People seeking blandly entertaining but competently made genre fare to watch with their aging Moms can do no wrong with The Lincoln Lawyer. Almost nothing inspired happens, but William H. Macy, in a supporting role, gets to actually act a bit, and there are a few entertaining bits of dialogue, doubtlessly taken straight from the novel. Based on this, I might pick up a Michael Connelly someday (though I'm told his Bosch series is where the real action is). I didn't realize until just now that he's a Canadian!
Fans of horror cinema who admire a sense of elegance, freshness, restraint, and/or intelligent characterizations in film, meanwhile, are advised to stay far, far away from the new James Wan/ Leigh Wannell concoction, Insidious. Despite a depressing 67% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes - which surely indicates nothing more than that 67% of people paid to write about cinema are either buffoons, hacks, or (at the very best) seriously perverse - the film only entertains (and that too slightly) when its excesses push it close to the realm of parody. These include the use of Tiny Tim's "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" (twice!), a psychic who wears something very like a gas mask to a seance, a rather risibile bit of exposition on astral travelling (crucial, alas, to the plot), and an actual cloven-hooved demon. It's kind of fun to laugh at, but not so much as to recommend it to anyone.
Meantime, has anyone noticed that there's a film version of Radio Free Albemuth?
1 comment:
Luckily, I had a free ticket for the Lincoln Lawyer. Not only did I dislike it, but 15 minutes before the ending I felt really faint and had to leave (not related to the movie I don't think) My friend wondered where i went though. Turns out the ending was no better than the rest.
- Karen
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