Ms. Amused

LOVED IT & raced to own the DVD:
Iron Man
Hurt Locker (Oscar)
The Proposal
Taken
I Love You Man
Star Trek
Up
Hangover

Loved and bought it:
Whip It
Inglorious Basterds
Taking of Pelham 123
Law Abiding Citizen
9 (animated)
Bride Wars
New in Town
Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans
Time Traveler’s Wife
He’s Just Not That Into You
17 Again

Worth Watching (and probably bought it):
2012
Couples Retreat
Perfect Getaway
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Julie & Julia
My Life in Ruins
Bruno
Angels & Demons
My Sister’s Keeper

Hidden Gems:
Crossing Over
Great Buck Howard
Accidental Husband
Sunshine Cleaning

Favorite Movies released in 2008 plus others worth watching

LOVED IT & raced to own the DVD:
Dark Knight
Wall-E
Wanted
Penelope
Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day
Iron Man
Changeling

Loved and bought it:
Untraceable
Fool’s Gold
Speed Racer (this was a surprise actually)
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Unrated)
Kung Fu Panda
Hancock
Hellboy 2: Golden Army
Secret Life of Bees (this decade’s answer to Fried Green Tomatoes from 90s)
Eagle Eye
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
Soul Men
Made of Honor
Sex and the City
Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons (Oscar)

Worth Watching (and probably bought it):
Ghost Town
Mad Money
Cloverfield
Definitely, Maybe
Street Kings
Get Smart
Slumdog Millionaire (OSCAR WINNER!)
Doubt (Oscar)
Gran Torino (Oscar)
Milk (Oscar)
Bolt
Wrestler (Oscar)
Bedtime Stories
Yes Man
Zack & Miri Make a Porno
Nights in Rodanthe
Mamma Mia
Mirrors
Traitor
Death Race
The Women (remake)
Indiana Jones & Kingdom of Crystal Skull (yes, requires a lot of suspension of disbelief and willingness to just enjoy it for what it is)
Yes Man (yes it’s very much like Liar Liar but hey I loved that movie)
Righteous Kill
Doomsday
Semi Pro
Spiderwick Chronicles
Madagascar 2

Hidden Gems:
In Bruges
Defiance
Charlie Bartlett
Nobel Son
War Inc
What Just Happened?
Nothing Like the Holidays
Role Models (the hidden part is Jane Lynch’s character which is really the only reason to see this IMO.. I say this as a big Paul Rudd fan but even he couldn’t pull it off)
Forbidden Kingdom (hidden part: not usually into martial arts movies but watched it on a whim and ended up really liking it)

And for my reference later, Movies from 2008 that I still want to see:
Then She Found Me (which reminds me I also want to see “That Old Feeling”)
Leatherheads
Chaos Theory
Deception
What Happens in Vegas
Midnight Meat Train
The Wackness
Rogue
Finding Amanda
My Blueberry Nights
Under the Same Moon
Chapter 27
Sleepwalking
Made For Each Other
Choke
Hamlet 2
Funny Games
Snow Angels
The Other Boyelyn Girl
Bonneville
Spiral
Lying
How to Rob a Bank
Anamorph
88 Minutes
Max Payne
Happy Go Lucky
Flash of Genius
Body of Lies
RocknRolla
What Doesn’t Kill You
Wendy & Lucy
Henry Poole Is Here
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (and the first one)
The Duchess
Towelhead
You and I
Other End of the Line
Synnecdoche, New York
Valkyrie
The Spirit
Revolutionary Road
Frost/Nixon (Oscar)
Nothing But The Truth

This was a backup plan when my friend and I tried to see a free screening of Cop Out. We’d gotten into the latter but only seats left were the neck pain ones in the very front aisle seats so we left and saw this instead since it was playing in rear window (google “mopix” & “rear window”) at this theater.

I knew it was about a drunk musician at the end of his career and that it’s nominated for something like 9 Oscars.

Sadly, the disc with the captions had gone MIA and I’d sat for a whole hour into the movie before finding out that the captions weren’t going to be coming on when they fixed it. I’ve lost count of the number of times that there’s been issues with the system but this is a first where the disc just flat out went MIA. Why would anyone have a need to take it out for the week the movie is playing?

Anyways, I could only make out mostly what the other characters were saying and from what I could see, I have to agree that it just doesn’t make sense why the attractive young reporter (Maggie Gyllenhaal) would ever get into bed with hot mess Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges). My hearing friend who was with me said there was nothing in the dialogue either. My father had told me that he and his girlfriend liked the movie but couldn’t get past this part of it.

