More movies

I've watched several movies this week. All are disappointing in their own ways.

It's Complicated. Had some cute scenes and of course all the performances were terrific. But I read a review that said the reason Nancy Meyers dominates this category of movies is because she's the only one making these movies. I tend to agree. It's not that her movies are so great, it's just that there's no other choices. In this film, I was especially put off by what a cad Alec Baldwin's character is. I didn't qustion Meryl's physical attraction to him, but how can she get over his betrayal of her, and the fact that he's now betraying his current wife for the exact same reason he betrayed her - that's he's an immature jerk who can't stand dealing with any adult commitments or responsibilities. In the Making Of featurette on the video, one of the (male) actors says, you weren't sure who she would pick. But I thought that was ridiculous. Her ex-husband was and continued to be a very bad bet.

The A Team. I heard this was funny, so we all went to see it at the drive-in. I'm glad we had the drive-in experience, but I could have skipped this movie. VERY standard action film, with a few funny moments, but nothing that distinguished it from every other movie in this genre - stuff contantly exploding, the heroes constantly escaping just in the nick of time. The plot was rather muddled, and Jessica Biel was way too insubstantial for her role - she's pretty, but poorly cast in this case. Just not satisfying.

The Book of Eli. Much more substantial than I had expected, with meditative passages on faith and religion. But extremely and gratuitously violent and vile. Not my cup of tea, as I had expected. I read an interesting user comment on imdb.com, where the writer asks why the Hughes brothers had to pad their meaningful message with hyper-violent scenes. He suggests that it allows the audience to enjoy the gratuitous violence and still feel virtuous for watching a movie with a message. I'd have to agree.