I spent part of the weekend watching rentals from Blockbuster. I'm doing another unsolicited review.
Paycheck was a movie I don't remember adding to my Blockbuster queue and I reluctantly sat down to watch it. When the beginning credits listed Ben Afleck as the star, I almost turned it off (despite his lovely face and physique - he's sexy as hell to me, but he doesn't seem to usually pick movies I like - except for his Kevin Smith appearances - Chasing Amy is a great movie IMHO)but decided to give it a few minutes - I'm glad I did. Sci-Fi!!!!!
I love Sci-Fi and any movie based on a Phillip Dick story is worth watching. In Paycheck, Ben Afleck's character Michael Jennings is an engineer who works on secret or classified projects then has his memory erased for that period of time. We watch the erasure process - dangerous - but worth it to him. The jobs generally last for less than 3 months.
His buddy James offers him a job that's expected to take 3 years and convinces him that the big ($90,000,000) paycheck will be worth it.
I don't like spoilers so you have to rent it to get to the meat. I thought it was good.
Alpha Dog on the other hand could have been called "F'd up people behaving badly". The acting was decent - in some cases excellent, but the (true) story was appalling. It's difficult for me to imagine young men and women really doing all the things the film shows us. The message I got was parents with money lack parenting skills. (I thought Justin Timberlake was great - I just hated the movie) Quote from Adrian: "That was foul."
Slingshot stars David Arquette and Balthazar Getty. This is the convoluted film from hell. I have nothing else to say.
I just took a look at my Blockbuster queue and saw that Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was another film I watched (well tried to watch) this weekend. Despite the sci-fi I could not watch this boring (boring like the Superman TV show from the 50's boring) movie for more than 20 minutes. Do not rent this unless you're having trouble sleeping or you want to punish someone. Yawn.
8 comments:
i liked alpha dog. it was appalling, but it was also one hell of a fucked up true story.
*off to add Paycheck to queue* :)
I love renting movies, haven't seen paycheck yet but it's on my list. I didn't like alpa dog, I didn't see slingshot but had no interest, have less interest now after your review.
Thanks for guilting me into watching my Netflix movies. Don't call me, email me, or text message me for a week. I'll be busy.
I was gonna skip Paycheck, but on your say so I will give it a shot.
I was wondering why Starz or Encore2 hadn't picked up Alpha Dog. You are absolutely right on Sky Captain, as it is very League Of Extraordinary Gentlemanesque, in that it is absolutely brutal.
i had that Sky Captain movie at home for about 3 weeks and could never finish it. Just sent it back to Netflix and kept it moving. Glad it's not just me because it was supposed to be such a good flick.
I too was witness to the mind numbing boredom that was SKY CAPTAIN. I kept thinking Jude law would get naked and save it.
Didn't happen.
I'm late to this party, but just added Paycheck to my queue, based on your commentary. Thanks for the rec!
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