#126: Before Sunrise (6/10)

I'm still way behind on my movie watching, but I did manage to catch up with a 1995 Richard Linklater film known as Before Sunrise. I'd really never hear of it back in the day, but I was pretty young when it came out. The film was referenced a couple times on the Filmspotting podcast, so when I saw it on Netflix instant I decided to check it out. I had no clue what it was going to be like, but I was actually pleasantly surprised.

Before Sunrise is about an American traveling in Europe. He meets a French girl on the train and they decide to spend the day together until they will be forced to part ways. It is amazing that almost nothing happens in this film. They don't really do anything. However, they do talk a lot. Almost the entire movie is one conversation after another between the two characters. This type of "talkie" film doesn't appeal to everyone. If I'd watched it maybe 8 years ago I would have hated it. When I realized what it was, I probably would have turned it off.

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#125: Hot Tub Time Machine (5/10)

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I really haven't been watching many movies lately. The problem with Netflix instant is that I start watching lots of movies, but if I'm not interested I can easily turn it off and never finish it. I've been doing that quite a bit lately, and I just haven't had much time to watch movies. Maybe I should start posting about TV.

This week one of the movies I started watching was Love And Other Drugs. I've had it on dvd from Netflix for a couple weeks and I wanted to get it sent back so I forced myself to start it up. Right at first I thought it could be promising, but that hope quickly faded. It was horrible. The interactions between the main characters were so awkward. The brother was supposed to be there for some comic relief, but he wasn't even close to being funny. I made it about 50 minutes in, but when I saw there was another full hour left I decided to bail on it. It is a total piece of crap movie.

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#124: Burlesque (3/10)

I have become fairly pretentious about the films I watch, and Burlesque wasn't even considered to be worth my time. I am almost ashamed to admit I watched it. Even more so, I didn't hate it. Don't get me wrong, it is corny beyond belief, and cannot be taken seriously. Still... it has some entertainment value. It does feature Kristen Bell dancing around in her underwear, so that cannot be all bad... right?

I hadn't seen the great 2000 film Coyote Ugly since it first came out on dvd. I cannot speak to its quality, it has been so long. Burlesque felt like a straight remake of that film, with a slightly different setting, and a much less engaging protagonist... and overall much worse acting. Back when I saw Coyote Ugly I actually bought what was going on.  Burlesque felt more like a spoof of an actual movie.  Kristen Bell and Stanley Tucci did an admirable job making their performances feel genuine, everybody else was ridiculous.

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