| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antichrist - Unrated | October 26, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Brüno (Bruno) - R | Sasha Baron Cohen is so in the method that I worry he may actually be schizophrenic. Still, I think he is brilliant, talented, scary, wonderful, and 'watchable'. Bruno lacks the story arch of Borat, but it's worth seeing for Cohen's 'performance'. | September 9, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - PG | I enjoyed it. Though I still question why I bother to see these Harry Potter films since they are basically just a different persons' cinematic interpretation of the books. I love Bellatrix. Helena Bonham Carter needs more screen time. | September 9, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Dance Flick - PG-13 | I love the Wayans Brothers! I saw this on an airplane and laughed so hard that I may have disturbed the couple sitting behind me... | September 9, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Inglourious Basterds - R | Some amazing acting (Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent, et al). Tarantino had some excellent cinematic moments. Oddly enough, I would have thought that scalping Nazis would have made for a more in depth story arch. Instead, I left the theater feeling disappointed -- two wrongs will never make a right. Although I do respect Tarantino, I worry he will never live up to the brilliance of 'Pulp Fiction'. | September 9, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Up - PG | Pixar films always end up being far more moving and visually arresting than the trailers make them out to be. I had no interest in seeing this film (or Wall-E for that matter) based on the previews. And in both cases I found myself pleasantly surprised. 'Up' is, overall, a beautiful, mature, and sentimental film about love, loyalty, adventure, fear and loss. I admit, I cried twice. The characters' facial expressions and how realistically each nuance is portrayed through animation never ceases to astound me. Of course, like all Disney films, there are several lengthy sequences involving talking dogs and chase sequences which I found dragged a bit. But by the time the credits rolled I found myself wiping away tears and wanting to applaud. | July 25, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Phoebe in Wonderland - PG-13 |
The film critic in me had to rate this original film as 3.5 out of 5 stars. The sensitive teacher and former OCD/anxious child in me would give this 4 out of 5 stars. I loved the concept of the story enhanced by some really striking, honest and insightful lines in the screenplay. On paper, Phoebe is an extremely dynamic character. On camera, Elle Fanning portrayed the role with such subtlety and lack of melodrama that she managed to (without child actor pretentiousness) to outshine her very talented 'grown up' co stars. I did love Patricia Clarkson as the drama teacher (in 4th grade I had a teacher just like her). But her character loses steam in the final 20 minutes. Not at all Clarkson's fault, in fact the entire film crashes in on itself in those last 20 minutes. Felicity Huffman's caring and nurturing mom who wants what is best for her children falls flat, also due to the script. And Campbell Scott's talent is completely wasted in the role of the principal. In the final third of the film, the screen writer tied a beautiful and painful story together way too neatly. But days after seeing the film, I can't get the image of Elle Fanning as Phoebe counting steps, washing her hands, being unable to control her behavior and crying out for help in the world of fantasy out of my mind... |
July 16, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Proposal - PG-13 | Ryan Reynolds has some shirtless scenes, Betty White cracks me up and the clips during the end credits were hilarious! Not a great film but its worth it for the above 3 reasons. | July 8, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Imagine That - PG | June 10, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Brothers Bloom - PG-13 | I was a fan of Rian Johnson's first film 'Brick' so I was intrigued to see what his second film would be like. I wasn't disappointed. In this day and age of remakes, sequels and retellings it was refreshing to watch a dark comedy that was well acted and original (though it should be noted that I was the only person in the theater who laughed during the film). Adrien Brody, as always, gives a great performance, Rachel Weisz is quirky and fun to watch, and best of all I adored Rinko Kikuchi as 'Bang Bang'. The film gets a bit repetitive in the third act but for the most part I solidly enjoyed the characters, the story, the setting and the originality. | May 27, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Terminator Salvation - PG-13 | May 27, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - PG-13 | May 13, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| X-Men Origins - Wolverine - PG-13 | May 13, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Star Trek - PG-13 | May 13, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Management - R | May 13, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Angels & Demons - PG-13 | May 13, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Revolutionary Road - R | This is a rare example of a film which I thought surpassed the novel. I found the book to be dated, slow moving, and thought the characters were cold and unlikable. But Mendes' film was so subtle, well acted, perfectly paced, and completely captured the trapped atmosphere of suburban life in the late 1950s -- I found myself intrigued by both April and Frank Wheeler and I also identified and sympathized with both of them (whereas in the book I was very much annoyed by April). Mendes' successfully capturing the suffocating setting, the hypocrisy, the sexism and the frustration that I was searching for in Yates's novel. It's not 'American Beauty' but it was a strong and very moving film. | April 29, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Hounddog - R |
