New Moon/Twilight 2/Whatever

There's a demonstrated self-awareness, at least in the first half, that this is a bad movie. Or at least a self-consciousness that we might think it is. There are 2 scenes where bad movies are both brought up and made fun of. I couldn't decide if they were intended to be knowing or defensive.

The movie itself is markedly better than the first one. It's not good at all - not even remotely good - but it is better. Like, they're both really fucking ugly kids, but at least this one doesn't have that one's nose.

1.5 stars; theater; January 3rd

Twilight (2008)

One of my friends pointed out that this was the first movie each of us watched this year. We laughed, 'cause, y'know.

It just really sucks, doesn't it? It was fun to make fun of, but the movie itself, realistically, is just rotten. The acting is bad (notably exception is Anna Kendrick), the story sucks, the script is awful, the direction is passable, I gues, the effects are terrible. Yeah, it's just a turd, this.

But it was fun to make fun of.

.5 star; theater; January 1st

The English Surgeon (2007)

Not a happy movie. Good, tho. Well told.

3 stars; TV/USB; December 31st

Up in the Air

A good adult movie about adults for adults. Not great, but better than passable.

3 stars; theater; December 27th

Vvvvzzzzzzz

Months have passed, and many, many movies have been seen since I updated this hunk of crap blog. That marks the first time in, like, 15 years I've made no effort to keep track of what I've seen (this place's raison d'etre for the last few years). I might pick it up again in '10, but '9's compliment ain't nearly complete - nor will it ever be.

Here're a couple/few more, tho, off the top of my head:

Step Up 2: The Streets - when the nerd dances on the stairs? That's the only part of this hunk of shit anyone ever needs to see. 1 star; TV (Encore)
Grand Torino - I liked the relationship between Eastwood's character and the girl's, but she's a really terrible actor. I also liked the song at the end. 3 stars; uomc
(500) Days of Summer - quality workmanship. 3.5 stars; DVD

----

Another: Invictus: A quality made-for-TV movie. Essentially. Good tho. But here's a strange thing. It's a movie about racial harmony and getting past barriers between people in order to work together. To some degree at least. Basically it's a movie that celebrates liberal inclusiveness. But immediately before it, ran a trailer for Mel Gibson's latest movie. You see that, right? The Sexist, homophobic, bigoted, anti-Semite's movie ad ran just before this movie. Seemed... wrong. 3 stars; theater

Séraphine

Good lead performance and well made generally, but I never really cared. And I wanted to care.

Oh, I wanted to mention this: I can't remember the last time - and it's possible there was no last time - where a movie showed someone actually making art. Not drawing or painting over already made images, but making their own, right there onscreen, new art, virgin lines.

2 stars; theater; August 25th

Up

Cute, sweet, nice, moving at times, decent.

3 stars; theater; August 23rd
The first movie I've seen at the Avalon?

Catchup

Once you start making a list of shit to blog, it becomes much, much harder to get around to the blogging. As the list grows, it grows worse. Anyway, minus 2 movies I can't remember (that I know of, there may be others) here's what I've seen since, in chronological order.

April:
Badlands: marvelous, 4 stars, theater
Friday: I love this movie, but the Baghdad sure wasn't the place to have seen it. 3 stars, theater, same Friday as Badlands
Adventureland: a sweet coming of age story not the comedy the trailers made it out to be. 3 stars, theater
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29: Enjoyable - especially the movie's classic arch-villain. 3 stars, theater
Last Chance Harvey: watchable in spite of itself. 3 stars, theater
Hunger: really pretty great. 3.5 stars, theater
State of Play: Saw it on the DVD, but can't remember what I thought of it or much else. 2.5 stars, DVD
Caprica: Watched this before BSG and it was interesting enough to make me start the series (which I have yet to finish because Jesus Christ). 3 stars, theater
Anvil: The Story of Anvil: I fully expected to love - or anyway really like - this movie, but I just didn't. I thought it'd be sweet and funny watching these two characters do their thing, and to an extent it was, but mostly it just made me sad. Well made, I guess, but I didn't like it. 2 stars, theater

May:
Watchmen: What an atrocious piece of shit. Watched maybe half before walking out. I want someone to edit out the redundant bits and speed up the slo-mo. That's a short film I'd watch. zero stars, theater
Star Trek: Shocked how much I liked this. Nerds were freaking out so much, I expected it to kinda suck. But it's a great time. I hope Spock-guy - who stole the movie, btw - gets a nomination for being awesome. 3.5 stars, theater
Tyson: The screening was full of frat boys, so instead of watching a movie about the man, they all came for a fight and laughed at weird moments. Psychopaths. Really terrific movie tho - even with all the split-screen crap. 3.5 stars, theater, 28th
The Girlfriend Experience: Terrific. Slow, but really good. Liked it. 3, theater, 31st
Amarcord: God damned marvelous. The best Fellini I've seen. I'm starting to come around on heem. 4 stars, theater, 31st

June:
Objectified: A good enough follow up to the delightful Helvetica, but I don't want to frame it or nothing. 3 stars, theater, 9th
Away We Go: Loved this kinda. Very good. 3 stars, theater, 21st
The Hangover: It's the weirdest thing: a comedy without laughs that somehow works. I can't figure it out. Craziness! 3 stars, theater, 28th

