Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

When this magnificent weblog began in 2006, the rules were always that the screened movie being screened had to have been screened on the BIG screen. And as I remember it, I watched Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story as a screener, so NOT on the big screen, which meant that it didn’t belong on Screenscreen. Which means there is no original review of this hilarious, cameo-filled send-up from 2007. But it belongs on a list of one of the best versions of this kind of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker/Mel Brooks humor, lampooning a movie genre and all of its tropes. Which reminds me, I should revisit The Rutles…

The Old Guard

Reminds me a lot of Highlander. It could be a sequel, or an off-shoot. (See also: Wanted 2008) The supernatural details are managed sparingly. Otherwise, we’re in the world of a “crack team of elite assassins welcome a new member.” The premise and the plot are pretty familiar. Action scenes are contained, and make room for more character development and emotional deep-dives. All told, though, it’s an origin story. It’s a set-up; a backstory to a bigger better movie with a lot more killin’… hopefully.

Irresistible

Screenwriting guru Christopher Vogler believes that every story is a contract between the writer and the audience. As much as I admire Jon Stewart for many things, I think he violated that contract in this. There are deceivers in the movie, but the filmmakers are also deceivers. When a character deceives another character, that can be dramatic and interesting. But when the filmmakers deceive and withhold information from the audience it can be frustrating and unfulfilling. Some people like to have the rug pulled out from them in a movie. But I only like it if it feels like the filmmakers earned the right. Here, they didn’t, which is why at the end there are many sequences with many characters EXPLAINING what transpired in the movie. Bits of this are funny, and successfully take the piss out of US elections. Portions of this are also meant to send-up the “city slicker in the small town with the rubes” trope, à la Doc Hollywood. Which is okay, I guess. But the entire premise is a smoke screen, and at the end, it just elicits a shrug.

Palm Springs

Watched this for a second time in two days. The Groundhog Day/Edge of Tomorrow structure may not be original, but the characters’ time-wasting efforts are glorious.

Palm Springs

Time-travel parables usually portend to be about learning to be a better person, growing or improving in some way, or righting a wrong in the past. But in this funny rom-com, the best bits bask in the characters wasting time, fucking with people, and abusing their time-travel powers. Forget becoming a better person, let’s ruin this wedding for the umpteenth time! But like the best of these time-loops, the learning and growing becomes a priority, and it unfolds in the silliest ways possible. This could almost be classified as a stoner rom-com, but it’s got fine performances and a huge heart at the end. Kudos to Hulu, Lonely Island Classics, et al.