We ended up walking out because as my friend described it, this is the kind of movie to watch at home, not in the theater and I wasn’t really caught up in it anyways. Did stay long enough to see Colin Farrell do an amazing Southern accent. I even noticed it before my friend expressed her appreciation of this.

I’ll see it when it comes out on DVD. I left before whatever “drama” that happens that is the catalyst for the story but I don’t see how this can really compete this Oscar season against the rest of the nominees… except for Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake. You could argue the universal disbelief among my folks proves how well Jeff acted the part because Bad Blake too scuzzy for anyone to look at!

I just wish they’d edit out the nipple beard from his first topless scene. That was a little too “real”

Recommendation: Can’t say for sure yet. I will definitely watch it in full when I can. It seems even with the point of contention discussed above, it’s still a good movie. It’s shades of “Walk The Line” but different.

Final note about the failed rear window experience, got my money back plus some “we’re sorry” passes & free popcorn coupons. It gets a little ridiculous sometimes… last year I netted 10 passes in back to back “fail” instances. First, the theater didn’t even get the disc which is when I learned that AMC likes to send copies of the discs to all its theaters even though only a few are equipped to show them. I forget what movie that was for but the 2nd instance was Transformers 2 for which I’d driven a car full of people (6) 40 minutes away only to have the captions disappear during every “exposition” moment in the movie.

Ironically, the only reason I started going to the movies in theaters again was because of this rear window technology finally being available. But it’s so often messed up that it becomes not even worth the effort and gas to drive out to see it.

After a string of not so good movies… nice to see something where the story is decent and the writing not mangled!

I’d been dragging my feet on watching this just because I feel so scarred still from the hour of Walk Hard The Dewey Cox story that I’d subjected myself to. I’ve loved John C Reilly for a long time, I can’t even remember what I first saw him in but I remember recognizing and being excited to see him in Magnolia so it’s a ways back. But Judd Apatow’s* touch is so poisonous that I was afraid that Walk Hard’s suckiness would ruin this one.

But then last night, my best friend twitters a rave for this movie and that gives me the courage to give it a go.

And it was every bit as silly and fun and *enjoyable* as she described. John C Reilly is gold again and excellent as the “vampire” who decides to take an assistant.

I know this is based on a book series but I didn’t have any idea what the movie was about but then again I am a bit of a story purist in that I prefer to let the story be told in the movie instead of in the trailers and reviews. Not always possible to avoid it but generally as much as possible, I avoid hearing anything about the plots of movies for this reason. Sometimes I don’t even know the premise. And that was the case for this one. Aside from what one could deduce from the title of the movie, I didn’t know anything.

Because of that, I’ll not summarize the plot or even the premise here. Google it if you really must know. Just go watch it if you like fanastic (remember the original definition of this word), artful movies full of great character actors playing memorable characters.

Familiar faces are the kid from Bridge to Terabithia (and others… ok I looked it up, his name is Josh Hutcherson), Patrick Fugit (with a subtle nod to his breakout role in Almost Famous), Salma Hayek (who is making a habit of playing beautiful but imperfect women in what I consider to be her way of reminding us all that “beauty” is only skin deep), Willem Dafoe (a creepy character type and a stellarly fun addition to his resume of creepy character types), Orlando Jones (who keeps popping up in all these movies and I love him for it), Jane Krakowski (who shines when playing the absurd!), Frankie Faison (I doubt you’ll know the name but you’ll recognize his face).

This reminds me a bit of Carnivale in the first season before it got so dreary only Cirque Du Freak stays much more upbeat the whole time despite the conflict & drama in it.

Oh interesting to note that Josh was also in Kicking & Screaming with Will Ferrell, John C Reilly’s “Hollywood Doppelganger”.

Recommendation: WATCH IT, LOVE IT, BUY IT! This movie will be mine…

I really hope there will be more. It was based on a series and they definitely indicated that the story isn’t done, just this chapter of it.

* Disclaimer: I do like 40 yr old Virgin and I did give Funny People a try and ended up really liking it but the rest of his stuff that I’ve made myself see are among the worst brain-putrifying things I ever have seen (ie Knocked Up and Superbad) and my standards are low.

I like these kind of fluffier movies. But I still require decent effort at story and writing.

I don’t know if it’s Alexis Bledel or just the way it was written but I just was really annoyed and didn’t like her character. The focus of the movie is her and her naive optimistic expectations for her “planned” future but some things were just really extreme. Namely the way she took for granted, her friend who was obviously in love with her.

