 |
| FIRST 10 MINUTES |
| So far, watching Solitary Man, I can't help but feel that it's unfinished. I mean, I know I've only watched ten minutes of it, that's not what I mean. It just doesn't seem like they finished processing it or whatever. It reminds me of the time I got sent a tape with pilot episodes of several hopeful sitcoms. There might have been some decent laughs, but they seemed cheap, to the point where they seemed fake. With Solitary Man, it sorta seems like they ran out of money after the actual filming, so they had nothing left to put the finishing touches in post. It feels cheap and unpolished. (And not in the way that a movie like Once looks. That movie was meant to be low-budget-like and it worked beautifully. This one looks like it's supposed to be polished and pretty, but they didn't quite make it.) |
| As for the movie itself, it's mildly interesting so far, but I can't go much beyond that. We find out early that Michael Douglas has a possibly serious heart irregularity, that he's a used car dealer who has reached semi-celebrity status from his TV commercials, and that he's done something to tarnish his reputation. This latter fact is alluded to several times in the first ten minutes, but only in a vague way, so we're probably being set up for some kind of expositional surprise later in the movie. |
| The movie has a pretty good cast, including Susan Sarandon, Mary-Louise Parker, Danny DeVito, and Jesse Eisenburg. So far, of this supporting cast, we've only seen Sarandon and Parker, and they don't seem too excited to be in the movie, they just kinda seem to be saying the lines they've been told to say. In their defense, what has been written for them isn't thrilling, and this apparently isn't meant to be an exciting movie. Even still, they just kinda seem to be going through the motions. They're not horrible, they're just not very inspired. |
| I am going to keep watching, at least for a little while. Michael Douglas has apparently thrown his once-successful life, both personal and professional, into the toilet and I'm curious to see if he can get it back. But I'm only mildly curious, so if it doesn't get much more interesting, I'll probably tune out pretty quickly. (I'm kinda tired and it's late, so maybe I'll finally get to borrow Jess's sleep meter!) |
 |
| FOLLOW-UP |
| Well, the movie just continued to be moderately interesting. It is definitely not a great movie. MD is in every single scene (maybe that was part of his contract), and his character is basically an ass who somehow continues to hook up with young women (also probably in his contract), so you're never really rooting for him to succeed. And his inevitable "seeing the light and becoming a better person" moment is way too contrived and unsubstantial to be convincing in any way. But it didn't physically hurt to watch, so I guess that's good. |
 |
|
 |
| FIRST 10 MINUTES |
| There is a new trend in movie titles this year: Solitary Man / Single Man / Serious Man... What other "S-Man" films can come out? Or maybe we should combine them all? Movie title: A Single Solitary Serious Man. Cue the movie commercial guy voice: "A man travels the world... alone... without a partner... and he is serious... very serious... Yahoo Serious!" Oh wait, different movie. |
| Anyhow, every time I see Michael Douglas, I just want to watch Wall Street again. |
| Double anyhow, how is it that there are this many celebrities in this movie and I have never heard of it? And Michael Penn did the music? And Danny DeVito's in it?! My best friend has sex dreams about Danny DeVito, so I really try to keep up with his work. Also he makes a fine Limoncello. Seriously, he owns his own Limoncello company! |
| Okay, back to the movie. There is a lot going on here: Bad relationship with daughter, bad relationship with family, bad relationship with job, bad relationship with ex-wife, bad relationship with current girlfriend, and I have a feeling that soon we're going to see bad relationship with girlfriend's father. I am very curious to see how I am going to start feeling for this character, or IF I'm going to feel anything for him. I hope we see more of Jesse Eisenburg, Danny DeVito, and Mary-Louise Parker, I love all of these people. I have a feeling, though, that this could be a case of a good ensemble cast gone wrong. Maybe, just MAYBE, I'm wrong. |
 |
I'm almost 70 years old, but apparently women think I'm like 25. Yay me! |
|
| Another question: Am I going to have to watch Michael Douglas have sex with young girls? His character is a womanizer of young ladies and I'm not so sure I want to think about that. We've already been through it in real life with "The Zeta." I am interested in seeing how things turn out, though, because right now, I hate this character, and I want to see how the film attempts to humanize him. |
|
| JESS SLEEP METER |
 |
| (Bri: Jess was too busy complaining about the movie throughout the entire movie to possibly fall asleep. She might be awake for hours.) |
| FOLLOW-UP |
| Follow up: Well, I'm up, but I think it's because I ran a 5k today and my body doesn't know what's happening, so the shock is keeping it awake. I was correct in assuming it might be an ensemble cast gone wrong, and even sadder, I had to watch Michael Douglas make out with too many young women. Yes, there was more than one. Sadder still, the humanizing attempt falls way short, like Danny DeVito short... Ayyyyy ohhhhh!! |
 |
|
