The American and Machete

According to one Movie Tuesdayer, The American was "alright."

Tonight I saw Machete.  VERY campy and, probably, the purpose was to make it just-this-side-of-campy, but it IS camp.  Over the top gore, horrible dialogue, and a very famous woman who shares my name -- her part was totally worthless.  The best way to see this movie is to go with someone who has great running commentary.  Luckily, I had maybe the perfect companion for witty discourse.  Otherwise, I'm never going to watch it again.  Doesn't hold a candle to Once Upon A Time In Mexico.  Not good.     

Summer Movies

(Movie Tuesdayers, let me know if I forgot any...)

*Get Him to the Greek Not bad.  Parts were really funny, others fell sort of flat.  I wish that the story was more congruent with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which is where Aldous was introduced.

*The A-Team Actually, pretty darn good. Great action, just campy enough, good story, and by gosh they flew a tank!

*Toy Story 3 The third in the series of my favorite movie franchise.  Better than Toy Story 2.  The 3D wasn't all that necessary (other than for the superawesomecrazycreative short in the beginning).  Terribly creepy doll character who would have definitely given me nightmares if overtly and continually compared to the scary movie that it evoked.  Great story and the cast of toys were spot on.  I'll totally buy it.

*Killers Typical rom-com.  Katherine Heigl is always endearing and actually Ashton Kutcher wasn't stupid, which was a pleasant surprise.  And a good twist (one at least that wasn't in the previews).

*Knight and Day Pleasantly surprisingly entertaining.  I don't particularly like Tom Cruise, but he plays crazy so darn well.

*Cyrus  Painfully awkward.  John C. Reilly was very good.

The Last Airbender I wasn't able to make it to this movie, but the other Move Tuesdayers did and didn't stay long at all.  It was THAT BAD.  M. Night Shyamalan does not make good movies.  Let's all just stop leading him on.

*Inception Undoubtedly one of the best movies of the summer.  I don't have anything new or insightful to say about this movie, so just read one of the zillion of reviews that's already out there.

*Despicable Me We saw this directly following Inception, on a double feature catching up with movies night.  It was ok.  I was lead to believe it was about something more interesting.

*Salt Dear Angelina Jolie, you have cornered the market on female action stars.  I adore you when you kick ass.  Good action, entertaining, nice twists.  That's right, I said twists plural. 

*Dinner for Schmucks Very funny.  Awkward.  Funny. 

*Scott Pilgrim vs The World Another cute, clever Michael Cera movie.  He nearly broke his every-movie character, nearly.  That's basically all you need to know.  Also!  Kieran Culkin was pretty awesome.

*The Switch Dare I say one of Jason Bateman's best roles.  One of the better rom-coms.  Jennifer Aniston was age appropriate, which was refreshing.  The kid was the perfect mix of endearing and odd.

*Worth the watch OR just don't waste your time on The Last Airbender.

Movie Updates, April & May

I'm going to take the very easy way out and just half-ass these reviews*: 

Date Night Tina Fey and Steve Carell are a match I've just been waiting for; however, TOTALLY implausible premise and just like most romantic comedies -- fun and silly and not all that great, unfortunately.

How to Train Your Dragon 3D 
Superduperawesomefantasticexcellent!  This was the 3D movie I was waiting for.  Love love loved it.  

Sex and the City 2 Shmeh.  As noted above, like all romantic comedies, silly and sorta fun.  The girls let me down, especially since I Sex and the City marathoned before, in anticipation that the movie would be on the same level as the show.  Too much materialism, too much old people trying to reclaim something that has passed them by (gracefully, in terms of the show), too much and yet not enough of the right stuff.  But, honestly, I can't remember a movie based on a show that I enjoyed as much as I liked the show (Simpsons movie wasn't all that great, either).

  

Prince of Persia I like action movies, I like fighting, I like comedy.  I liked Aladdin, which was the cartoon version of this movie released several years before and loved by all.  I got bored toward the whole middle.

 

Shrek Forever After Shmeh, again.  Shrek 2 is the only one we need.  This was just making a movie to just make a movie.  The 3D was good and the animation was great, but the story was seriously stupid.

