Filler: The Month of January 2016

Happy new year! I'm a little sad to say I haven't  been watching tv as much as it has been watching me. I've been spending a lot of at home time on the internet researching stuff, listening to music and podcasts. If the TV is on, it's just background noise most of the time.
I have, however been keeping up with the Granthams on Downton Abbey and partaking in the new series Mercy Street, which airs right after Downton. Thanks to my Kindle, I've been able to use my lunch breaks to revisit my favorite teen show, Swan's Crossing on Hulu. I was re-watching Deadwood for a bit there. And I'll probably keep doing that when the spirit moves me, because that show is really good. I have a new perspective watching it years after it aired. I've squeezed in a few movies, too, about which I will soon post.
Chicken.

Movie: Joy (2015)**

I watched this because it was nominated for two Golden Globes in the Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical and Best Performance By an Actress In a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical categories.  

I like David O. Russell's work. I don't always agree that it is award-worthy, but it is almost always entertaining and worth the time it takes to watch. Joy is not award-worthy, in my opinion, and I would list it on the bottom of a best to worsts list of David O. Russell work.

The character, Joy, is a divorced mother of two, struggling to take care of her life, her family and extended family's lives, when suddenly, she decided to pursue her childhood dream of creating something. She comes up with an idea, then into the business world she goes and finds a different struggle to overcome.

The film Joy just didn't flow. It felt at times to be speeding up, so much is happening and progress is being made. Then...BAM! All of a sudden we're trudging through mud. And I use mud to illustrate another point: This movie didn't clearly get across what it was. Is it supposed to be motivational to women with ideas who feel weighed down by life? Is is supposed to be funny? Am I supposed to relate to Joy?

Another question that wasn't clarified by the film is why all of a sudden did Joy decide to go after her childhood dreams? It can't just be because she “had it up to here” with the family and living situation. That was clearly going on for quite some time. What, along with “having it up to here, ” makes Joy grow some cajones, take control, then suddenly castrate herself?

The David O. Russell-style flashbacks shine light on a few things. For example, we learn when she started being creative as a young girl, and for how long she knew her close friends, but those flashbacks also generate more questions. For example, I wondered what happened to the relationship between Joy and her half-sister? How did her mother managed to stay in bed and watch soap operas all the time? What went wrong in her marriage?

You know, it's funny. My best friend was just recounting a conversation he was having with someone else about how without a good backstory you would miss the point. His example was The Royal Tenenbaums. If you didn't see it from the beginning where the dad was doing a great job at being a bad father, then you would just think the adult versions of the Tenenbaum children were simply being ungrateful assholes. I think David O. Russell failed to give Joy a good enough backstory.

Also, the movie ran too long. There was to much time spent on scenes and characters that just didn't matter in the end. This is the only mention of Jennifer Lawrence. There.

I'm giving Joy two stars **. I kind of want to watch it again to see if there's something I missed, but I don't really want to go through that, again. If this popped up while flipping channels and I couldn't find anything else or if I just wanted something on while I cleaned, then I'd probably watch it, again.

Golden Globes
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical

Movie: Revenge of the Nerds (1984)*****

LOVE THIS MOVIE. Not much has changed in college humor except technology, so if you laughed at Revenge of the Nerds in the 80s, then you’ll laugh even harder now. 

Best friends Gilbert and Lewis go off to college in hopes of finally becoming “men.” Instead, they find that they and a bunch of other freaks, geeks and weirdos are the lowest on totem pole at Adams College. They use their quirky charms, wits and skills to improve their situation, which leads to the fun and funny passing by all too quickly on your viewing screen.

College humor involves sex. In RotN, tHere’s a panty raid, grab-assing, and a moon-room sexual encounter. Then there’s the stand-around college boobs. What’s that? I think humor writers have this odd notion or wet dream that women just stand around talking while topless. There is no reality in this, but a stand-around boob scene always seems to pop up in college humor movies. 

This movie stands the test of time and remains one of my favorite. I laugh out loud and I want to laugh some more! Five stars**** BREAAAAAAK!

Movie: Road Trip (2000) *****

This is one of the few comedy movies I really like and can watch over and over and still laugh out loud. I also own it, which says a lot.

Josh is off to college across the country from his best friend/girlfriend. He wants to keep up their promise to stay true to each other, but finds that there’s a lot of temptations and something about a not-being-in-the-same-zip-code rule. So, I won’t give away what leads to it, but Josh and his college friends find themselves on a road trip across the country full of crazy characters and silly antics including pretending to be a member of a historically Black fraternity. It's tricky.

This is a college humor movie so sexual behavior is all over the place. There a few boners, girls kissing and falling in love after a particularly good session of horizontal mambo. There’s also the stand-around boobs that made another memorable appearance in Revenge of the Nerds. I don’t get it. I don’t know any women who just stand around chitchatting while topless. 

Anyway, this movie is hilarious and I want to watch it again, right now, in fact, but I must move onto something else. Maybe. Five stars: It’s a favorite *****

Movie: Bernie (2011)

Both parental units said Bernie was good, so the day after Thanksgiving we all plopped our overstuff butts on the couch and they pulled it up On Demand (They have cable!).

Bernie, stars Jack Black as Bernard Tiede, an assistant funeral director and eventually, close friend of the meanest lady in a small Texas town. He ends up killing the mean lady and spending a lot of her money doing good deeds and helping out townsfolk. Of course he gets caught and then there's a trial. This movie is based on a true story. You should read about it.

The movie was great and had a semi-documentary style, with interviews of townspeople and local politicians spliced with flashbacks into the story. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to take Jack Black seriously, but even though some of his scenes were drama-light and on the precipice of comical, he never took it over that edge and I credit Black's skill as well as the director for creating the light and happy feeling that didn't stumble into full-frontal humor or darkness. FYI: Jack Black can really sing, man! 

After last year's heart-wrenchingly awful movie Boyhood, I was surprised to learn Bernie was directed by the Texas-loving, Richard Linklater, who also did one of my favorites, Dazed and Confused. Bernie also stars Matthew McConaughey as the district attorney who prosecutes Bernie and Shirley MacLaine as the mean lady.

I thought Bernie was highly entertaining, well done, and I wouldn't mind watching it again, so I give it three stars ***.  

Here's some fun from the movie: