Strangers with Candy, A Dirty Shame, Layer Cake, Walk on Water, & Transamerica

Strangers with Candy was funny, but it suffered from the same problems that most TV-to-movies suffer from: it's hard to hold someone's interest for 22 minutes at a time, and then try to make that character interesting for an hour and a half. That said, if you loved the show, you'll love the movie. I found some episodes great, and others not as good. So consequently, I found some scenes hilarious, and others just fell flat. Pretty much every scene with Allison Janney and Philip Seymour Hoffman stood out, and Colbert, Dinello, and Sedaris were all very good. Just some comedy, in my mind, didn't work very well. Others will clearly have differing views.

A Dirty Shame is pretty much the correct title for a film that, while filthy, is at least better than some of the crap that gets put out and gets lower ratings. It also doesn't work as well as Waters's "cleaner" films. Pecker, Hairspray, Cry Baby, and Serial Mom are all good films, but this was just a mess. Damnit Waters, I try so hard to enjoy your films, and even then, I just can't. So I will just continue to appreciate you as a filmmaker, while still enjoying many, many, many other films much more. I do, of course, commend him for releasing an NC-17 film, because not enough of them are released nowadays (except the straight-to-video Skinemax trash, or the American Pie series (technically unrated, but you know it'd be NC-17, because only those under 18 would be interested in that crap)).

Layer Cake actually made me want to see Casino Royale. It's really impressive. Man, Daniel Craig was good in it, and why hasn't Matthew Vaughn done anything since then? Why the hell didn't he work on Casino Royale? He would know exactly what to do. Of course, I am now interested in his next film, which is based on a Neil Gaiman novel, Stardust. Layer Cake is one of the better last drug score movies I've seen. Definitely see it, especially if you like stylish films about drugs.

Walk on Water is an Israeli film about Nazi hunting, homosexuality, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Israeli folk dancing, and the fact that apparently you can be naked on the shores of the Dead Sea. And the differences between circumcised and non-circumcised penii. An Israeli assassin (working for Mossad, but it never really is mentioned) starts to regret his career choice, but still is given a job to learn where the Nazi who killed his parents is, by leading his grandson around Israel on a tour. It works surprisingly well, considering how many ideas it tries to stick in the running time. I guess it's better for someone with an interest in all those things I said it was about, but even if you aren't interested in all of those (me!), it's not bad at all.

Transamerica is manipulative dreck. Seriously, it was all, GIMME AN OSCAR! and I WILL SHOW YOU FELICITY HUFFMAN WITH A DICK! Sorry, you need a non-cliched plot. Replace the transexual angle with just a normal deadbeat dad, and it's not noteworthy at all. Oh, sure, Felicity Huffman is "ugly" so she's a great actress! And it has a Dolly Parton song! Nevermind that the song sucks, and being ugly doesn't make you a good actress. About the only thing I really liked in it was Carrie Preston, someone I enjoy entirely because of her role in Wonderfalls as the wound-up penguin. Sorry, people who liked it. Watch more movies and you'll see many vastly better films. And you'll realize just how eh the film was.