Screening Log
This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.
February 2008 activity
Total Log Entries: 38
- Adam (6)
- Chet (0)
- Chiranjit (1)
- Cullen (0)
- David (3)
- Eva (4)
- Evan (0)
- Ian (0)
- Jenny (0)
- Katherine (0)
- Leo (4)
- Megan (0)
- Rumsey (4)
- Teddy (0)
- Thomas (5)
- Victoria (1)
Total Comments: 22
- Juno (8)
- Electroma (1)
- The Room (0)
- Grave Robbers (0)
- The Roost (0)
- The Power of Nightmares (0)
- Axe (0)
- The Room (0)
- How She Move (2)
- Step Up 2 the Streets (0)
- The Phynx (0)
- The Oh in Ohio (0)
- Chicago 10 (0)
- Billy the Kid (0)
- The Visitor (0)
- Kisses For My President (0)
- Re-Animator (0)
- There Will Be Blood (3)
- The Ten (3)
- Atonement (0)
- Shoot ‘Em UP (0)
- Beach Girls (0)
- The Satanic Rites of Dracula (0)
- Fried Green Tomatoes (0)
- How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (0)
- The King Of Kong (1)
- Duck Soup (0)
- The Golden Compass (0)
- Cloverfield (0)
- The Cremator (0)
- Great World Of Sound (0)
- Sweeney Todd (2)
- Throne Of Blood (2)
- Zodiac (0)
- Away From Her (0)
- Reeker (0)
- 27 Dresses (0)
- Subway (0)
Full Archive
Shoot ‘Em UP / USA / 2007
“Also, I found the humor to be generally galling in Shoot Em Up. Rule number one in Hollywood: If you’re gonna ram a carrot into someone’s eye-socket, as Clive Owen does in this film, you have to have better jokes than these.” —Michael Phillips
Michael Davis’ Shoot ‘Em Up opens with Clive Owen killing a man with a carrot. If this moment doesn’t cue a notion about the film’s intended seriousness, then I really can’t offer much. This is a spoof, a send-up, meaning the overwrought and implausible violence, the one-dimensional characters, the ridiculous one-liners, and the bland storyline are all purposeful. Yes, purposeful. In reading the reviews, one critic after another extols their love of spoofs while simultaneously condemning Davis for making just that—an embellished, nothing-but-fun spoof. The fact that Clive Owen can annihilate armies of men while never getting shot himself, in one instance even while having sex, is purposeful. The fact that Paul Giamatti’s villain has a home-life, which he continually ignores, is purposeful. The fact that one bad guy meets his demise while falling from a senator’s airplane into the blades of a helicopter, all while shooting up at Owen, is purposeful.
I realize I’m only restating the obvious here, and I apologize, but aren’t mainstream critics supposed to enjoy movies? I popped this DVD in, knowing exactly what was about to happen, and loved every minute of it.
by Adam Balz | Source: DVD
06 Feb 2008 9:04 AM | Submit Comment
