I really struggle to get excited about summer movie releases, and look forward most to seeing the previews toward the end of the summer, for movies to be released in the fall and winter.
But tonight I saw Love and Mercy and had to remind myself not to judge so harshly all summer movies… there are some gems here and there. Would appreciate hearing what others have seen and their reviews. For Downton Abbey fans, Paul Giamatti (Harold Levinson) plays Dr. Eugene Landy, the psychologist who exploited Brian Wilson and controlled his almost every move for years.
We also saw Pitch Perfect 2 a few weeks ago, and it won’t win any awards, but parts of it were entertaining; I loved the first Pitch Perfect and went in with the usual sequel expectations. We, of course, loved the scene with the Green Bay Packers, but there was a moment of awkwardness when they came on the screen and we wanted to cheer, but remembered we were sitting in a theater in the Chicagoland area.
The only time I tend to go to movies in the summer is if there’s a chick flick and many of us go to dinner and a movie. It’s hard to justify being indoors…but I still love a summer blockbuster. Thanks for the thumbs up with Love and Mercy!
A couple of weeks ago, I saw Pitch Perfect 2 and Mad Max: Fury Road on consecutive evenings. The funny thing is, I bet I wasn’t the only person in America to do that . . . but there can’t have been many of us. I liked 'em both, by the way. A little more depth would have been nice in either of them. (Also, news flash, PP2: Ethnic stereotyping is not cool, even when applied to Germans, and especially not when applied to Asian-American and Asian students.)
This weekend, on impulse my spouse and I went to see the new Melissa McCarthy movie, Spy. It was hilarious. It IS cool to stereotype men, which this movie did relentlessly and to great effect. I have not always been a fan of McCarthy, but this script did a great job of balancing her saccharine, Gilmore Girls side and her aggressive, foul-mouthed side, making her both relatable and, when provoked, outrageous. We found ourselves sitting next to a married couple of prominent local officials; they laughed as much as we did.
One advantage of going to all those different movies was seeing completely different previews at each of them. Not surprisingly, I felt very enthusiastic about the forthcoming Judd Apatow film with Amy Schumer, Trainwreck. Somewhat surprisingly, I was not attracted by the prospect of seeing Meryl Streep and Mamie Gummer playing alternate-reality versions of themselves, even with Jonathan Demme directing and Kevin Kline not obviously over-acting. Maze Runner and Terminator looked dumb; Paper Towns and Inside Out looked good.
I mainly see movies on LONG United flights. The best one I’ve seen recently is Tim’s Veneer, where a millionaire inventor does his first oil painting, “The Music Lesson,” by the 17th century Dutch painter. It shoes you his thought process and amazing results of his multi-year project.
I really enjoyed Love and Mercy–but you need to be a Beach Boys fan and know a little about Brian Wilson’s story to fully appreciate it.
I’m looking forward to seeing Inside Out, Far from the Madding Crowd and Testament of Youth–obviously, I’m not the summer blockbuster type. Spy is one of those movies I want to see, but not enough to pay for a ticket, and since I don’t think it demands a big-screen experience, I’ll wait til I can watch it at home. D, an a capella singer herself and big fan of the first Pitch Perfect, thought the sequel was lousy, and she hated Mad Max (but I bet my S will love it). There’s definitely something for everyone this summer.
I’m not a summer blockbuster type, either, which is why I typically don’t see much in the summer. But I felt like Love and Mercy was an exception.
D was also in a capella in college, and her senior year was music director, so that initiated our interest in the first one, which we all enjoyed. And knowing sequels typically don’t live up to the first movie, we still saw the sequel because of the Packers scene. It wasn’t a top ten anything, but it had its moments.
I do think it’s kind of interesting to see Elizabeth Banks play roles in two movies that are so entirely different!
Saw Spy last night, and laughed until I cried. Repeatedly. Melissa McCarthy reminds me of Lucille Ball in her ability to carry off physical comedy. The credits are worth watching as well – I’ve never seen a crowd laugh so hard during the credits for any other movie. My H found the movie even funnier because he was familiar with Jason Statham from the Transporter movie series, and was surprised at how well he did with comedy.
We saw it at a Cinnebarre theater, which serves drinks and nibbles before the movie starts – the unexpected benefit to this was that they showed about a half-dozen shorts made by college students, mostly in animation programs, and several were really good.
I am not a big moviegoer at all. But I saw Love and Mercy last night, and was absolutely mesmerized. I can’t stop thinking about it. While it does help to be a Beach Boys fan, it’s really not about the Beach Boys’ music - rather, it’s about Brian Wilson’s creative genius with sound and his descent into mental illness and subsequent redemption.
Really compelling. The sound design is terrific as they “whirl” you into the madness of the voices that Brian Wilson hears and you realize how much more awful it is for him since his genius is in hearing music and sound in ways that the rest of us can’t. A very compelling story.
I concur with Teri that Paul Giamatti did a fabulous job as Dr. Landy, the manipulative psychologist; Paul Dano was excellent as the young Brian Wilson, with just that naive sense of wonder. John Cusack did a great job as the older Brian Wilson - it was a bit offputting that he doesn’t look like either Brian Wilson or Paul Dano, and I think they could have done a bit more to channel BW’s physical looks (even lightening Cusack’s hair a bit might have helped) but his performance was still great. I predict some Oscar nominations for this one…
This past holiday season was lacking any good romantic comedies, I miss when the kids were young and we’d go see a summer flick at the drive-in. Wifey never wants to go, well, rarely. Son and I have chatted about seeing a couple but they fizzled. He’s in “college” now, LOL, so he goes w friends and his girlfriend. San Andreas, Love and Mercy are on my list even if I have to go alone. Daughter’s boyfriend was telling me last night about “The Martian” w Matt Damon, maybe that will come out in 3D!
Oooh, forgot about The Martian! I read the book and liked it but found it really hard to visualize, and therefore understand, a lot of the tech-y science-y stuff described in it—I am the ultimate non-STEM person–so a movie version will be just the thing for me.
Ok, I’ll admit it, I am looking forward to “Jurassic World”. My now 30-yo was a dinosaur nut as a kid and I rather enjoyed “Jurassic Park”. I’ve been enjoying the great marketing they’re doing, with the website for the park as if it really exists, with the waiting times and ads for restaurants there and even “live cams” in various places.
“San Andreas” was so over-the-top and so completely unbelievable that it was good, cheesy fun as H and I laughed over it. We had nothing better to do so we went last weekend. We don’t go to many movies, the last one was back last winter when “Selma” came out.
I was blown away by About Elly, an highly suspenseful Iranian film about a group of friends vacationing together at the beach. Definitely doesn’t have a summer movie feel – it’s quite dark. But a really interesting, compelling movie. Has anyone seen it?
@sseamom, I am pterosaur nut, and even though the inaccuracies (aka them being able to lift people with their feet) annoy me, I am still extremely excited to see the movie! Pterosaurs don’t have as wide of an appeal as dinosaurs, so a movie that has them is great I my book!