Robin Hood I don't get why a new Robin Hood had to be made, but it was not bad.  I liked the new twist on the story; although history was rewritten to accommodate divorce prior to Henry VIII and ya know the Magna Carta.  And everyone was older.  Maid Marion was Lady Marion -- married!  I don't think a sequel would make sense, since if this was the olden days, the characters would die of old age.

The Losers Not good.  The action wasn't actiony enough and the story wasn't, it just wasn't.

Kick Ass Super excellent.  Action, social message, parody, comedy, drama, crazy ass characters.  I don't even want to say more, just SEE IT!

Iron Man 2 Good sequel, and they're always the hardest (ahem, Sex and the City 2).  I was distracted by the actor switch, but otherwise, it was highly enjoyable.  Don't bother to stick around for the extra 15 seconds at the end -- it's Thor.  Spoiler, but whatever.

*not even in order, hopefully I didn't leave any out

The Big Empty

I didn't get it.  The Big Empty was David Lynch-ish, I guess, but forgettable.  Which is a shame, because John Favreau is usually awesome.  Has he ever been in another movie that was released straight to DVD?   

The Proposal

This movie was not bad.  It was most certainly not very good, but on the scale of horrible Failure to Launch to not-so-terrible-every-other-romantic-comedy -- not the worst.  Why is it that in romantic comedies 3 day "weekends" end up being longer than 2 weeks?  So many things happen.  An eagle tries to take a puppy, rap songs around the bonfire, naked mishaps, immigration dodging marriage plans, trip to Alaska, Betty White has a heart attack and tailors a wedding dress, Oscar from The Office does a strip tease and officiates a marriage service, AND it all wraps up by Monday morning.  Watch it instantly on Netflix.  Otherwise, save it for a girl's night. 

Gentlemen Broncos

I nearly forgot to include Gentlemen Broncos, which we watched last weekend.  

Napoleon Dynamite move on over, make way for Gentlemen Broncos.  Totally irreverent.  So ridiculous.  Super funny.  Wacky story about sci-fi writers, kids, stolen material, misguided fashion, and everyone that is currently fantastic in movies/on TV now.*     

*exaggeration, but still.  

Finding Nemo, The Big Empty, Get Smart, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Because I Said So

I had my wisdom tooth out the other day.  I spent all weekend snuggled on the couch with my boyfriend, napping, and in bed with the kitties watching movies. 

Finding Nemo: Love it.  Fell asleep for most of it because I was doped from the mouth surgery and on Vicodin.  Dory's my favorite.

The Big Empty: Fell asleep again.  Dan thought it was really good but didn't want to rewatch it when I woke up.  I'll have to watch it some time soon. 

Get Smart: I like Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway.  Steve Carell is choice when it comes to bumbling comedic genius.  I got sort of bored during the end fight scene, but otherwise worth the rent.   

Fantastic Mr. Fox: Super awesome amazing splendid cussin' fantastic!  I wanted to watch it again right after it ended.  

Because I Said So: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, and Lorelai from Gilmore Girls. Cute girly movie, although I wonder if any daughters really talk that much about sex with their mothers.   

La Vie En Rose

I hesitated to write this review for the past few weeks.  I didn't know -- don't know -- if I could really describe how transformative Marion Cotillard's performance was.  She truly became Edith Piaf.  While I watched the film, I had no point of reference to compare the two, but I just knew that Marion metamorphosized into Edith: so broken, abused, neglected, mentally and physically ill.  

I don't think that the point of the film was to make Edith a likable person -- she was someone who intrigued me, not someone that I necessarily routed for because I liked her.  From the very beginning, the little girl who was raised in horrible conditions, became the product of her surroundings.  It was like a first run conception of Behind the Music.  In a really weird way this movie drew out my social worker skills (which are always at the ready) -- I honed in on the neglect, deviant upbringing, lack of medical care, lack of emotional support, physical and emotional abuse, and rampant substance abuse that produced this wonderfully talented, broken woman.  Edith was a real life china doll; delicate, timeless, stylized, and so frail.  I don't really know what to write, just simply Marion Cotillard's performance was mind blowing and I became totally enraptured.  A must see.                     

