30 Days of Movies: Week 1

D3

500 Days of Summer - Pretty freakin great, prolly getting 5 stars on Netflix since there's no 4.5 option. Left me melancholy, but spectacular none the less. Must have soundtrack.

A Clockwork Orange - I've actually managed to have never seen this before now. Free will is a prerequisite of morality and redemption, blah blah, blah. It took a movie this long to get that across? Cool cinematography/music. Kubrick makes some weird ass shit. 3/5

Stargate: The Ark of Truth - 3 out of 5 for me, but only because I have a soft spot for lame sci fi. Really more like a 2/5. Also, it relies very heavily on being familiar with several seasons of the show to follow it, so not advised for my friends recently getting into Stargate Universe.

Randy

Burn Before Reading - Part of my "Written by Coens" five, I hadn't seen this one before. It's got a great cast (Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDourmand, Richard Jenkins, etc.) but the story is kind of all over the map. There are some funny moments, but it's a weaker offering from the Coens. Still entertaining, probably a 2.5 star movie for me.

The Big Lebowski - Also part of my "Written by Coens" five, I saw this for the first time last year and loved it, re-watching it has confirmed this will probably be a "watch every year" movie for me. Really funny, another of the Coen's inter-linked series of mishap movies, like Raising Arizona after they had a few more techniques and skills under their belt. Their best movie? Maybe.

Ocean's 11 - Easily one of my top 20 movies of all time, I've re-watched this dozens of times and always have a good time. Great writing and interaction between a top-notch cast, a heist that (mostly) holds together and fantastic music. I actually like both Ocean's 12 and Ocean's 13, and I think the reason they're often viewed as bad is not because they're not good, but because Ocean's 11 is so great, it's hard to compete.

Minority Report - Pretty great sci-fi actioner with some nice plot depth thanks to the Phillip K. Dick basis. Fantastic visual design, they really had a vision for the future and I love the little touches like the eye-scan marketing and holographic touch-type computers, it felt very plausible. There's some goofiness in there in execution and in ideas (the weird plant lady was, well... weird) but it's a damn good movie.

Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2 - Watched these together for the first time and I've gotta say, I like this more every time I watch it. It still ranks below most of Tarantino's other stuff for me (except Death Proof), but I love a lot of it, and I really like the use of music in it. Plus, those fight scenes are really eye-catching... I was going to watch this while doing other stuff, and I found that I couldn't take my eyes off it, particularly in Volume 1. Originally, I thought Volume 2 was the stronger of the two, and it does have the more emotional/story heft to it, but I think I like Volume 1 better.

Excalibur - Decided to change up my list and add a lot more stuff I haven't seen, but have been meaning to, and this was the first. And... I wasn't all that into it. A little '80s cheesy (although really, not unforgivably so, and the production values/special effects in general were pretty good), a little long (especially for '80s movies, which were rarely as long as modern flicks) and I just never connected with the story/characters. I didn't hate it, but if I hadn't been watching for "30 movies" "credit" I probably would have turned it off midway through.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? - I'm rapidly catching up on the many Coen flicks I've missed, and generally kicking myself for missing them for so long. I didn't like it better than Lebowski, but it's a lot of fun, has fantastic music and I really loved the performances, especially George Clooney, John Turturro and John Goodman. Oh, and did I mention the music? Because damn.

Nick

Thirteen Days - Really enjoy Kevin Costner when he isn't in director mode and really the inside look at a time of great insanity (Cuban Missile Crisis) is just interesting to me. The supporting cast, especially Bruce Greenwood as JFK, really shines here.

Murder by Death - Fantastic. Was aware that this one starred Peter Sellers (a personal favorite actor of mine ever sense seeing the original Pink Panther) but wasn't aware of the other actors involved. Alec (Obi-Wan) Guinness, Maggie Smith, Truman Capote, Peter Falk...They all deliver so much in this screwball comedy that gathers together the world's best detectives to solve a murder. Highly recommend this one.

Zodiac - For the life of me, I can't think of why I missed this one in theaters. The cast, especially Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhall, turn in fantastic performances and the way the story of the Zodiac killer unfolds is intense to say the least. A really taut thriller that pushed all of the right buttons, keeping me on the edge of my seat (at 3 in the morning no less), and was a return to form for Fincher.

Up in the Air - Just goes to show you that the simplest of stories turn out to be some of the best. Up in the Air had me from the first frame and was such and enchanting and human movie that you get pulled into the life of Ryan Bingham (Clooney). Clooney's charm is turned up to eleven as he turns in one of his best roles, one that should garner him an award or two. And let's not forget the hotness of Vera Farmiga either. Best movie that I've seen so far and as close to perfect as you get these days.

