lewis and clark had a journal. you, beth-annie, have a diary.

Thursday, March 5, 2009
Yes, another one. Already.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
I have mixed feelings about most of the Apatow, etc. R-rated comedies; most of them have their moments, but unfortunately also have a lot of other moments that don't thrill me (crude/sexual humor isn't typically my cup of tea). As a result I think most of them are a bit overrated, not just as movies in general, but as funny movies. This particular one doesn't skimp on the above undesirable elements, either, but it also doesn't skimp on the laughs, and that's where it sets itself a bit above most of the others. It's actually funny (especially once you get past the first fifteen or so minutes). I would never recommend this to, say, my parents, but if you can get past some bad language, sex, and nudity (more than I frankly needed to see), it is funny.

The Good Shepherd (2006)
Oh dear. I had highish hopes for this for some reason -- the early days of the CIA and all sounded compelling -- but it just bored me to tears. And it did so for almost THREE HOURS. I guess only Robert DeNiro could make a spy movie dull.

Juno (2007)
Um... Hmmm... Well... Okay, here's the thing. I didn't hate it. But, as good as she was with the quick-n-snarky dialogue (which somehow didn't work as well as it did in, say "Gilmore Girls"), I just didn't really care for Ellen Page very much (well, I'm not sure whether it's more accurate to say I didn't care for Ellen or I didn't care for Juno). That leaves one with a pretty big hurdle to overcome as far as liking the movie, because she IS the movie.

The Visitor (2008)
A quiet little movie, and a very good one. Hearing something described as a "character study" often sets off the "boring" warning bells in my head, but this wasn't at all. I found it very engaging in a hushed sort of way, making the occasional outburst of energy all the more effective. Some people might claim that after a point the movie gets kind of political, but I really don't feel it's trying to make any kind of statement. I think it's just about people, and how they can suddenly find themselves profoundly affected by issues they probably never gave a second thought to before.

Leatherheads (2008)
I really wish this had been better than it was. It had a nice look to it (kind of a sepia-color 1920s thing), but Josh put it best when he said it was a screwball comedy that was far too light on the screwball. And the comedy, for that matter. And didn't have the plot to make up for it. Pity.

Bolt (2008)*
I don't know that I would say this is a better movie than Wall-E, but I think I actually might have enjoyed it a little more.

Australia (2008)*
This is certainly not without its flaws, especially the first half an hour or so which I found a bit hard to follow (I blame in part the dialogue and in part the director's choice to cut very quickly back and forth amongst several characters, none of whom we really know yet -- not the most effective way to accomplish exposition or character introduction.) But it felt remarkably not-long for a 2:45 runtime film, and once past the mess of the beginning (which I did eventually sort out later) I have to say I really did enjoy it. It's not quite as stylized as Baz Luhrmann's other films (like Moulin Rouge, which I loved), but it's beautiful in a different way. And speaking of beautiful, it's not that much of a chore to look at Hugh Jackman for 2+ hours. ;)

Baby Mama (2008)
This is considered a comedy. I'm still trying to figure out why.

Made of Honor (2008)
I watch romantic comedies. Sue me. As those go, this was very run-of-the-mill cliched. And I kind of knew it would be. But I watched it anyway. Sue me.

The Bank Job (2008)
This was an interesting story made into a good movie -- and it was made more interesting by the fact that it's based on a true story. Knowing going in that it wasn't all going to be some fabricated movie cliches, I really had no clue how things were going to turn out in the end: happily, disastrous, or somewhere in the middle. That said, I'm not sure it has the repeatability of something like the Ocean's movies. At least not for me.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)*
For a Best Picture nominee, this movie gets crapped on a bit by the "cool kids," and maybe it is a tad overrated (by the not-so-cool-kids, naturally). But. I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, old-'n-tiny Brad Pitt is kinda creepy. Heck, even middle-aged Brad Pitt is a little... wonky, somehow (maybe it's the age-inappropriate long hair, I dunno). But I just... liked it anyway. I'm not ashamed to admit (well, not much, anyway) that I cried almost a continuous stream of tears for at least the last half hour, which I somehow hadn't expected. I've kind of heard how they made Brad Pitt old... but I have no clue how they legitimately made him look 18. Seriously.

Man on Wire (2008)
Okay. You know how sometimes something is good, and you know it's good, but you still have a hard time mustering up much enthusiasm about it? That's this. For me, anyway. It's an interesting subject (it's a documentary about a Frenchman who snuck to the top of the World Trade Center in 1974, stretched a wire between the two towers and proceeded to walk between them on it... over and over), and the film was constructed in an interesting way, so I can't put my finger on why exactly it left me... not cold, exactly, just... not hot. Or something. One thing that did strike me: never once is it mentioned -- or even alluded to -- what would happen to the towers only 27 years later (despite lots of present-day interviews), but there's a definite poignancy to the film because of it, especially in the footage of the buildings being constructed. It felt almost... intimate.

In Bruges (2008)
This is a dark comedy that absolutely lives up to both of those words. It's dark. It's violent. But it's also very funny. I was surprised at just how much I laughed, actually. It has an odd sense of humor at times (I'm not sure I'll ever be able to hear the word "alcoves" again without thinking of a scene in this movie in which the word is used a lot), and a distinctive style of dialogue that made both Josh and I think of David Mamet without it ever actually being that Mamet-esque. I would recommend it to anyone who can appreciate offbeat humor -- as long as you also don't mind the blood, drugs and quite a lot of foul language that accompany it in this case.

* theater

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