Highly Anticipated DVD Release Tuesday!

Psyched for the release of Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Men Who Stare At Goats, Toy Story and Toy Story Two: Special Edition

Our Family Wedding

Shmeh.

Another movie about two families opposed to a marriage that happens despite their objections and everything works out just fine.  America Ferrera, sweet as always.  Carlos Mencia, annoying.  Forest Whitaker, what were you thinking?  Regina King, bangin'.  Lance Gross, I don't really know who you are, but I like you better on TV.  Charlie Murphy, funny.  Taye Diggs, super delicious.    

It's not really worth it, unless it's on TV.  

An Education

I left the theater feeling totally satisfied with my movie-going experience.  

I needed to put that out there because there were only two other films that did that for me in the past several months: Up In The Air and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

A beautifully acted and written coming of age story about a teenager who has a love affair with an older man and the consequences that come along with innocence charmed and changed.  Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is as cute as a button.  Peter Sarsgaard as David was so believable: I really was drawn into his puppy love for this young girl.  He was so charmingly manipulative and creepy without going overboard.  The chemistry between all of the actors drew me in and  just gripped me.  There were some terribly uncomfortable moments which made my creepy-o-meter dial go crazy, but the story lead me through it, to land safely on the other side.  I basically figured out what would happen in the end, but it was a satisfying ending without let-down or regret.

Terrific.  Truly.       

Alice in Wonderland in 3D

Who better than Tim Burton to bring Wonderland to life? I have watched (and own) more than a few Alice in Wonderland movies and cartoons.  All are wonderful in their own way and all try to translate the rediculous irrevereance that Lewis Carroll created in his infamous volume.  No matter that he was a pedophile and that I have a strong internal struggle concerning my love for Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There and the knowledge that Carroll was an icky, icky man.  Tim Burton is a wacky guy, and really the perfect one to show us what Wonderland should look like.  

There was a lot of hype surrounding this movie, which ended up being not bad, but not exactly what I wanted.  I intended on seeing it like at least 3 times, but 1 viewing turned out to be enough.  Visually, Wonderland was expansive, colorful, fantastical, and all the things that it should have been.  And yet the expansiveness reminded me of The Neverending Story and the nothingness that encompassed the kingdom.  Wonderland should not have been that way.  I understand that it was part of the new conception of the story, but still.  I really wanted every scene to be full of fantastical creatures and scenery.  I would have liked Alice to stretch and shrink like in the book, all distorted and contorted, which I think suits Burton's morbid style.  I wonder why that didn't happen.  I liked the evolution of the story, beginning in the reality and with the wacky personifications of the wonderland inhabitants.  I wasn't crazy about it being really named Underland and that the focus was so much on the feuding sisters.  The frabjous day battle should have been fought by a knight or at least a man, rather than Alice, to keep true tot the poem, but within the context of the film, forgivable.  All the characters and actors that brought them to life were nearly spot-on: Mia, Helena, Johnny, Anne, Crispin, Matt, Stephen and the entire cast.  Blue caterpilllar should have not been blue, but I forgave that knowing that Alan Rickman lived inside.  Johnny Depp was of course amazing, that is his baseline, I expected no less.  Although in my mind's eye the Hatter doesn't look like that.  But that's ok. 

Overall, I think that this was a solid effort (can't believe I just wrote that about TIM BURTON) and will be one of the top films illustrating Wonderland, but nothing will ever match my imagination or the singing flowers in the original Disney version.  

Ghost Town

Ricky Gervais has a way of making fluffy, makes-you-feel-all-warm-inside movies.  Ghost Town was no exception.  It was better than The Invention of Lying, which was another fluffy romantic comedy.  Ghost Town was a sweet story about Bertram Pincus a grumpy dentist who lacks any desire to interact in a socially conscious way with others, who dies for a few minutes when he undergoes a routine operation.  He then can see dead people.  One dead person (Greg Kinnear), who was an adulterer and not very honest husband needs help from Bertram in order to finally cross over.  I don't want to spoil the story, but in the end love blossoms and Bertram's heart grows three-fold.  Very cute.  I liked that it was a simple, innocent flirtation and budding romance storyline rather than lusty sex scenes -- which I totally would not want to watch anyway with Gervais in the male lead.   

