Starring Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman, Bryan Greenberg, Richard Jenkins, Woody Harrelson, Nolan Gould
Directed by Will Gluck
Expectations: None, I just hope it’s not too painful.
Just to keep everyone guessing, I have to review a straight-up mainstream movie like this once in a while. Most of the time I have such an indifferent response to these films that I can’t muster the mental power needed to write a full review. Friends With Benefits is pretty much in the same category, but I do have a few thoughts to share. It’s better than No Strings Attached, let’s just get that out of the way. No Ashton Kutcher is a huge plus, but it’s really the R Rating that helps a lot here, allowing the characters freedom to curse as they naturally would and making the sex scenes adequately steamy.
Both Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis do a great job with the material they are given, giving us a believable on-screen relationship with a minimum of groan-worthy scenes. The supporting cast is also filled out with lots of good actors such as Woody Harrelson, Jenna Elfman and Patricia Clarkson (playing virtually the same character she played in Easy A). While I enjoyed Harrelson as the cock-obsessed gay man, I can’t help but wonder how intelligent gay men reacted to this character. They deserve better than to have broad stereotypes reinforced. And if we’re going down that rabbit hole, where were the people of color in this film? I think almost every one in the movie is white.
As a piece of art, it fails miserably. Director Will Gluck creates a textbook mainstream film with more ugly close-ups and over-the-shoulder shots than I care to think back on. I’m sure the paycheck was great though. He previously made Easy A, another poorly-shot mainstream comedy and one that I just couldn’t understand the hype for. It’s hard for me to watch these ugly, lazy films without losing my shit, but the charm of both Kunis and Timberlake surprisingly went a long way.
As a comedy, it fails less so, but it still contains far too little laughs. I especially enjoyed the fake romantic comedy they watch throughout the film, which features some incredibly funny lines within it, perfectly lampooning the tired genre. What’s unfortunate is that to make a romantic comedy, the story kind of has to follow that general path that they all follow and Friends With Benefits is no different. Oh, and the Barnes and Noble joke was my biggest laugh of the movie. Perhaps not the most clever line in the world, but seriously, buying full prices books really is dumb shit.
Friends With Benefits does a lot wrong, but it does just enough right to make it not as painful as it could have been. It’s way too fuckin’ long though, coming in at almost two hours. I’d only recommend it if you like the leads enough to see them get jiggy wit it.
World Premiere 2009 in London, US Theatrical Release 2011
Starring Bill Hicks, Kevin Booth, John Farneti, Lynn Hicks, Mary Hicks, Steve Hicks, Andy Huggins, David Johndrow, James Ladmirault, Dwight Slade
Directed by Matt Harlock & Paul Thomas
Expectations: High, I love Bill Hicks.
Bill Hicks is fucking awesome and if you dig stand-up comedy in any meaningful way, you should already know the name and be familiar with his work. If not, he’s one of the best there ever was. Hicks elevated stand-up to levels previously undreamt about by mainstream comics, pushing boundaries way past the bleeding edge. At his core, he was a thoughtful, logical man who threw everything he had up on that stage and American: The Bill Hicks Story seeks to let you in on how he came to be that man. Mostly it succeeds, but as much as I love Hicks and the experience of watching this movie, I can’t let my feelings override the glaring problems I had with the film at a structural level.
There’s an odd choice made by the documentarians to focus on audio-only interviews of his family and friends, instead of traditional video interviews. While they’re talking, still photographs are animated into whatever scene the interviewee is describing. It took a while for me to come around to this style, and while I eventually was OK with it, I never really liked it. It creates an odd disconnect from the person speaking and unless you’re extremely good with placing a voice to a name, you’re going to lose track of who’s who. Bill Hicks, via these animated pictures and live video footage, is always front and center and the film takes on something of a video shrine to him instead of a true documentary. Then in the final few minutes of the film, the filmmakers break character and finally show the people who’ve been narrating our experience. The only problem is that besides Hicks’ mother, I have very little idea who everyone else is, unless their current look unmistakably resembles all the photographs we were shown from the 70s and 80s. They also never flash the person’s name on the screen when they’re talking, so we literally have no help in this regard.
Despite this, the film succeeds as a document of the legacy and power of Bill Hicks’ stand-up act. It follows a very linear path from Bill’s childhood to his death, so you do get a great sense of the overall arc of his life, and some of the twists and turns it took along the way. I greatly enjoyed the film, but a lot of that enjoyment is just discovering bits and pieces of what made a guy I greatly respect who he was. Hicks was the man, and this documentary only seals that fact deeper in my mind. If you’re unfamiliar with him, I’d definitely watch a couple of his stand-up sets before hitting this doc up. I highly recommend his HBO One Night Stand set, currently available on Netflix Instant as Episode 1 of the series: Bill Hicks Live: Satirist, Social Critic, Stand-up Comedian.
Starring Eva Gabor, Lu Leonard, Richard Paul, Carole Davis, Lar Park-Lincoln, Bader Howar, Barbara Rousek, Britt Helfer, Nathalie Tarkowski, Shelley Pielou, Yolande Palfrey
Directed by Bruce A. Block
Expectations: Low. I don’t think this one’s for me.
The Princess Academy is one of those carefree 80s sex comedies with a twist, it’s set in a European castle (par for the course on a Charles Band produced film) and there’s not a single flash of nudity. This keeps the film light-hearted and somewhat innocent, even when the girls are lacing tampons with itching powder or tricking the stuck-up rich girl into eating horse shit. Despite this innocence the humor is deliberately low brow, creating a unique atmosphere for the characters to play within. It doesn’t succeed in holding the viewer’s interest throughout, but it’s a lot better than I expected it to be.
