Gigantic

Crap. I have so little to say about this movie I just painfully sat through. Here is a very appropriate review I just found on netflix.com:

"This movie was going along great...until the end when it just came to a halt, leaving a few things still unexplained. The story is just a complete mess of random occurences and scenarios that seem to serve little or no purpose (as much as I like Zack Galifianakis, what the hell was the point of his character's random attacks? They were the most interesting part of the movie, and they seemed to just leave that whole conflict unresolved). Also, I've seen Paul Dano do some great acting, so why did he only have one facial expression the entire movie? It's a just a pointless movie that wastes a lot of great talent."


The only thing I could add is that Zooey Deschanel was acceptable in this film.

I got nothing.

Someday I may watch this again and get it.

Inglourious Basterds

It is hard to compare Tarantino films to any other movies being made today. His newest creation, 'Inglourious Basterds,' is certainly in a league of its own with respect to other movies I have seen this year. I was certainly not expecting to see a film that tops 'District 9' so soon. IB combines some amazing acting (Brad Pitt is stellar, but Christoph Waltz dominates this film), a lot of clever dialogue, more suspense than I could handle, plot twists that left me breathless, classic stellar Taratino camera shots, just enough violence to keep my big bro interested, and lots and lots of bloody revenge (as The Bride would put it). This is a nearly three-hour film that everyone should make it to the theatre to see. I was on the edge of my seat for the last 30 minutes and was fully enraptured with how things were going down. The subject matter of the film, does still leave me a little bothered in my soul. I have to suspend a great deal of my personal beliefs and convictions in order to love watching this movie. I suppose the same way I need to suspend similar beliefs to love 'The Boondock Saints' as much as I do. In real life, I pretty much hate violence, killing, revenge, mutilation, etc, and I can't even get behind this stuff in the name of killing Nazis, but that does not make me enjoy this film any less. There were very few moments that I had to shield my eyes during, which surprised me. All in all, I loved and highly recommend this movie. I doubt it, but maybe someday Tarantino will make a film I don't just enjoy watching multiple times.

(500) Days of Summer

My interest in this movie since I heard about it months ago was more of a roller coaster than the film, which made me sad. After seeing it, I can say that I am happy I did. This was a funny telling of a story I had heard about a million times before. The telling of the story was pretty creative and the characters and acting helped make it worth it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was adorable and Zooey Deschanel played the part of the highly desirable young woman quite well. It always frustrates me when a movie tells me that the leading lady/man is gorgeous beyond measure and other fawn at the sight, because often the actor/ress or character cannot live up to that hype. Zooey/Summer pulled it off. I was enthralled with her beauty and presence. She did end up breaking my heart, but isn't that always the way. The music was pretty rockin'. Two Regina Spektor songs give a movie quite a bit of cred, IMO. There was even a impromptu choreographed dance break in the middle of the film. It made my heart happy. I recommend renting this one with your current date/signif. other sometime. It made me wonder if maybe someday I might meet my Autumn.

District 9

Whoa! One word review: people get blowd up!! K, that was more than one word, but that surely does happen. This movie was pretty freaking fantastic. I was captured by the style of the film immediately and it just flowed so organically as it told the story. I really like that the trailer gave away just enough without really telling you much. I went into this film thinking I had some idea what was happening, but there was enough trickery in the trailer that I was well surprised by many elements of the film. The things I liked about the actual story would be giving away too much info, so I won't share too many details. I loved the development of the main character, Wikus. He acted stupidly for most of the film, but the motivations for those actions changed constantly. There is indeed a great deal of violence and ick. I had to shield my eyes from more than two scenes. By the end I still jumped in my seat every time someone got blowd up. Regardless, the filmmaking was superb. What I love about sci-fi films and shows is when they can make me believe that this world that is so absurd is possible or happening on screen. 'District 9' accomplished that task. With excellent CGI as well as writing and acting, I was taken into a quite fantastical world and was frightened with the possibilities of it. Overall, if you can stand some blood and body parts flying around every once in a while, please go see this movie. Who knows, maybe someday this world may be a reality.