Dakota Fanning single handedly pulled this film off. The film critic in me veers toward criticizing a weak script which was an attempt at 'southern gothic'/Flannery O'Connor, underdeveloped characters with little to no back stories, bizarre plot twists, and an overall jumbled mess of a screenplay. But this film gets 3 stars from me because of how moved I was by Fanning's portrayal of Lewellen. Her eyes, her raw emotions, her dead eyed expressions, her concealed pain, her ability to steal scenes from David Morse (man, I felt bad for him, his part was so cringeful - no actor should have ever taken that one on), Robin Wright Penn (she did the best she could with a poor script) and Piper Laurie (reprising her role in Carrie -- heh!). Dakota Fanning made me cry and I never cry in movies. She is enigmatic, powerful and so fascinating to watch on screen. Her performance alone makes this film worth seeing. She truly is one of the best young actors I've seen on camera. |
April 22, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Adventureland - R | I was interested in seeing this film mostly because I greatly enjoyed Greg Mottola's first screenplay 'The Daytrippers'. Unfortunately, Adventureland does not manage to reach the same mix of humor, drama and character development that his earlier film script did. Adventureland falls somewhere in between the sensitivity of Mottola's earlier work and the baudy humor of Judd Apatow's films (which I am not a fan of). Adventureland has a few touching and honest moments, but it still feels underdeveloped. Jesse Eisenberg gives a fantastic performance as James. He is subtle and likable and gives his character a sensitivity that more often than not gets lost in these types of scripts (ie. virgin who has a hard time with the ladies). Kristin Stewart (who I normally enjoy watching onscreen) was a disappointment. The supporting cast (particularly Margarita Levieva as Lisa P.) hold their own. But in the end, I thought Adventureland fell short of living up to it's potential. | April 10, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Twilight - PG-13 | I secretly like Twilight. (maybe not so secretly). It has romance, humor, and a foggy/misty set location that lends itself perfectly for film. In many ways, I thought this was a better film adaption of the book than the Harry Potter films are. Twilight doesn't make any attempts at being a 'serious film'. It follows the book simply and concisely, not trying to capture every detail and small plot line from the book (the Harry Potter films, while well directed and well acted go on waaay too long). I thought Kristen Stewart (who I really liked in 'Speak') was a very convincing Bella. Yes, I'll no doubt see New Moon when it comes out. | March 31, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Saw V - R |
The last few Saw movies have been oddly difficult for me to follow. I can't keep the characters straight (the corrupt detective dude looks almost identical to the dude with the hole in his throat). I don't understand the point of Jigsaw -- isn't he dead -- was this movie a flashback? Also, the elaborate 'death' set ups are so insanely complicated. Where is Jigsaw (and his cohorts) getting the money to build these complex warehouse mazes? Where does he buy the supplies? When does he have the time to set up these machines/computers/video cameras, etc? |
March 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus - R | I realize that this film is an 'Imaginary' portrait of Diane Arbus. Obviously, the title states the obvious. I am surprised that this film was mainly disliked by film critics. I don't care that Diane Arbus (whose work I am fascinated by) never knew 'Lionel'. I don't care that this film is 99% fiction. Erin Cressida Wilson's brilliant script immediately drew me into Arbus's mind -- scary, erotic, beautiful, ugly, demented, sick, fantastical, breathtaking -- I was completely riveted. This is a beautifully shot film -- Nicole Kidman's eyes, Robert Downey Jr.'s unnerving sexiness, Jane Alexander's cold and uncaring glare. I actually thought Kidman gave a stronger, more original and more unique performance as Arbus than she did in her Oscar nominated 'Virginia Woolf' role in 'The Hours'. 'Fur' was David Lynch-esque, beautiful and scary to look at and overall very well done. | March 19, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Wrestler - R | I love Darren Aronofsky. Every single one of his films has made me cringe, gasp, appreciate beauty, empathize with the characters' struggles and always, always cry (and I'm not one to cry in movies). I love his story telling, his images, the dialogue, the sharp editing -- and once again the Wrestler completely consumed me and my emotions. I was glad that Mickey Rourke received an oscar nod, and hopefully someday Aronofsky will also be recognized for his personal, in your face, honest, metaphorical and ultimately heart wrenching directing. It is Aronofsky who has the ability to help his actors achieve such strong and wonderful performances. | February 24, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Milk - R | I was actually sort of disappointed by 'Milk'. Sean Penn gave a great performance but he always does, and I thought he didn't so much 'create' a character but instead emulated Harvey Milk's mannerisms and tone. It's sad to see how little has changed since 1978 -- prop 6 and now prop 8 -- obviously, I was already 'Team Harvey' going into the film. It's too bad that people in the red states aren't seeing this film, but even if they did I doubt it would change their minds. I was more moved by Matthew Shepard's story and the documentary about hate crimes in Wyoming. I also thought the PBS documentary on the Castro did a better job of depicting Milk's struggle. | February 22, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Push - PG-13 | February 9, 2009 | N/A |
573 ratings
218 reviews
