Some of my
favorite movies of late have been...
Whale
Rider (well acted, excellent story)
Monster
(Charlize Theron rocked and not just because she transformed herself.)
Dawn
Of The Dead (2004)
American
Splendor (deserved an Oscar)
Kill
Bill Vol. I (I'm partial to Quentin Tarantino)
Bad Santa
(don't even think it's a kid's movie)
Some comments on other movies I've
seen recently...
Lost
In Translation- we broke our golden rule on this one: don't buy a
movie that you haven't seen
at the theatre or rented first. We had heard so many good things about this,
maybe that's why it was
slightly disappointing. Now, don't get me wrong: I really liked Sophia Coppola's
first movie, "The Virgin
Suicides". I thought it was a very effective movie. And Bill Murray was
very good in this one, but the
screenplay itself was very overrated, in my opinion. It's just...okay...it's
really really subtle, and I guess I
like more emotion movies. I don't think Sofia Coppola deserved an award. I
feel as if it got so much
attention because it was written/directed by Francis Ford Coppola's daughter.
It's "IN".
Dr.
Strangelove- this isn't new by any means, it was made in 1964. You
gotta love a government
conspiracy film directed by STANLEY KUBRICK and starring PETER SELLERS, GEORGE
C. SCOTT with
the feature-film debut of JAMES EARL JONES. Trivia: DR. STRANGELOVE is number
3 on the American
Film Institute's list of America's 100 Funniest Movies and number 26 on the
American Film Institute's list of
America's 100 Greatest Movies.
Thirteen-
I got about 30 minutes into this movie and decided I didn't need to see the
rest to know the
ending. MAYBE it got better, but from what I saw, it was just a depressing,
cliche movie about
teenagers doing drugs. Holly Hunter did do a good job acting in it, though.
Once again, the hype. It was
co-written by a 13-year old, hence the hype. I just couldn't sit through it...maybe
I just wasn't in
the mood.
Punch-Drunk
Love- At first, I thought this was going to be another movie that
was over-hyped. I actually
thought that the first time I saw it when I rented it. But then it came on
"Stars" again, and I watched it.
Punch-Drunk Love is directed by the same guy who directed "Magnolia",
one of my favorite movies.
It grew on me. Adam Sandler is wonderful in it. His character is layered like
an onion. Watch it. Twice.
Pirates
of the Caribbean- What's hotter than Johnny Depp dressed up as an
eyeliner-wearing pirate?
NOTHING. I always love Depp, he's quirky. Artistic. Romantic. His performance
in "Pirates" is no
acception. Who knew Disney had it in them? Plus, the DVD is PACKED with goodies.
Cold
Creek Manor- Oh my. To sum it up: snooze fest. It was billed as a
"thriller". You would expect it
would have a scary or even thrilling part in it. After watching the DVD for
a whole hour, the scariest thing
we saw was a cut to the handyman finding a non-poisonous snake in the pool.
One viewer commented, "As scary and predictable as a trip to the supermarket."
I couldn't agree more. Don't even rent it.
School
of Rock- Jack Black is a funny man. That said, this movie is disappointing.
It has funny moments,
but it's slow and unreal and it isn't worth buying. Rent it instead.