Drop Dead Gorgeous (Michael Patrick Jann, 1999)Critics shmitics (28 on Metacritic). Aside from the unfortunate Will Sasso bits, good stuff this is.
Grade: B+
Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals (Ezra Edelman, 2010)I have a serious sports footage from the 80s and early 90s fetish. This thing is purely by the numbers but I really liked it.
Grade: A-
Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995) You haters are so wrong. It’s a biting satire of affluent self-absorption, but at the same time pulls off this nifty trick where it’s totally sympathetic to Carol as well. It manages to be a cultural satire while also being a terrific thriller; so much tension in the first half of the film. Is it in her head? Is her environment making her sick? Both, I think, which in a way makes the film scarier. The final scenes, first in the dining room and then Carol in her quarters, absolutely amazing.
Grade: A
Thirteen Days (Roger Donaldson, 2000)This feels like TV. But not in a “we’re in a golden age of American TV” way, more like “a TNT original” way. Not that I completely disliked it; it’s not bad as a laundry folding flick. Aaron Sorkin could have done some blow and banged out a better script over a weekend. Costner is a hoot.
Grade: C+
Walking Tall (Phil Karlson, 1973)My goodness, people were so vengeful in the 70s. Its complete lack of subtly and general homemade quality of filmmaking almost endears it enough to me to make up for how stupid it is. Almost.
Grade: C
Youth in Revolt (Miguel Arteta, 2010)The whole, these kids are pretentious and talk like they’re in a French movie was pretty funny at times but also kind of annoying too, particularly when it came to Sheeni. I have a low tolerance for horny teenage boy movies, but I liked this one in general. And I liked that it was a coming of age story, but more absurd than precious. Cera’s still funny.
Grade: B