As I’ve mentioned before, when it comes to movie-watching these days, I’m making an effort to sample other things besides big, noisy action movies and crude sex comedies. And I like Clive Owen, so THE BOYS ARE BACK seemed like a good possibility. It’s based on the true story of an Australian sportswriter who’s forced to raise his young son alone after his wife dies of cancer. Things are complicated by the arrival of the guy’s older son from a previous marriage. He’s also befriended by a divorced mom he meets at his younger son’s school.And there’s your whole plot right there. There’s an occasional mildly amusing line and a few times when something dramatic almost happens, but for the most part this movie is so slow, grim, and depressing that I was never able to warm up to it. Owen does a good job, as does the rest of the cast, but I just didn’t get involved in the film. I guess it needed some carrots. (You SHOOT ‘EM UP fans know what I mean.)
I don’t think THE BOYS ARE BACK is a terrible movie at all. It just didn’t work very well for me. Call me shallow if you want, but by the time I finished watching it, I was ready to look over my Netflix list and find something with boobs and explosions to move to the top. I probably won’t do that . . . yet.
7 comments:
Ha ha. I don't know what it is lately with movies that have no plots. If you want explosions, watch The Hurt Locker.
I've seen a lot of good comments about THE HURT LOCKER by people whose opinions I trust. I'm only leery of it because it was directed by Katheryn Bigelow, and I've seen several of her movies that have huge holes in the plots. But I really should give THE HURT LOCKER a chance, so it's off to Netflix.
Funny you should say that because that was my only problem with it, and I didn't think it was that much of a problem. I reviewed it on my blog if you want to take a gander.
Sounds like a LIFETIME movie with a big star upfront.
HURT LOCKER was the best movie of last year IMHO. She really put the viewer down on the battlefield.
Bigelow's vampire movie NEAR DARK is the worst offender as far as logic goes. The characters in that one take the concept of the idiot plot to a whole new level. Despite that, it does manage to be fairly entertaining at times. Her movies move along pretty briskly.
Oh the carrots!!! No!!!! ;)
Although they are probably only related in the most slim way, reading this called to mind the indy film, Dear Frankie, which I just loved. It is slow and melancholy, but in a good way, if that makes sense. If you haven't seen it I recommend you give it a try. It stars Emily Mortimer and Gerard Butler.
James: I really enjoyed The Hurt Locker, but it's the kind of film you don't look for plot holes in it. I'm not a huge Bigelow fan, though I've enjoyed many of her movies, but I really liked The Hurt Locker. But beware: there are plenty of explosions, but I didn't think the movie was made to entertain, nor to move along briskly.
(Just another movie I failed to write about on my blog! Hmph.)
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