Shutter Island

written by guest blogger Brendan Hinkle

The problem with talking about a movie that hinges on a plot twist is that you can't really say what you want without ruining the movie for everyone who hasn't seen it. I'll have to do this in two flavors: Regular and Spoiler-Free.

Spoiler Free

One quality I value in a film probably more than I should is atmosphere. If a movie is truly successful in creating atmosphere—in surrounding me in its mood and making my suspension of disbelief effortless—I can basically forgive it anything else (example: I both really, really enjoyed The Illusionist and recognize that it's boring as hell). That's probably not the only reason I really liked Shutter Island, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

Even before Leonardo DiCaprio sets foot on the almost comically-foreboding titular island, Scorsese never misses an opportunity to make the movie feel more like a fever dream than a story: a rhythmic monotony permeates most of the scenes (whether from crashing waves, pounding rain, howling wind, the growl of a jeep engine, or a needle grinding against a record); the shadows are over-saturated, seeming to pull at any instance of color; lights are almost painfully bright (especially in, but not limited to, an affecting recreation of a migraine). Most of all, the jarring, aggressive score doesn't carry or accent the action so much as chase the audience through it.

Speaking of action: Shutter Island may be classified as a thriller, but it seems to go out of its way to avoid the Build Tension -> Shocking Payoff -> Build Tension structure usually employed by the genre. There are a few BANG-SURPRISE! moments to be sure, but I spent most of my time bracing for a Bang! that simply never came. That would make for a deeply unsatisfying experience if Scorsese didn't stack sequences like that one after another, until the tension was almost unbearable. It builds an overwhelming sense of dread without ever granting the audience the relief of resolution.

The result is deeply engaging, which helps me forgive the fact that the plot itself is kind of unsatisfying. More on that below.

Regular

Man, how about that twist? Pretty cool—or was, back when I first watched Fight Club. Or The Sixth Sense. Or back when I read basically anything written by Edgar Allen Poe ever.

The reveal that Leo's the one who's batshit-crazy is handled in a surprisingly matter-of-fact way. I'm not sure if they were trying for Kafka-esque mundane horror or if they just got it wrong, but either way, I didn't really give a damn about Ben Kingsley's expository monologue, and I certainly wasn't shocked by a twist that was broadcast full-blast for the last two-thirds of the movie. (Once—just once—I'd like it to actually be the government performing mad experiments to beat the Ruskies.)

Given that everything we were watching was psychosis, I'm wondering why Scorsese didn't go even bigger with all the great atmospheric shtick I talked about above. One possibility is that he wanted to keep it (relatively) low-key, so as to avoid blowing the "mind-blowing twist" (that's what the ads say, anyway) before the climax. I guess that's possible. But really, I can't shake the feeling that Shutter Island really would've been something amazing (instead of just very good) in the hands of someone from the More-Is-More school of film-making, like Darren Aronofsky or Danny Boyle (see Requiem for a Dream and Sunshine, respectively).

Don't get me wrong: I really liked it for what it is. I just can't help wondering if it couldn't have been more.

The Wolfman

Stunk. 
The Wolfman had some potential and then ... boring, bad acting.  I did like Emily Blunt and got to wondering about how she was in The Young Victoria.  I would have liked to have seen that instead.   
Werewolf movies that I enjoyed waaay better: Underworld, Underworld Evolution, Underworld Rise of the Lycans.  Maybe even Teen Wolf.  
Watch them when they come on TV, just remember to skip this one.   

When In Rome

When In Rome was a cute movie.  Poorly edited, or maybe just badly written/directed/produced or something.  It felt like those times when I fall asleep while watching a movie and wake up and miss a part, but can pretty much figure out what is going on.  I'd say on the scale of Unbelievable and Strange Story Lines it falls in between Failure To Launch (really, pretty awful except for Zooey Deschanel -- but that could even be pushing it) and Monster In Law (which was surprisingly not totally awful).  There were a couple funny parts and the dancing during the credits was a nice touch.         

