#113: The Kids Are All Right (6/10)

The Kids Are All Right tells a story based on an interesting situation. A lesbian couple each obtain donations from a sperm bank in order to have children as they start their family together. The kids are now 18 and 15 and they want to meet their biological father for the first time.  They find him and hijinks ensue.  I liked the concept, and this this film is acted decently. It was funnier than I expected, and I had a good time watching it.  However, there was something that kept me from really getting into it.  I was always aware it was a movie, whatever that means.  Arbitrary rating is a 6 out of 10.

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#112: Easy A (6/10)

Easy A got a lot of praise when it came out this September. We almost made the rare trip to the theater, but it didn't work out. I had it at the top of my Netflix queue so we could see it as soon as it was released on bluray. We got it in the mail a few days ago and watched it right away.  I will add to the praise.  This is a well-done high school comedy. It's definitely worth watching. It gets a 6 out of 10.

High school comedies are a crap-shoot.  Easy A is one of the better ones, but it is not without its problems. There are a lot of funny jokes, but there are also a lot of lame ones.  I laughed quite a bit, but I cringed almost as much.  I would have given this a higher score, but there were too many moments that were just... stupid.  Don't let that stop you from watching it. It has more good than bad.  I can't recall any one specific dumb moment, but there were some pop culture references in there that felt forced.  There were also times when it tried to be a little too clever, and it fell flat.

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#111: Exit Through The Gift Shop (9/10)

You may not know who Banksy or Sheppard Fairey is. You may not give two shits about street art. Even so, I think there is something to be gained by watching the film Exit Through The Gift Shop.  I went in not knowing much about it. I have read about Banksy and seen all his art in pictures.  I knew this was a documentary, and I knew Banksy was involved in some way.  I guess I never assumed it was going to be a documentary about Banksy, though I would have enjoyed that.  From a very early stage it is clear that this is not a standard doc, and it isn't going to be so much about Banksy.

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#110: Where The Wild Things Are (2/10)

I almost hate to say it, but Where The Wild Things Are is one of the worst movies I have seen this year. I pretty much hated it. Oddly, I can see how others might have liked it. To some extent I feel that way with most films. There is almost nothing that is 100% ALL bad. However, it doesn't happen very often where I can hate a movie as much as this one and still respect the opinion of a person that liked it. Arbitrary rating of 2 out of 10 for this one.

I had this film on my shelf for a month before I finally sat my wild rumpus down to watch it. I still wasn't really in the mood to see it, I just felt so bad about keeping it that long that I had to pop it in and give it a whirl. The first bit was quite entertaining. I liked Max in the real world, and thought his character had potential. As soon as he went off to fantasy land the whole thing fell apart. The introductions of the beasties was awkward. Most everything that happened felt random and pointless. It was almost impossible to sit through. I realize the wild things represented different aspects of Max's personality and all that crap, but it just wasn't interesting or good in my opinion.  If you liked the movie, that is fine, but I would enjoy hearing your reasons. The only way it got a 2 was the beginning part.

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#109: Goodfellas(8/10)

I have a couple confessions to make. I had never seen Goodfellas until this last week. I still haven't seen any of the Godfather films, but I have all three on my DVR now. I am sure there are tons of other "classics" that I haven't seen, but I have trouble watching these films that were so influential. For example, I watched Annie Hall for the first time last month. I'd already seen all the shitty romantic comedies that took inspiration from the Woody Allen original, so when those moments came up in Annie Hall they seemed just as lame and cliche as all the rest. It is sad, but also an undeniable fact that I will never be able to appreciate those classics like somebody who saw them when they were first released. Undoubtedly Goodfellas would have been more effective, if only slightly, had I never seen De Niro in the Meet The Parents movies. Still, Goodfellas was an excellent film. I am glad I finally sat down and watched it. My arbitrary rating scale is even more irrelevant when trying to assign a number to a film that has been praised for 20 years. Even so, I will give it an 8 out of 10.

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#108: Grown Ups (4/10)

I was the perfect age to latch onto Adam Sandler in his heyday.  Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore were two of my favorite movies through my teen years.  I want to like everything he does, but I have to acknowledge that lately he has not impressed. I am probably outgrowing his style of comedy. Nonetheless I still love those "classics" and wonder why he hasn't been able to offer the same level of enjoyment he once did.  Going in my expectations were extremely low for Grown Ups. It seems like my expecatations are set low by default for any comedy that comes out these days.  Grown Ups was able to make me laugh more than I expected. Seeing how the point of a comedy is to make the audience laugh, I would have to say it was a slight success even though it was a horrible movie.  A few chuckles won't keep this mess from getting more than a 4 out of 10 on my totally arbitrary movie rating scale.

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