I’m heading out to Best Buy once my son wakes from his nap and am thinking of picking up the following flicks, none of which I’ve yet seen. Advice?
Broken Flowers—Bill Murray in a Jim Jarmusch film. Can I go wrong?
Wedding Crashers—Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson
The Exorcism of Emily Rose—recommended by several people, but having been burned by Paul Schrader’s Dominion, I’m a little wary…
Wedding Crashers was bizarrely (sp?) funny. My wife even laughed a couple of times. The babes are truly hot, so that alone makes it worthwhile. I’d be curious what the unrated version includes….
Wedding Crashers was laugh out loud funny. Emily Rose I didn’t see but on of my female friends said it scared the crap out of her.
I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by Emily Rose, as long as you leave your expectations at the door. It’s a good movie on its own terms.
I’ll be interested to see what commenters say about Broken Flowers, because everyone I know who saw it said it was depressing and unfulfilling.
Didn’t see Emily Roe, but Wedding Crashers is great. It’s well-written, with interesting characters and the right amount of tension and humor. Cheers to Jane Seymore for taking on the role of horny mom, Kathleen Cleary.
I saw Wedding Crashers and Emily Rose in the theaters. Both were awesome, I saw Emily Rose twice in fact. Wedding Crashers I’d recommend to anyone, Emily Rose… well, I think you should like scary horror movies (as opposed to slasher gore fests). As much as I liked Emily Rose I think you should probably rent it first… I just hesitate recommending exorcism movies. It seems that more than any other sub-genre of horror that one has a distinct fandom. *shrug*
Wedding Crashers I could be confident that almost anyone would like it enough to outright purchase on DVD before seeing it.
I have no opnion about Broken Flowers.
Wedding Crashers was good, especially the first 30 minutes. I think at the end they kind of lost sight of where they were going with it, but it’s still a very funny film.
The only movie on my list right now is Serenity.
Two of the flicks are on my Netflix list.
Emily Rose was decent but it isn’t strictly a horror story. Most of the film has to do with the trial. I’d recommend it only if you can’t find anything else.
Haven’t seen any of them yet, but like Carin I have Wedding Crashers coming from Netflix. If you haven’t already, I would highly recommend joining Netflix—a great way to see lots of movies, even hard to find ones (at least as compared to say, Blockbuster), without shelling out $20 to buy them on the off chance they will be a keeper.
For $18/month, I probably average 10 movies a month, without rushing through them.
Wedding Crashers, IMO, is an absolutely hilarious romp. Great humour film – personally waiting for an extended DVD with extra footage of Vince and Owen ad-libbing. Quality comedy.
Emily Rose – watched that for the first time yesterday. As far as exorcism movies go, it’s different from the ‘Exorcist’ types that focus on the stereotypical elements. The movie is presented in a courtroom drama style, and the terror emphasis isn’t on the projectile vomiting, etc of most exorcism films. Too me, it made the movie somewhat scarier – there wasn’t a whole lot of theatrical/special effect BS; and it explores the concept of possession via the characters/storyline more than other flicks typical of the genre.
Both good flicks, go for it. If you don’t like Wedding Crashers, I call dibs. If you don’t like Emily Rose, I don’t want it. I woke up this morning at 4:00am, and was so scared I immediately wished I’d never seen the film. Then again, I’ve got a bit of an imagination.
Broken Flowers, to me at least, was like actually being in one of the many time wasting scenes from Lost in Translation. You just sat there. Disconnected. Waiting for something that was remotely relevant to happen just so you don’t have to sit there doing nothing, but not caring enough to do anything about it.
If you haven’t yet seen it, for G-d’s sake give Master and Commander – The Far Side Of The World* a shot.
Wedding Crashers is very funny in several places, but I’m not sure it’s one I would buy.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is both a semi-horror movie and a semi-courtroom drama. It is based on a true story, so the script ended up being somewhat constrained by the perceived need to be faithful to reality. Good production, but not really satisfying.
Benjamin is right—Netflix is your friend.
The Exorcism of Emily Roseâ€â€shockingly stupid. I watched almost all of it at 2x speed and it was still 50x too long. I love crappy horror movies, but it’s…something else. Something stupid. Chick-flick, too. Just…puke.
The Jarmusch is meh. Not bad, but I wouldn’t bother buying it if you’re not an auteur-completist.
The other one has Vince Vaughn in it.
Emily Rose sucked,; Wedding Crashers is the funniest movie I’ve seen since Bad Santa.
Wedding Crashers was a great one-time comedy – I don’t know how it would stack up on a second viewing. Emily Rose didn’t scare me at the time, but since then, every time I’ve woken up at 3:00AM desparately needing to relieve myself, I curse myself for having watched it.
What, Transporter 2 is not on your list?
TW: People who don’t like stylish action flicks have problems.
Like a few others in the comments I was given nightmares by Emily Rose. It isn’t actually a scary film, but that didn’t stop me dreaming the night I watched it that there was a large wolf scrabbling at my back door, screaming loudly with a human voice.
There were no wolves in the film, I should note. My subconscious just has a limited imagination.
I think it’s safe to say after seeing Emily Rose a few times now, that it is one of the rare Hollywood creations that doesn’t crap on traditional white Christians, but rather treats their beliefs with some dignity.
Liked Emily Rose but watched with low expectations. It was well done, not icky, gory or twisty. Good court scenes, the incursion of evil was disquieting in a matter of fact way as the central element of the story without dominating.
It essentially told a well crafted story that included demonic possession and how people dealt with that in a realistic way.
How would we deal with a reality where Howard Dean was in fact possessed?
Wedding Crashers – Baldasheringly funny. Disconcertingly vignettes a Class 5 Clinger enough to shrink man parts.
Emily Rose – Worth a view. Attempts to straddle the views around possession which leads to courtroom assertions that two sets of voices in ancient languages from one human being is comparable to the Tuval throat singers as a viable explanation. I prefer supernatural fare to unabashedly cross the line.
Jeff,
If you’re going to watch anything by Jim Jarmusch, go for Down by Law. It has some wonderful ensemble acting and features a great score by John Lurie and Tom Waits. His first feature, Stranger than Paradise was none too bad either. I just wish he’d asked me to work with him! Oh well, at least I did get to tango with Raul Julio…
xxx
Teri
Watched Emilly Rose last evening and thought it was very well done. Quite enjoyed it. Had some of the effects been done with makeup rather than CGI I think the film would have been even better. But it has a genuine creepiness, and poses interesting questions about the nature of faith and its intersection with law.
Want some real advice? Stay away from “The Brother’s Grimm”.
For a Kid? How about Fantastic Four? or the movie with that pothead McConaughey “Sahara”?
Jeff – delighted to see that you enjoyed Emily Rose. I think the director of that one is a person to watch – he’s got a very fresh, un-Hollywood take and communicates it very effectively. If you haven’t done so already, you might find it fascinating to look at the Anneliese Michel back-story to the film – the tragic reality of that case makes the movie look pale by comparison.