AHR (Level 11)

Tuesday:

Day One: Awesome fictionalized account of how the nuclear bomb was created and why it was used. The dude from Goodnight and Good Luck plays Oppenheimer, and he's entrancing. You totally believe he is a genius.

Constantine's Sword: Expose documentary about how and why Christians historically hate Jews. Nothing much new, and purposefully one-sided, but watchable with a few new head-shaking bits of historical information.

Wednesday:

Smiley Face: Stoner comedy by the dude who did Mysterious Skin. After hating Doom Generation (all five minutes I watched), I am becoming a fan. This is really funny, and different from other stoner portrayals. I feel like it's more accurate and unflattering. It's episodic and I did fast forward through some scenes that started out slow. Jim from the office is in this playing an ugly guy who is not ugly but is horribly annoying and unfunny.

Reservoir Dogs: Wow this is good. I saw it when I was in high school and I have to admit I found it a little boring. I didn't really latch on to the central drama between Harvey Kitel and Tim Roth. Now I found it really heartbreaking, not to mention subject to all sorts of queer theory readings. Immature filmmaking at times, but still super impressive and indicative of how awesome Pulp Fiction turned out.

Thursday:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I: I'll be honest. When I saw this I LOVED it, but I was not sober at the time. Watching it on a small screen on a couch...all the boringness and shallow teen drama really shows through. But the opening, cartoon, and Ministry of Magic scenes are still incredible.

i keep losing blog entries! dammit. ok here's a rundown:

chaplin: if you just fast forward to all the parts where RDJ does amazing Chaplin routines, awesome. the rest is shlock

donnie brasco: still don't like it, turned off midway

natural born killers: still don't like it, turned off midway

mysterious skin: extremely good, the director has matured since "doom generation"

fatal attraction: awesome 80s "modern woman as a monster" thriller

drawn together: the movie: sue me. it's funny. i was shocked several times and it's impossible to take seriously.

the hustler: old paul newman movie. first 40 minutes were like a killer stage play, but once the love interest came in I literally fell asleep. Will try again, some day.

Sunday:

Bridesmaids: Yep, this was pretty great. Kristin Wiig is a genius, there I said it, and her style of humor reminds me many of my funniest friends. What I'm saying is there is truth in her comedy, MODERN truth. That said, it's still a Hollywood comedy and leans towards the Apatow/Farrelly forumla of "funny-funny-barf and shit gag-funny-SERIOUS-funny-happy ending!", which is not very effective for me. But hey, I laughed out loud a lot, which is way more than I can say for any comedies I've seen in theaters for the last year or so.

Saturday

Doom Generation: I don't understand how anyone over the age of sixteen could MAKE this movie, let alone watch it. Pretentious purile crap that doesn't even work as camp. I quit after ten minutes.

Friday

X-Men: First Class: Oh my gosh, I sure did love this. Awesome, fun, and often deeply moving, at least if you are the type of person who can be moved by something involving superheroes. I have to see it again before I say it's better than X3, but right now in my head they are neck and neck.

X-Men: I watched this on Netflix as soon as I got home from First Class, and it really kind of blows. Rouge does nothing but look scared and scream. Storm, Toad, Sabretooth and even Cyclops are all awful and embarrassing to watch. The action isn't even very good. I'd watch Orgins or even X3 over this crap any day.

Tuesday

Takers: Finished this, and you know what? It was fine. I didn't follow it closely enough to actually understand the plot, but the Chris Brown chase scene is exquisite. It reminded me of the opening fight in Casino Royale, that's how awesome it was.

Taken: So that girl playing a sixteen year old? She looks like, 25. Because she is. I found that very distracting. Just putting a plastic head band on a woman doesn't make her look like a teenager. Some great action, insane amount of cliches, honestly thought it dragged some at the end. Also, the Boss Level fight is all about killing grotesquely evil Arabs; come on, Hollywood. Why ya gotta be like that.

Stone: Trufact: If there is a contemporary movie on Instant you've never heard of that features big name actors, it will be TERRIBLE. Every time. This dumb and pretentious psychological yawner features Ed Norton with cornrows doing one of THE WORST street accents I've ever heard (time to face it, 20 somethings, Ed Norton kinda sucks. Go watch American History X again - not that great when you're not in high school). However: it also features Milla Jovovich in a rare non-Resident Evil role and she is GREAT. She's playing a flighty seductive girl, which is playing to type, but she nails it. If you liked her in Fifth Element (who didn't?!), it's worth at least watching some of her scenes.