Brick - Chalk this one up to too much hype. It was good, sure, and I think that Joseph Gordon Levitt certainly brought his A game and showed some great acting chops that should land him some better gigs than say Cobra Commander. Still, the meshing of what essentially was a high school drama with noir didn't work for me. I was nowhere near wanting to push stop or went into skim mode, but it was a tad on the predictable side and it was just a shoulder shrugging event that made me say, "Meh."

Dave

The Fisher King - An interesting but somewhat unsatisfying modern day fable of redemption and love with touch of Arthurian myth. I think I liked the movie most when it was being serious, but any time Robin Williams was just doing his schtick and oftentimes when Gilliam was doing his quirk, I felt disconnected. Very strong performance by Mercedes Ruehl as the world-weary girlfriend. Amanda Plummer was cute as a sort of proto-Willow (from Buffy). I really like the ideas at work here but they became a little muddy in execution. 3/5

The Thief of Baghdad (1924) - "You shall add joy to the wedding festival by being boiled in oil." Just one of many great moments in what's surely the greatest of all silent film adventure movies. Starring Douglas Fairbanks as the exuberant thief of the title, it's a special effects extravaganza whose style, I submit, hasn't dated at all. It seems to occupy this amazing place where it's got the grandeur of film, with its hundreds of extras and amazing matte paintings and cool flying carpet effects...but also has something of the intimacy and two-dimensionality of stage. Some of the coolest stunt sequences almost look like a side-scrolling platform game. It's amazing, and even its giant monsters look cool. The only movie I can think to compare it to visually is The Wizard of Oz. Every scene is filled with kinetic wit ala Buster Keaton, but it never gets too slapsticky. Its sole problem is that it's overlong at two hours and forty minutes, and with teeth gritted I'm giving it a 4 instead of an 5. I'd recommend watching it in a few parts, like a serial. Then it's a 5! 4/5

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - This is my first Charlie Kaufman flick and I'm still trying to make up my mind on it. I loved its dreamlike qualities, which went far beyond surrealistic landscapes to actually capture dream logic, dream paranoia, and the confusion of semi-wakefulness - but I also felt a little coldly distanced from the story. It reminded me of Alan Moore's works in that sense. Brilliantly constructed and dotted with amazing scenes, but a little distant. That said...great performances by both leads, themes that rang true in both their cynicism and hopefulness, and a stunning score. I don't know that I'll really want to rewatch it, but it's a pretty amazing accomplishment. Definitely glad I saw it. Will continue to think on it, too. 4/5

Secretary - This movie came up when I was talking with a friend about weird friendship/romance movies (like Black Snake Moan). I can see why. It's weird! In a very slow, deliberate manner it begins to reveal a BDSM relationship that might be capable of pulling its two participants out of their self-destructive spirals. It's a maybe a little too slow and deliberate at times, but I dug it. It's sweet watching Maggie Gyllenhaal break out of her shell and James Spader walks the fine line between sincere and creepy. Not bad. Special award for Gyllenhaal's butt. 3/5

Up - I feel like I should have like Up more than I did. The last several Pixar movies I've seen - Wall-E, Finding Nemo and Cars - were all great movies that I enjoyed pretty much from beginning to end. With Up there were some amazing scenes, but once the story gets to South America it lost my interest periodically. The villain's a hasty contrivance (same as Syndrome in The Incredibles) and the plot beats start becoming more awkward (e.g. why would the kid assume the big bird is a snipe?). Loved the beginning with Carl and Ellie and many spots throughout, though - maybe that's why the disappointing stuff popped for me. Oh, and Michael Giacchino's score was stunning. With a bit of looking I found one or two critical reviews out there and one of the comments struck me: "The music is what the movie wanted to be." 3/5

The Apartment - I knew there was a reason I picked Billy Wilder for my screenwriter. Man, I was expecting a light farce in this story about a schlubby company man who lends out his apartment for his superiors' affairs. Well, it's got its light moments, but it's just as much a drama, maybe more so, filled with more truthfulness than most screenwriters are likely to see in a lifetime of scripts. And all delivered with a biting wit. Wilder's cynical and tough, but there's always a little humanity lurking beneath is realism. That's important when a comedy references suicide as often as this one does. Great, great movie. Sterling performances from Jack Lemmon, Fred MacMurray and especially Shirley MacLaine. This is the second 50s/60s era flick I've seen with MacLaine and she's vaulted to the top of my list of babes of the period. It's not just the pixie-cute look, either. She's got a sardonic slyness that's really arresting. 5/5

Gone Baby Gone - I think I've got an issue with Dennis Lehane's stories. He wrote the book this was based on and I recently read his novel Shutter Island, which is about to be a Scorcese movie. What I'm not wild about with him is the line his stories walk between realism and potboiler suspense. It just seems awkward to me. This was a well-filmed, well-acted movie, but it seemed way too over-the-top and action-filled for its subject matter - kidnapped and victimized children. 3/5

Sara

(500) Days of Summer: I also felt a bit melancholy after watching this but it was so delightfully delightful that it gets 5 stars from me anyways. Hmmm, want to say something else, but it is probably a bit spoiler-y... will wait until everyone has seen it.