Watching this was a 30 something (me), 17yr old boy (brother), and a 60+ woman (my mother) . I continued watching it for Jane Lynch & Carol Burnett. My mom sat to watch it when she saw Carol’s name on the opening credits and stayed… for Carol. Not sure what if anything my brother saw in it except that I know that he too is a big Jane Lynch fan now as well thanks to Glee. I adored Jane long before Glee but that’s beside the point.

Jane & Carol are rather small parts of the movie and their parts and Michael Keaton’s overdoting but absent minded father character are the only things I found worth watching this movie for. I loved Jane as the mother… a woman who loves and cares about her family but remains mellow and doesn’t fly into panic when things don’t run smoothly as most mothers in movies do. Carol’s part was smaller than I’d liked but was still as much fun as I’d hoped it would be. Look for the revolving Medicine Cabinent! I would have missed it had Mom not been paying close attention to Carol.

Back to the main plot of the movie, typical and predictable plot. Heroine (heh hardly) has lofty dreams and goals and seemingly a clear path to them. Enter many obstacles often of her own making. See her figure out what reality is and what she really wants even though it was really obvious all along to everyone but her.

JK Simmons was also in this but in a real throwaway part much like Mark Ruffalo in Where the Wild Things Are.

I remain not really convinced of Alexis’s acting skills. She’s either typecast or playing variations of “herself” over and over again.

Recommendations: Rent if you’re a super fan of any of the people listed above or recently a graduate.

Almost forgot… it was driving me CRAZY but the little kid in this, Bobby Coleman,  looks just like Matthew Gray Gubler in kid form. I’d swear they were related. If nothing else, if anyone ever needs a Mini version of MGG for a role, there ya go…

So many people had “ehh” this movie to me that I lowered my expectations for seeing this.

I don’t remember the story of the book though I’m sure I read it as a kid.

I loved the actors, the visuals, the costumes and the skill of the actors inside the costumes for making the creatures seem real.

The story? Sucked. I’m told that it isn’t really the book’s story at all. But regardless, it’s very obvious from the beginning that the whole experience of Max with the creatures is really him experiencing his own home drama from a different perspective. He struggles to cope with Carol’s behaviour, not realizing til the end that Carol is like him.

The story’s dialogue and action just doesn’t fit well together once we’re into Max’s imagination. I presume that it was meant to appear from the perspective of a 10 yr old boy and how he would tell the story. But it doesn’t work for me so it was a rather painful movie to watch though I stuck it out to the end because I was enjoying the visuals of the puppet costumes and hoped that the story would somehow get better.

It didn’t.

Pluses in the movie for me, Catherine Keener is excellent as the single mom struggling to hold things together. Mark Ruffalo has a very small part that’s really a throwaway but I always like seeing him on the screen regardless. The kid who plays Max is also named Max and is going to be one to watch out for in the future.

I didn’t succeed in pegging the identity of the voice actors for the creatures, I was convinced that Alexander was Seth Green and it turned out to be Paul Dano (another actor worth watching). KW … I thought I detected Drew Barrymore’s distinctive voice but again it was Lauren Ambrose of Six Feet Under.

Recommendation: Rent or Borrow first because some people will end up loving it (or kids will). Buy it if you do. Worth watching even in part just to see the excellent work with the puppet costumes in a time when most movies rely on CGI instead.

I’m not a fan of Jennifer Aniston. Very overrated actress.

But I still watch her movies because I’m a sucker for romantic comedies. At least ones that are written halfway decent.

This one is just so bizarre. For a romantic comedy, there was a very heavy focus on death. Aaron Eckhart plays a widower who thinks he’s got a handle on grief management and has become a fixture on the talk circuit to help others with their grief while his manager pushes to get him onto the big bucks track of shows & syndication & cross-marketing. He crosses paths with a florist who catches his eye. That’s the setup but the story takes place while he’s at one of these seminars so there’s a lot of grief recovery embedded into the story as well.

It’s not a bad idea really but it just didn’t gel well in this movie.

Recommendation: Rental for the die hard romantic comedy addict or fans of the two leads. Definitely watch before you buy it.

Saw it in the theater with my brother.

I think I expected a lot more of this movie because I’d attempted to see the premiere via Campus Circle and waited for 3 hours in line in rain & hail (hail… in Hollywood? no joke) except it proved a popular premiere and most of the Campus Circle people didn’t get in.

Several weeks later, I see an opportunity to see it with Rear Window and decide to go.

