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(500) Days of Summer (2009)
Guy falls for girl. They have a relationship, but she’s not feeling the whole thing. He mopes around for a while, but eventually gets his shit together. After hearing so much praise about this film I was very disappointed by what I saw. It wasn’t bad, but I feel it suffers from the same thing I mentioned with Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Tries too hard and is too “cutesy”. I did like the structure, the jumping back and forth in different periods in the 500 days. But I didn’t really like the characters or the overall story. I should’ve liked the music (it’s right up my alley) and that dance number, but they just annoyed me here. I don’t regret seeing it, but as I said, it was a disappointment.
[The site doesn't load the page for this one. Weird.]
A Cure for Wellness (2016)
A young business exec is tasked to bring back the CEO of his corporation from a /mysterious/ wellness center in the Alps. This film has it all: Violent local history; inhospitable locals; creepily happy patients; a mysterious pretty, pale young woman kept prisoner; a man caught in the midst of a strange situation; ominous “aaah-aaah” music; and so on, and so on…. The first third of the film felt like it was a film that was trying to be a film, but not actually being one. After that the story clicked into gear. The music, setting and characters, although perfectly adequate and fitting, felt, again, like it was trying too hard, and are a bit tired at this point IMO. The reveal you could see coming a mile away. But despite that I enjoyed most of the film, it was very well shot, it was effective in the thriller aspect, I really liked Dane DeHaan’s performance (thought, for a 30 year old, he still looks a bit too young for the role). So, I liked it, but some aspects of it annoyed me.
https://moviechat.org/tt4731136/A-Cure-for-Wellness
Maybe I’m in a mood these past two weeks, because I don’t know why I find these perfectly fine movies so annoying…
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StoneKeeper (28343)
8 years ago
Oh I feel you, I have weeks like this too. Your review of 500 days of summer is prety spot on for me too. I expected a quirky and unique film but found an average romance flick that get pointless after a while. PLus I usually enjoy Gordon-Levitt. The rating is also misleading. Same thing happened for me with The way way back, although it was even worse.
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MinaVladimir (4086)
8 years ago
Not even Sam Rockwell was able to interest me in The way way back. As for 500 day... I just don't get what's so great about it. Is it because it has a random musical number in the middle? How whimsical... I didn't find anything it had to say, or much of the way it said it (beyond structure) to be that interesting or compelling. As you said, it's an average romance movie, just that at the end they don't end up together.
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Sentient Meat (1509)
8 years ago
A female friend of mine hated it because she doesn't like JGL (She likes more macho types). I think men liked it better because at the time Zooey was the flavor of the month. I enjoyed it, but I can see how many wouldn't.
The amount of competently done romcoms per year you can usually count on one hand. Don't underestimate the value of even an "average romance movie" as most are atrociously bad.
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MinaVladimir (4086)
8 years ago
As I said, I didn't think it was bad. Maybe because of all the hype behind it, my expectations were very high.
Also, has quality dropped so much, that simply making a competent movie is hailed as something remarkable? Not to say that those filmmakers shouldn't be commended for their efforts, because even making an average movie is an achievement. But what do we do when something trully amazing comes along? The praising kind off loses some of it's value this way IMO.
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Sentient Meat (1509)
8 years ago
Can you name ten better romcoms from the last ten years?
Not to put you on the spot... but if you can come up with any I haven't seen... I'll definitely watch them.
Somehow I feel like you won't be able to do it... unless there are European films or tv shows I don't know about.
Agree with your point about not having to lower your standards to meet a general decline... but I think the genre has its limits because you can only do so much with it. What I find odd is shows like Friends, The Office or How I Met Your Mother manage to come up with dozens of hours of worthy romcom moments... but somehow Hollywood has trouble coming up with 90 minutes. Basically you need likeable characters, snappy dialogue, nice location shots and a good soundtrack. I like Regina Spektor so it had me from the start, even though the song has since been played into the ground. 500 Days met the John Hughes level of quality so for me it was good.
Eternal Sunshine was better, but that was 13 years ago... Maybe "Her"... but it didn't have an actress.
Bottom line is if your standards are too high you'll end up enjoying a romcom as often as Spock has sex.
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MinaVladimir (4086)
8 years ago
I didn't view it as a romcom, really, but I guess that is was one. So on that front, I'll give it points for going against the grain in the genre. And since I don't watch that many romcoms to begin with I can't really give you many examples of better ones.
Don Jon is something I enjoyed more than 500 days (speaking of JGL). I found the story and characters much more interesting. And since I didn't go into it with big expectations, it pleasantly surprised me. Expectations I think play a big role in enjoying something.
Samba is another one in recent years that I really enjoyed (by the same guys that made Intouchables). Those are just two though, so you got me there :P.
I don't expect much from romcoms in general, but I do expect a lot from a film that's been praised so much over the years.
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Sentient Meat (1509)
8 years ago
I thought Don Jon was pretty good... but I probably liked 500 better.
I'll try Samba because I liked Omar Sy from Intouchables.
I didn't mean to sound so confrontational about romcoms... so thanks for being a good sport.
I did the same with someone who didn't think Casino Royale was a good film. I mean, how can you dislike that film unless you hate the entire genre?
I always judge comedies against comedies... action vs. action... horror vs. horror etc. I get the idea that a good film is a good film, but I don't expect deep philosophical conversation in horror films or romcoms. I mean, I guess a few have done it but I certainly don't expect it. If a comedy makes me laugh, an action/horror film makes me feel some excitement, a romcom makes me feel nostalgic or romantic then I feel as though they are successful.
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MinaVladimir (4086)
8 years ago
Ah, don't worry about "sounding" confrontational. I try not to take offence on the Internet too much, since you can't always decern tone with written comments.
I did have a few sincere laughs with Samba, but that kind of humour is more up my alley. And I though Omar Sy was great in it, as well as in Intouchables.
I try to judge movies based on what their basic purpose is too. I don't have high hopes for a lot of horror for example. But sometimes a genre movie comes along that transcends the genre limits, and becomes just an all around good movie (hope this makes sense). I guess I was viewing 500 days through that lence and I disregarded the romcom aspect completely. And it just wasn't for me. Not everything can fit our tastes :).
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