Raising Arizona is the fan request movie that two people suggested, which I decided to listen to this time because it wasn't a documentary. It's a film starring Keri Russell, Scott Speedman, and Tangi Miller, and was released in 2002. I was confused by how short this film was, since it apparently ran only 45 minutes.
I can't do much of a review here. I'm really sorry guys. It wasn't that the film was bad, it just felt so cheap. The whole thing felt like a giant rip-off.
I went in to Raising Arizona expecting a masterpiece of Coen brother's signature entertainment combined with Nicolas Cage once again proving why he is my favorite actor of all time. But no. Nicolas Cage did not appear once in this film. At no point did I get the satisfaction I get from watching a really clever Nicolas Cage film. There's no flip-outs, nothing. This movie wasn't even a Coen brothers movie. It was written by J.J. Abrams. You can't have a witty comedy written by J.J. Abrams, that's preposterous.
This whole experience is really disheartening after my week of generally enjoyable movies. I mean, everything just felt so cheap. The editing was done poorly, the acting felt like it was amateur, the setting was off, and I had no clue who any of the characters were because they were never introduced. You just sort of get thrown in to this movie and are expected to know everything about these people.
There's so many problems with it as a movie. The editing feels forced; there are parts where it blacks out for a bit and just resumes somewhere else, but that throws off the pacing at regular intervals. That's not how you edit a film, at any level. Rhythm seems to be determined by set periods of time rather than by the actors or the editing, like this film HAD to be exactly 45 minutes long, no more or no less. I mean, I've seen some bad editing, but really. You can't just cut every 10 minutes to a fade and expect the audience to not feel a bit jolted.
It doesn't get much better in terms of cinematography either. The camera is boring and flaccid; it doesn't move about creatively, it has no life. It follows characters, and there's a lot of shot-reverse-shot, which is efficient I guess, but I mean, Raising Arizona had a budget of 6 million dollars. You can afford to be a bit more stylistic with that kind of money. And who lit this thing? It's so dull. There's no colors, there's no warmth or intelligence to the lighting, its just drab and mostly uniform lighting, like something you'd find on Buffy.
I don't know, I just expected this to be a much better film. But that's fine. If movies don't want me to like them, well, they can shove it. Don't think this little setback will discourage me.
EDIT: As an afterthought, a movie about Nicolas Cage trying to raise a kidnapped daughter of a furniture tycoon with John Goodman and Christian Slater kidnapping the baby at some point would probably be hilarious if it was written by the Coen brothers.
Done
Adaptation - Charlie Kaufman went wrestling? My Bloody Valentine - It's fun Birdemic - Matt solar It's My Party and I'll Die If I Want To - I will never have to type that again Raising Arizona - Terrible. I don't get the hype.
What's coming up next week?!
Oblivion - I have to. It'll be bad. Renoir - Oh yes, pretentious foreign films. Apollo 18 - Fuck Meek's Cutoff - Sure, why not? That Kind of Girl - SPECIAL DOUBLE INDIE FEATURE
Fan Request Friday
Wow me.
Hey, has anyone seen that show "Felicity?" She's so spunky!
I'm giving JTHipster the benefit of the doubt on that one and guessing it was part of the joke. Pretty damn funny actually. William Forsythe is sort of the crooked, didn't take good care of myself version of Christian Slater.
What? I'm missing a joke in there somewhere, aren't I?This movie wasn't even a Coen brothers movie. It was written by J.J. Abrams.
Fan Request Friday: Search and Destroy. I like to recommend it because while I really liked it as a quirky comedy and enjoyed the themes, it in no way achieves a consensus on being a "good film". Some will love it, others will find it just fails. For my part there is something about a good film not quite firing on all cylinders that I like. Can't explain it.