Yo! I've been ignoring this blog for a while and it's time to catch up.
Side Effects
Forgive me if I can't recall all the details of this film since it's been about two months since I've seen it. Supposedly, this is Steven Soderbergh's final film (other than his Liberace biopic for HBO). It's not a bad movie, but it's not really that amazing either. While ostensibly about the negative side effects of anti-depressants, including sleep-walking, Side Effects has more twists than a Chubby Checker single. Some of these twists are creepy and ingenious, and others are, eh, a bit overkill.
It all starts when Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara, of Dragon Tattoo fame), goes to the minimum security prison to pick up her white collar criminal husband, Martin (Channing Tatum), who has just finished serving four years for insider trading. Emily, who has a history of depression, begins to sink back into a funk as she helps her husband adjust to life outside the pen.
When Zoloft doesn't work for Emily, her psychiatrist (Jude Law, in a very strong performance) recommends a new drug, Ablixa (cleverly mimicking the ads for the real life drug Abilify), and that's when the shit hits the fan.
Side Effects clever because you're primed to think that it's a film that exploits the love/hate relationship our society has with medication: we're Americans, so we're loathe to admit we need help, especially mental help. But everyone and their brother seems to be on something--and some people don't think twice about offering a Valium or Adderall to a friend in need. However, Side Effects veers off the path of hand-wringing "social message" movie and into bat-shit crazy town pretty quickly.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Weekend
We were going to watch this film in my queer cinema class, but it got bumped out due to lack of space in the schedule. I went ahead and watched it on my own and I'm glad I did. It made me cry.
Weekend is like a more elegant, gay mumblecore movie. Nothing much happens, but it captures some of the intricacies of life and emotion really well. Two British men, Russell and Glen, meet at a gay bar. Russell takes Glen back to his place and they spend the night. What should have been a one-night stand turns into a deeper connection when the two men decide to hang out again that evening. And then Glen reveals that he's moving to America (Portland, actually!)...for two years.
Weekend is both sad and comforting. It's a familiar situation: you meet someone and connect really well, but they're on vacation, or they're moving soon, or they want to date someone else, or they just fade away. I tend to get very interested in people I meet and I feel sad if I don't get to fully know them well. But as someone who has moved a number of times throughout my life, I am aware than many relationships are temporary and few last for a lifetime. It's not about maintaining every friendship or romance you've ever experienced--it's about learning from the people you've met throughout your life. It's about the journey, you guys!! *sniff*
When Russell meets up with Glen at the train station (which will presumably take him to the airport, since you can't take a train from England to America...), it doesn't feel cliche at all. It feels heartbreaking and hopeful. Glen gives Russell a gift and when he opens it, man, my heart exploded.
Weekend isn't really a queer film--not to me anyway--although Glen and Russell discuss coming out and being gay. It's just a movie about two people who form a brief, yet intense connection...and then move on.
4.5 out of 5 stars
Evil Dead
This "remake" of the original Sam Raimi film is a pretty cut and dried horror movie. 5 friends meet in a dilapidated cabin in the woods at the request of Mia, a recovering heroin addict who wants to use the weekend to kick the habit. She's joined by her brother, her brother's girlfriend, and two college friends. When the friends discover rotting cat corpses and a book bound in human skin in the basement, they decide that the best course of action is to STAY IN THE CABIN, thus securing their fate for being stupid.
The blatant stupidity continues as the bookish friend begins to read from the human-skin book and inadvertently summons a demon who possesses Mia and makes her do a bunch of violent, crazy shit that her friends write off as an attempt to escape the cabin and avoid getting clean.
The violence is pleasantly outrageous--my favorite scene involves a chainsaw--and although some critics have claimed that Evil Dead is a comedy, the only funny parts are when Mia's brother keeps telling everyone "It's ok! It's ok!" even after fountains of blood have spurted and it's very clearly not ok.
Evil Dead is an entertaining movie, but it doesn't really have a gimmick to make it original. After seeing Tucker and Dale Versus Evil and The Cabin in the Woods, I think I'm spoiled for these types of horror movies since they seem very paint by numbers.
3 out of 5 stars
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