Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Columbia etc.

October 3, 2008

Romcom, Musical

DVD
C+

I saw this movie at the time and enjoyed it enough to read the book, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, that it's based on.  I think, however, unlike Juno, which Cera appeared in the previous year (and which I own and rewatched coincidentally last week), this hasn't aged as well.  The clichés and oh-so-hipster '00s energy stand out more.  (I was already middle-aged back then, so it's not like I've grown too "mature" for this movie or something.)  And for covering less than 24 hours, it sure makes a hash of its timeline.  There are still some sweet and mildly amusing moments though, and I didn't mind a rewatch today, although I'm not bothering with the vast bonus material.  Peter Sollett directed.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Columbia
September 18, 2009
Children's, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Romance
DVD
B

I saw this at the time and am very pleased to say it holds up, in visuals (despite advances in the last decade or so), music, humor, intelligence, etc.  And, yes, it counts as a romance, since the nerd-love between Flint (Bill Hader) and Sam (Anna Faris in what I've always thought of as the Drew Barrymore role) is sweet and better done than in a lot of romcoms.  The voice casting is overall solid, and I like how Mr. T is cast so much to type it's basically self-parody.  There are a lot of great throwaway jokes, visual and sound, and the music is just a lot of fun.  (The pacing could be a shade better and I wouldn't say I was riveted, so B is as high as I'll go.)

This is based on the (much shorter) picture book by Judi and Ron Barrett.  Phil Lord and Christopher Miller did the adaptation and co-directed.

Brigsby Bear

Brigsby Bear
Sony Pictures
July 28, 2017
Comedy
DVD
B-

This film, co-written by Kyle Mooney, who plays the protagonist, is a bit like The Truman Show, Be Kind Rewind, and Napoleon Dynamite thrown into a blender, but I'm not sure how well blended the dark undertones, including Stockholm Syndrome, are with the uplifting messages celebrating creativity and friendship.  Also, it's sporadically funny, mostly when Greg Kinnear is onscreen (and I like that it's never addressed that he looks like he could be Mark Hamill's son, although he's only twelve years younger), and yet I did enjoy and root for the movie, and the productions within the movie.  There's an overly dated feel, in that '17 is too late for it to be 25 years after the '80s, but perhaps that's deliberate.

Mooney's childhood friend Dave McCary directed.