Rewatched The Croods last night (on the job, what can I say), and having the chance to sit down with it again, I think I may have been a little flippant with my remarks last time about the story. There's no denying that on paper it is a very by numbers sort of family fare, but it WORKS, it works DAMN WELL. And I was thinking about it, trying to figure out why this works so well when so many others don't, and all I could come up with is that The Croods does it unironically and sincerely. They don't try to sneak in all those little nods to the audience and self aware bs that seems to be all the rage. It just commits to the story it's going to tell and then does it, and does it good.

And weirdly, that kinda feels refreshing. There's none of the weird little plot twists of whatever that the filmmakers felt they needed to add to make it "fresh" or "modern", it embraces what it is and puts all it's effort into doing it awesomely. And it felt good.

But yeah, otherwise, world design is still amazing, Belt is still cute as hell and for some reason the audience felt the need to start cutting large amounts of onions right around the end of the movie, not sure what was up with that.

Still a thumbs up, and definitely a little higher than I gave it credit for on first viewing.

It was alright. Gregg Araki's direction is typically ham-handed at times, especially during the scenes of sexual molestation and violence, but the acting by JGL, Michelle Trachtenberg, et al. rise above the director's worst tendencies. At its best, though, the film exhibits moments of real sensitivity, which is enhanced by the ambient/dream pop score by Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie and songs by Slowdive, Cocteau Twins and Ride.

The soundtrack and the performances are honestly the best things about Mysterious Skin.

The World's End - Fun ride, enjoyed myself the whole way through. These guys have a knack for making perfect movies. So many random setups that I hardly ever noticed (including simple lines of dialogue), followed by subtle and witty payoffs on down the line, without ever missing a beat or slowing the pace.

Last edited by Sam F (2013-08-25 21:59:39)

I liked him in Con Air and Grosse Point Blank, but more so in Con Air. I think I liked him because he had a good foil in Colm Meany (Chief O'Brian!). However, I really haven't gotten in to anymore of his stuff, though reviewing his IMBD page makes me want to watch "The Raven"

Ohh yeah, I saw that aswell. I thought it was a fairly decent thriller. It held my interest throughout. Though considering the director I was hoping for slightly more.

The Raven isn't a very good film. Is that enough explaining?

Two more points lost for also omitting One Crazy Summer and Better Off Dead.

/I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS

EDIT:  The Sure Thing especially is a semi-forgotten gem that deserves a much higher position on the "Best '80s Comedies Evar" List than it tends to get.    One of my faves.

Isn't a very good film or a bad film? I like John Cusack and am a fan of Edgar Allan Poe so it sounds like an interesting play on his work...

Oh my goodness.  You need to drop everything you're doing now, immediately, and get a copy of Say Anything.  I agree that The Sure Thing is really underappreciated, and Say Anything has a similar kind of vibe, but in my opinion Say Anything is just on a different level.  An absolutely wonderful, sincere, honest film that utterly transcends the "teen romantic comedy" genre. 

And Trey's right, you need to see Better Off Dead too.  It's your standard teen romantic comedy of the era, but with this (totally unexpected) large dollop of surrealism.  Plus it's got claymation. 

"Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that."

Well, watch it and form your own opinion on it.

It's a lot of fun, I'm a fan of Dante overall. He 'favourited' one of my Tweets last night, it made my day