The Girlfriend Experience is terrific. My homey Jason Ryan (I linked to his old short story blog, so you all can enjoy some real good reading--you're welcome) mentioned earlier this year in 2009 that he really liked it, that it might be one of the best he's seen this year saw in 2009. Admittedly, I had my doubts. But I watched it this afternoon and it's really pretty special. It's Steven Soderbergh's other 2009 film (The Informant! being what I consider his primary release this year), and it only solidifies his status in my mind as the most prolific talent currently working. He made his big splash way back in '89 with sex, lies, and videotape, and since then he has made at least twenty films, the vast majority of which are good movies. And that's really saying something. Most directors put out films at no better than half the pace of Soderbergh, with half the creativity and vision (at best), and most of them are less than half as watchable.
Anyway, I don't think I'm going to tell you anything about The Girlfriend Experience, other than that you should watch it as soon as you're able. If you have Netflix, there's really no excuse, as it's available to "Watch Instantly". So get to it. Time's a-wasting.
Fantastic Mr. Fox, Round 2 was lovely. I liked it very much the first time I saw it, and I liked it very much this second time, as well. My repeat viewing didn't convince me that it's a great film (as opposed to a very good and very enjoyable one), but I did notice more, different bits that I hadn't before. I hereby submit that Fantastic Mr. Fox is Wes Anderson's third-best movie to date, by the way. (Feel free to guess the first two. It shouldn't be hard.)
Broken Embraces. Not a lot to say about this one. It's good. It's not great. It's definitely worth seeing. But it's also definitely rentable, if you prefer the DVD route. I have yet to see a Pedro Almodovar film that is boring, and this is no exception. All of his films seem to have interesting, slightly bizarre stories told in a way that always feels fresh and unique. And for that, I love him. But Broken Embraces--despite being interesting and slightly bizarre, and feeling (somewhat) fresh and unique--ultimately left me unenthused. I'm glad I went to see it, but a week from now, I'll probably have forgotten all about it. And I'm fine with that.
No comments:
Post a Comment