Consider Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! to be the crazy little brother to Michael Mann's The Insider. Both films are about whistle-blowers at large corporations, only The Informant's Mark Whitacre can best be described as "wackily delusional". The film is based on the true story of the Lysine price fixing conspiracy, which on it's face sounds painful boring, but Soderbergh and Matt Damon amp up the quirk and comedy to an obscene degree. The trailrs alone had me dying with laughter, and the cast is full of brilliant big screen comedic talents. Strangely it's listed as being only in limited release, but you can find it pretty much everywhere. Saturday night I'll be hosting a Meetup to see this, so if you're interested in tagging along you're welcome to join us.
Do I really need to go into detail on why I want to see this? Just look at the poster. I'm a sucker for schoolgirl outfits anyway, but come on, Megan! Jennifer's Body is more a dark comedy than it is a horror, so expect plenty of cheesy laughs probably at the expense of us hapless men. Looks kinda like a more evil version of Heathers, and since it's written by Diablo Cody(Juno) I'm pretty sure it'll sound like Heathers, too. Atleast I know the script will be whip smart and snappy, and there'll be plenty to look at.
If there's time...
Typically I wouldn't even consider seeing this movie, about the lives of three very different women dealing with love in all it's various stages. But it's written and directed by Guillermo Arriaga, who wrote and directed Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel. All three of those movies are great. Much like those films, this one features a non-linear structure to the story, which some find annoying but I think works when done correctly. Starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger(who I don't think I've seen since The Door in the Floor), this one has some acting chops behind it. Surprised it's not received more buzz. In the DC Metro area you can find The Burning Plain at Landmark E Street Cinema.
Like I said previously, I'll be catching up on The September Issue this week without a doubt. Otherwise it's a pretty quiet week.
No...just...no...
I think I've made it pretty clear here and on my twitter page(@punchycritic) that you couldn't get me to see this movie if you had my entire DVD collection tied to the railroad tracks and a train barrelling towards it. Just one look at the trailer gives us some of the stiffest, fakest, inhuman dialogue I've ever heard like "You have to allow yourself to start living again". Urrrghh!!! Who talks like that to anybody who's not laying on a therapist's couch? "You get with these guys with expiration dates right on their foreheads". Blech!! That's funny. My patience for this movie expired the instant Aniston and Eckhart literally bump into eachother to start their courtship. I'll pass. But I'd love it if someone who sees this turkey can let me know just how painful it really is.
I've got nothing against this movie. It looks fine. I'm sure it's ok. I've just soured on it after being deluged with trailers for it the last few weeks. And TV spots are just horrendous. The animation doesn't do much for me, although to be fair nothing is going to look again after the wonder that was '9'. It just looks like too much of a kiddie flick, and I'm not in the right frame of mind for that right now. If I was I would've gone to see Shorts a couple of weeks ago. If I hear that this is somehow the best animated film of the year, I might change my mind.
