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Monday, October 2, 2017

October 02, 2017 at 11:33PM

It's OK 2 Log-Off™
Tried watching Everybody Wants Some!! last night. The two exclamations in the official title should have been a red flag. I was cringing. This movie got decent to good reviews too!! (86% Fresh™) I turned it off, and I am unlikely to return. There isn't a (good) director out there who I am more conflicted over. Here is a rundown of Linklater's filmography ('impromptu-style'):

1988 It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books did not see
1990 Slacker i like slacker but come on it's not *that* good
1993 Dazed and Confused all-time classic that still holds up
1995 Before Sunrise did not see any of the 'before' movies (that's on me)
1996 SubUrbia did not see but should check it out (prob sux but maybe a sleeper?)
1998 The Newton Boys i know i saw this but can't recall much (good/bad, etc)
2001 Waking Life very good! see A Scanner Darkly below...
2001 Tape another "did not see" but this sounds like a weird one i need to check out
2003 School of Rock great + totally underrated (imo)
2004 Before Sunset see above: Before Sunrise
2005 Bad News Bears really really bad
2006 Fast Food Nation also really really bad, wtf
2006 A Scanner Darkly my fav movie of his by a mile; built on the style of Waking Life + a perfect book adaptation
2008 Me and Orson Welle did not see but look at this poster and how did the same guy just make A Scanner Darkly??
2011 Bernie not as bad as BNB and FFN but in the same vein (category) of badness
2013 Before Midnight see above: Before Sunrise
2014 Boyhood Yes look i enjoyed it but did not live up to the hype; the stunt was super cool but actually movie didn't live up the expectations it created
2016 Everybody Wants Some!! stopped watching after 15min.

So, discounting the trio of Before movies, which––tbh––are fairly well-liked it would appear, my blazing hot take on Richard Linklater is that he hit gold a few times (Dazed, Scanner) but both largely bombed with attempts at mainstream success (Bears, Bernie; School of Rock being the lone outlier) and let down with a few experiments wherein the idea is much cooler than the end product (Slacker, Boyhood).

This is all fine, of course. I guess I'm leveraging any umbrage here at those who seek to lump Linklater in with the best of his contemporaries (PTA, Coen bros, Wes Anderson, even Fincher who despite having his own misses is far better/more consistent imo). But, yeah, highly unlikely I get to finishing Everybody Wants Some!! to offer an 'official' review. Yuck.