favorite movies #21: the way, way back

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #21 - The Way, Way Back (2013) - Sam Rockwell is one of those actors who seems charming and effortless, but I suspect there’s a lot more roiling under the surface. I still think he has yet to find the perfect vehicle for his talent, but he’s come close in quite a few, and manages to steal every scene he’s in. This is a sweet coming of age story with a slightly dark underbelly (mostly in the person of Steve Carell), and I love it. It’s a perfect end of summer movie, too.

Duncan (Liam James): This is the only place I'm happy. 

Owen (Sam Rockwell): What's going on? 

Duncan: I hate him. 

Owen: Who? 

Duncan: Trent. My mom's boyfriend. He said I was a three. He asked me what I thought I was on, a scale from one to ten. He called me a three. Who says that to somebody? 

Owen: Someone who doesn't know you. 

Duncan: I didn't want to have to answer! I shouldn't have to answer! 

Owen: Listen to me. That's about him, man. That's all about him. It's got nothing to do with you. 

Duncan: [vehemently] Yeah? How do you know? 

Owen: 'Cause I know, okay? Don't worry about how I know. My dad was the same way. That's why I don't like patterns and rules. And that's why you can't buy into that shit. You gotta go your own way. And you, my friend, are going your own way.

the unwatchables

I'm not sure if I am becoming less patient or just more selective, but I have noticed lately that I am unwilling to watch more than a few movies after the first twenty or so minutes. Our internet scanning culture has made us more in charge of what we watch. We are even watching more, not less, something of which I am all too aware. I try not to leave the boob tube on too much, so I guess when I am going to watch something, usually a "grown-up" movie that I couldn't watch in theaters or when the kid is around, I want to make it count. I have also noticed that these movies that I have rejected are all pretty negative in tone. I just don't have time for that these days.

Prisoners - This movie, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman got pretty good reviews I think, when it first came out, so I tried to give it a go. I had hesitated for a while because of the subject matter - the disappearance and possible murder of two young girls on Thanksgiving, but I turned it off because it frankly bored the heck out of me. I didn't care for any of the characters, and Jackman's dad seemed one note and off the rails from the get go. I didn't care to find out what happened to anyone.

Prisoners - Nope and nope.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World - I am a little tired of Steve Carell's sad-sack characters, but I liked the idea of a sort of buddy adventure, although a tad apocalyptic, with Keira Knightley. But the characters didn't really gel with me, and after a minor character offed himself in a seemingly gratuitous and extremely unfunny scene, this black comedy was crossed off my continue-to-watch list.

The Heat - I have tried, I have really tried to watch Melissa McCarthy in movies. I loved her on Gilmore Girls, but I am really getting sick and tired of her blowsy, boorish big-screen characters. I found her foul-mouthed cop in The Heat an unbearable bore that even Sandra Bullock's presence couldn't temper. I never made it past the first twenty minutes of Identity Thief either. I'm not a fan of the recent spate of gross-out comedies, so although I will admit that her character was funny in Bridesmaids, I really didn't care for the film. I am hoping that she doesn't spoil St. Vincent, because I am still looking forward to checking that one out.

summer movies

The New York Times had a summer movie preview section this past Sunday and for the first time in a long time there were a whole lot of movies that looked interesting to me.

The kid got interested too, as I was reading off some of the descriptions of upcoming films featuring actors or concepts that appealed to me. So I have adapted their list to reflect our summer movie preview.

What I want to see (on my own):

May

GREETINGS FROM TIM BUCKLEY - I love Jeff Buckley's music, so this sounds pretty interesting to me. With Penn Badgley, Imogen Poots, William Sadler and Norbert Leo Butz.

THE GREAT GATSBY - I am almost positive that I won't like this, and it will be a huge mess, but director Baz Luhrmann is sure to have made a visually stunning mess with great costumes.

THE ENGLISH TEACHER - I'm not always in the front row to see a Julianne Moore movie, but this sounds fun. She's "a small-town schoolteacher [who] risks it all to mount a high school production of a play by her former star student (Michael Angarano), who has come back home after failing to establish himself as a playwright in New York. Bonus: Greg Kinnear and Nathan Lane.

June

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - Joss Whedon, Shakespeare, Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Nathan Fillion. 'Nuff said

WORLD WAR Z - I usually avoid zombie movie like a post-apocalyptic plague, but hey, Brad Pitt.

BYZANTIUM - This one sounds a bit like The Hunger, but it stars Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan and is directed by Neil Jordan, so it's definitely worth a shot.

