Tropic Thunder

How much can really be said about this silly silly movie. Tom Cruise was hilarious. Robert Downey Jr. was brilliant. Jack Black was stupid funny. Ben Stiller was stupid. Matthew McConaughey was good. I laughed kinda in my head a few times. I didn't not like it. I thought the device of killing the director was pretty absurd. It was oddly not hilarious at points. I liked elements of it. I think it could be a movie I watch a few more times and enjoy more and more with every viewing. I call that the 'Zoolander' effect. I am not really sure what else to say about it. I have few words. Goofy sums it up. So maybe someday soon I will watch it again and love it more.

Ponyo

'Ponyo' = adorable film. This Japanese film by Hayao Miyazaki is a simple and tender story with beautiful themes and very pretty art. Though I really did enjoy the voice actors in the English adaptation of this movie, I think I would have enjoyed the film just as much in the original Japanese with subtitles. Maybe that is just me. Regardless, I really liked this cute little film. The premise is a little more complicated than it needed to be, but the messages were pretty clear: humans are only mostly awful and don't judge based on appearances. The second theme was predominant in the film, thankfully. Early in the plot, Sōsuke's mother tells Sōsuke not to call the man she just referred to as a 'weirdo' because, it's not right to judge people on the way they look. Her words and this message are brought up again a few times throughout the film and then are revealed to be the basis of the test that Sōsuke must pass in order to save the world (for the most part). It is a very simple theme for a very simple movie. I don't mean this in a negative way at all. The plot held together well and I found myself laughing out loud at times and emotionally vulnerable at others. This is the point of this sort of film. All in all 'Ponyo' wins for me. I highly recommend a viewing of this adorable film when the opportunity arises. It is short and very sweet. Please enjoy it someday.

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.