David Gordon Green's strange career

My oh my how the mighty have fallen. Just around 12 years ago a total no name of a director David Gordon Green debuted his first feature film George Washington to wide and -albeit over the top- acclaim. The film, about a group of rural urban kids in a the mid-west who try to cover up a tragic mistake, even made Roger Ebert's Top Ten List that year and had people comparing Green as a sort of up and coming Terrence Malick-like talent. The follow-up just 3 years ago was All The Real Girls which pitted Zooey Deschanel and Paul Schneider as shot struck lovers in -again- a rural mid western town. It also got great reviews and further advanced word that Green was the next Malick. What with the way he would shoot a particular scene and explore the deepest and simplest parts our very nature. Pretty deep stuff and incredibly artsy too. Gordon Green followed that one up with another simple slice of life Undertow and finished off this incredible run of praised films with Snow Angels in 2008- a scathing and dark look at the dark underlinings of a small town, the film was filled with divorce, murder, a lost child, adultery and a desperate stalker. It's a knockout of a movie that only grew better with repeat viewings.

This is where Gordon Green started to make our heads scratch. He followed Snow Angels with Pineapple Express. I'll admit it a good, funny, memorable movie but definitely not something I ever thought Green would end up doing ditto the follow-up which was the much less successful Your Highness. Yea you heard right Your Highness, a film that made my worst of .. list last year and represented career lows for all involved including Nathalie Portman and James Franco. A trend was starting to show. The "stoner movie". Gordon Green has resorted to making raunchy, stoner movies that don't have anything at all to do with his first four subtle feature films.

His latest came out just a few months ago. The Sitter is mindless, brainless fun yet we expected so much more from him. In it a newly thin Jonah Hill has one messed up, crazy night accompanied by these little brats that try to spoil the party. Of course drugs is involved so are other illegal activities. Yet where are the handprints that first made Gordon Green such a hot commodity in the indie circuit? Has he sold out? Should we even blame him for going to the other side? It's such a strange turnaround for a career that promised so much in the way of artistic prowess. I haven't given up, especially since Gordon Green is just a mere 37 years old, and this odd career is -I'm sure- only going to spring up more surprises.

A few more movies to prove that this summer movie season is a total disaster

Did we expect The Green Lantern to be any good? I didn't. Yet I still went to a screening hoping for it not to be a total disaster. Sadly it was. You can put it on the long list for worst movie of 2011. Director Martin Campbell -who did a solid job with Bond in Casino Royale- doesn't have much to work on here. Who are we kidding here, the Green Lantern was never one of the more exciting superheroes. The film adaptation proves it. It doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it an outer space film? is it a monster movie? is it a comedy? is it a drama? What if I answered none of the above .. anyways you get the picture. Add to the fact that I was never a big fan of Ryan Reynolds' -how shall I put this- acting chops and you got a movie recipe made in hell. The character's are hilariously sketched out in an unintended way and the space scenes are ridiculous. It's a great comedy. Seriously though, is there anything worth watching here? maybe the 3D which is better than most of the other 3D I've seen this summer (Cars 2 below) - However, I'd rather look at paint dry than watch this movie again.

I love Pixar so damn much. The classics they've released over the past 10 years are tremendous (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, Toy Story 3) yet there's always been much hate directed towards 2006's Cars which -I'll admit it- did not have the inventiveness of the previously said titles but had a sweet, good natured simplicity to its Americana colors. I loved every second of it when I saw it 5 years ago at a screening room in Alberta's Lux movie theatre. Cars 2 I did not love. It is by far the worst movie in Pixar's short 17 year history. While the original had a sweet, simplicity to it, this one is all flash and turns into a predictable spy caper. The characters are wooden and the marketing for Cars products is all over the map. Not surprising considering Cars has become a billion dollar industry, from lunchboxes to toys Pixar has been milking it ever since the original's release. Another big mistake is concentrating the center of its plot on red-neck talkin Mater, a caricature that ranks amongst Pixar's worst. Here's to better Pixar in 2012 when Brave rolls out amidst great buzz.

Cameron Diaz does wonders with her role in Bad Teacher - a raunchy comedy that delivers in some scenes and drags in others. The film comes out after a slew of "Bad" films have been released over recent years, sadly this doesn't rank in the same bogusly outrageous MVP league as Bad Santa or Bad Lieutenant. At times the film earns its R rating and at others it's just too bland to be anywhere near PG. Yet Diaz nails her role as a slutty teacher that has always looks for the guy with the big paycheck. Low and behold a new teacher shows up -played geekily well by Justin Timberlake- a heir to a french watch company and the perfect target for Diaz's ambitions. From there on in it's hit and miss. When the jokes work they work well, when they don't it's a complete mess. As for what passes as a so called plot, well it's thin. The story is more sketch than actual movie and resorts to sap in its finale. The usually great Jason Segal can't do much for an underwritten role. It's Diaz that's the only one that comes out of this one alive, she's dynamite. I guess in Summer 2011 you just can't win them all.

The Green Lantern (PG-13) ★
Cars 2 (G) ★★
Bad Teacher (R) ★★½