s also style over substance at its worst. As far as Marvel movies are concerned, I think it’s pretty hard to top everything that was so on point and endlessly fun about Iron Man, and with that high-water mark in mind, it’s beyond me how low the writers were aiming with this one. There’s a lot about Thor that sets him apart from everyone else in and out of his Universe as both a powerhouse and a deity, it’s just a damn shame that he got stuck with the same old song and dance we’ve already heard ad nauseum.
And the best horror movie of the past decade is…
28 DAYS LATER!
Danny Boyle, man. Doesn’t matter the genre, ’cause when that guy sets out to make a movie, he does not screw around. Great voting, folks; really is one mighty fine horror movie.
Although it looks to me like a whole lot of people still need to see The Descent and The Orphanage.
RESULTS:
– 28 Days Later: 12 votes
– Shaun of the Dead: 8 votes (biggest game-changer on the list, IMHO)
– Let the Right One In: 7 votes
– The Ring: 4 votes
– The Descent: 3 votes
– The Orphanage: 3 votes
– Saw: 3 votes
– [REC]: 2 votes (I gotta see that)
– The Devil’s Rejects: 1 vote
– Martyrs: 1 vote (heard some pretty gnarly things)
– Inside: 1 vote (same goes for this charming little ditty)
– Dawn of the Dead: 1 vote
– High Tension: 0 votes (easily one of the most upsetting movies I’ve ever seen, so points for that)
– Paranormal Activity: 0 votes
– Slither: 0 votes (one day people will realize how great this movie is)
– Other: 1 vote for Gigli (I hear that) and 1 vote for Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (I can only imagine).
Seriously, The Descent and The Orphanage – see those. You will lose sleep.
Two-Years-Old and Still Swearing Too Much
That’s right, boys and girls. Two years ago on this very day, Cut The Crap Movie Reviews was born unto this world on a wave of mind-numbing boredom and a sudden urge to write about Anvil! The Story of Anvil. So here we are, 520 reviews, 675 posts, and two new jobs later, and for some crazy reason you guys are still reading. Not much else to say but thanks a mil for keeping me going and indulging in all this foul-mouthed jibba-jabba of mine. It sure was wild being a one-year-old, but something tells me the terrible twos are gonna blow that shit outta the water. Shibby dibby!
Meek’s Cutoff (2011)
VERDICT:
7/10 Dry Spells
Bleak and patient, just the way I like it.
Meek’s Cutoff is about a band of immigrants making their way across the Oregon Trail in the 1840s. From the moment we meet them, they’re totally lost, their guide has no idea where he’s leading them, and they are running out of water right fast. Then they come across a local Indian, take him prisoner, and in turn put their lives in his hands to lead them to water or lead them to his tribe to get scalped wholesale.
So if you’ve ever played The Oregon Trail (if you haven’t, you haven’t lived), this is pretty much that very experience in movie form. No one dies of dysentery, but you’ve got your broken axles, your river fording, your bartering with the natives, and the endless hunt for food and water that always killed off all my livestock before I could even hit the Dakotas. As a video game, it was a frustrating blast, but in real life, the Oregon Trail was actually a pretty gnarly and outrageously monotonous time.
Bummer.
With that being said, this is a Western that’s probably closer to The Road than it is to The Proposition. Despite the badass poster that would lead one to believe there’s at least one scene with Michelle Williams blowing fools away, the truth of the matter is that it take a good five minutes to actually reload that damn gun after each shot and killing dudes is the last of anyone’s worries here. In a nutshell, the story here starts with the wagon trail filling up their water supplies and the rest of the story follows them wandering around in the middle of nowhere looking high and low for a refill. Sounds riveting, I know, but it works.
The thing is, this whole movie is down time, and while that’s occasionally something that I’d knock a movie for, this one’s an exception. It’s slow and there isn’t much of a plot that extends beyond how freakin’ thirsty these folks are, but that’s just the reality of the situation and that’s just the kind of movie this is. Director Kelly Reichardt isn’t out for blood and she isn’t catering to the trigger-happy adrenaline junkies in the crowd, because, let’s face it, we’ve all read books or seen photos of what life was like in the frontier days and wondered how they didn’t die of boredom without being able to Tweet 50 times a day. No, it ain’t much of a thrill ride and you might have to be in the right mood to appreciate it without nodding off, but by the same token, that’s what made it so watchable.
