Sunday, May 24, 2009

11 Movies

State of Play (2009): Terrible, convoluted, nonsensical movie with faux "twists" (totally given away in the previews), mismatched character "development," and preachiness about print v. blogs.

Grey Gardens (2009): The HBO movie, not the documentary. Very well acted and interesting enough but it feels much longer than its hour and 44 minutes.

Blue (1993): The first part of the Three Colors trilogy. I like the idea of this movie much more than the actual execution. Nothing happens--at all--and that gets a little tiresome. Also, the use of the color gets a little heavy-handed and, therefore, trite.

You Got Served (2004): I have more street cred than this movie. And this movie so desperately tried to have it.

Wet Hot American Summer (2001): I love Paul Rudd and I newly love Christopher Meloni dancing but this movie just didn't appeal to me. It lost my attention because it seemingly went haywire about a third of the way in--like they all said, screw the script and plot, let's just be wacky. It didn't work for me.

Traitor (2008): Can we say preachy? And kind of wrong about terrorism?

27 Dresses (2008): Cute enough for a chick flick but also bad bad bad for women (as chick flicks are wont to be). And was it just me or was Katherine Heigl's hair a funny color?

In the Heat of the Night (1967): I used to watch the tv show when I was young but had never seen the movie. I liked it quite a bit. It's just a good, solid movie with solid acting that tackles an issue but doesn't so much beat you over the head with it repeatedly.

Made of Honor (2008): There is no honor in this movie. None. I don't know who is supposed to be made of honor but I have a feeling it's Patrick Dempsey since he's the "maid of honor." But, no, not realizing you love your best friend of the opposite sex until she goes away and then trying everything to ruin her engagement (I don't care if he was "infiltrating"--that's still ruining) and then only telling her the night before the wedding and only being able to say "I love you" to dogs until the exact moment the "hold your peace" line comes into play at which point you crash (literally and figuratively) the wedding to take the bride away because you're too selfish to realize that you've been an ass is not in any way imaginable having honor. The movie COULD have been saved IF the bride had backed out of her own wedding because SHE realized she was marrying the wrong person. It is in no way acceptable to have her HAVE to get married just because her retarded best friend can't open his eyes. AND it is in no way acceptable for her to have been silent about her feelings for him. Hello! Grrrrr. Stupid movie that manages to be bad for BOTH genders.

Sense and Sensibility (1995): I've seen this several times before but don't think I realized Hugh Laurie is in it in a tiny but perfect role. No wonder he was hired for House. Regardless, I like the movie a lot although I wish Kate Winslet would have been a little less red in the face the whole time.

For the Love of the Game (1999). I hated it. No, not even. I was so bored that I couldn't form much of an opinion. And I only made it halfway through before I couldn't watch anymore. So I won't say much about this one because it may have redeemed itself in the second half (doubtful) but the hour I watched felt like 4.

Star Trek (2009): Thank you. A good, solid, dramatic, funny, well-acted, fabulously cast (I can't say how much I enjoyed seeing Simon Pegg as Scotty), movie that both pays homage and its dues to the decades of original material and goes forward. Wonderful. I'll take a few more of these, please.