Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Quantum of Solace

Saw "Zack and Miri" when it came out, because I loves myself some Kevin Smith. And, I didn't think he'd be able to pull this one off without a huge "ick" factor. Especially if the lead characters did in fact have sex on camera.

Well, they do have sex on camera, and it allllllllllmost works. As a matter of fact, it's so close, we'll go with horseshoe rules and just say it does work.

But I can quantify exactly how it doesn't work. Did you ever have the experience as a kid where you already had some legos, and one of the grandparents bought you some more, but bought an off-brand that didn't fit actual legos? So, there you were, with two sets of construction blocks that worked amongst themselves, but you couldn't make one big thing out of them. In "Zack and Miri," Smith has hot-glued those two sets together so if you don't take a close look, you've got one big lego thang.

The fact of the matter is, this is a concept that would only work in the movie world, because in the real world, people like Zack and Miri wouldn't get past the drunk epiphany stage. They wouldn't be caught dead actually filming sex in order to sell it to people they know.

So, now that we have THAT out of the way, I must say that I enjoyed the hell out of this flick. I liked the jokes. I liked the language - Smith is one of those who can take profanity to a near high art form. And since the movie is completely impervious to editing for broadcast TV, why not have the characters carpet f-bomb the place?

Even with the provisos and quid-pro-quos above, the actual sex scene between Zack and Miri is honestly touching. Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen - particularly Banks - completely sell the scene, and give perhaps one of the best demonstrations ever on how acting can totally make a moment in a flick. It's one of my favorite love scenes of all time, and I'm surprised I actually mean that.

TLD: Apologies for the adverb abuse in this post, btw. I'm bad about using them in the first place, but here I have so many words that end in "ly" I'm totally feeling like a Valley Girl, for sure.

It's been a while since I crushed on an actress, but Elizabeth Banks just had me all moony. My God, she's a babe here. Never has an actress looked so radiant since Grace Kelley illuminated Hitchcock's Rear Window, or Meg Ryan sparkled in When Harry Met Sally.

Brandon Routh (he of Superman Returns fame) as Justin Long's (he of "the mac" in the PC vs. mac commercials) gay lover is a snort. Playing off of Superman's hyper-macho image and looking mortified as Long has yet another nellie snit fit is great squirmy fun.

Kevin Smith has always said he's not good at directing, but since Jersey Girl he's steadily improved, and since he's mentioned it himself, I tend to have my radar up during his movies for that very thing. And I'll tell you what, I went "wow" a couple times. Mr. Smith has graduated. One of the more enjoyable subtexts of "Zack and Miri" is a lot of the show is commentary on guerrilla film making and stuff I bet Kevin Smith went through making Clerks.

Jeff Anderson, who plays the guy who knows how to use a camera, played the infamous Randal in Clerks. Every time I've seen him I've been amazed at how good an actor he is, and wonder why other directors don't use him more. He's that perfect everyman. Kinda the niche that Jeff Daniels has managed to mine quite a bit. Casting directors, take note.

Finally, it's eerie to me how much my music tastes align with Smith's. I thrilled every time another song came up thinking that's the exact song I would've picked, too. Though, I wouldn't have had the balls to use Climax Blues Band's "I Love You" as the penultimate song. It's perfect, but boy it's gooey. And it works.

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Quantum of Solace

This is sorta giving it away, but the plot is essentially Chinatown without the incest angle.

The action is filmed in the same style the The Bourne Ultimatum was - all swiveling cameras and two-second long cuts. It's hard to follow and it gets you kinda sea sick.

The only thing that stood out was the clarity of the picture. I don't know if I was sitting the perfect distance from the screen, or if they've gotten a new method of filming movies, but when Bond was out in a desert, I could pick out individual rocks across the entire screen. It almost looked 3-D. But, as with big-deal CGFX, it needs to serve the story and not be a thing unto itself.

It was a fun two hours, but I can't really recommend it.