Tag Archives: JK Simmons

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On The Couch 2011 #12: The Kids Are All Right

With mere hours to go before the Academy Awards, I sat down on the couch to watch The Kids Are All Right. This movie is alright, with some really funny scenes that had me laughing loudly.

But at the same time, The Kids Are All Right is a strong early contender for next year’s Tuesdee for Most Overrated Movie. This film is why The Town didn’t score a nomination? Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t think this movie was Greenberg bad. I just didn’t think it was nearly as good a movie as the other Best Picture nominees.

I also feel that Annette Bening’s performance was extremely over hyped. She was good, but I don’t see what was so special about her performance that she was considered a possible spoiler for Natalie Portman taking home the Best Actress award on Oscar night.

Someone who did earn his nomination was Mark Ruffalo, who remains awesome. I would like to one day make a movie with Mark Ruffalo, J.K. Simmons and Stanley Tucci. Roof, J/K and The Tooch in one movie would be the trifecta of supporting actors.

The Ruf continues to be on fire!
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On The Couch #22: An American Crime

Wow, I really wish I looked up the info on this movie before starting it. I went into it blind. I was up late and it was on TV. I missed the title, so I had no idea what I was watching, but it took place in the 60s and Bradley Whitford played a lawyer, which is enough for me to not reach for the remote.

Bradley Whitford is a JK Simmons level actor.

Then Ellen Page came on the screen. I thought I was in for a teenage coming of age story. Juno in the 60s! Yay!

I was so wrong.

I realized this as soon as Catherine Keener burned her first cigarette out on Page’s arm. Keener plays a woman so effed in the head crazy that Annie Wilkes from Misery has been quoted as saying “That lady’s nutty.” Keener’s kids are just as whacked as their mom. If you ever wondered where the children of the corn came from, it was this house.

This is not a date night movie. It’s also not a movie to watch while eating food. This movie is very raw and holds few punches in showing how Indiana mom Gertrude Baniszewski (Keener) and her kids physically and mentally tortured their neighbor Sylvia Wilkes (Page) without mercy. The only person scarier than Gertrude is her pint-sized son Johnny, who burns and beats Sylvia with a very creepy smile on his face. That kid still gives me nightmares.

It’s also a very good movie. Keener, Page and Whitford are all excellent. If this is the role that got Ellen Page noticed by Hollywood, I can understand.

The saddest thing about this movie is that it’s based on a true story. It scares me that people in real life can do to each other what the Baniszewski family did to Sylvia and Jenny Wilkes.

I recommend seeing this movie, just don’t expect me to watch it again in the near future.

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At the Theater #3: Up in the Air

The central theme of Up in the Air is rejection. Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney, rejects anything that will keep him tied down: his family, a furnished apartment, a closet full of clothes, preferring to live in the places in between. Those places in-between are sky high, in the first class section of American Airlines. Ryan’s best friends are the magnetic stripes of his various loyalty program cards, allowing him to rush past lines. What he’s rushing to isn’t his destination though, it’s his first class airline seat.
No one is immune to rejection to the movie. As a professional firer, Clooney delivers corporate rejection. His protégé and nemesis, Cornell grad and corporate up and comer Natalie, played by Twilight’s Anna Kendrick, is initially rejected by Clooney and faces further rejection as the film goes on. Clooney’s family starts out being rejected by him and it isn’t long before they start rejecting each other. Anyone is any kind of relationship, familial, romantic or corporate, is sent through the ringer.

It’s a very good movie and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Clooney get as many award nominations for this as he did for Michael Clayton two years ago.

But if any actor in this movie deserves an award, it’s J.K. Simmons. He makes every movie he’s in better. Jason Reitman knows this and was smart to cast him again. Whenever I see his name in a film’s opening credits, I smile, because not matter what part he’s given, his scenes shine. He has a small part here, as a father of two who laid off by Ryan and Natalie but man does he shine.

He has to be the most under-rated actor working in Hollywood today. If any actor makes the transition over in the Spider-Man reboot from the old franchise to the new one, I really hope it is J.K. He was J. Jonah Jameson come to life right off the comic book page.

J.K. as J.J.J.

He was great as Juno’s dad in Jason Reitman’s first film. He had the best lines in the Coen brothers’ Burn After Reading. This blog is officially a fan of J.K. Simmons.