Wristcutters- A Love Story: I had had a passing interest in this once upon a time and it was free for the watching at work. It completely failed to engage me- a giant meh. 2 stars, I guess? I honestly don't care enough about the movie to rate it.

Revolutionary Road: The inner teenaged girl in me wanted to see this soley based on the facts that Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio were the leads. (STFU- I *was* a 13 year old girl when Titanic came out.) If not for the last 10 seconds of the movie, I would have given it 4 or 5 stars. As it is, 2.75. I think this was probably a really good book that just didn't translate to film as well as I would have liked.

Chaplin: Starring Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin, supporting cast includes Dan Akroyd, Marissa Tomei, Milla Jovavich, Kevin Kline, and Anthony Hopkins. It was free on Hulu and looked mildly entertaining, especially since I've been harboring a huge Robert Downey Jr. crush of late. The story *was* mildly entertaining but what a freaking snooze fest the movie as a whole turned out to be! Running time of 2 hrs 25 minutes, it could have easily done the job at 1 hr 25 min. Sooooooo looooong. I had to watch it in four increments just to tolerate it. 3 stars, I guess, so as not to throw off my Netflix recommendations.

The Soloist: Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx are the leads, which was enough for me to choose it from the list of movies I had never heard of on some on demand channel. It came out in 2009, dunno if it flopped in theatres or if I just totally missed it. True story about a reporter who finds a Julliard prodigy- turned mentally ill homeless bum. A bit too heartwarmingly cheesy in places for me, but Robert Downey Jr did a great job and Jamie Foxx was **phenominal**. It was cool to see Mr. Foxx show off his classical music training, too. 3.8 stars.

Burn Before Reading: Everything Randy said, right down to his 2.5 star rating. I did rather enjoy Brad Pitt, but then I usually do enjoy his comedy stuff.

**Interesting (not really) side note- the blogger dictionary says "movie" isn't a word.

Cindy

So I'm a little behind but plan on trying this. I'll add my movie list to the comments, so it doesn't take up so much space here.

Cronos: From my "5 by the same screenwriter- Guillermo del Toro". An older movie, turns out del Toro doesn't have a huge selection with writer's credit. This one goes highly unrecommended. Read the little plot line on imdb & whatever you imagine it to be will be better than what it is. Awkward, stilted acting between Ron Perlman & the dude who played his uncle, and the camera looked like choppy stop motion on live actors sometimes. I guess you could call it a vampire movie, & I don'ts care for me too much vampire.

Mad Max: This could go into my "Era/Time" category, but it's not future enough & too post-apocalypsey for what I want to use for future dystopia. I plan to watch all 3, and pretty sure I've never seen this. Kinda slow, but not bad. Not too much to say about it really. I guess it'd be a 3? 3.5?

Hellboy: Watching it again so I can watch Hellboy 2 (never seen; both for del Toro movies). I like this movie, and have liked it each time I've watched it. You know a good thing about it is? Of all the movies that have giant monster fights at the end (Hulk and Silent Hill come to mind) the one in Hellboy ISN'T completely retarded. Maybe a 4? Not like it's super compelling or anything, but fun & has awesome make-up/puppets/effects n' stuff.

Dan

I'm way behind, but whatever. I'll watch whatever I can.

The Goods: Not a movie I had on my list, but some friends and I watched it when we got together, so it counts. Jeremy Piven and Ving Rhames sell the shit out of some cars and a bunch of funny shit happens. Pretty good dumb comedy with some great WTF moments- a 3.5.

47 Ronin (1994): I'm usually a fan of director Kon Ichikawa, but his take on this story left me pretty cold. To start with, a lot of the story is just implied, I assume because Japanese audiences all know it by heart, but that makes it kinda hard for American watchers to follow it. I actually know the story pretty well and it was still a little hazy in places for me. Also, this isn't really a movie about the 47 ronin, it's a character piece about their leader, Oishi Kuranosuke. Overall, I'd give it about a 2.5.

Speed Racer: Amazing visuals, lots of fun, and very true to the original series. It got slow in a couple places, but was overall a delightful little movie. I had a blast watching it, and give it a solid 4.