Gun crazy

Wh-what ha'ened was . . . As one or two of you might recognize, I'd already posted this, complete with an astonishing 9 trailer notes. But then I guess I made it revert to the draft version on my Galaxy S III by inadvertently opening it there. And I just don't have the appetite for completely reinventing that particular wheel, especially tracking down the IMDb links to a bunch of sequels I have no interest in. So highlights only down there, and a quick take on the second flick (the rev. of the first one was already a complete rough cut).

Spring Breakers

Crit

So the guy behind me in line hears I'm seeing this and declares it the worst film he's ever seen. Then he hears I'm also seeing Admission, and he makes a "meh" noise, and I acknowledge that I'm not expecting much, but I have a Tina jones. And then he says that he prefers the real Sarah Palin, whereupon I say, in a friendly, joshing way, that that makes me glad that he has disrecommended both my films, because we probably don't agree on anything. And then he says, "You should look in the mirror; you won't agree with that!"

Geez! If I have guys trying to pick fights with me in New Haven, maybe I should reconsider tomorrow's M4. As for this, it's not even the worst Harmony Korine movie I've ever seen (this is), but I must confess that I found it hard to detect where the t&a exploitation leaves off and the art kicks in. I will say, though, that James Franco, apart from clearly having the time of his life, may turn in the performance of his life as well.

Admission

Crit

A better, smarter, more serious film that the trailer suggested, with a satisfying ending that unfortunately isn't the ending, there being a goopily sentimental romcommy coda. Solid score by my old friend and upstairs neighbor Stephen Trask.

Trailers

• easily the highlight was Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, in modern dress and luscious black and white. Coincidentally, the night of the day I saw the trailer, a grad school friend saw the film in Toronto, at the Shakespeare Association of America conference, and reviewed it favorably.
• next most notable was the 3rd (at least) trailer I've seen of Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, a trailer that seems addressed directly to us who have been concerned that he seems to have discarded all of Fitzgerald's language.
• one whose trailer was so confusing as to be automatically interesting: Disconnect.
• otherwise, a bunch of no,  mostly god no, with the occasional maybe: Iron Man 3, The Hangover Part III, Kick Ass 2, Pain & Gain, The Big Wedding, Monsters University.