It feels like the script was rewritten many times and eventually got so muddled that things just didn’t make sense anymore. The overall story was interesting but not nearly enough backstory or exposition. Plus I didn’t get why the people in the diner didn’t insist on more of an explanation sooner after the initial confrontation and not many hours later (as evidenced by change from day to night) and only after the first battle. What about while they were sitting watch?

Paul Bettany was good as expected. Recognized many other faces in this too. Kate Walsh of Private Practice was the surprise here for me. Was fun to see her do something almost completely counterpoint to the doctor she’s known for playing.

I wanted to see this movie because of the “fallen angels” plotline but it turned out to not really deliver much of a story at all. Just a series of events that probably seemed like a good idea to someone. Visuals were ok… definitely good for the horror fan.

Recommendation: Rental for Paul Bettany fans (or fans of the other actors in this) and/or horror fans. Or for people who just like apocalyptic style action and don’t care much about the backstory.

I had the strangest feeling that I was watching Fight Club… but minus the fights.

Both deal with individuals that travel excessively for work and have isolated themselves from society but realize that there’s something to be said for it after all.

I really liked Up In the Air. For some reason, I’d thought it was just another romantic comedy but the raves and the eventual Oscar talk had me puzzled and wondering what I was missing. There is romance in it but it’s definitely not to be pigeon-holed in with The Wedding Planner or Runaway Bride.

George Clooney played his usual character: charming, debonair, suave, thinks he’s in control. He plays it very well but since he doesn’t vary from this very much (admittedly I haven’t seen Syriana or Men Who Stare At Goats) in recent years, it’s hard to give him much credit for the acting part of it. On the other hand, he’s not exactly just walking through the part either.

The person that really impressed me was the actress, Anna Kendrick, who played the pipsqueak upstart who threatens the main character’s way of life by bringing change to his company that takes him off the road where he wants to be. So much emotion was conveyed in the slightest changes of the character’s attempt to present a stoic professional front that it was really fascinating to note how much was said even when she wasn’t saying anything.

I also really liked the actress that played the lover, Vera Farmiga. Love to see a female character that’s sexy, hot and confident without being stereotyped as some kind of bitch at the same time.

For a long time, I’ve had fun with seeing Jason Bateman appear in what feels like more than half the movies I see these days, playing various bit parts. But I’m getting a little tired of him as the executive/accountant/boss type especially when played as somewhat socially awkward. It’s time to stop typecasting him as his iconic role from Arrested Development. Sure it works well in Hancock, but give him some other stuff to do. Like… the lawyer in Smoking Aces. I finally saw that the other day and every second of his few minutes of total screentime was a hoot!

I’m fine with it having the Oscar nomination especially since there were 10 slots for that this year but its competition definitely rises above Up In The Air.

Recommendation: MUST WATCH, you’ll probably end up buying it. I think I will.

One note, it did not bother me, the underlying basis for the plotline that about mass firing people. I’m thankfully employed but know many who aren’t. Perhaps I’m not feeling it as personally but it simply seemed very contemporary and whether we like it or not, layoffs are common in bad times.

Helen Mirren has revealed that she researched her role in upcoming movie Love Ranch by spending time in a brothel.

The 62-year-old Oscar winner admitted that visiting Nevada’s Mustang Ranch was vital in helping her prepare for the film role, in which she portrays Grace Botempo, the madam of the state’s first legal brothel.

The Sunday Mail quotes her as saying: “I loved the girls and the madam was wonderful – she became our advisor. She was invaluable – a wonderful woman.”

Mirren added that she is in favour of legalised prostitution: “I am a complete believer in legal brothels. The girls are protected and free and it takes out that horrible situation of pimps and drugs.

“Also the men who go there know the girls are medically checked and it is very carefully controlled – everyone is in a safe environment.”

Mirren’s husband Taylor Hackford directed Love Ranch, which also stars Joe Pesci, Gina Gershon and Bai Ling.

-Source

If you are flummoxed at how Helen could support legalized prostitution, I highly recommend reading Whores & Other Feminists which is what settled it for me (YES).

My first introduction to Helen was Teaching Mrs Tingle and she stole the movie IMO. I was lost after Calendar Girls. And I LOVE that she signed on for National Treasure 2 because watching her character kick butt was one of the best things about that movie.

I still have yet to see The Queen but I’m sure I’m in for a treat. In the meantime, I will be sitting here enthralled at the thought of her playing a madam! Also, who else isn’t surprised to see Gina Gershon (Showgirls) & Bai Ling (Wild Wild West) rounding out the cast in this?