'I'm madly in love with you and it's not because of your brains or your personality.'
Started to catalog all my watched movies on the IMDb and it turned out to be a shockingly tedious process. I'd probably have it all done pretty soon, but if anyone had this uncontrollable fancy to see how I rated the 500-plus movies I managed to put on already, here's the link.
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris' 'Little Miss Sunshine'
You practically can't go wrong with a well-written dysfunctional family (the quirky, not the abusive kind). It's practically a fail-safe entertainment vehicle. And it works wonders here. It doesn't have a very smooth start and it doesn't really take off right away - it took me about half an hour to actually settle in - but when it does, when it gains speed, it's downright fantastic. The performances are terrific all-around (that SAG award is totally deserved - uhm, not that I have full right to judge, having seen just three fifths of the nominees, alright, moving on) with a special mention to young Abigail Breslin who practically every movie critic is raving about so it's probably already nauseating to hear it again but you know what? She was that good. And, 'Friedrich Nietzsche? You stopped talking because of Friedrich Nietzsche? Far out'.
And the side note: a children beauty pageant, with all these probably quite pretty little girls tarted-up to the point where they look more or less like midget circus freaks, is one of the most horrifying events invented by man. Seriously.
Matthew Vaughn's 'Layer Cake'
Oh boy, Daniel Craig is hot. Well, now that I got that out of the way, on to the actual review. 'Layer Cake' was really quite great as the British gangster movies go (and that is not a condescending statement of any kind, I happen to adore British gangster movies as a genre - yes, I do consider them a separate genre). Not as blindingly awesome as Guy Ritchie's pre-'Revolver' doings (actually, 'Revolver' doesn't count anyway, you need more to make a British gangster movie than just hire Jason Statham as the sarcastic/cynical lead) but still very very good. The story was a bit too convoluted to fully grasp at 3 a.m. but I surely remember it as very entertaining. And the movie gets bonus points for Burn Gorman as a gun-waving wannabe-gangster. And for Daniel Craig who is omg hot. It bears repeating.
David Frankel's 'The Devil Wears Prada'
I really didn't expect to enjoy this one as much as I did. Mostly because, for reason unknown, I believed it to be a romantic comedy. Thankfully, it's not a romantic comedy. Sure, the obligatory romance element - in the form of the archetypal Simple Yet Cute (But Basically Just Bland) Boyfriend - is there, since it seems that practically no American mainstream movie can do without it, but it's by no means crucial. Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt as respectively The Fashion-Obsessed Despot and The Fashion-Obsessed Minion are flat-out magnificent, I'm always happy to see Stanley Tucci in anything and Anne Hathaway, who appears to be the lead in this story, is charming enough to make her tragically stereotypical character unobtrusive. Simon Baker sadly isn't that charming so he kinda grated but had about ten minutes screentime total so it wasn't much of an ordeal. Overall, 'Devil Wears Prada' was fun. And the clothes were pretty (except those that were just weird).
Alfonso Cuarón's 'Children of Men'
Clive Owen and flip-flops are the perfect combination. They are like whipped cream and chocolate sauce. They go yummy together. And I refuse to believe that Clive Owen died in the end. In my mind Clive Owens of this world live forever.
Now, let's make it clear that the movie is not just about Clive Owen. It's also about Chiwetel Ejiofor (who never looked that good as here), Charlie Hunnam (whom - oh, the horror - I actually noticed only in the end credits and I had to check out later which character he played - I blame the hair) and Micheal Caine (who I have a crush on of honestly epic proportions). And Julianne Moore who is, as usually, a vision and who gets shockingly little screentime here.
Ok, no, seriously, the movie is obscenely good. Story-wise and in every other way. It might actually be THE best post-apocalyptic movie to date. The plot is tight and engaging, the characters wonderfully scripted, with very nicely integrated backgrounds, and the movie is shot in a non-flashy, yet expert manner. One of the best pictures of the past year, no doubt.
About my beloved tv shows, I really don't have any idea when I'm going to start with the reviews again, but let me just quickly praise here two shows that I'm probably the most excited about at the moment (the moment being January 30, 2 a.m. - who knows which ones I'll be mad about, say, two days from now). That is 'Stargate Atlantis', which continues to rock so hard that it practically defies the laws of physics, and 'Supernatural', which, if you deign to glide over the more problematic plot-twists, has never been a more gleeful experience. And David Hewlett is as strangely hot as ever, if not more so, and Jensen Ackles continues to be unnaturally gorgeous.