The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones was sort of What Dreams May Come + crime thriller + warning to parents and little girls public service announcement + proof that Stanley Tucci can play not only a super duper gay guy or Julia Child's husband or the other thousands of characters he's played, but a super duper creepy serial killer man.  If suspense was rocket fuel, then I would have shot out of my seat.  I read the book, I basically remember what happens.  But, my gosh, the build up made the movie.  Otherwise, would not have been that great.     

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

There is something strange that happens when someone of mythical proportions -- a criminal, a murderer, a bad guy -- gets killed.  Gets killed by someone who isn't that great of a guy, but maybe not that bad of a guy.  The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford exemplifies this.  Jesse James (Brad Pitt, awesome as always) assassinated by Robert Ford (Casey Affleck, the best Affleck I think) is a tall tale of a real legend.  So legendary that people hated the man that assassinated him.  Jesse's legend, like all legends, was fiction mixed truth, which of course, made America adore him.  This was a beautifully done film.  Expansive scenery, purposefully paced script, wonderfully cast characters.        

Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson's played a cop a lot.  And he has gotten pretty good at it.

He's a daddy detective in Bahston who has nothing to lose once his daughter is murdered by a corporation.  Or is it the government?  Conspiracy movies are layered and complicated, sometimes interesting, and should always be full of suspense and punching.  This one had all of those elements and ended up nearly awesome.  There is a thin subplot following Ray Winstone's character; had it been more developed it would have added the right amount of depth.  Although, when he came onscreen the movie improved tremendously.  He really didn't even need to do much.  Wine and cheese on a bench looking out into the harbor?  Who does that?  A fixer, apparently.  The conspiracy was headed by the super villain (Danny Huston), complete with a big glass walled office overlooking his compound fortress of nuclear deception.  There were a few things that didn't add up quite right, but whatever.  It was worth watching.                                 

Defiance

I always think I won't like war movies because they are usually long, boring, and about war.  This wasn't bad.  Daniel Craig, WWII, and kicking Nazi German ass.  I didn't give the movie my full attention until about a quarter of the way through, but it was worth sticking with it.  Inspirational, a true story.  I felt more emotionally connected at the end of the film when the pictures of the survivors were shown before the credits.  There was something that was lacking, maybe because I wasn't sure I could believe that Sabertooth (Liev Schreiber) was a Russian resistance wood dwelling Nazi killer.         

Crazy Heart

Go see this.  Now.

Jeff Bridges has become one of my favorites.  Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal?  An unlikely, sort of icky pair.  Out of that juxtaposition is born a beautifully constructed tale of a nearly washed up country singer in a totally mismatched love affair.  Emotional growth begets personal and professional growth.  Throughout the movie I wondered about the casting, but once the film had ended I felt I understood the contrast as a function of the story rather than just a strangely disgusting old man/young woman romance.  And Colin Farrell, again, what the frick.  He blew me away with his performance, mostly because I have zero expectation of him doing anything but being a douche, but he added a different dimension and he could have reached brilliant had it not been for his freakishly feminine earrings.   The spanning scenery, the subtle touches that Jeff brought to the character -- check out when he gets out of the car, his belt is always unbuckled -- and the music; it might as well have been old country standards.  Wonderful.        

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

After somewhat of an interruption what with not having the internet at my finger tips, crazy work schedule, and lack of movie going, here I go.  

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is the story of a spiritual man who gambles with the devil, living with the eternal task of staying one step ahead.  Until, of course, his daughter turns 16 and he must make another deal to keep her.  Plot thickens, etc.  The story was coherent, which from what I understand about the director, is unusual.  Not to say that the film was usual.  Darker than I had expected, with just enough levity.  Heath Ledger was excellent in this posthumous role.  The "seamless" integration of the stand-in actors in the imagination scenes worked within the imagination scenes; it didn't seem as gimmicky as it could have been.  Although, Colin Farrell, I'm just not that big of a fan.  However, the sleazyish imagination-self worked well.  Johnny and Jude were cool too, although I wonder if it would have made more sense to just have had Colin play imagination Heath.  I get that it wasn't supposed to make sense. Or maybe each actor represented parts of his persona.  He did wear a mask, for goodness sakes.    

