Sleeping With Other People was the fifth movie I saw over 48 hours. The Finest Hours, Anomalisa, 45 Years, and Love & Mercy were the others. While The Finest Hours was entertaining and was an excellent movie to see on the big screen in 3D, the only movie of the five that I enjoyed was Love & Mercy. As much as I disliked most of Anomalisa and 45 Years, the worst of the five movies was Sleeping With Other People. I am a big of Jason Sudeikis (We’re the Millers, Hall Pass). I liked him a lot on Saturday Night Live and thought that he had a fantastic start to his movie career, and sometimes, he can make you laugh out loud with his humor. At least for now, I think he needs to stick to strictly doing “funny” comedies. Sleeping With Other People was a comedy that was not funny and played like a dramedy more than any other Sudeikis movie I am familiar with. Likewise, this has also been classified as a romance, which I find sad and a discredit to the genre. I hated the premise of this movie and felt that it was tough for me to relate to, either on a personal level or how I observed those close to me. Perhaps this is the lifestyle for many people, but I don’t see it in my life. I didn’t know if I was supposed to take this movie seriously or if this was just supposed to be a fun 90 minutes. In either case, it failed. I neither enjoyed myself nor even laughed one time.
All posts by bryanbuser
Anomalisa (2015)
This post is a first. It is my first-ever post on an animated movie. After 260+ posts, I had to add an animation category under my genres. I have repeatedly said that I wouldn’t review animated films or documentaries. Still, Charlie Kaufman’s (Synecdoche, New York, screenwriter for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) Anomalisa is not your traditional Pixar or Dreamworks animation. And this isn’t really animation. It’s an entirely different stop-motion animation. Well, it is, and it isn’t. I don’t watch the F/X show Archer or anything on Adult Swim, so I don’t have much of a comparison (if any); Anomalisa was the most adult-oriented animation I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t adult-oriented in the X-rated sense. There wasn’t anything obscene in this movie. It’s just that the themes were very adult-oriented, and you wouldn’t want to be next to a kid while watching this film. I don’t think you’d want to be next to anyone during this film. I would not say that I didn’t like this movie. I did expect to like it much more than I did, as I kept hearing great things about it. But the two prevailing thoughts that I had while seeing this film were 1) I wanted to like it more than I did, and 2) It was uncomfortable to watch at times. It is tough to recommend this movie.
The Big Short (2015)
Completely flying under the radar in an otherwise crowded December release schedule (Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Concussion, Joy, The Hateful Eight, The Revenant) is Adam McKay’s (Step Brothers, The Other Guys) The Big Short, a movie that is neither short on star power or storytelling. While most will find this movie riveting, it will, unfortunately, hit a little too close to home for many viewers. This movie, while at times challenging to understand, will leave you dumbfounded that what happened happened not in some far-off land in a time long ago but right here in our own backyard just a few years ago. I promise not to explain this movie and then discuss some pros and cons. I will do my absolute best not to provide spoilers in this review.
Irrational Man (2015)
Irrational Man is not a terrible movie. If you are a fan of Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine), there’s no reason why you shouldn’t see this movie, despite its rather lukewarm reviews (42% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 48% audience score). This movie didn’t fare well at the box office, earning just over $4 million. This movie completely flew under my radar. I cannot recall seeing a preview for it until I scrolled through some selections on my Video On Demand network. The movie intrigued me in the same way Midnight in Paris did. Irrational Man was a movie that I did not think I would love but felt would hold my interest. It is not as good as Midnight in Paris, nor does it claim to be.
The Walk (2015)
The Walk, the 2015 film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer, Don John), put director Robert Zemeckis back into the driver’s seat of the unique, quirky, character-driven drams he is best known for. While he can do the heavier dramas quite effectively (Flight, Cast Away, Contact), we remember him less for these movies than some of his other movies. Known for his ability to incorporate technology while still telling emotional stories, The Walk does just that. After looking at his filmography, I see that this is the first movie Zemeckis has ever directed based on a true story. He does a good job. While The Walk is not one of the 20 best movies of 2015, it is entertaining, and many more people will leave the movie liking it than disliking it.