Weekly Roundup: The Glass Castle, Horns, Office Christmas Party
Another week has passed and I'm going to take a few minutes to discuss some of the films I've seen this week that I didn't want to dedicate a full review to. This is the weekly roundup.
The Glass Castle (2017): Destin Daniel Cretton: Short Term 12 was an amazing movie and when I heard that Destin Daniel Cretton would be collaborating with Brie Larson again with The Glass Castle I couldn't be more excited. Unfortunately this movie doesn't comee close to Short Term 12's level.
The Glass Castle is a family drama about a family living in poverty constantly moving from home to home and it flashes back between the past and present. Its based on a true story and its a very interesting film on paper. Woody Harrelson plays the family patriarch and Brie Larson plays the grown version of his oldest daughter.
Harrelson is definitely the stand out of the film and the most interesting character, but the film runs too long after a very good opening hour and it never really finds its comfort zone again.
Verdict: Its watchable, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for. Its still worth it for a fan of the cast.
Horns (2013): Alexandre Aja: Based on the novel by Stephen King's son Joe Hill Horns is also very good during its first hour but it starts to go downhill from there. Its undoubtedly weird but its well performed.
Daniel Radcliffe plays the lead and is the overall standout as a young man who begins to grow horns out of his head after the murder of his girlfriend. A murder that he is basically the sole suspect for. With these Horn come some unexpected abilities that may help him track down the real killer.
Horns is an interesting blend of genres. Its a mix of fantasy with a modern noir film, but it really loses its edge in the second half. I enjoyed the non-linear narrative at first but the flashbacks are probably considered too excessive by the end of the film. Horns is at least a half hour too long as it passes up several opportunities to end.
Verdict: Skip it, unless you're a fan of the novel, maybe you'll understand.
Office Christmas Party (2016): Will Speck, Josh Gordon: I would normally argue that the first few weeks of November is a little early to be watching Christmas movies but I decided to check this out when it landed on Netflix last week. The cast is stacked with people I enjoy watching and that was all the motivation I needed.
Office Christmas Party is about an office full of co-workers that throw a Christmas party in order to win over a client that should save their branch from closing down. So little is actually explained about what it is this business does and if anything was explained I forgot about it. Jennifer Aniston is also a total bitch for no explained reason. The whole cast is good but TJ Miller and Kate MacKinnon stand out. The film isn't overly funny but proves to be funny enough I guess.
The final act takes the cast away from the party when there was more than enough going on at the party. It spawns a few laughs including a car chase involving Kate MacKinnon's KIA minivan (its what God would drive). I probably tend to have a shorter leash with Christmas comedies. This isn't a particularly memorable one, but its better than many.
Verdict: If you like the cast its probably worth it, but it's not mandatory.
That's my roundup of titles for this week. I'll give you an update soon on some of the other new flick I've been watching.
The Glass Castle (2017): Destin Daniel Cretton: Short Term 12 was an amazing movie and when I heard that Destin Daniel Cretton would be collaborating with Brie Larson again with The Glass Castle I couldn't be more excited. Unfortunately this movie doesn't comee close to Short Term 12's level.
The Glass Castle is a family drama about a family living in poverty constantly moving from home to home and it flashes back between the past and present. Its based on a true story and its a very interesting film on paper. Woody Harrelson plays the family patriarch and Brie Larson plays the grown version of his oldest daughter.
Harrelson is definitely the stand out of the film and the most interesting character, but the film runs too long after a very good opening hour and it never really finds its comfort zone again.
Verdict: Its watchable, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for. Its still worth it for a fan of the cast.
Horns (2013): Alexandre Aja: Based on the novel by Stephen King's son Joe Hill Horns is also very good during its first hour but it starts to go downhill from there. Its undoubtedly weird but its well performed.
Daniel Radcliffe plays the lead and is the overall standout as a young man who begins to grow horns out of his head after the murder of his girlfriend. A murder that he is basically the sole suspect for. With these Horn come some unexpected abilities that may help him track down the real killer.
Horns is an interesting blend of genres. Its a mix of fantasy with a modern noir film, but it really loses its edge in the second half. I enjoyed the non-linear narrative at first but the flashbacks are probably considered too excessive by the end of the film. Horns is at least a half hour too long as it passes up several opportunities to end.
Verdict: Skip it, unless you're a fan of the novel, maybe you'll understand.
Office Christmas Party (2016): Will Speck, Josh Gordon: I would normally argue that the first few weeks of November is a little early to be watching Christmas movies but I decided to check this out when it landed on Netflix last week. The cast is stacked with people I enjoy watching and that was all the motivation I needed.
Office Christmas Party is about an office full of co-workers that throw a Christmas party in order to win over a client that should save their branch from closing down. So little is actually explained about what it is this business does and if anything was explained I forgot about it. Jennifer Aniston is also a total bitch for no explained reason. The whole cast is good but TJ Miller and Kate MacKinnon stand out. The film isn't overly funny but proves to be funny enough I guess.
The final act takes the cast away from the party when there was more than enough going on at the party. It spawns a few laughs including a car chase involving Kate MacKinnon's KIA minivan (its what God would drive). I probably tend to have a shorter leash with Christmas comedies. This isn't a particularly memorable one, but its better than many.
Verdict: If you like the cast its probably worth it, but it's not mandatory.
That's my roundup of titles for this week. I'll give you an update soon on some of the other new flick I've been watching.
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