Weekly Cinemeh

Hello, and welcome to another installment of Weekly Cinemeh. Last week we did horrible movies, and that made us feel bad. This week, we decided to find movies that correspond to the actors of the movies we watched last week, except for Plan 9, we watched a movie that had the same basic plot instead. To the list!

1: The Other Guys
This movie has Marky Mark playing a cop on the edge, though for different reasons than Max Payne. He is a cop that wants to be the action movie cop that runs around and kills bad guys from major criminal organizations. He is partnered with Will Ferrell, a straight lace cop that uses forensic accounting techniques instead of a gun to take out bad guys. Together these two try to uncover an investment scheme and distinguish themselves as policemen. Its a fun movie that loves to poke fun at cop movies, and the inconsistencies that are rampant in them. It not as good as Hot Fuzz in that regard, but that's because it also spends a lot of time focusing on white collar crime too, pointing out that companies do some very illegal actions, but are "too big to fail" so they can get away with stealing billions of dollars from the public. Its a little preachy about the second topic, but it is a topic that deserves to be forced down our throats since it was brought up in the news and no one did anything about it (that's a topic for another post >_<). Its funny, and the actors all appeared to be having a fun time. I love Michael Keaton in any comedic role, and I wish he was in more stuff. I also think that they should do a movie with Will Ferrel as a pimp, because that stuff was fun to watch. Give it a viewing if you get the chance, it will not disappoint.

Eshi: Our movies this week are bad at subtly but given the overall public apathy involved in the subject matter covered doesn't really grant any benefit from nuance. The Other Guys is really incisive in some weird ways, the commentary about how we think of police compared to what they ought to be, the examination of corporate malfeasance and irresponsibility, it even throws out a wink and a nudge about our misconceptions about love. It is the most serious not at all serious movie I've ever seen. It carries itself as a goofy, mediocre cop comedy, but is actually very well put together and holds up to closer inspection better than it has a right to. I was surprised, you will be too... Though less so now.

2: Lord Of War
Another preachy movie that deserves to be preachy. This one has Nick Cage playing an arms dealer and deals with how fucked up a profession that is. It also points out that the countries that are on the UN security council are the biggest exporters of weapons in the world. Its a fucked up situation, and this movie shows it from the perspective of someone who is familiar with it. I love the finale of the movie, it is poignant and makes up for some of the sloggy bits in the beginning of the movie. Nick Cage is fun to watch when he is in a good role and has fun with it. He has a campy way of acting that is a blast to watch, though when he tries to be campy in a campy role, over the top doesn't begin to describe it. I really like Eamonn Walker as Baptiste. He gets the charismatic and psychotic despot right in some very unsettling ways. You are never sure if he is about to kill everyone, which adds some good tension to the movie. Its a good movie, check it out.

Eshi: Lord of War is probably my favorite Nick Cage movie. Its not so much directly funny or dramatic, or really anything. It just kinda does its thing as you get to be there for it, and I always love it when a movie has the balls to just do its thing. Jared Leto was kind of a weird choice as the brother but he ends up making it land, he always fucking does. I really like Jared Leto, I really want to hate him but I think its probably jealousy. Pretty fucker with his fucking eyes... Anyway. LoW is insightful and engaging in ways that you wouldn't expect from a Nick Cage film. Do it.

3: The Day The Earth Stood Still
Our theme could have been movies with an obvious message this week, but I think that would have made them sound bad to some degree. Really, all the movies are good, and their messages deserve to be heard. This movie was our answer to Plan 9. We decided against another Ed Wood film mostly because his films are all rated poorly (even though they are fun to watch) and opted for something with the same message as Plan 9 but done well. TDTESS is a great movie. Its about an alien that arrives on Earth to deliver a message and how humans react to the idea. It is a good cold war movie, exposing how our squabbles over ideals were childish. Not all of the movie was great. Its special effects, while not shoddy, still leave something to be desired. Since the movie was made in 1951 and they didn't have a ton to work with anyway, I can't get to upset about that. I loved Michael Rennie as the alien Klaatu, he does a great job of looking slightly bemused at human attempts to be advanced as well as being intimidating when he needs to be. The movie's main point is that people are to easily scared of something new. They view it as dangerous, just because they don't understand it. The movie also does a good job of showing how mass media fucks with public perception of events. In almost every scene someone is talking about how on the news they heard that the alien is sinister so he must be. Its a really classy way of point out the problems with sensationalism. Its a good movie, go watch it.

Eshi: This movie is fucking great. Watching Klaatu shake his head knowingly ever five minutes is everything I've ever wanted for a first contact movie. I don't even want to talk about it. Go watch it and come back, we can gush over it together. Though there is one scene I wish they'd have swiped from Plan 9.