timwburke

…because I walk out of them. I do not see the point of wasting my money plus wasting my time plus annoying myself further sifting out the merits from the deficiencies. I recall walking out of “Two Days In The Valley” (weak Tarantino rip-off), “Coppola’s ‘Dracula'” (ridiculous and Keanu Reeves’ accent), “Rango” (predictable and riddled with in-jokes), “Sucker Punch” (need I explain?), and most recently “Prometheus”. Perhaps I go to see movies when I have low blood sugar, or when I’m feeling down. Maybe I’m just real picky. I wish I had the patience to see the good in crap like many of my friends can. But I’m surly.
Today I walked out of “Seven Psychopaths”. It was a convergence of what I dislike most in movies 1) weak Tarantino wannabes (hello Guy Ritchie), 2) flat characters (they’re mobsters! who love animals! wacky!), 3) best friend characters I want to punch (Sam Rockwell is a convincing actor, which made me want to punch him even more), and lots of other things. The cast had some of my favorite actors, but the directing was uniformly uninspired.
I saw “Sinister” instead. I went in 1/2 hour late, but I had seen the commercials and knew what the plot was. And it was good.
Ethan Hawke is convincingly stubborn, self-absorbed and manipulative to be the movie Stupid White Guy. The plot is by the numbers “find clue > be concerned by spooky > have suspicious moment with fake scare > repeat” but that’s okay by me, as I love old “Night Stalker” episodes. Then, in the last 20 minutes, the Big Bad was a surprise and the Chekov’s Gun folded in with subtlety.
Tomorrow I go on stage for the first time in eight years with my 301 Level Improv Comedy Class. They are a fine bunch and I’m looking forward to it. I hope to have video for you.