I'd like to see it again.  My movie going experience wasn't all that optimal -- whooping cough lady in front, popcorn munchy and chatty dad and son behind, nonstop talkers to the right, blurry projection.    

Ode to Woody Allen

No movie Tuesday today.  Bummer.

Since I didn't go to the movies today, I found something else to keep me busy, aside from watching reruns of The Office and futzing around with this blog, I started wondering how many Woody Allen movies I've seen.  I counted them up and based on my Netflix history my total is 15.  He's been making movies since 1965.  I've been watching movies since, I don't know, the 80's.  I've got a lot of catching up to do.  That is a friggin lot of movies, especially because most of the story lines are the sameish -- working through the same struggles with the same actors.  I fell asleep through at least one.  I have NO IDEA what Bananas was about.  NO IDEA.  It was one of those times when I thought I was watching, woke up, and was totally confused.  And I have a feeling that may have been one of the only films that did not adhere to the dissatisfaction in romantic relationships, disenchantment with love, cheating, sexual blunders, and bizarre resolutions.  Although, I guess I'll never know.

I watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona the other day.  I think we can all agree that Penelope Cruz was brilliant as a totally unstable hot mess.  The basic storyline follows two friends who travel to Spain for the summer and their sexual and emotional adventures.  Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlet Johansson) meet Juan (Javier Bardem); both have sexual encounters with him; one turns someone's life upsidedown and one turns her life a bit more bisexual and passionate.  Add crazy María Elena (Penélope Cruz) to the mix and Woody Allen magic happens.  And in the end, they all go home.  I'm not sure how into Scarlet Johansson I am; her range of emotion and delivery is stunted somehow.  She's the new Diane Keaton.  The new Mia Farrow.

On the list of my favorite Allen movies, Match Point is at the top.  Devastating.  After the first time, of course my emotional reaction was not as viceral, however super fantastic wonderful in a super serious dramatic kind of way.

Don't Drink The Water is a must see.  It is totally a play and I would not have wanted it any other way.

Melina and Melinda.  Great.  I was skeptical, too, but by golly, great.  Will Ferrel as Woody Allen or vice versa.  Love the double storyline.

Crimes and Misdemeanors.  Again, devastating, complicated, messy, emotional.

Play It Again, Sam and Annie Hall working through similar psychosexualsocialemotional muck in a cult-classic-real-neurotic kind of way.

Sleeper.  It's just weird enough.  Robots and future drugs and world domination. 

Also, please absorb the music.  Even if the films are repetitious, the music is always perfect. 

Extract, (500) Days of Summer, Fargo, Daybreakers

Over the past 3 days I watched 4 movies.

Extract: Rented it with some friends, was fun for that purpose, although unmemorable but for one scene that was just enough ridiculous to make it into my shorter term memory, but I bet it'll be forgotten within the week. Not a bad movie, just not a good one either.

(500) Days of Summer: Again. Still think it's great.

Fargo: How come I've never seen this movie?? Coen bros, great job. But they already knew that, yah.

Daybreakers: I was on the fence about it, but I think vampires are pretty cool, so I went for it. Not very good. It was ok, not very memorable. The idea was interesting, but not that interesting. Not really a fan of Ethan Hawke. For all intents and purposes, Ethan is a wimp. Willem Dafoe saved the movie for me (and saved Ethan's butt), but still I'd never watch it again.

Nine

Nine. What can I say, I really liked Chicago.

Nine lacks something, just the littlest something and whatever it was, it does not hit the mark. Things I like: Fergie as a whore and her song and dance number. She does all of those things well. Marion Cotillard is a star. Without her, I wouldn't have bothered trying to stay awake. I found myself thinking, I really ought to see La Vie en Rose. Daniel Day-Lewis is not as awesome as we all know he can be. His character is just similar enough to Tomas in The Unbearable Lightness of Being that I was waiting for someone to point out that his hair smelled of another woman. I felt like we were always approaching a crescendo and then ... nothing. It wasn't a bad movie, it just wasn't all that engaging.

