A Nice Movie Streak I Had

Last week I went on a pretty great movie streak. I saw 7 movies in 5 days between Tuesday and Saturday. This was, I think, the second best movie streak I've ever had after 8 movies in 8 days last summer. I guess that's kind of weak, but hey, I'm still young. So I thought, since I don't have much better to write about, that I'd give some brief little reviews of all these movies that I just saw, and I will for once try to keep them brief (that means no synopses people! Look them up yourself!). Maybe you'll discover something good.

Tuesday:
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) - This was the best movie of the streak. This documentary, a look into the international world of street art directed by its foremost figure, the notorious and mysterious Banksy, transcends its label. It's by far the best documentary I've ever seen (sorry, "Helvetica") because it has not one moment which feels teachy, and there is a compelling human story which is not only reported on by the movie, but is created by the movie. It stays captivating throughout like you would think only a scripted movie could.

Wednesday:
Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003) - Definitely a unique movie. This is basically one big long dinner conversation, with only some flashbacks (excellent cameo opportunities for David Cross and Jack Black!) interspersed in between. So it certainly does get slow, and if you have a terrible attention span this might not be the movie for you (believe me, I'm really on that spectrum too) but the conversation is interesting and witty. My credit to the writer Bob Odenkirk for keeping this movie bearable.

Thursday:
The Joneses (2010) - I enjoyed this movie a lot more than the critics did. The environment was really well set up, David Duchovny's performance was outstanding, and the themes came through really well. It dealt with both consumerism and family, and was able to go into both of these really well. And that setting of the snobby suburbs wasn't quite as well done as in, say, "Edward Scissorhands" or "Weeds", but it's definitely up there. This movie is highly recommended by me.

Up (2009) - Pretty overrated, in my opinion. Yeah it was really sad, more sad than even I expected after hearing miles about it. But I thought the story was pretty weak by Pixar standards, and parts were way melodramatic for my liking. Still a good movie, but I certainly had my reservations.

Friday:
Igby Goes Down (2002) - I found this one pretty unbearable. I had high expectations because it was compared to "Cather in the Rye", "The Graduate", and, one of my favorites, "Rushmore". It also stars Keiran Culkin, who I loved in "Scott Pilgrim". But the movie was godawful! Nothing ever happens. Really, nothing. Please don't bother.

Signs (2003) - This was my first exposure to the work of M. Night Shyamalan, but I had heard enough about him to... well I don't have time to think of a whatever-it's-called (metaphor? analogy? I can't keep this shit straight). Supposedly his work has gone downhill since this movie, but I found this one entirely pleasurable, and I particularly noticed his direction as a plus. What he did amazingly was show the small town in which the movie takes place gradually be overtaken by dread over the extraterrestrial occurences that are taking place. My biggest problem might have been Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix as brothers - they're 18 years apart in age and look nothing alike, and that annoyed me the whole time.

Saturday:
Brick (2005) - This one was also really unique and interesting. It was made as an homage to noir mysteries, but it turned out to actually be exactly like those stylistically. But when it was put against the setting, a high school with all of the social classes that it has, it made a fascinating result. The movie was also helped tremendously by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who gave a great performance in the lead detective role as he was just breaking onto the scene.

Conclusions have never been my strongest suit in writing. So that's it I guess.