How To Lose Friends and Alienate People

If you are looking to laugh at Simon Pegg falling, spitting, being beaten up, and generally making a fool of himself, this is the movie for you. I certainly laughed and found some enjoyment with the plot. Few of the actors really committed to their parts, but luckily it was brief and funny. Simon plays a character looking to find a balance between selling out and being a "real celebrity journalist" (if such a thing could exist). He moves to NY, meets a girl, meets another girl, conflicts with Gillian Anderson, gets second girl and then realizes first girl was the one for him. It is every story ever told (especially the Gillian Anderson bit). Kirsten Dunst vomits a few times. That is about all she brings to the film. I recognized her funniest line from an episode of 'Home Improvement.' There were a few redeeming appearances by Katherine Parkinson and Chris O'Dowd, both from 'The IT Crowd,' a BBC series a high recommend for some great laughs. Overall, nothing special with this movie, but if you are looking for a brief vehicle for a few laughs and some funny brits, check it out. Someday Simon Pegg might be cast as something other than a loveable idiot.

Were the World Mine

This film was recommended to me by Netflix a little while ago and I noticed its title elsewhere in my life recently as well. So, I thought I would give it a view. It is not very well polished and I know there are plenty of things that critics and cynics could pick apart about the acting, directing, editing, writing, etc., but I thought it was a very beautiful little movie. I must admit that I have never read 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' nor do I know much about the story. I now feel that this is a tragedy in my life. The plot of the film revolves around a young gay man in an all boys school whose life becomes swept up in the fantasy world of the high school's impending production of the aforementioned Shakespearean play. I really appreciated many things about this tender story. I really enjoy it when parents overcome their own struggles to fight for their children. That device always endears a movie to me. The singing was another shining element in the film. Overall, I would be willing to recommend this little movie to those looking for a tender musical with quite low production value, but very high sweetness value. Now I just need to ready 'AMSN'sD' someday.

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince

Snape: "You can't use my spells against me. I'm the half blood prince." Me: "Wait. What? Is that supposed to mean something?" People who wrote HP6 the movie: "Nope."

So I got to see the newest Harry Potter film last night. All in all I highly enjoyed myself. I thought this was Daniel Radcliffe at the top of his game. I could not help but think back to his performance in 'Extras' every once in a while. This made me happy. He got the chance to be a normal person in this film. Maybe he did not act like Harry Potter should, but I think he was pretty great as a character. Emma was also great as was the rest of the cast. I mean, for what they were, they were good performances. Having not read the books I did find myself confused by some plot devices in the flim. Luckily, they are not all necessary for just enjoying the movie. I feel bad for people who love the books, because they expect so much from the movies and I am convinced it is impossible to deliver all they desire. So, I feel like this film was highly successful (as many previous have been) in trapping the die-hard fans into seeing it as well as making it accessible to people with lives . ;) jk. I am not sure what else there is to say. This is the one HP movie that would not pain me to watch multiple times. It does give me some interest in reading the books to see all the tiny and vast plot holes I am missing. Maybe someday I will do some HP reading.

Oh yeah! Dumbledore died.

Changeling

I have begun watching LOST online at Netflix.com, which has freed up my DVDs by mail. So, now I can start watching movies again. The first I have received was Changeling with Angelina Jolie. This was a particularly painful movie for me to watch. I am always torn between researching movies and wanting to be surprised by the plot. This is certainly an instance where I should have done a little more research. Painful plot and story aside, this movie was pretty weak for me. The acting was strong as I though Jeffrey Donovan was brilliant as was John Malkovich. It fell apart in the storytelling. The film tried to tell way too much of the story and was conflicted because of that. It just wasn't set up to be a story about the murderer, or the priest, or the cop, or the LAPD, or the kids, or the parents, or the trials, but it ended up being about all these things at once. I just felt like if they would have set up the film to be about the town and the tragedies then it would have been more successful. Instead, it spend sooo much time with Angelina's character in the beginning that set the tone to be her story. When it turned out to be much more than just her story, it just lengthened the film and chopped it up to distract me. I ended up appreciating a lot more about this film than I had anticipated. Final thought: I truly hope that someday stories like this will never need to be told.