Day 16: The Mall Cop Genre

New-To-Me Movies: 5

Apparently this year the "Mall Cop" movie became a genre of its own.  I did not see Paul Blart: Mall Cop.  But, I can say that Observe and Report was pretty darn good.

This movie manages to be entirely sick and twisted without feeling sick and twisted.  Does that make any sense?  Observe and Report very easily could have been juvenile, depressing, far too creepy or all three.  You have to give Seth Rogen a lot of credit for taking this psychologically disturbed security guard and making him more than a joke but an at times likable/relatable character. 

This movie is a daring comedy, and those are few and far between.  Bravo.

Oh and Beard:

Day Four: Zoo Day

Beard: You tell me. Picture below
New-to-me movies: 4
Jobs applied to: 4 (thanks Erin!)



The last time I went to a Zoo was when I was unemployed right out of NYU. Today I visited the Brooklyn Zoo. Not nearly as large as the Bronx Zoo, but a lovely time.

Also, saw Gigantic. The story of a single twenty something high-end Swedish mattress salesman (the mattresses are Swedish, not him) who's life long dream it is to adopt a Chinese baby. It was filled to the brim with indie cool quirkiness. This failed to cover up the lack of anything resembling plot or conflict. Oh, and there's a possibly imaginary homeless guy that wants to kill him. Sure I chuckled a few times. At least I didn't skip work to see it.

Day Two: A Day at the Movies

Beard: From across the room you start to notice it. Patches becoming more obvious.
New-to-me Movies: 3

Okay, I'm technically posting this on Day 3. Bad blogger. It's not like you are actually reading this anyway.

You gotta love the Regal Battery Park Theater. You can pay for one movie ticket and stay there for days on end. I whimped out after two. But fun's gotta end sometime.

"I Love You, Man" and "Adventureland". Neither was disappointing, both were entirely forgettable.

"Adventureland" should have been either a funnier comedy or a more poignant drama. Instead it was at times funny and overall kinda shallow. Kristen Wiig and Paul Hader stole the show for me. As the proprietors of the sleazy season theme park they are both funny and believable. Jesse Eisenberg once again plays and awkward kid in the 80s, only his character hasn't learned any of the "don't be a stuck up academic" lessons of The Squid and the Whale. I just want to smack him every time he starts talking about Charles Dickens. And I discovered I hate Ryan Reynolds.

"I Love You, Man" was not bad. It just lacked the pop and sizzle the better "bromances". I had high expectations for Segel and Rudd together after 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall". But they never seemed to elevate their relationship beyond grunting and awkward nicknames.