July:
Public Enemies: Imperfect, but not terrible, in spite of its direction and look. Normally I think Mann is a genius, but this thing... I just didn't like its look at all. Or much else about it, really. But I didn't hate it. 2.5 stars, theater, 4th
Whatever Works: Also imperfect (especially the casting of the lovely Evan Rachel Wood as a hillbilly) but Woody's scripted flourishes and David's delivery of them pulls it thru nicely. A good time was had. 3 stars, theater, 16th
Every Little Step: Interesting, informative, can't remember what I was going to say about it. 3 stars, theater, 18th
Funny People: Really very good. Not his masterpiece yet, but it confirms Apatow is working toward one; it's his best yet by a mile. 3.5 stars, theater, 31st

August:
Moon: Boy howdy, I wanted this to be great sci-fi, but it's good sci-fi and I guess that's good and rare enough. 3 stars, theater, 2nd
Julie & Julia: I appreciated a lot about this movie - especially Streep's performance - but I never really fell in love with it. Maybe because the other arc (Julie's) never really defends its presence. 2.5 stars, theater, 7th
The Ugly Truth: What do you want? They weren't showing (500) Days of Summer in McMinnville and we wanted to see something romantical on our anniversary. Terrible god damned movie. 1 star (tops), theater, 8th
(500) Days of Summer: For a while it was my favorite movie of the year so far. For a while. You'll see why in a moment. 3.5 stars, theater, 9th
In the Loop: Not as good as The Thick of It, but still very funny. It'd probably be more successful, to be honest, had most of the shit in this movie not pretty much happened in 2003, y'know? I'm just sayin'. 3 stars, theater, 16th
Inglourious Basterds: Perfect? I think it just might be. I'm a pretty huge Tarantino booster and it blew me away. (It has me wanting to watch other movies about the love of movies, but I'm having trouble thinking of them - rec's accepted eagerly.) I will definitely go see this again before it leaves theaters. What a fucking thing. If this doesn't end up my favorite movie of the year, I can't wait to see whatever does. 4 stars (but really 5, I think), theater, 20th
The Lady Vanishes: Really well made and fun to watch again. 3.5 stars, DVD, 21st
Summertime: Really nice photography by Lean and Hildyard and a kind of sweet performance by Hepburn, but the rest is an overlong mess, really. Great review by New York Magazine's (!) David Denby on the insert, tho. Made me wish I liked the movie more. 2 stars, DVD, 21st

Kicking and Screaming (1995)

For some reason I'd forgotten I'd seen this, but remembered the moment it started. It's often very funny, often too knowingly witty, but generally shows promise.

3 stars; DVD; April 1st

Seconds (1966)

"The question of death selection may be the most important decision in your life."

"There never was a struggle in the soul of a good man that wasn't hard."

Incredible photography. Terrific movie.

4 stars; DVD; April 1st

Song of the South (1946)

"Uncle Remus, you tell the best tales in the United States of Georgia."

It should've been that those living in 1946 would've realized that cartoon depictions of blacks were inaccurate, unfair, and cruel, but we're a retarded species slow to learn. As such, there's far too much yassuh- and massuh-like speech from the black characters. With that baggage and more, I was surprised to find that the movie works at all, but it does - and actually quite well. It manages to be sweet and enjoyable, and the black characters, slathered in derogation and belittlement, to be sure, give the thing its heart.

I wouldn't want to watch this movie with others, or to see it shown in schools, but I'd watch it again and I'll think fondly of it. I didn't expect that beforehand.

4 stars; DVD/LD; April 1st

Oxford Blues (1984)

High-powered 1980s cheese that's predictable and unexciting, and, for some reason, likable. Ally Sheedy was incredibly cute.

3 stars; DVD/LD; April 1st

The Game (1997)

Yeah, I still like it quite a bit.

(I watched a rip of the old LaserDisc that included the only interesting slice-n-dice commentary I've heard; I listened to it after I finished watching the movie.)

2.5 stars; DVD/LD; March 28th

Caddyshack (1980)

This is a lot more adult than I remembered. (Is there a more disturbing line from an '80s film than "Man in the boat overload"?)

3 stars; DVD; March 28

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

I loved the pace of the thing and its almost hyper-dramatic tone.

3.5 stars; DVD; March 27th

Night of the Comet (1984)

Truly horrible movie that was a lot of fun to make fun of.

.5 stars; theater; March 26th

Klute (1971)

This movie has a huge amount, stylistically, in common with The Conversation. I expected to see a personnel overlap, but according to IMDb there isn't one.

My lone complaint is I never saw the connection between Tom and the abusive john. They both 'meet' the Fonda character around the same time, but after it's established that they're different people, I failed to get why it was anything more than coincidence. *Spoiler:*

The abusive John kills Tom, right, so that's how they tie together ultimately, but looking at it from Klute's point of view, chronologically, what kept him pursuing the john? Is that a plot hole or did I miss a thing?

It's a good performance by Fonda, especially in the final scene, but it's slightly odd casting, because, talented as she is, Fonda isn't sultry. Seemed like the part needed someone who was.

4 stars; theater; March 26th

Changeling (2008)

Good performance by Jolie, but the subject matter was unpleasant.

3 stars; DVD; March 24th