TMR: Knocked Up / The Devil Came On Horseback

4 hour break on Tuesday + $9.50 movies = the Tuesday* Movie Review.

*Not necessarily published on Tuesdays. Me? Up to date? You have got to be kidding.

This week was Knocked Up.

I am always unsure when seeing a comedy. It’s not that I don’t like to laugh. It’s just I either don’t find the comedy funny (and there are a lot of stupid comedies being released whose only selling point is that they let you know they are awful), or the comedy dries up after the first half hour. You can probably see where I am heading with this. Knocked Up actually made me laugh, even when no-one else was (which is slightly embarrassing when you’re a movie-watching loner), and I laughed throughout (embarrassment be damned!). I think I have a German sense of humour because I was giggling like crazy (in my head) when the stoned Pete said one of the chairs was being very droll. It’s nice to watch a comedy and enjoy it, instead of thinking how desperate it must be for laughs to include a thousand fart jokes. Oh God, I sound like such a comedy snob. Somebody fart quickly so I can laugh my ass off!!

The one thing I thought could possibly spoil the movie for me was the fact it paired up Katherine Heigl with Seth Rogen. The way movie reviewers put it, it was supposed to be a complete stretch of credibility - why would beautiful, blonde Alison ever in a million years stick with tubby, average looking Ben, etc etc? This is probably coming from people who think Brad Pitt is a super stud. To go off on a complete tangent, I think Brad Pitt is the most overrated looking guy ever. The only time I ever found him attractive was when he had his shirt off in Thelma and Louise (because I was staring at his abs, and not his face). Anyway, I thought the pairing was cute and not at all implausible (the romantic comedy fan in me was very happy). They didn’t make Alison shallow or heartless, and Ben wasn’t a complete and utter loser, so why not? More nerdy leading men I say!

I also learnt from the trailers that Because I Said So looks like a painful mess, and so does I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. Does anyone else love trailers as much as I do? The trailer channel is my crack. What can I say? I love seeing how the studios try to sell their movies, even if I’ve already seen the movie in question.

Moving on…

Last week I saw The Devil Came on Horseback, which was part of the Auckland International Film Festival.

I must mention that I was sitting all by myself in peace and quiet and movie-watching bliss until this idiot came in 5 minutes late and impatiently pushed his way past my legs to get to his seat. That seat was, unfortunately, right next to me (damn allocated seating!). I was a bit pissed off, but that was nothing compared to how pissed off I was when he started breathing loudly through his nose, and continued to do so the entire film. I know people can’t help the way they breathe, but my god was it annoying. Not to mention that he would mix it up every so often and unleash this disgustingly mucusy snort. I felt incredibly embarrassed. Here I am watching these poor people in the Sudan suffer incredible atrocities, and I’m thinking of something as infantile as wanting to stomp on this guy’s feet.

Anyway, enough about AMG (annoying movie guy) and more about the movie…

Film-wise, it is probably not the best documentary made. However, this doesn’t matter when the message of the film is so incredibly powerful. The use of photographs, footage and interviews do the job perfectly. The photographs are shocking, appalling, horrific. It’s depressing to think that these images were finally shown to society so they could be aware, but after a few weeks most of society tried to forget they were aware. Some of the most affecting parts of the documentary were when the victims of the crisis in Darfur spoke about their plight. My heart broke to hear the suffering they had been put through. I was left feeling anger, sadness, disgust, helplessness and shock, but also respect for the work Brian Steidle is doing to bring change. This is the type of movie that needs a wide release, but if it did, would people go and see it?