Movie Monday - 10/3/2011

This week's installment:

Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis star in Due Date, about a guy (Downey), who has to get back to California for his wife’s scheduled C-section.  Peter meets Ethan, a quirky dude (Galifianakis), at the airport.  Ethan gets them kicked off the plane and the two end up sharing a rental car in order to get home.  There are some funny parts, but the plot has been done before in a better fashion – Planes, Trains and Automobiles.  Juliette Lewis has a really funny role as a pot dealer.  Michelle Monaghan and Jamie Foxx also star in this film.  It was alright.

In Meek’s Cutoff, Bruce Greenwood plays Stephen Meek, a guide who is helping three families cross to the other side of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains to start a new life.  Soon, the group finds itself in very rough terrain and with no water in sight.  They realize that they must be lost; despite how much Meek tells them how wonderful he is at his job.  When they come upon an Indian and Meek wants to kill him, one of the wives (Michelle Williams) stands up to him and forces Meek to spare his life.  She figures the Indian is better able to get them across the mountains, and may even help them find water.  This movie is slow, the plot is less than intriguing, and the ending is not really an ending.  I did, however, like how it seems to be a truer portrayal of what life must have been like for early settlers heading to new territories, unlike most westerns that Hollywood has made. 

Bill Cunningham New York is a delightful documentary examining the life of a man doing his life’s work and enjoying every minute of it.  Cunningham is a photographer who chronicles fashion.  He does photograph the collections, but he is more about how real people interpret and wear the styles.  He is not impressed by celebrity or wealth.  He is all about the artful self-expression of dressing. He is in his eighties, and still rides his bicycle or walks the streets of Manhattan while taking pictures. I really enjoyed watching this movie.

Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is Morgan Spurlock’s recent documentary that examines how advertising is such an intrusive aspect of our lives.  It is everywhere!  Spurlock exposed how deals are made behind the scenes, while simultaneously financing his entire film with the advertising income.  It was interesting and entertaining.

MK out.