My Week in Film (8/10 - 8/16)

It'$ Only Money (1962)
(Directed by Frank Tashlin)

Jerry Lewis plays a TV repair man who turns out to be the son of some billionaire. Now, everyone tries to get him out of the way so they can get that cash. It took me a while to get into it. But it becomes so ridiculously fun after a while that there's no way I could resist its stupid charms. There's the nurse who has the hots for him, the private eye who wants nothing to do with him, the train sounds that come alive, the water thingies that start to evaporate. And, of course, gates that want to shock you. Jerry Lewis is kind of indestructible and that's why he's awesome. Plus, it all culminates in some kind of crazy killer lawnmower frenzy. What more could you ask for?

★★★

The GoodTimesKid (2005)
(Directed by Azazel Jacobs)

Deadpan semi-comedy about a bunch of sad people amblin' about silently with impenetrable things going on inside them. It's kinda pretty good. Jacobs play this loser punk (master in journalism? lol!) with a terrible haircut, Diaz plays his girlfriend, Naranjo plays some dude with the same name as Jacobs. Things happen. It took me a while to get used to Diaz (it's something about her voice or delivery) but by the time that she does this one awesome dance and dubs Naranjo "Depresso," I was entirely with the film. The duo spend their evening drinking wine from the bottle, going around doing nothing. They have this totally incredible evening. The scene in the boat is totally awesome (I love how he sees her naked by accident and then his gaze never wavers from what's in front of him and the camera focuses on him completely). It's also unexpectedly sad ("I need you"). Then there's the dreams of wanting to run away, the perfect soap opera bit, and Gang of Four's "Damaged Goods" played to its entirety. Naranjo's performance is kind of incredible. He never falters. His face has this constant expression of shellshock or something and his frazzled hairdo and that awesome moustache (plus the suits he wears) make him out to be the most amazing character of all-time or something. Plus he has this totally weird accent that makes whatever he says sound like gibberish. Whatever, doesn't matter. Nothing does.

★★★1/2

Cops (1922)
(Directed by Buster Keaton + Edward F. Cline)

Buster loses the girl and then tries hard to win her back. Somehow this ends up in Buster stealing wallets, stealing people's furniture, becoming a terrorist, etc; it's hilarious. I'm really in love with Keaton's athleticism; there's this one part that shows this weird double cross that hints at a soccer picture that never was. And he runs and runs and runs. Somehow always at the right place. Not only does he fool them, he does it with style. How else can you account for that out of nowhere umbrella? or his costume at the end? Doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense. Who cares how it happens, it happens! And it's so damn funny because of it.

★★★★

The Goat (1921)
(Directed by Buster Keaton + Malcolm St. Clair)

Buster plays the everyman who happens to be mistaken for some kind of escaped killer. Hilarity ensues. Buster just goes around running from people and slipping in and out of situations/roles so easily. It's like a second talent. It's all done so fluidly in a way that's totally ridiculous and fantastic. There's lots of great gags (one including Buster bringing a horse down on its knees) but the best has to be one with the elevator in which for a second you believe that Buster sent a man 7 stories down. It's hilarious.

★★★1/2

Susan Slept Here (1954)
(Directed by Frank Tashlin)

hehe, old dude marries 17-year-old for some weird reasons, chaos ensues, there's some interesting stuff and there's some not some interesting stuff and Debbie Reynolds wants to consummate the marriage and the narration is provided by an Oscar statue and there's talk about forgettable Hollywood pictures and there's lots of drinking and there's lots of bonkers stuff and there's an awesome dream sequence and Debbie Reynolds barks to get the man she wants. Man, who can you trust these days? Not me. Not me at all.

★★★

District 9 (2009)
(Directed by Neil Blomkamp)

It's fun. The one thing that sort of gets to me is this pseudo-doc presentation it has going on at the beginning. It sets itself up as a doc (looking back?) on this one event that happened and uses footage to reconstruct the events? Remember that the dude keeps knocking the camera away in embarrassing situations. Well, if they're recording a doc of this event and that's what we're seeing, why are we being shown other extraneous events that the camera wouldn't be privy to? Usually, films that break their own rules don't really bother me but the setup as pseudo-doc made the approach that was eventually taken seem kinda lazy. So, "I want the audience to know that the Nigerians are going to show up at this moment or whatever but the camera dude can't possibly be there so, well, how do I do that without cheating?" At what point does the film switch perspectives? Might it work if you view them as "reenactments?" Anyway, it was fun, people got blown up and all that stuff, but I couldn't divorce my enjoyment of Shit Blowing Up from the Plot Machinations at work. eh, Nigerian Hookers is a great credit.

★★1/2

The Hangover (2009)
(Directed by Todd Phillips)

It's funny but it's just this celebration of these male rites of passage that I want nothing to do with (and yet somehow get roped into doing anyway). And there's this kind of awful attitude in the characters and it's so one-dimensional and its laughs just consist of nothing but one crazy thing happening after the other. Yeah, it's VEGAS. Whatever. Bradley Cooper plays a huge asshole convincingly, Ed Helms plays Ed Helms convincingly, Zach Whatshisname kind of sucks and his awkwardness and stupidity is supposed to be funny, I guess, but it's really not. I don't know. Maybe I should've watched it with my bros or something and we could've all had fun calling each other gay or something. Yeah, there's something to think about.

★★

Jhon's Movie of the Week is... Cops