Meek’s Cutoff is different because it takes a step a forward by taking a step back, and while the decision to go for realism over entertainment isn’t the most popular road out there, it does manage to draw a lot out of a little. For one, it’s flat-out gorgeous to soak in all the sunsets, all the stark, sprawling landscapes, and all that Big Sky Country that us New Yorkers can’t even get in the boonies of Staten Island. Since there’s not a whole lot to be said, not a whole lot to be done and the lengthiest of conversations run just shy of a minute, the visuals go a long way when it comes to creating a mood and keeping viewers engaged. Also has a fantastic, eerie score to back it all up and heighten that fear of the unknown with each new day they come up empty-handed.
And the characters are good, but the only problem is that there’s too many of ’em. Not including the Indian, I think there’s seven people that make up this crew, and while they all serve their purpose, I suppose, it really could have been narrowed down to four or five. Maybe it’s ’cause the “comedic relief” of the bunch is played by one Shirley Henderson, so every time she opened her mouth, the only thing I could think of was Moaning Myrtle in the old West. Strange casting decision, but aside from that, I feel like seven travelers is too much to give some of these nomads the development they deserved.
But all in all, the characters are good, the cast is solid, and it’s interesting to see the way Jonathan Raymond’s script goes from that of a survival story to ultimately something else that’ll have you scratching your head when the end credits start rolling. With that being said, I’m not quite sure I actually liked the ending (especially since Reichardt herself showed up for a Q&A at the screening and all the snooty hipster jerks in the crowd were too busy wooing her with their highfalutin film school comments and whatnot that time ran out before anyone go the chance to just ask her “What the fuck was going on with that ending?”), but it’s not bad per se, it’s more something to mull over.
So if it hadn’t been for the suspect ending, Meek’s Cutoff had a good chance at landing itself a good old 8. I still haven’t seen Reichardt’s debut effort, Wendy and Lucy, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume that there aren’t a whole lot of similarities between that and this outside of the crew involved. And for someone who’s only two movies deep into her career, I totally dig that and it makes you wonder why more women (or men for that matter) don’t make Westerns. Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Western in theaters and it’s great to find one that doesn’t fit into the mold of what’s expected without boring me to tears. Not the kind of movie I can recommend high and low because, now that I think of it, I’ve never had a problem with cowboys shooting cowboys for two hours, but it’s something to see a Western that marches to the beat of its own drum for once.
THE KING’S SPEECH!
Yeah, not the most cutthroat poll I’ve ever had around these parts, but hey, it’s not every day we get a royal wedding on our hands. So congrats to The King’s Speech, congrats to Bill & Kat, and congrats to you, voters. I am so very, very proud of you.
RESULTS:
– The King’s Speech: 11 votes
– The Queen: 4 votes
– Elizabeth: 2 votes (that lady was no joke)
– Shakespeare in Love: 2 votes
– The Madness of King George: 1 vote (heard good things)
– The Other Boleyn Girl: 1 vote
– The Young Victoria: 0 votes (did anyone actually see that movie?)
– Other: 1 vote for Monty Python and the Holy Grail (damn, well played), 1 vote for To Kill a King (never heard of it, but I bet it rocks), 1 vote for King Ralph (again, well played) and 1 vote for “poop poop and poop” (I hear ya’).
2011: The Year of the Movie Nerd
So after a freak set of events that started two years ago with this humble blog and eventually led up to a sweet, sweet gig working at GetGlue.com, the big update around these parts is that, as of yesterday, the awesome folks over at The Huffington Post offered me a full-time position as an Associate Editor at Moviefone. After mulling over the notion of getting paid to write about movies and go to premieres for all of zero seconds, I played it cool, humbly accepted, then went home and danced around like Kevin Bacon in the lobby of my apartment building. Not trying to get on a soap box or anything, it’s just effing crazy on the one hand, and I couldn’t have done it without all you loyal readers on the other. Seriously, if it weren’t for every last one of you who’s stopped by here and told me I was nuts for hating Kick-Ass, strangely impressed/understandably sad for the way I sat through Battlefield Earth, Troll 2 and Gigli all on my own free will, or just dropped in to say “I love you,” I would have put the lid on this thing a long time ago. So thanks to infinity and I swear I’ll get back to all your comments one of these days.
And as for the future of Cut The Crap, pretty sure I’ll be keeping up this snail’s pace of writing reviews when I can. It ain’t ideal, but since I can’t let my baby go the way of Pets.com, it’ll have to do. But hey, a new door has been opened and who knows what could happen if I play my cards right. So on that note, you guys rock and here goes nothin’.
Oh, and I can’t stop listening to this song. Give it a listen, it makes me happy.
Cut The Crap Movie Reviews 
