Saturday, March 14, 2009

More Movie Reviews

I've been staying in with the kids this week (minus work and lunch with Jill), so I've ramped up my movie watching. Here are some quick and dirty reviews from me... and yes, it's true: I'm home on St Patrick's Day. I absolutely hate Baltimore on this day, so I bought a twelve pack of Modelo and settled in to watch the tube. Antonio and Ana are the best dates ever. :)

I Am Legend
Liked it. Was freaked out by the rabid monster people (ew!), but overall it was enjoyable to watch. As discussed with Nicole, I only wish they would have expanded more on the craftiness of the darkseekers in that they were obviously setting traps, etc. They weren't dogs... there was still some humanity there, and I wish there would have been more on that. Oh well, I only paused the movie twice to avoid being freaked out... and I thought it was a very touching story. Four stars.

Win A Date with Tad Hamilton!
Cute, but predictable. I always enjoy Topher, so it was easy to watch, but it certainly wasn't very deep. Just cute. Luckily it was nowhere near as bad as some other "cute" movies that come out (ie Glitter). It wasn't tacky or too corny either - just easy. And cute. (Did I say cute?) Three stars.

W.
Sooo... I expected to enjoy this movie, but I just didn't. The acting was wretched. I hated the portrayals of Condolezza and Cheney especially. Watching scenes with them was painful because they were really bad imitations. I sorta got the point of the movie and all (how and why Bush became the person he is - his struggles, pressures, blah, blah, blah), but so many of the scenes were just reiterations of things that happened publicly during speeches or press releases ("Fool me once...") applied to fictional scenes. It was painful. I'm sorry. I hate it for the EXACT reason I hate playing video games based on movies - I completely know the story. This movie didn't enrich my life at all. What a waste.

Bowling for Columbine
Ah... Michael Moore. The movie is certainly filled with a lot of (not so fun) facts, but as much as I do like MM, I wonder about the spin. His spin is that he has no spin... but everyone has a spin. When you say 11k people die by handguns every year in the US, and that's compared with lower rates in other countries... I wondered: how many is that per capita? Is the percentage of deaths still radically different? Now this isn't to say I don't believe in his message. I do feel that gun laws should be tightened tremendously, but I just wonder what the data looks like behind the data that he shares. This one got me thinking. Three stars.

Fracture
Goooood one. My second Ryan Gosling movie in a week or so, and with the bonus of Anthony Hopkins, too. Great twisting plotline... clever turns... good acting. I've found that my new flatscreen's high contrast makes creepy scenes especially creepy; and Anthony Hopkins is the king of creepy. This is a keeper. Or a watcher. You should see it. Four stars.

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4 Comments:

Blogger cherylann said...

I love Ryan Gosling. Did you see Lars and the Real Girl? genius!

March 15, 2009 4:13 AM  
Blogger Jodi said...

I had the same reaction to Bowling for Columbine. Moore does spin things, otherwise there would be no need to interview an obviously ailing Charlton Heston. I have no sympathy for the NRA but that man was obviously suffering from dementia and it was awful to watch.

March 15, 2009 3:42 PM  
Blogger Malnurtured Snay said...

It's been a while since I've seen it, but there's an alternate ending to I Am Legend:

The "vampire" leader calls off the attack when Will Smith releases the female. Turns out she's the leader's girl. There's this moment where the leader sort of says "thank you" (sorta), and then Smith and the other two clear out and find a vampire free enclave up north.

Then there's another ending where Will Smith uses a grenade to kill himself and the vampires, enabling the other two to escape.

I can't remember which belongs to the theatrical, and which is the extended.

March 16, 2009 8:49 AM  
Blogger epiphanyinbmore said...

Woah, I loved 'W,' especially the portrayal of Condolleezza. I couldn't stop laughing when she was onscreen! Loved Dick Cheney, too. I agree that the "fool me once" scene was a really dumb scene in the movie.

March 19, 2009 11:19 PM  

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