(500) Days of Summer, The Blind Side

First movie I watched in the New Year: (500) Days of Summer. A gem of a movie. I just adore Zooey. Maybe at some point I will write all about my thoughts about the movies she's in and characters she plays.

The Blind Side is a good, good movie. And thank goodness because Sandra Bullock needed a good movie -- I'm sure she's a sweetheart, but stop please stop picking awful roles to play in awful movies. The story is well depicted and uplifting; based on a true story, no less. I may get a little social worky here, but portrayal of race relations, poverty, child welfare, drug use, youth, and family were pretty on target.

Julie and Julia, Sherlock Holmes, Up In The Air, Avatar

FIRST OF ALL, the first movie that I will blurb about is Julie and Julia, which I watched X-Mas night with my family. J&J was a fantastic film, not only for Meryl Streep's undeniable impersonation of Julia Chld, but for the cinematography. I could have just paused the movie during some scenes and just admired the details and composition the sets; the stills could have been put up in a photo gallery.

This afternoon I saw Sherlock Holmes. Not only am I a sucker for elaborately choreographed fight scenes and Robert Downey Jr in all his smug glory, but for movies that I can pretend that I know all about because I pretended to read the book. Fun, well done, good story. I wasn't totally in love with Rachel McAdams, but she wasn't the worst choice either. All in all, loved it.

Please note: I'm pretty easy to please. I basically love every movie I see. Except the Incredible Hulk with Ed Norton. That was awful.
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After a ton of drama to get to the darn movies (who would have thought that the MALL of all places would be so crazy crowded Christmas weekend??) and after a theater change, my friends and I made it to Up In The Air. A poignant film full of vulnerable and bittersweet moments balanced with comedic levity, it was just simply a great movie. As I watched the plot unfold, I drew so many parallels between George Clooney's character and his self imposed isolation and the reasons why I love going to the movies. I cannot completely express how special and, just magical, it is to sit in a theater full of people who -- for all intensive purposes may have nothing in common other than their want to see the movie -- are ready to experience a collective cathartic experience together; it is both isolating and inclusive all at once.

There is an interview with the director on NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120951819.

Overall, all things considered -- the other reviews that I read and listened to, the other George Clooney movies I saw this fall (ALL CUSSIN EXCELLENT, go see them NOW), and the quiet feeling I had at the end of the movie, equal just simply awesome. Go see it. And then go see The Men Who Stare At Goats and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Your life will be a little better because of it.

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Avatar 3D.
I feel the way about Avatar as I do about the Lord of the Rings movies and the "prequel" Star Wars movies: enjoyed it, it was visually interesting, it was long and I will probably never watch it again. That isn't to make light of those movies -- they were really something, but for me, only something special once. The 3D added visual depth, which is the point of adding that third dimension; however, I just have a hard time really believing the hype that this movie will be the movie to change all movies. I hope it does not, and really don't think it will.

You've Seen One, You've Seen Them All

Why bother to shoot this film? Why not release the old one under a new title? You've seen one, you've seen them all.
-- Cosmo Brown "Singing in the Rain"

As I'm sitting here watching the tail end of Music and Lyrics on TBS I'm faced with my very, ahem, eclectic taste in movies. And the sheer amount of them that I watch. I go to the movies every week (nearly). I watch movies at home on DVD (or sometimes even VHS!) and of course on TV (because those are the ones that I just need to drop everything and watch even if I own them and even if I've seen them a million times before). I didn't have television service for 1 year, so I watched movie after movie. I now have basic cable service only, which leaves plenty of time (and money) that isn't wasted on reality TV. So I go to the movies.

I know this is corny, but I was recently totally inspired by Julie and Julia; the Julie character started a blog ... so I started making fb notes of the movies that I see, which now has expanded to a blog! Like a super duper abridged review of the movies. Maybe an unreasonable feat, but nonetheless I like a challenge. I will try to divide them up by month so as not to overwhelm the staggering number of readers that will of course be dazzled with this innovative idea of movie reviewing.