As for the Oscar race, it's a red light for the documentaries (there's no way I could possibly get them all before the ceremony) but, a lovely surprise, a green one for the foreign features. Which means 25 movies still to go. Joy.
.
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris' 'Little Miss Sunshine'
You practically can't go wrong with a well-written dysfunctional family (the quirky, not the abusive kind). It's practically a fail-safe entertainment vehicle. And it works wonders here. It doesn't have a very smooth start and it doesn't really take off right away - it took me about half an hour to actually settle in - but when it does, when it gains speed, it's downright fantastic. The performances are terrific all-around (that SAG award is totally deserved - uhm, not that I have full right to judge, having seen just three fifths of the nominees, alright, moving on) with a special mention to young Abigail Breslin who practically every movie critic is raving about so it's probably already nauseating to hear it again but you know what? She was that good. And, 'Friedrich Nietzsche? You stopped talking because of Friedrich Nietzsche? Far out'.
And the side note: a children beauty pageant, with all these probably quite pretty little girls tarted-up to the point where they look more or less like midget circus freaks, is one of the most horrifying events invented by man. Seriously.
Matthew Vaughn's 'Layer Cake'
Oh boy, Daniel Craig is hot. Well, now that I got that out of the way, on to the actual review. 'Layer Cake' was really quite great as the British gangster movies go (and that is not a condescending statement of any kind, I happen to adore British gangster movies as a genre - yes, I do consider them a separate genre). Not as blindingly awesome as Guy Ritchie's pre-'Revolver' doings (actually, 'Revolver' doesn't count anyway, you need more to make a British gangster movie than just hire Jason Statham as the sarcastic/cynical lead) but still very very good. The story was a bit too convoluted to fully grasp at 3 a.m. but I surely remember it as very entertaining. And the movie gets bonus points for Burn Gorman as a gun-waving wannabe-gangster. And for Daniel Craig who is omg hot. It bears repeating.
David Frankel's 'The Devil Wears Prada'
I really didn't expect to enjoy this one as much as I did. Mostly because, for reason unknown, I believed it to be a romantic comedy. Thankfully, it's not a romantic comedy. Sure, the obligatory romance element - in the form of the archetypal Simple Yet Cute (But Basically Just Bland) Boyfriend - is there, since it seems that practically no American mainstream movie can do without it, but it's by no means crucial. Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt as respectively The Fashion-Obsessed Despot and The Fashion-Obsessed Minion are flat-out magnificent, I'm always happy to see Stanley Tucci in anything and Anne Hathaway, who appears to be the lead in this story, is charming enough to make her tragically stereotypical character unobtrusive. Simon Baker sadly isn't that charming so he kinda grated but had about ten minutes screentime total so it wasn't much of an ordeal. Overall, 'Devil Wears Prada' was fun. And the clothes were pretty (except those that were just weird).
Alfonso Cuarón's 'Children of Men'
Clive Owen and flip-flops are the perfect combination. They are like whipped cream and chocolate sauce. They go yummy together. And I refuse to believe that Clive Owen died in the end. In my mind Clive Owens of this world live forever.
Now, let's make it clear that the movie is not just about Clive Owen. It's also about Chiwetel Ejiofor (who never looked that good as here), Charlie Hunnam (whom - oh, the horror - I actually noticed only in the end credits and I had to check out later which character he played - I blame the hair) and Micheal Caine (who I have a crush on of honestly epic proportions). And Julianne Moore who is, as usually, a vision and who gets shockingly little screentime here.
Ok, no, seriously, the movie is obscenely good. Story-wise and in every other way. It might actually be THE best post-apocalyptic movie to date. The plot is tight and engaging, the characters wonderfully scripted, with very nicely integrated backgrounds, and the movie is shot in a non-flashy, yet expert manner. One of the best pictures of the past year, no doubt.
About my beloved tv shows, I really don't have any idea when I'm going to start with the reviews again, but let me just quickly praise here two shows that I'm probably the most excited about at the moment (the moment being January 30, 2 a.m. - who knows which ones I'll be mad about, say, two days from now). That is 'Stargate Atlantis', which continues to rock so hard that it practically defies the laws of physics, and 'Supernatural', which, if you deign to glide over the more problematic plot-twists, has never been a more gleeful experience. And David Hewlett is as strangely hot as ever, if not more so, and Jensen Ackles continues to be unnaturally gorgeous.
As for the Oscar race, it's a red light for the documentaries (there's no way I could possibly get them all before the ceremony) but, a lovely surprise, a green one for the foreign features. Which means 25 movies still to go. Joy.
.