Movies
The Ghost Writer
- Great story, suspenseful till the very end
- Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan were both magnificent
- Olivia Williams is interesting as Brosnan's character's wife (mercifully, they let her look realistic/unglamorous). (When I IMDB'd her I was pleasantly surprised to see she'd been in An Education and X-Men 3 as well)
- I liked the supporting cast
- Beautiful lighting
- Nice, understated costumes
- Only complaint was the VERY abrupt ending
- One of the best movies I've seen so far this year
Green Zone
- Would have been great...if it had come out in 2003. The story centers around Matt Damon's character (a US military officer) finding out firsthand that there were no WMD's in Iraq. It's powerful and reasonably well written (at least as much as you could hope for an action movie) and could have made a difference...back when the lack of WMD's was a national issue. At this point, it's still an entertaining movie, but it's a little late.
- Matt Damon is great. It's not just a rehash of his Bourne role; there's *a lot more* at steak for this character. (I'm obviously biased by being a big Matt fan to begin with, but even if he isn't your style, this IS a different character.)
- It would've been worth the whole movie just for Greg Kinnear (the civilian US administrator in Iraq). Brendan Gleeson (the CIA guy who opposes Greg's character's political agenda) was fantastic, too.
- I would've preferred a little less action, and more dialog and character development, but I make the same complaint about the any number of other action movies.
Our Family Wedding
- The most I've laughed all year
- Loaded with all the racial stereotypes you would expect, but less painful than some other movies I've seen on interracial marriages (and less painful than many wedding movies in general, which I usually HATE)
- I don't care if no one else agrees with me, America Ferrara is a comic genius. I hope she gets more interesting, less stereotyped roles in the future.
- Carlos Mencia, Regina King, and Forest Whitaker were funny, although some of it was rather cringe-worthy
- Diana-Maria Riva was probably the best performance in the movie, as America's character's mom
Repo Men
- Great premise/story concept (in the future, many people will have artificial organs, and if you can't keep up with the payments, the manufacturer kills you to "repossess" the heart/liver/whatever). Given the health care debate going on in this country, it's a very timely subject. I think it represents how a lot of people feel about not just health care, but the overall economy (it's like "foreclosure" for your body).
- Script was *horrible*
- Camerawork was almost as bad as the script
- Soundtrack beat you over the head with what you were supposed to feel in each scene
- I'm not sure if they meant it as sci-fi or horror, but it fails at both genres (it's not thought-provoking, political sci-fi, nor is it scary as horror. Some parts are just gross, but sorry folks, it takes more than just tons of fake blood to have true horror.)
- I normally love Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, and Liev Schrieber. If even they couldn't save this movie, it just couldn't be saved. Within the context of a horrible script, I thought Liev's was the best performance. Jude gave it a lot of heart, but his character arc made little sense, and Forest's character's motivations made absolutely NO sense. It is depressing to think of the great movies these people have done, and that they're now doing this.
- It was also really painful, from a racial stereotyping standpoint, to see Forest as the best friend turned terrifying black villain, and Liev as the evil, greedy, Jewish corporate executive. (Even Jude's character is a stereotype, the fucked up veteran.)
- Alice Braga's character also made no sense... I'm not sure whether to be happy that a big budget movie is finally okay with showing a woman having serious injuries/disabilities, major health problems, etc, while showing that she can still be attractive... or whether to be insulted that the movie portrays Jude's character's wife (possibly the only honest, decent person, male or female, in the entire story) as a boring character, while Braga's slutty junkie is the heroine. It's not her fault, though; the script is just that bad.
- Great story, suspenseful till the very end
- Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan were both magnificent
- Olivia Williams is interesting as Brosnan's character's wife (mercifully, they let her look realistic/unglamorous). (When I IMDB'd her I was pleasantly surprised to see she'd been in An Education and X-Men 3 as well)
- I liked the supporting cast
- Beautiful lighting
- Nice, understated costumes
- Only complaint was the VERY abrupt ending
- One of the best movies I've seen so far this year
Green Zone
- Would have been great...if it had come out in 2003. The story centers around Matt Damon's character (a US military officer) finding out firsthand that there were no WMD's in Iraq. It's powerful and reasonably well written (at least as much as you could hope for an action movie) and could have made a difference...back when the lack of WMD's was a national issue. At this point, it's still an entertaining movie, but it's a little late.
- Matt Damon is great. It's not just a rehash of his Bourne role; there's *a lot more* at steak for this character. (I'm obviously biased by being a big Matt fan to begin with, but even if he isn't your style, this IS a different character.)
- It would've been worth the whole movie just for Greg Kinnear (the civilian US administrator in Iraq). Brendan Gleeson (the CIA guy who opposes Greg's character's political agenda) was fantastic, too.
- I would've preferred a little less action, and more dialog and character development, but I make the same complaint about the any number of other action movies.
Our Family Wedding
- The most I've laughed all year
- Loaded with all the racial stereotypes you would expect, but less painful than some other movies I've seen on interracial marriages (and less painful than many wedding movies in general, which I usually HATE)
- I don't care if no one else agrees with me, America Ferrara is a comic genius. I hope she gets more interesting, less stereotyped roles in the future.
- Carlos Mencia, Regina King, and Forest Whitaker were funny, although some of it was rather cringe-worthy
- Diana-Maria Riva was probably the best performance in the movie, as America's character's mom
Repo Men
- Great premise/story concept (in the future, many people will have artificial organs, and if you can't keep up with the payments, the manufacturer kills you to "repossess" the heart/liver/whatever). Given the health care debate going on in this country, it's a very timely subject. I think it represents how a lot of people feel about not just health care, but the overall economy (it's like "foreclosure" for your body).
- Script was *horrible*
- Camerawork was almost as bad as the script
- Soundtrack beat you over the head with what you were supposed to feel in each scene
- I'm not sure if they meant it as sci-fi or horror, but it fails at both genres (it's not thought-provoking, political sci-fi, nor is it scary as horror. Some parts are just gross, but sorry folks, it takes more than just tons of fake blood to have true horror.)
- I normally love Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, and Liev Schrieber. If even they couldn't save this movie, it just couldn't be saved. Within the context of a horrible script, I thought Liev's was the best performance. Jude gave it a lot of heart, but his character arc made little sense, and Forest's character's motivations made absolutely NO sense. It is depressing to think of the great movies these people have done, and that they're now doing this.
- It was also really painful, from a racial stereotyping standpoint, to see Forest as the best friend turned terrifying black villain, and Liev as the evil, greedy, Jewish corporate executive. (Even Jude's character is a stereotype, the fucked up veteran.)
- Alice Braga's character also made no sense... I'm not sure whether to be happy that a big budget movie is finally okay with showing a woman having serious injuries/disabilities, major health problems, etc, while showing that she can still be attractive... or whether to be insulted that the movie portrays Jude's character's wife (possibly the only honest, decent person, male or female, in the entire story) as a boring character, while Braga's slutty junkie is the heroine. It's not her fault, though; the script is just that bad.