blue_lotus13: (louise)
lex ([personal profile] blue_lotus13) wrote2010-03-04 06:59 am
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What I watched in February



1. Black Gold- This was a documentary about the evils of coffee. I thought it was really interesting. It showed how growing coffee had a negative impact on an Ethiopian village. This was contrasted with images of the International barista championships in Seattle.

2. Moon- I wanted to like this a little more than I actually did. Sam Rockwell was good, but I thought the beginning of this movie was too slow. I loved the way it looked and Kevin Spacey as Gertie, but ultimately, this was only a partial success for me. I should also add that I was really tired and actually fell asleep a few times.

3. Stomp the Yard- Wow, this was one big cliche. I haven't seen a more cliched movie for a while. The dancing couldn't even save it.

4. The Wolfman- I wanted to go to the movies and went to see this one. I liked the makeup and the gothic scenery and Emily Blunt was great. However, this was high class camp and the plot was ridiculous. I found it rather scary until Benecio del Toro became afflicted with lycanthropy. Then the whole thing just became entirely funny. Amusing.

5. The Usual Suspects- I'm not one for heist movies, but I'd put this on my zip list for some reason. Kevin Spacey was pretty great in it, but other than that, it wasn't for me. I can recognize that it was good, just not for me

6. Stage Beauty- I absolutely loved this movie. It's about the Elizabethan ages, and Billy Crudup's character is one of the last men who played women on the stage. Then Claire Danes' character starts playing women on the stage and real actresses emerge, putting actors who specialized in women out of work. A fantastic period piece with an interesting script, and good acting from Crudup and Danes.

7. Shutter Island- I have completely mixed feelings about this one. I read the book ahead of time, so I knew the plot twists. I liked the Hitchcockian feeling of the movie and the set, and thought that Leo did a good job with what he was given. However, I thought that the movie crossed into too much gore and horror, and should have just stayed with the Hitchcock flavour. I also thought that Michelle Williams was incredibly good in this film, and I've really enjoyed her work in recent years. She just keeps getting better and better.

8.Sunshine- Man, I wanted to like this movie more than I did. It's about a group of scientists who are going to explode a bomb in the sun so that the earth gets sunlight. It starts out in an interesting way, but then descends into complete silliness. However, Cillian Murphy is pretty cute.


9. Public Enemies- I didn't even finish watching this one because I didn't care about the characters. My review is run, run, shoot, rob a bank, get arrested, break out. etc. Boring.

10. The Last Station- I really liked this movie, which showed the last years of Tolstoy's life and his relationship with his wife and a group of cultish followers known as Tolstoyans. James MacAvoy was good as usual, as were Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer. I thought this was an interesting look at a historical figure and the script/dialogue and acting were good. Lots to think about with this one.
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listersgirl: (Default)

[personal profile] listersgirl 2010-03-04 02:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Stage Beauty is one of my favourites.
starfishchick: (Default)

[personal profile] starfishchick 2010-03-04 03:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I totally agree with your assessment of Public Enemies. We saw it in the theatre, I was SO BORED.

And Sunshine as well - it was such a good idea and so well done at the start, then it just got stupid.

[identity profile] eclexys.livejournal.com 2010-03-21 12:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, Moon didn't do much for me, and I was actively annoyed at how crap Wolfman was, after wasting an afternoon in Jakarta on it. (I was hoping Hopkins had chosen it because it was a good script, but...)

As for Sunshine -- you know, they actually had a science consultant? I wonder if it was "makeup and hair science" or something. Way too much emo, way too little, er, understanding of how stars work, of how scientists interact, how science is done, of... hell, of familiarity with SF outside of the brainlessness that dominates the visual form of the genre. It was insulting how much praise it got... and perturbing.

Since you're trying a bunch of SF films, have you seen the film PRIMER -- the one about the time travel machine? I bet you might like it, if you could get past how freaking confusing it is.

By the way, I think my favorite film of 2009 was UP, hahaha.

And now, on your say-so, I'm waiting even more eagerly for Shutter Island to open here.
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