Meh | Cinema Parrot Disco

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Directed by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Starring:
Oscar Isaac
Carey Mulligan
John Goodman
Garrett Hedlund
Justin Timberlake

Executive Music Producer: T Bone Burnett

Running time: 105 minutes

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
Inside Llewyn Davis is a 2013 American comedy-drama film… about one week in the life of a singer who is active in New York’s folk music scene in 1961. Although Llewyn Davis is a fictional character, the story was partly inspired by the autobiography of folk singer Dave Van Ronk. Most of the folk songs performed in the film are sung in full and recorded live.

My Opinion:

Meh. I don’t know. I saw this early last week and have been putting off reviewing it because…. Meh.

I’ll start by saying I’ve never been a huge fan of the Coen brothers so that won’t have helped. Don’t hate any of their movies but never have exactly loved one either. Oscar Isaac does a decent job playing an unlikeable character in this. Carey Mulligan does a decent job playing an unlikeable character in this (but not for long – her role was smaller than I was expecting). John Goodman does a decent job playing an unlikeable character in this. Garrett Hedlund does a decent job being a hottie. I’ve not really seen him in anything else but I plan to now! And Justin Timberlake does a decent job playing Justin Timberlake.

Hottie & Sulley

There’s a cat so I guess that’s good. If you like cats. Which I don’t. There’s folk music so I guess that’s good. If you like folk music. Which I mostly don’t other than the occasional Bob Dylan. There’s, um… Oh wait. That’s about it. Oh! I kind of liked the scene where they sang that silly Mr Kennedy song and I was all like “hey, that guy with the low voice is in Girls!”. Oh wait – I thought of another thing. There’s a lot of moping so I guess that’s good. If you like people moping.

I really hope this isn’t the first review of mine that someone new to this blog is reading! This must be my worst review ever. (I’m lying – it’s totally not the worst. Don’t go digging through my oldest stuff!). 😉

What I’m saying is… This movie is okay. Not a lot happens. If you love the Coen brothers, don’t worry – you’ll like this one just fine. If you’re not a huge Coen brothers fan or if you have no experience with their films, don’t make this the first film of theirs that you see. They have better. But they probably have worse as well (I’ve not seen everything). Sorry for the crappy review – I struggled knowing what to say with this one! It’s not bad. I just won’t remember it in a couple years. Those are the films that depress me the most – I’d almost rather watch a REALLY BAD movie. At least they’re memorable.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Man, I’m going to take some heat for this one…

Man On A Ledge (2012)

Directed by Asger Leth

Starring:
Sam Worthington
Elizabeth Banks
Jamie Bell
Anthony Mackie
Génesis Rodríguez
Ed Harris

Running time: 102 minutes

Plot Synopsis:
Ex-con Nick (Sam Worthington) crawls onto the ledge of a tall building & threatens to jump. Police psychologist Lydia (Elizabeth Banks) tries to talk Nick down. But we soon learn that there’s much more to Nick’s story and blah blah blah there’s a diamond heist going on and this plot sounded quite promising but the movie is just BLAH.

My Opinion:

This movie sounded like it would be a bit of popcorn munching, “turn off your brain for 102 minutes” fun. Well, the “turn off your brain” bit was certainly accurate. Don’t expect some deep & meaningful plot here. Not that every movie has to have that but there just wasn’t enough “fun” in this movie to really make up for the shallow plot.

Sam Worthington. Meh. I still never recognize this guy whenever he’s in a movie. I’m always like “Who’s that guy again? Oh, Avatar dude”. And he has weird hair in this. Elizabeth Banks. Hmm. I kind of really like Elizabeth Banks as a person. I don’t know why. She kind of reminds me of me in some weird way so I’ve always been able to identify with her – she seems like a fun person (not that I’m a fun person. I’m boring as hell). She was fine in this but I just really don’t see her as a “police psychologist”. At all. Jamie Bell as Nick’s brother. Meh. Didn’t like his character. But hated the character of his girlfriend the most. Annoying as hell. Ed Harris as… Ed Harris, phoning in the “generic bad guy” role.

Bloody hell – I’m currently looking through the cast on IMDB & people like Edward Burns, Kyra Sedgwick, The Man in Black from Lost, and other actors I’ve heard of were in this but I can’t for the life of me even remember them in this forgettable movie. Oh, and William Sadler – I do remember him in this. Love him. “Alexandre Dumbass!” “Best two out of three!” (I love anyone who knows what I’m on about with those quotes).

Enough about the actors – Let’s move onto the plot. Er… You know what? Screw it. The plot is stupid. The idea was a good one but they could have done so much more with it. Just too silly & unbelievable with not enough fun or action to make up for it. Certainly not the worst movie ever but also not very good. These are the hardest movies to review. Just… Meh. Wasted opportunity.