What TJ Watched: Week of Oct. 18, 2010

Hey kids,

This week, I watched:

The "Reganing" episode of 30 ROCK. Though I found the whole Reganing bit amusing and the Kelsey Grammer guest performance pretty funny, this episode felt a lot like a filler. I think after all the work that went into the live show, the team scrambled to throw this one together. The space is small and there are only about 5 people in the whole episode, with many of the supporting characters being gone completely. Still pretty solid comedy, but not what I've come to expect from the 30 ROCK gang.
2.5/4

The stars align in Woody Allen's "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger." With Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Naomi Watts and Josh Brolin, among others, Allen offers up another solid comedy that the latter-part of his career is filled with. How do you critique a guy who puts out a movie every year in his 70s? It's tough. And though "Stranger" manages to have some of the most refreshing characters you'll find in comedy on screen right now, I was pretty disappointed. Allen is just so cynical, so damn pessimistic. It used to be amusing, when it was neurotic, but now it's just plain sad. The message of the film is that nothing means anything, love doesn't work and life is miserable, so just distract yourself to get through it. Ha ha?
2/4

I watched "Paranormal Activity 1 and 2" in the same day, so they kind of blend together in my mind. I'll review them as one. I was utterly flabbergasted by the low-budget effectiveness of these films, especially the first one. The long static shots play like a modern Hitchcock, something that would make Michael Haneke proud, but the delivery can often be too slow and too insufficient. These films are a lot more effective in the theatre. And despite a few scares in the second and the chilling final 5 minutes of the first, there's not too much memorable in "Paranormal Activity," but it's a nice break from torture porn.
2.5/4

Lastly, I saw the all-star-studded "R.E.D." featuring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Ernest Borgnine, Brian Cox and Richard Dreyfus (am I forgetting anyone?) Though the first 20 minutes are so slow and "cute" they are brutal, the film finds some thrills later, mainly at the sight of The Queen behind a machine gun, and John Malkovich, well...being John Malkovich. Most of the cast was well-used and worth the odd collection. But the film never really climaxed. It never went as bat-shit crazy as I was hoping. I mentioned to some friends that I wouldn't mind there being a R.E.D. 2 because it's just so much fun watching old people kick-ass.
2.5/4

A bit of a disappointing week.

-TJK