THE HEAT - Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy sound like mis-match made in heaven. And they're cops.

July

THE WAY, WAY BACK - Sam Rockwell. Here's the NYT description: "A shy 14-year-old (Liam James), neglected by his mother (Toni Collette) and her new boyfriend (Steve Carell), gets some essential life lessons from the manager of a water park (Sam Rockwell) over summer vacation. Nat Faxon and Jim Rash directed; with Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Maya Rudolph, Amanda Peet and Rob Corddry." What a cast. And again, Sam Rockwell.

THE ARTIST AND THE MODEL - I'm not sure I'll be able to catch this French film at the theater, but it sounds great; "Jean Rochefort plays an aging sculptor who escapes the troubles of Vichy France by moving to a remote village in the Pyrenees, where a Catalan woman (Aida Folch), her life shattered by the civil war in Spain, becomes his new model. With Claudia Cardinale; Fernando Trueba (“Belle Epoque”) directed, in black-and-white."

GIRL MOST LIKELY - Kristen Wiig, with Annette Bening as her mom.

ONLY GOD FORGIVES - Ryan Gosling, with Kristin Scott Thomas as his mom.

BLUE JASMINE - Woody Allen assembles another fantastic cast: Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, Sally Hawkins, Peter Sarsgaard and Michael Stuhlbarg.

August

AUSTENLAND - Keri Russell is looking for her own Mr. Darcy, and any movie with Jennifer Coolidge has got to be fun.

What I want to see (but may end up having to wait for on cable):

May

FRANCES HA - A tale of girlfriendship, starring Greta Gerwig.

June

VIOLET & DAISY - Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan turn to crime to get designer duds. With James Gandolfini.

COPPERHEAD - A Civil War story set in the north (New York), with Billy Campbell, Angus MacFadyen and Peter Fonda.

July

THE HOT FLASHES - Another sports underdog movie, directed by Susan Seidelman with a great "mature ladies" cast: Brooke Shields, Wanda Sykes, Virginia Madsen, Daryl Hannah, and Camryn Manheim. And Eric Roberts, too.

RED 2 - The first one was fun. It's probably just a DVD, but the cast is hard to resist: Bruce Willis, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and David Thewlis.

R.I.P.D. - "When a cop is killed in the line of duty, he’s promoted to the Rest in Peace Department and assigned to find his killer, from the other side." With Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jeff Bridges.

August

BLOOD - Will probably be ultra-violent, but how to resist some of my favorite Brit actors, "a brutal police chief"  played by Brian Cox, his sons, played by Paul Bettany and Stephen Graham, and their colleague, played by Mark Strong.

THE FROZEN GROUND - "A 17-year-old street kid (Vanessa Hudgens) gives an Anchorage detective (Nicolas Cage) the vital clue he needs to stop a serial killer (John Cusack). With 50 Cent." This sounds like such a mess, but I love me some Nic Cage. I don't care much for John Cusack, so I would probably enjoy seeing him as a bad guy.

What I am willing to see with the kid:

EPIC - We liked Rise of the Guardians and this one is based on another book by William Joyce. Plus, Colin Farrell and Chris O’Dowd are two of the voice actors.

June

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY - The trailer is clever. How bad can it be, with Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, Charlie Day, Sean Hayes and many others in a Pixar film?

July

DESPICABLE ME 2 - The first one was cute, so I was prepared for the kid wanting to see this one. Steve Carell and Russell Brand are back, also joined by voice actors Ken Jeong, Steve Coogan, and Al Pacino.

THE SMURFS 2 - I knew before the credits rolled on the first one that we would have to see this.

August

PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS - We both liked the first movie, and the sequel has Nathan Fillion and Stanley Tucci — not-too-shabby.

What we both want to see:

May

STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS - Yeah, Star Trek, Spock, blah, blah, blah. Cumberbatch!

NOW YOU SEE ME - An interesting cast with a crime/magician twist: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.

June

MAN OF STEEL - Henry Cavill looks great in the previews as Superman. He's got A-list back-up:  Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne and Russell Crowe.

July

THE LONE RANGER - Johnny Depp as Tonto, but will anyone care about the Lone Ranger? It will be interesting to see Depp in a movie with Helena Bonham Carter and no Tim Burton.

GROWN UPS 2 - Hey, I liked the first one, so sue me.  The gang's all back — Adam Sandler and all his friends: Kevin James, Chris Rock and David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph, and Maria Bello. Hopefully Steve Buscemi will turn up for his usual cameo.

I'll have to check this list again in the fall and see how I did ...