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Showing posts with label Kieran Culkin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kieran Culkin. Show all posts

Friday, November 15, 2024

MOVIE REVIEW: A REAL PAIN




















Mismatched cousins David and Benji tour Poland to honor their grandmother. Their adventure becomes complicated as old tensions resurface while exploring their family history.

Director: Jesse Eisenberg

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes

Release Date: November 1, 2024

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Rated R for language throughout and some drug use.

Runtime: 1h 30m

Review:

Jesse Eisenberg's buddy road trip movie, A Real Pain, is an efficiently directed dramady that packs an impressive emotional punch.  Eisenberg's film is deceptively simple and straightforward but he manages to create a certain rhythm to his film that gives it an airy lightheartedness paired with a lingering melancholy.  It’s a fascinating blend that works with familial and generation themes he's exploring.  Eisenberg displays a talent to make smaller moments feel incredibly authentic as we watch these two reconnect throughout the film.  It’s funny, awkward and devastating at various points as we follow this mismatched pair on their physical and emotional journey.  On screen, Jesse Eisenberg is perfectly in his wheelhouse as the introverted, neurotic half of this odd couple.  Eisenberg's performance gives his character a perfect sense of repressed, self control which works as perfect contrast to Culkin's unrestrained free spirit.  Kieran Culkin performance is fascinating to watch with him giving a chaotic charm that's engaging while carrying around a hefty bit of emotional damage.  Culkin and Eisenberg work off each other so well that every movement and look carries so much behind it that makes the relationship feel lived in and real.  There's joy, pain and levels of resentment that comes through the screen in a way that only lifelong family relationships can create.  Each character is complicated for a multitude of reasons which makes the film so incredibly watchable and impactful, a real testament to the work onscreen and behind it.  

A

Sunday, August 15, 2010

MOVIE REVIEWS: SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

IN THEATERS

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD



Based on Bryan Lee O'Malley's Oni Press comic book of the same name, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World follows the eponymous slacker rocker on his colorful quest to defeat his dream girl's seven evil ex-boyfriends. Twenty-two-year-old Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) may not have a job, but rocking the bass for his band, Sex Bob-omb, is a tough job unto itself. When Scott locks eyes with Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), he knows she's the girl he wants to grow old with. But Ramona has some serious baggage; her supercharged exes rue the thought of her being with another man, and they'll crush any guy who gives her a second glance. Now, in order to win Ramona's heart, Scott will do battle with everyone from vegan-powered rock gods to sinister skateboarders, never losing sight of his gorgeous goal as he pummels his way to victory. Shaun of the Dead's Edgar Wright directs the film from a script he penned with Michael Bacall. Superhero veterans Chris Evans and Brandon Routh co-star in the action comedy as two of the seven ex-boyfriends. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Edgar Wright

Cast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh.

Release Date: Aug 13, 2010

Rated: stylized violence, sexual content, language and drug references

Runtime: 1 hr. 53 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure

Review:

If you’ve ever wondered what a Baz Luhrmann dream would look like if it had 16-bit sensibility, I know I have on various occasions, then Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is right up your alley. Like Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge, Wright has a basic and fairly straightforward story as his base but the visuals elevate it to an inspired bit of kinetic epilepsy inducing filmmaking that’s easy to love. Wright uses anime and old school video tropes in telling this story and it’s a visual marvel to behold, something that’s insane but perfectly logical within the story. Acting, like the story is 2nd fiddle here and with a few standouts, Kieran Culkin leaves the most tangible impression, the cast is mostly just going with the flow of the film’s lunacy. Wright has really flexed his directorial muscle here and created visual candy which is s tad overlong and probably not terribly accessible to the general public.

B+
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