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Eddie and the Cruisers
This review is a two-fer. Eddie and the Cruisers and Eddie and the Cruisers 2: Eddie Lives!
I haven't watched this movies since the second one came out in 1989, and the first one is a bit older than I remembered it being. I thought it had come out closer to the second, but 1983? Wow! And both movies hold up pretty well.
The first movie, I loved. It follows the rise of the band until the death of two of its members, with the body of the second, Eddie, never being found. It's a bit formulaic, but the formula works and the soundtrack is excellent, though it repeats snippets of its signature song a little more than necessary, I think. Also, seeing as the second movie is all about Eddie being alive - it's in the movie's titles - there's no spoiler when I say that the final shot of the movie is a very-obviously-Eddie watching a broadcast about his band from a sidewalk. I think they should have maybe left that more ambigous, and maybe hid Eddie in the gathered crowd a little better and had him better disguised. But that in no way detracts from the movie. I've just surprised it took so long to get the sequel since his fate was obvious.
I remember completely hating Eddie Lives! when I originally saw it, but it has grown on my quite a bit since 1989. It just seemed to be missing something compared to the first one, and I can't put my finger on it. It's good, and I enjoyed it, though. It follows Eddie in his new life, under an assumed name, getting sucked into music again and forming a new band, all while the studio is promoting the unreleased album, which were a major plot point of the first movie, alongside some mystery tapes which were also recovered. I just don't see the tapes having getting handed over to the same studio who shafted the band in the first movie after the events of the first movie. I think that may be part of what bothered me about the movie. The soundtrack is still good, though not quite as good as the first, and there is still a signature song that gets slightly overused.
Overall, I enjoyed both movies but the first far exceeded the sequel. I will probably add the first to the list of movies that I occassionally rewatch, but I don't think the second was quite good enough to make that cut.
Tags: movies, reviews, eddie-and-the-cruisers, eddie-lives
Review: The Invention of Lying (2009)
Somehow, 2009's The Invention of Lying managed to fly under my radar when it came out, so this is my original viewing and not a rewatch.
In it, humanity is unable to lie. There isn't even a word for telling a falsehood. Movies are documentaries, advertising is honest, and your date tells you upfront the they're not attacted to you so you're probably not getting lucky. Suddenly, a character played by Ricky Gervais discovered that he has the ability to lie, and his bank just trusts him and assumes their system is in error when he withdraws more than what is in his account in order to pay his rent.
The brutal honesty up until that point, and leading up to it, is absolutely both messed up and hilarious as the same time. And the movie is great until sometime around this point.
When his mother is dying, and is afraid, he basically invents religion, the afterlife, and all that. He becomes wealthy as a result, and the movie slowly slides into the "money can't buy happiness" trope, but I don't think it ever actually made it all the way there. It seems more of a critisism of religion by that point, and while some of the jabs at apologetics are humorous, it's no longer nearly as laugh-out-loud funny. And there are some touching moments as well because, despite their continued inability to lie, the other characters do manage to show some growth.
This one is worth the watch, espcially the first half or so. I'm not sure I am likely to revisit it, though, unless I forget I've seen it and decide to check it out again at a future date. It's just kind of the sort of movie that is enjoyable enough but forgettable at the same time.
Tags: reviews, movies, the-invention-of-lyinng
One-word review: Dog Man
Dud
Slightly longer review: I know. It's a movie meant for kids. My 10yo daughter loves the books. She and my 6yo daughter seemed to enjoy it, but I was sitting there feeling like I was in a 5-hour documentary on paperclips. Many kid's movies have plenty of humor aimed at the adults in the audience, but if this movie had any of that I completely missed it. I think I laughed once as something that was slightly humorous. The "Bad Guys" short they showed before the movie was hilarious, though. ;)
Tags: one-word-reviews, movies, reviews
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