If only the bizarre, leaden, muddled Hyde Park On Hudson had a single line that funny. If only. I review for MSN Movies.
The big ones—The Hobbit, Zero Dark Thirty, that “Master of the House” thing—are on their way. And more after those. Some of these are quite good.
“–ooks like I’ve solved another one for you.”
“Nick, I can’t knock success. But you’ve still put me through too many changes.”
“It all came rushing back to me like the hot kiss at the end of a wet fist”
Ah, well, I’m seeing this at a free screening tomorrow night. Maybe the fact I don’t have to pay for it will mean I’m kinder to it than you were, though I agree that’s not a necessary corollary (after all the worst movie I saw in the last 10 years or so was at a free screening). I will say, however, I liked Murray’s version of THE RAZOR’S EDGE more than you did.
I found Murray quite confident. it was the material that failed him. It’s paper thin.
I love the line in IGBY GOES DOWN where he says “Then I had my ‘Razor’s Edge’ moment.”
I gotta agree with ljpranzer: I thought Murray’s performance in Razor’s Edge was quite alright. Movie overall wasn’t a patch on the original, except for one scene.
Every time he releases another block of styrofoam like this, I wonder what happened to the Roger Michell who did right by Austen’s “Persuasion.” Haven’t watched it recently, but it cut so much deeper than Ang Lee’s more heralded “S & S.” But hackdom has been the guy’s trade since “Notting Hill.”
Frears, Apted, Newell and several others took similar paths. It’s good to see the UK cinema on an upswing with young talent. (Also worth celebrating: NY Critics Circle win for Rachel Weisz.)
You’ve mixed up your Bourne titles. Elizabeth Marvel was in The Bourne Legacy this year, not Supremacy.
Off-topic, but as it must be addressed somewhere, large MF up to Glenn for handing Bret Easton Ellis his (Mr. Ellis’) not-even-mildly interesting ass in re: Kathryn Bigelow on the Twitterz. Bravo, my good man – there should be some kind of award.
+1 on your response to the Ellis/Bigelow tweet. Very well played.
And now that I’ve seen it, I felt it was very similar to last year’s MY WEEK WITH MARILYN; an anecdote stretched out to feature length. And I would agree the best parts of the movie were Williams and Marvel, and it was a shock when I realized who Eleanor Bron was playing. I will admit, however, I seemed to be in the distinct minority of the audience I was watching it with, as there was a lot of laughter, even at the 500th time they made a joke about whether or not Queen Elizabeth II would eat a hot dog. It’s that kind of movie.
Roger Mitchell is one of my favorite journeyman directors working. ENDURING LOVE and THE MOTHER are two of my favorite thrillers of the early 00’s. CHANGING LANES has a compromised ending but a willingness to engage with ambiguity that’s uncommon in studio filmmaking. Heck, I might even go to bat for NOTTING HILL. It’s too bad this new one doesn’t cut it.
Graig, I was probably too sweeping in my dismissal, as I did enjoy portions of the films you mentioned. “Persuasion” simply lingers as something more, a high water mark of the Brit-lit wave in that era. I probably should have left it at that.