The structure of the film is non-traditional, taking a more episodic/slice of life style over a traditional plot. There is something of a through line that runs through all the scenes, but it’s nothing more than “Poor girl is enrolled in a school for rich girls and fish out of water hilarity ensues”. Even that description is more focused than this movie is though. None of the characters stand out as a lead and many of the girls were indistinguishable from each other for me. This led to a lot of questioning moments in my head of who exactly everyone was and what they were doing, and coupled with the structure of the film I was instantly reminded of this year’s pretentious darling The Tree of Life. Perhaps there is more meaning hidden in the film’s multiple ringings of the hallway orgasm horn than I had previously thought.
For a comedy, The Princess Academy just doesn’t have enough laughs to keep it entertaining for the full eighty-five minutes. The best scene (and one of the most coherent) in the film is when many of the girls try to impart their personal skills on how to fake orgasms on the prudish virgin girl. Each girl has a funny, distinct method which is fun all by itself, but when the virgin girl attempts to replicate the movements and the moans, it’s comedy gold. If only the rest of the film was on par with this scene.
For most people this will be an easy pass, but hardcore fans of the 80s sex comedy might want to track it down for completion’s sake. It does have some genuine laughs (and some WTF ones as well) and it’s competently shot and edited for those that value things like that.
Next week, I’m gonna check out another Full Moon film from 1999 (hoping that they aren’t all bad), David DeCoteau’s Totem featuring the totem characters from Puppet Master 4 & 5!
Starring Caldwell Esselstyn Jr., T. Colin Campbell
Directed by Lee Fulkerson
Expectations: High, been looking forward to this one for a while.
Before I watched Forks Over Knives, I was aware of the benefits of a plant-based diet for your health, so the content was not the revelation that it may be for some. This doesn’t stop the film from being one of the best made documentaries of the year, its information presented well with 3D charts and personal stories from disease sufferers that have transitioned or are transitioning their diet over the course of the film. It’s truly amazing and inspirational to watch these people go from multiple daily pills and injections to being medication-free via the healthy methods of diet.
The main focus is on two pioneering doctors that have dedicated their careers to the study of diet on cancer growth. One doctor is primarily a researcher, working with data and large-scale studies. The other doctor takes a clinical approach, working directly with a small group of high-risk, near-death patients with heart disease, cancer & diabetes over a multi-year period. The evidence of both doctors is presented directly and while it is definitely one-sided and some points are questionable, the simple fact remains that a fresh, healthy diet is a definite improvement on the traditional Western diet.
Regardless of whether you believe the information presented here or not, the fact remains that we as Americans generally practice absolutely awful diet habits. I would love if everyone was required to watch this film and become more informed about the importance of the food they consume, even if they don’t end up going whole hog (pardon the expression) and switch to a completely plant-based diet. Forks Over Knives is remarkably well made, expertly shot and edited together, keeping the flow at a good pace and never allowing the film to get stale or boring. Towards the end it does get a little too hippie-dippie and preachy, which therefore becomes the final taste left in your mouth, so this will definitely put off some people. Don’t let that stop you from watching the film though, as it’s easily one of the best docs of the year. Highly recommended.
Starring Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, Matt Cameron (collectively Pearl Jam)
Directed by Cameron Crowe
Expectations: High, I love Pearl Jam.
Pearl Jam Twenty is more of a celebration of the first twenty years than the true in-depth documentary you might be expecting. In this way, it seems like a “for fans, by fans” look at the band, albeit fans with access to a shitload of footage and the band members themselves. As such, the film lends itself to people who already love Pearl Jam, and I doubt it will capture the hearts of the unfaithful. Pearl Jam and specifically Eddie Vedder have never really cared who they alienated or pissed off, so this aspect of the film shouldn’t come as a surprise. This is not to say that it the film is cocky, instead the band members come off as real, honest artists that are simply staying true to their game. I’m a huge Pearl Jam fan, jumping on board late around the time of Riot Act‘s release (2002). Ever since then my love for them as a band has only grown, and with the release of their last two albums, Pearl Jam & Backspacer, they’ve seemingly mastered the art of melding artistic integrity with compelling music as both are excellent representations of the band.
It’s a little hard for me to objectively review the film as I am such a big fan, but I found PJ20 to be always interesting and enlightening, even when it was relating information I already knew. Director Cameron Crowe does a great job editing together what must have been hundreds of hours of band home videos, TV appearances and live footage into a flowing narrative. I take issue with a couple of music choices (such as playing a track from 1998′s Yield over a key moment from the early 90s, thus misleading an uninformed viewer into thinking the song is related), but realistically with this amount of footage and songs to juggle, I can’t criticize too much as I know I could do no better. I do wish there were more band interviews. They are all fairly reclusive so to hear them speak candidly is a treat. As a writer, I’d also enjoy more in-depth looks at their songwriting process, and thankfully the DVD extras reveal a couple more scenes of this nature edited for time. The scene on the genesis of Faithful is one of my favorite moments and it’s not even in the film!
If you dig Pearl Jam and you feel like celebrating the band you love for a couple of hours, definitely check this one out. I wouldn’t call it essential, but it does offer lots of great moments throughout. Non-fans should probably tread more warily, but the film does do a good job of painting a picture of why they did what they did when they did it, and a new fan (or a lost fan) might appreciate this dedication to their art and be intrigued to delve into their rich catalog of tunes.
Will Silver, on February 2, 2012, 5:20 am
Starring Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman, Bryan Greenberg, Richard Jenkins, Woody Harrelson, Nolan Gould
World Premiere 2009 in London, US Theatrical Release 2011
Starring Caldwell Esselstyn Jr., T. Colin Campbell
Starring Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, Matt Cameron (collectively Pearl Jam)
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