Weekly Cinemeh

Hello, and welcome back to another installment of Weekly Cinemeh. This week's theme was people doing stupid things because of money. Money is a powerful motivator, and these movies show the lengths people will go to for it. To the list!

1: The Grand Budapest Hotel
I know we just did a Wes Anderson week, but it put us in the mood for this movie. This is about a concierge and his lobby boy apprentice stealing a painting and the adventure that surrounds it. Much like the rest of Wes Anderson's work, this movie is beautiful, funny, and tragic. Like I mentioned last week Anderson's work is like a moving storybook, and GBH is a great example of this quality. I don't feel like I can give enough praise over how beautiful this is. It is gorgeous. Ralph Fiennes is fantastic as the concierge Gustav H. and had great chemistry with Tony Revolori who played his partner in crime, Zero. This is a great film, watch it.

Eshi: Its hard for me to review this movie, mostly because language doesn't seem sufficient to encompass how it makes me feel. The story is beautiful, the characters are vibrant and engrossing, and the setting is simultaneously bleak and powerfully hopeful. Willem Dafoe is still weirdly charismatic even as the cro-magnon henchman, Jeff Goldblum is great, but Raplh Fiennes steals this whole damn movie. He's both pornographically competent and unwaveringly human amongst the frantic backdrop of the film. Even if you aren't big on Wes Anderson, watch this movie, and if you don't like GBH you are wrong and you make me sad.

2: The Big Empty
I was not sure what to expect from this movie. I am a fan of Jon Favreau but his work has been kind of hit or miss for me. We were lucky though, this movie was fun. While not the most complex movie, it definitely was a good time. Its the story of an actor who is in a ton of debt who takes a job that will clear that debt. Along the way he meets a series of wacky characters in a small town where he is supposed to meet "The Cowboy". It seemed kind of like a David Lynch film. Wacky people in the a small town. A mystery that needs to be solved. Decent movie to watch with some friends while drinking.

Eshi: Brian has a pretty solid handle on this one; it does feel like a David Lynch film, if it was done by Kevin Smith. I have weird feelings about Favreau, I find him almost boldly unlikeable but he's also a relatively talented actor when well directed. Fortunately this is a well made film, so he manages. Sean Bean doesn't die in this movie, which is always nice, and Rachael Leigh Cook is enchanting as always (though she plays a teenager which is uncomfortable). Amazon fucking ruined this movie for me, and I'm not telling how, because it would ruin it for everyone else. When you go to watch this one just close your eyes and click, otherwise you get all primed and it fucks up the tone.

3: Stretch
This movie was more of a surprise than the last one. I am not really a fan of Patrick Wilson but he was pretty good. Chris Pine as an eccentric, hedonistic, and fucking insane millionaire was probably the best part of the movie. This movie is about an actor turned limo driver who is in a lot of gambling debt which is being called in. He goes out to pick up a rich guy who is known for tipping big, but is also a handful to deal with. Antics ensue. This was a fun movie to watch, with a ton of "did that just happen" moments. The love story on the side is 100% superfluous though and wasn't even fulfilling in the end. Good bit of fun to watch with some friends.

Eshi: Stretch is a movie about a charismatic NPC becoming a Player Character. We've talked about how enjoyable PCing is before and this story does not disappoint on that front. Chris Pine as a buttfuck crazy capitalist is delightful and Ed Helms as audience surrogate is a pleasure. Give this one a shot, its definitely worth it.