Wednesday, June 25, 2014
thoughts on Much Ado About Nothing (2012 Joss Whedon version)
I thought this was Just Delightful. I'd never read or seen a staged version of this before, but I just loved the story, which involves two elaborate schemes; Don Pedro, Leonato, Claudio, and Hero (played by Reed Diamond, Clark Gregg, Fran Kranz, and Jillian Morgese, resepectively) scheme to trick Benedick (Alexis Denisof) and Beatrice (Amy Acker) into falling in love, while Don John, Conrade, and Borachio (Sean Maher, Riki Lindhome, and Spencer Treat Clark) plot to break up Claudio and Hero's impending wedding. The setting is contemporary, but the dialogue is traditional Shakespeare; it's all shot in black and white. I love any story involving an elaborate scheme, and Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof are FANTASTIC; I had previously only seen Amy Acker in the fifth season of Alias, but now I plan to watch Dollhouse, possibly even before I finish Breaking Bad. Anyway, I thought it was great!
Monday, June 23, 2014
thoughts on 22 Jump Street
May I just say how impressed I've been with this summer's comedies so far? In the summer, all I want to do at the movies is laugh, and last year I remember being pretty disappointed with This is the End and The Heat. The To-Do List was pretty good. However, this summer I really, really enjoyed Neighbors, and 22 Jump Street was All That I Hoped it Would Be.
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are back as Jenko and Schmidt, the two mediocre cops who went undercover in a high school in 21 Jump Street to try to find and bust the dealer of a popular new drug. In 22 Jump Street, they're in college to do the exact same thing; there are a lot of in-jokes about sequels, and how this time they're doing the same thing over again with a bigger budget. In the previous movie, Tatum's Jenko surprisingly found himself as an outcast in a high school where dumb jocks weren't considered cool, while Hill's Schmidt fell in with the popular hipster kids. This time, the tables are turned; Jenko fits right in with the football players and fraternity guys, while Schmidt meets a girl and hangs out with her and her artsy/poetry slam-loving friends. Though the film is ostensibly about Jenko and Schmidt's undercover mission, it's also about college life and the two of them maybe drifting apart as partners and friends; their differences have always complemented each other, but now Jenko is having fun hanging out with new friends who are more like him, while Schmidt feels left out and gets clingy. They manage to pull it together to finish up their mission over Spring Break.
It's all pretty fun and funny. Tatum and Hill are both great. The college setting is fun, and as a whole, it works as a send-up of both sequels and buddy cop movies. I dug it.
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are back as Jenko and Schmidt, the two mediocre cops who went undercover in a high school in 21 Jump Street to try to find and bust the dealer of a popular new drug. In 22 Jump Street, they're in college to do the exact same thing; there are a lot of in-jokes about sequels, and how this time they're doing the same thing over again with a bigger budget. In the previous movie, Tatum's Jenko surprisingly found himself as an outcast in a high school where dumb jocks weren't considered cool, while Hill's Schmidt fell in with the popular hipster kids. This time, the tables are turned; Jenko fits right in with the football players and fraternity guys, while Schmidt meets a girl and hangs out with her and her artsy/poetry slam-loving friends. Though the film is ostensibly about Jenko and Schmidt's undercover mission, it's also about college life and the two of them maybe drifting apart as partners and friends; their differences have always complemented each other, but now Jenko is having fun hanging out with new friends who are more like him, while Schmidt feels left out and gets clingy. They manage to pull it together to finish up their mission over Spring Break.
It's all pretty fun and funny. Tatum and Hill are both great. The college setting is fun, and as a whole, it works as a send-up of both sequels and buddy cop movies. I dug it.
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