July: 37--42
37. Zodiac. Sprawling San Francisco crime story featuring among others Anthony Edwards, Clea DuVall, and Mark Ruffalo looking bizarrely like a young Colombo. Very good, though not as open-ended as I'd been led to believe.
38. JFK. Detailed but ultimately hollow alternate history in which there was a massive government conspiracy to kill JFK. Great performance from Tommy Lee Jones, and the final courtroom scene is compelling if not convincing, but a lot of the script is clumsy, and the film as a whole is massively overlong.
39. Wanted. By popular acclaim, worse than Torchwood. Very nearly as bad as Sin City.
40. 3:10 to Yuma. Very much more down the line than all the other modern westerns -- yea, even unto the soundtrack -- but well done for that. Clearly it and Firefly have the same visual reference points. Also, Wash is in it!
41. Enchanted. Goofy but fun Disney film in which the animated princess comes to real NY and discovers there's more to life than happy ever after. Amy Adams is almost uncanny at capturing Disney Princess mannerisms, and the six-year-old gets the best lines.
42. WALL-E. Robots = super awesome super cute. Humans = slightly less awesome, slightly less cute. Real proper sf, though. Well, apart from the bit where the plant is exposed to vacuum. And a couple of other bits. But still, both lovely and great.
38. JFK. Detailed but ultimately hollow alternate history in which there was a massive government conspiracy to kill JFK. Great performance from Tommy Lee Jones, and the final courtroom scene is compelling if not convincing, but a lot of the script is clumsy, and the film as a whole is massively overlong.
39. Wanted. By popular acclaim, worse than Torchwood. Very nearly as bad as Sin City.
40. 3:10 to Yuma. Very much more down the line than all the other modern westerns -- yea, even unto the soundtrack -- but well done for that. Clearly it and Firefly have the same visual reference points. Also, Wash is in it!
41. Enchanted. Goofy but fun Disney film in which the animated princess comes to real NY and discovers there's more to life than happy ever after. Amy Adams is almost uncanny at capturing Disney Princess mannerisms, and the six-year-old gets the best lines.
42. WALL-E. Robots = super awesome super cute. Humans = slightly less awesome, slightly less cute. Real proper sf, though. Well, apart from the bit where the plant is exposed to vacuum. And a couple of other bits. But still, both lovely and great.