Johnny Depp in a bad movie, Oscar winner Meryl Streep is really a French-cooking spy? This is "Movie Night."
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Hello, and welcome to "Movie Night", YouTube's number-one weekly interactive movie review show. See what I did there? If you add enough modifiers, you can really be the best at whatever you want!
Hi, I'm your host, Jonathan Paula. Our first movie today is "Public Enemies." Released on July 1st, 2009, "Public Enemies" is a true story about the life of 1930s' gangster John Dillinger, played rather mindlessly by Johnny Depp.
Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard round out the supporting cast. Now, usually, this is where I would summarize the plot of the movie for you, but you know what?
That takes up too much time, and you've had a week to look it up, so it's your own fault if you don't know what's going on!
Anyway, this film is based on a true story, which, unfortunately, means that, one, you already know how it's going to turn out, and two, plot twists and excitement are usually hard to find.
Like most of director Michael Mann's films, "Public Enemies" was profitable at the box office, despite being an utter waste of time. But Mann certainly knows how to shoot a film.
The one positive thing I can say about "Public Enemies" is that it was beautifully shot, which is especially impressive, considering that the entire movie was filmed in HD, rather than traditional 35-mm film.
Mann, however, is also notorious for self-indulgently long films. "Heat", "Miami Vice", "Collateral"- all films that I kind of enjoyed but also wish were about 45 minutes shorter.
"Public Enemies" overstays its welcome well beyond the 100-minute mark. The run time isn't so much of the problem as the boring characters are.
I can't remember the last time I watched a movie where I felt absolutely no compassion or empathy for ANY of the characters. Not a line of dialogue was memorable in this film, none of the actors' performances were anywhere near what they're capable of.
I mean, Johnny Depp, Christian Bale shooting guns at each other in a gangster film?! I mean, you would have to go out of your way to make this movie bad!
And that's exactly what they did with this boring, uninspired movie that kind of muddles its way along, with no regard for plot advancement, character development, or historical accuracy.
There's a scene near the end of the film where Dillinger unashamedly swaggers in to the Chicago police department, and he checks out the bulletin board with his wanted poster on it.
The camera proceeds to pan across all of the fellow gangster buddies who have died along the course of the movie. In any other film, this sort of shot would have evoked some sort of emotional response from the viewer.
But I found myself watching this scene and going, "Oh, so that guy was supposed to be Babyface Nelson?!" This movie frankly sucked, and I'll be honest with you- I fell asleep watching this movie for about 15 minutes.
I missed nothing! But the old-fashioned gangster prison escapes and the gun shoot-outs were really cool. That's what I thought about it. Let's take a look at the YouTube comments.
Jon: Blehhh49 wrote... (reads Blehhh49's comment)
Jon: FilmPadwan wrote... (reads FilmPadwan's comment)
Newly designed for this week, let's bring in the Rate-o-Matic, now with two separate columns, one for my rating and one for your rating. Let's see how "Public Enemies" did.
Wow! Clearly, you guys were able to overlook the abysmal character development. You gave the film a "7", a "cool." I, however, was NOT able to overlook that. I had to score it down. I gave it a "4", a "meh."
Our second film today is "Julie and Julia." Released on August 7th, it is also based on a true story.
Actually, it's based on two true stories, the early beginnings of TV icon and chef Julia Child and Julie Powell, an aspiring writer from Queens, who decides to blog about cooking for a year.
These two leading ladies are played by Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, who, in stark contrast to the characters in "Public Enemies", are actually what really save this film, which is mostly a 2-hour movie about French cooking.
They are adorable, endearing, and fun to watch as they sink their teeth into their respective roles. Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina play the husbands of both actresses, with Tucci doing an especially fine job as Mr. Child.
He isn't given much to work with in this film, but he really hits a home run with his character. Again, since this movie was based on a true story, you already know where some of it is going to go, so there aren't many surprises in store.
And, for the most part, the plot does little to excite. But really, you're getting two movies for the price of one here, a la "Godfather, part II".
Although it's needlessly hinted at towards the end of the film that Julie and Julia might actually meet, that development goes nowhere, and the viewer is left with a sort of unfulfilled desire to see the two stories somehow converge.
My disappointment doesn't come from the lack of converging narratives, but rather, at director Nora Ephron, who, in the final 10 minutes of the film, thought it would be a good idea to sort of tease the audience with that possibility...
...Before completely forgetting about it and ending the film on a bit of a sour note. Nuances aside, this film was a quirky and fun movie that somehow made cooking and blogging interesting for two hours.
Without the stellar performances from the principal and supporting cast, I definitely would have rated this picture lower.
And although it has nothing to do with the film, I love that the original blog Julie Powell wrote in 2002, the one the movie is based off of, is still online.
It makes for a great read if you liked the movie, and if you're interested, the link to it is in the sidebar.
Anyway, that's what I thought about "Julie and Julia." Let's see what you guys said.
Jon: Bobaheej wrote... (reads Bobaheej's comment)
Jon: Katy1881 wrote... (reads Katy 1881's comment)
Okay, so we've heard the good and the bad. Let's fire up the Rate-o-Matic and see how this movie did.
Definitely a lot closer than the last time. I gave this movie a "6." You gave this movie a "5." Seems fair enough. And if you do fancy a screening of "Julie and Julia", I definitely recommend you bring your significant other along.
This movie works much better as a date film. Enough about those two movies today. Let's look forward with some Tweet Critiques.
Jon: DisneyXDTheChar Tweeted... (reads DisneyXDTheChar's Tweet)
Jon: ROFLsyrup Tweeted... (reads ROFLsyrup's Tweet)
Jon: The_Spacebar_TV Tweeted... (reads The_Spacebar_TV's Tweet)
Well, that does it for this episode of "Movie Night." Let's take a look at the films we'll be watching for next episode.
"The Hangover" and "Inglourious Basterds"- both brand-new, released on DVD yesterday. I hope you get a chance to buy, rent, or download them before next episode. From what I've heard, both of them are amazing films.
That does it for this week. Once again, my name is Jonathan Paula. Thank you for joining me on "Movie Night."
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