Above, Paula Patton is offered the world by Djimon Hounsou in the nearly-uniquely-atrocious Baggage Claim, which is the last motion pictured I reviewed for MSN Movies. The penultimate one is Don Jon, written, directed by, and starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, who I suppose now can be declared a “critic’s darling” because his movie is getting very positive reviews while being pretty much no damn good. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the performer and his adventurousness, but this particular effort doesn’t make it. And so.
MoviesSome Came Running by Glenn Kenny
The current cinema: Going out with a bang edition
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Glenn KennyJuly 14, 2011
Good luck with whatever comes next. I looked forward to your reviews at MSN each week, sorry to see you go.
Wow, Glenn…I gotta respectfully disagree with your DON JON review (and I’ll do it here since I’ll never go to “MSN Movies” again). I think the “Mook Factor” is all a part of Leavitt’s attempt to frame everything you see as an artifice. His life is an image of what he (Don Jon) imagines is perfection. The characterizations in the film reflect this idea as *we* expect a certain kind of person when we hear a film takes place in New Jersey.
But when he meets Moore’s character, everything changes both in the story and on the screen. While I wasn’t floored by the film, I appreciated the dual look at the façade of modern society, particularly as it relates to younger generations. There’s more going on than meets the eye.
It’s a dirty story of a dirty man
And his clinging wife doesn’t understand.
Their son is working for the Daily Mail,
It’s a steady job but he wants to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.
Hope your next projects are fantastically successful. I’ll continue to faithfully read your site.