Hey, we're back with another installment! I didn't really plan on making this a series, but the mood struck me, and since it's my blog, I can write whatever I want, unless it makes you all leave, because I don't really want to make you leave.
Anyways, as you might recall, the premise is:
You know you have them. Those movies that, for whatever reason, be it sentimental, or just that they strike you the right way, or whatever, you just love, even though you know they're not that great of movies. Or that they're honestly really terrible movies.
Last time, we did three: Mallrats, Boys and Girls, and 10 Things I Hate About You. This time, we're doing four! So let's do this, shall we? One, two, twelve, eight!
Bring It On
Just to be clear, I'm only talking about the first one here. I haven't seen any of the "sequels", or franchise movies, or whatever they're called. Because why? Why would anyone think that's a good idea? Well, I suppose they thought they would make money, and they obviously did, somehow, so more power to them.
Anyways, this certainly isn't a good movie. It's not a BAD movie, either; there's nothing outstandingly, glaringly wrong with it. Some of the backup cheerleader (inspiration leader?) performances are spotty, the family and boyfriend stuff is meh (male cheerleaders, enough said), and Kirsten Dunst is, well, herself. But overall, it doesn't have a standout flaw.
So why do I love it? Well, Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku, first of all. I'm sure the reasons there don't need to be explained.
But the real reason took me a while to figure out how to explain, because I feel much about this movie like I do about something like Center Stage. (Yes, Molly, I like that one, too, even though you did make me watch it instead of Gladiator.) At first I was thinking of it in terms of something like "alternative sports". These aren't your standard sports movies, obviously, but they're still about movement and discipline and athleticism and stuff.
But obviously that's not quite right, either, because that's kind of stupid. What it's really about is the music and choreography, which made me realize that these are ultimately preying on my appreciation for musicals. Right? Dance routines, catchy music, etc. They're musicals without the singing. And who doesn't like musicals? (Well, actually, lots of people, apparently, but they're wrong.)
Plus, spirit fingers.
Empire Records
What made me think of this movie? Who knows where thoughts come from? Well, actually, Rex Manning Day a month ago is what brought this movie to mind, although I made sure not to dwell. Not on Rex Manning Day.
Anyways, this movie is truly underappreciated, at least going by the IMDB rankings, which are clearly filled out by bananaheads . Sure, it's got a few flaws. Berko and Eddie are rather underutilized for characters to seem in some ways to be set up to be more important to the Empire crew than they are. The GWAR interlude, while amusing, is kind of random and not THAT funny. And the ending is WAY too pat.
The movie also can't seem to decide whether or not it's going to have a plot, or if it's a "day in the life of" movie. There's nothing wrong with either, it actually isn't nearly as bad as that previous sentence made it sound, because the movie still hangs together well, and besides, the director doesn't need to explain his art to me.
Lucas is actually one of the biggest things that throws me about this movie, because we're told several times by the characters how oddly he's acting, but we haven't really seen enough of him to have a baseline for his normal behavior. To me, his behavior in the movie is just how he is, which makes it jarring when everyone says that's NOT how he normally is. A tiny nit in the scheme of things, but sometimes it's the little things that throw you out of the movie.
All in all, pretty minor stuff, especially compared to what's so awesome about this film.
First of all is, of course, the music. The soundtrack to this movie is fantastic, and also totally reminiscent of high school at this point. Heck, even "Say No More, Mon Amour". (And AJ is completely wrong about the Queen Sarah Saturday song that he vetoes at the beginning of the day. I love that song.) But that's the obvious one, because that's what everyone likes about the movie.
This movie is also endlessly quotable, although I've so far managed to work in distressingly few lines. Lucas is especially quotable, which is part of what drives my complaint up above. But really, everyone gets some pretty good lines throughout the course of the move.
Which brings up the next point, which is that this is an ensemble movie that actually works as an ensemble. There's really no main character to this, and everyone (barring, as mentioned, Berko and Eddie) is pretty well fleshed out as a character. Heck, even Warren gets some pretty good character development, and we never even find out his real name! Even better, Liv Tyler is not the main character!
I recognize that I may be in the minority here, but I'm not particularly a Liv Tyler fan, even in the looks department. I mean, she's pretty, of course; not many actresses aren't. But in general, I tend to prefer other actresses in any given movie that she's in over her. (I get why book Aragorn married Arwen, but movie Aragorn totally should have gone with Eowyn. Although that would suck for Faramir.) But I suppose AJ can be forgiven, although choosing an art school based on proximity to her seems... risky.
I also really like that there's an extended edition, although some of the reshuffled scenes were a bit jarring at first.
Man, summer break needs to get here so I can watch this again. Damn the man! Save the Empire!
Mars Attacks!
I debated whether or not to include this one, since it's got a pretty decent cult following. It's also a bit in the "so bad it's good" category, but since it does so deliberately, I'm going to give it a pass.
It does make it a bit hard to identify what's bad in this movie, though, especially since I don't agree with a lot of the common critiques. I know many people find it random, stupidly silly, or just plain dumb. These people are missing what's there! No, what's there is a movie deliberately playing on B-movie tropes, while packed with an incredibly all-star cast.
I mean, just look at the cast list in the link above! This is ridiculous, and most of them are in there just to die in various ways. Jack Nicholson plays TWO different characters! And the only survivors are Natalie Portman, Jim Brown and Tom Jones. Tom freakin' Jones.
And while I get that some people might not appreciate the humor, I think this movie is hilarious. That divisiveness is probably the movie's biggest downfall. But in response, I just have one thing to say:
Ack! Ack ack! Ack!
Saved!
Continuing with the exclamation point theme, we'll wrap up with this one.
Much like Bring It On!, there isn't really a glaring flaw in this movie. Mandy Moore's character is a bit too mean to be sympathetic, as is Eva Amurri's. And while I'm not as big of a Mandy Moore fan as some (naming no names...), she's fine here. This isn't a spectacular movie, but it's fine. Much like 10 Things last time, it's not that I like a bad movie, it's just that I like it more than you might expect.
Something about this movie just strikes me, though. I think it's a few things:
I've always enjoyed Jena Malone, especially in this stage of her career (Saved!, Donnie Darko, etc.). She's very girl-next-door ordinary, which makes her exceptionally relatable. And for some reason, her mix of complete astonishment and exasperation on the line, "You're performing an exorcism?" just gets me every time.
And the same thing goes for Patrick Fugit, with the exception of the pronouns. They're both, like, totally adorable, especially together.
But most of all, I like the message of the movie. I think it actually strikes a great balance of subtlety, in that despite how it might appear on the surface, I don't think it's actually anti-religious. It's simply taking on certain attitudes and approaches that are, shall we say, less than productive, while still being respectful on the whole.
So anyways, there you have it. Four more movies. Thoughts? Agree or disagree? Any of your own you'd like to share? Let me know!
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