Sunday, January 28, 2007

Movies and Stuff and being sick

We watched a couple of movies. Miami Vice and Talladega Nights. Hated the first, loved the second. Miami Vice was a huge disappointment. First, the director (Michael Mann) seemed to go out of his way to make Colin Ferrell look bloated and pasty. He was about as sexy as one of my used tissues in this movie, and I gotta tell you, that whole crazy-irresponsible-drunken-Irishman-who'd-fuck-anything-that-moves thing he's got going? Yeah. I'm into it big-time. So major disappointment there. Second big problem is, the actual city of Miami--which, given the film is called Miami Vice, and given how much on-location stuff the TV show used to do, we rather expected to get really homesick from seeing so much of--is basically nonexistent in the film. They spend some time in Cuba, which is always exciting for South Floridians, among whom Cuba is sort of like Shangri-La: exciting and forbidden and dangerous. So that was kind of neat to see, but again, we might as well have been seeing a soundstage. All of the film was like that. With the exception of a couple of shots in the beginning of the downtown skyline and a few shots along I-95...nothing.

Plus the entire thing was shot in these very tight close-ups that gave the movie a claustrohpobic feel. And everyone muttered and looked very serious all the time, and the whole film was them muttering and looking serious. Hardly any action took place. No car chases, one shoot-em-up that lasted a few minutes and was filmed, like the rest of the movie, in such darkness we couldn't see what was happening. It was always cloudy, and when we saw the ocean out someone's windows it was hazy enough to obscure the horizon. Just blah. Dull and ugly.

Talladega Nights was fun, though. Mindless, but clever, if that makes any sense. The cast was stellar, including of course John C. Reilly who is always so damn funny (except when he's doing wonderful dramatic work, of course.) Every time I watch Boogie Nights he makes me giggle. And Gary Cole! And Michael Clarke Duncan, reading "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret". Which is one of my favorite bits in the movie. (My favorite is the haunted house thing. "Get out..." Tee-hee-hee.) Anyway, since my Dad is a big Nascar fan, and he used to run quarter-miles all the time when I was a kid (he had a '67 Mustang fastback he used to work on), watching racing movies of any kind still has a nostaligc feel for me. So perhaps I enjoyed this one more than I might normally have, but I love the Frat Pack movies anyway, so I liked this one. It might become one of my "watch when sick" movies, along with The Godfather, A Room With A View, and lots of sitcoms on DVD.

What are your "comfort" films?

8 comments:

Camille Alexa said...

December, I am so sorry.

Movies:
Room w/a View is a good one! When I'm sick, I like TV shows on DVD. I don't own a TV, and I've never had cable, so I'm excited to see entire seasons of Firefly, Scrubs, Deadwood, Freaks & Geeks, Invader Zim, American Gothic: whatever S wants to bring me home to watch.

It's very soothing. Something about me not having to make the decisions when I'm not feeling well, and the comforting lengthiness of the story arcs. I can kind of zone in and out.

Get better. We miss you.

Anonymous said...

I shall not see MV then!

The mentioning how Miami wasn't really in this movie, despite the title, reminded me of that MIA scene in Casino Royale.

Prague's It'l Airport!

And would you believe my landlord works at that airport and I could have been there for that!!!

*sigh*

Hope you are feeling better! :)

Stacia said...

Thanks everyone! I'm still not 100%--and not smoking feels like I've had something amputated--but at least my brain seems to be mostly working again and I'm not coughing with every breath I take. Which is nice.

Ah, lbl, I LOVE Freaks & Geeks! We have that one on DVD as well, it's sooo good. Why that gets cancelled and shit like "Celebrity anything" stays on the air...sigh.

Stacia said...

I adore The Mummy, Jenn. I'm still pissed that when they did the thrid movie they made up that dumbass Scorpion King thing instead of making a movie about Oded Fehr, who was so freaking smoking in those movies. :-)


Isabella, best to put that whole landlord thing out of your mind. Otherwise it will simply eat you alive.
Yeah, hubs and I knew that wasn't MIA (but didn't know it was Prague, aha!) We also couldn't figure out why Bond left the airport and suddenly appeared on the MacArthur Causeway, given that that's nowhere near the airport and he was headed in the wrong direction (towards the city, not towards the beach) anyway. Stock footage, don't you love it?

Anonymous said...

When it's my choice: Boondock Saints, Patton, Star Wars, and believe it or not, Moulin Rouge.

The main thing that deterred me from watching Miami Vice is, well, it was called Miami Vice. -V95

P.S. Stay quit.

Robyn said...

I was addicted to MV and Don Johnson back in the day, so I can't bring myself to see the movie.

Congrats on quitting, and I hope you are fully recovered soon. The Princess Bride is always my comfort flick.

canwag said...

I just watched Miami Vice last night, and actually I liked it. My favorite scene was with Colin Farrell and Gong Li dancing in the Havana night club. I was disappointed, like you, that they shot most of the scenes internationally rather than in Miami. My favorite movie is *still* "To Kill a Mockingbird". It always gives me the warm fuzzies. (You can tell I'm ancient.)

Stacia said...

I never watched the show MV when it was on, but we catch reruns of it now and get all homesick.

Mmmm, the Princess Bride!


Welcome, canwag! I did like that scene, and all the Havana stuff I thought was very cool, but the film in general just bored me. I'm sure my raging illness didn't help. :-)

I love To Kill A Mockingbird, and I'm not really old!