If you know anything about how people in Los Angeles react to rain, then you know know that when one drop of rain falls from the sky, all hell breaks loose. People pull over to the side of the highway and put on their hazards when it's barely even sprinkling by human standards. Accidents happen because all the people who are driving overly cautious piss off the people who just want to get the fuck home after a day of work. On every social networking site everyone is posting photos of a wet road, captioned "OMG it's raining," because they think it's such a big deal. It's chaos. If Roland Emmerich wanted to make a more realistic end of the world in Los Angeles, instead of a massive earthquake, it would've just rained.
To make a long story short, from about 330 to 530 I was right in the thick of all the dumb assholes that like John Cusack, don't understand how rain works.
What is this falling substance?
Not to be an optimist ever, but when I wasn't nodding off behind the wheel, texting, jiving to Duran Duran, or posting photos to instagram, I was mapping out the post I was going to make when I got home because I decided to make the best of my time. For a guy who won "Class Pessimist" in high School that's a pretty strange thought, but maybe I'm more motivated than usual.
Or maybe it's the fact that I'm really excited about the movies this fall. This weekend is the first of the fall that it truly STACKED with quality releases. After a summer that was pretty lackluster in my opinion, it has been a pretty kick ass fall so far. In a month that is typically filled with end of the summer, not fully there drivel, September saw the releases of Looper, Dredd 3D and The Master. I typically just hope there's something decent enough to draw me into the multiplex at least once, but this year I was interested in a movie just about every weekend, and it's only going to get a lot better all starting with this weekend.
Now typically I divide these posts into genres so that you can evaluate what movie you want to see based on what you're in the mood for. I decided to go a different route this time because there are so many worthwhile options. I decided that the best way to write this weeks post would be to rate it in order of which movies I'm most excited for, to which films I'm least excited for. Just because I rate things low on the scale of movies I'm excited for this weekend doesn't mean I'm not excited about them. It just means that there are other movies that I'd rather see first.
1. Seven Psychopaths
A movie with Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Colin Farrell and fucking Tom Waits... That's titled Seven Psychopaths.... Sign me up. I've had several conversations with friends about how you could not fuck up a movie with a cast like that, but it happens all the time in Hollywood. But I'm not worried about this movie at all because it's written and directed by Martin McDonagh who's last movie, In Bruges remains one of my favorite films of the last decade.
The one thing I am worried about are the crowd this film will draw in. Martin McDonagh isn't afraid to paint his films as black as night, and I will not be surprised if this movie is very dark. They advertise it to be a comical romp, but I think it might be a lot darker than it lets on. I'm afraid that if it is a lot darker than it lets on the audience won't like it as much. People don't tend to like it when a movie is better than they expected because it was something they didn't expect. Everyone wants movies to be spoonfed to them before the opening credits start to roll. It's frustrating, but people are stupid. Also, don't be surprised if this film is filled with gore and extreme violence. That's another thing McDonagh's not afraid of.
Right now the critics have been giving it great reviews and as I sit here typing these words it sits at 85% on the Tomatometer. I think this movie will be a hell of a bloody-good time and if you're not afraid of some violence, and like Tarantino-like dialogue, then this is your movie.
2. Argo
It was very difficult for me to choose between Psychopaths and Ben Affleck's most recent flick Argo, because both films look like insanely good movies. For a long while Argo had the upper hand because it's already being talked about in early conversations about the Oscars, and Affleck's first two times up to bat he hit it out of the park. But I'm a big time midnight release guy even after the bullshit in Aurora went down, so what it came down to was, what movie would be more fun to see in a theater full of people at Midnight? Sadly Argo fell by the wayside, but nevertheless, it's one of my most highly anticipated films of the fall and I plan on seeing it as soon as humanly possible during this weekend.
Argo is a period piece set in the 1970's, about an operation to free six American citizens seeking refuge in the house of the Canadian Ambassador in Iran. Ben Affleck plays the exfiltration specialist who sets out to save the citizens and he concocts a plan to save them by flying in and pretending that they are his film crew for a science fiction film named "Argo." It's supposed to be extremely intense, and feel very real to the period.
It received critical acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival last month and has the potential to be an Oscar contender. As I sit here typing it sits at a hefty 92% on the Tomatometer which is also very good.
Hollywood thinks very highly of itself so they should be extremely pleased with a film about Hollywood actually saving peoples lives. It has a great cast headed by none other than Ben Affleck himself. Other notables are Heisenberg, or Bryan Cranston to you simple folk who don't catch the reference, and John Goodman.
3. Smashed
This is the second movie this weekend coming out with a famous methamphetamine cook, except this time it's Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) who makes his way onto the screen. Aaron Paul, who just won an Emmy for his work in season 4 of 'Breaking Bad', has to take a seat to his co-star, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who's been getting rave reviews for her role in this film about coping with alcohol addiction.
We've seen MWE in several roles over the past bunch of years playing everything from Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim and Lucy McClane, John McClane's daughter in Live Free or Die Hard. While I've enjoyed looking at her all this time, to this point she really hasn't had a role that could showcase her talents. Smashed looks like her gateway into the more mature, serious film acting and could even land her an Oscar nomination.
The film centers around MWE and Aaron Paul's relationship and how their dependency on alcohol has sent their lives and marriage into a spiraling chaos. MWE decides to take action and seek help with AA while Aaron Paul keeps on partying.
The film won the hearts of it's audiences at Sundance back in January, but they shelved the film for quite some time to release it to the masses a little closer to Oscar season. It's a small, independent film so it won't be widely released, at least not right away. It looks to be a interesting portrayal of struggle and addiction, and if you're into indie dramas with new young talent, this might be your movie. Right now the film has an 82% on the Tomatometer.
4. Sinister
I like scary movies, and horror films but it's rare for one to come around that looks even remotely appealing to me. Maybe it's the fact that they typically recycle a hot young actress through each role and regenerate painfully boring and miserable plot lines. However, Sinister does look like a scary movie that shows some promise. I couldn't tell you much about the movie really other than the fact that it's about a house, that may be haunted, and there's some creepy image of something coming out of a box at the end of the trailer. It stars, Ethan Hawke who I've always liked, and looks like something that might actually work for a change. Right now it hovers at 61% just above the rotten level, but critics tend to dispel most scary movies before they even see them, so that's actually pretty decent. I'm not flocking to the theater to see it, but at the same time I am pretty curious to find out what comes out of that box.
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That right there is it for new releases this weekend. If you still haven't seen Looper then you're not doing yourself any favors because it's amazing, and as more great releases hit the theaters this fall it's going to fall by the wayside. Don't make the mistake of waiting too long, because it will probably be out of theaters before you even know it.
But if you haven't found something that you want to watch between, Looper and the other four films I wrote about, then you should probably see Here Comes the Boom because you're obviously an asshole.
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