The Hangover comes in at number three, but as with most studio comedies and me it really has nowhere to go now but down. Comedies have a very short staying power with me unless we are talking about something like Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles or films along the lines of M. Hulot’s Holiday or Kind Hearts and Coronets… films that offer something a little more than the ordinary. The Hangover is a fantastic movie that hit at just the right time and really brought the funny, but it’s hard to tell what kind of staying power it actually has.
This film is just pure dramatic intensity approached with such skill you can only hope everyone gets a chance to check it out in theaters as that is the only place it can truly be appreciated. I’m not sure how it will rank as the rest of the year goes on, but for now it is definitely one of the high notes and a certain contender for one of those ten Best Picture slots.
I saw this film as part of the Seattle International Film Festival and it hits limited theaters this coming July 24 and is a movie you must absolutely seek out. In the Loop is the funniest film I have seen in years and a comedy I don’t expect will ever grow old. It is so funny I actually skipped a second screening of it due to the fear a packed audience would be laughing so hard I would miss many of the one-liners. The jokes are rapid fire and I can’t wait to own it on DVD and catch everything I missed the first time.
To describe it in a sentence I would say it’s as if “The West Wing” was mashed up with “The Office” as a series of miscues between the American and British governments accelerate the march to a war in the Middle East. It’s whip smart satire coupled with a boat load of extraordinarily inventive obscenities. You can get a taste for all that right here
So there it is. Nothing drastic, but hopefully there are a couple of films on there you may not have seen and will give a chance should any of them interest you.
Where do you stand on the year so far? I know I see more movies than most and making a list of ten is much easier, but hopefully you can share a list of five or so of your favorite films from the first half of the year.
On top of that what do you remember most about 2009 to this point? We have the Oscars going from five Best Picture nominees to ten. We have the massive success of films like Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Taken. My personal disappointment in Watchmen. The unfortunate deaths of Ricardo Montalban, James Whitmore, Ron Silver, Bea Arthur, Dom DeLuise, David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Karl Malden just to name a few.
What stands out for you?
