mediocre monday :(
Showing Up, Jason Bourne, and more
sorry to say that a lot of the movies i watched this week (Showing Up being the clear exception) were incredibly average and not worth watching - consider this a warning to stay away from most of these:
The Great Gatsby (2013, dir. Baz Luhrmann, rewatch)
i tried to watch this but i only made it fifteen minutes in before remembering that it’s truly horrible. the cuts are INSANE (i’m not kidding), and the acting? subpar. i know it’s supposed to feel like a fever dream, but not all fever dreams are good (arguably, they’re all bad). avoid this at all costs.
Inside Man (2006, dir. Spike Lee)
was genuinely surprised to learn that this is a spike lee joint - certainly didn’t feel like it! a pretty straight forward heist movie, and along those lines, pretty average. i wish i had more to say, but genuinely, this was just incredibly average.
Haywire (2011, dir. Steven Soderbergh)
saw a mubi post about this and decided to give it a try, and surprise! channing tatum! michael douglas! antonio banderas! michael fassbender AND ewan macgregor (not playing brothers, as they should)! i’m writing this 10 minutes in and can already tell you soderbergh left his mark on it. this definitely takes place in the ocean’s universe, for better or for worse. incredibly convoluted and not one of soderbergh’s best.
Showing Up (2023, dir. Kelly Reichardt)
what a joy! reichardt allows us a peek into the incredibly fragile, complex web of art school from an unlikely perspective - and her unlikability only makes the world seem more intense. michelle williams and hong chau are perfect side by side, and i appreciated that we didn’t get their characters’ full histories (we can tell that they’ve had a relationship for a long time, but no details of it). huge film for lovers of crocs and pigeons alike.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999, dir. Stanley Kubrick, rewatch)
definitely had a different perspective of this after reading amy nicholson’s book. kubrick certainly destroyed cruise and kidman’s marriage in the making of this, and with that knowledge, it’s even harder to watch. i admire both of their overacting - so awkward and painful at times! todd field’s role stood out, this time, and i loved the difference in acting between cruise and field - almost as if they had two different directors. unsettling and well-paced - worth a rewatch, even if it’s not christmas.
The Bourne Legacy (2012, dir. Tony Gilroy)
was looking for something easy to watch while i took care of some chores, and instead of that, i was utterly confused the whole time! it also didn’t help that i got too high about halfway through and completely lost the plot of the movie - though i’m not sure being sober would’ve made that much of a difference. i don’t think the bourne franchise should’ve tried this spinoff (clearly a failure), and i don’t have the energy to go into jeremy renner’s whole deal right now.
Jason Bourne (2016, dir. Paul Greengrass)
greengrass and damon have the bourne formula down pat - i’m convinced if you paced out each movie, beat for beat, you’d get the same scenes at the same times. i’m glad bourne is getting closer to retribution for whatever the government did to him, but at this point, i still don’t know what the difference between treadstone and blackbriar is! they just sound like evil venture capital firms! interesting to watch damon age here compared to cruise in the M:I movies – damon doesn’t seem affected by his gray hair.
