buried

this is an impressive experiment.  they say that when you put limits on art it forces you to be more creative and work smarted to try and overcome those limits.  i cant think of a movie that had more limits placed on it than this film.  they whole thing is set in a wooden box the size of a coffin.  ryan reynolds stars as the only actor in the film (other than a voice or two on the other end of his cell phone).  he finds himself buried alive and has to try and figure out what went wrong and how to get help to get out of there!  the whole thing is surprisingly intense and exciting.  for all its limits, its still quite dynamic and interesting.  the developments and turns the plot takes along the way work well and leave an intense finale.

9

a kinda weird post apocalyptic animated movie about 9 robots who have a part of the soul of the man who caused the apocalypse in the first place.  yeah, its even stranger than that.  it doesn't make much sense and the animation is less than stellar.  this is one that would have been better as a stop motion style film.  oh, and a couple more passes through the script before going ahead...

due date

yeah, this one's really bad.  it reminded me a lot of 'identity theft' with melissa mccarthy and jason bateman, except that one was better.  downey's manic suave persona does not gel well with galifianakis' sort of humor.  both of them are great separate, but this is a very clear case of the total being less than the sum of its parts.

splice

this movie asks the question 'what if you created a new life form a la frankenstein, and then as it grew to maturity, you kinda thought it was hot?'  yes, its creepy and kinda skeevy, but that's the premise.  where it goes from there has some scary moments, but for the most part it falls flat and is relatively bland for such a dark and twisted premise.

bridesmaids

a very funny gross-out comedy from a woman's perspective.  the story follows kristen wigg as she attends a friend's wedding as a bridesmaid and has to come to terms with the place she is in her life at her age.  the interpersonal relationships are funny and capture a perspective we hadn't really seen much of until this point.  most comedies are about infantalized men as they realize their age, but this one takes that same journey from a woman's perspective.  seems simple enough, but its done with such heart and interesting characterization that it becomes noteworthy for presenting something different.  and its super funny!

moneyball

a fantastic film about baseball.  now, there aren't many of those- i can probably count them on 3 fingers, but his one is quite remarkable.  what is really interesting about this one is that it's not actually about the game of baseball, rather, its about the numbers and stats of the players.  to be honest though, as soon as i knew it was written by aaron sorkin, i knew i would love it!  i'm a big sorkin fan going back to sports night and have loved everything he's done since, so it's not a real surprise that i loved this film too.
this film on paper sounds terrible: its the story of a guy who manages a baseball team based on numbers.  boring.  except that the writing and acting take this one to a most amazing place- its interesting and compelling in a way that i would have never expected.  the wheeling and dealing behind the scenes are what really make this film crackle and come alive with energy.  pitt, hill, hoffman, and pratt make this one come alive with so much heart and interest that i couldn't help but get drawn in and cheer when they found success.

knight and day

a kind of lame take on the secret agent and the girl who gets caught up in the latest assignment.  cruise and diaz are great together, as they have shown before in vanilla sky, but even the good acting, competent directing, and beautiful locations can't save this stinker.

repo men

the premise of this sci-fi story is that in the future you can buy new organs when yours goes bad.  the problem is that its really expensive and if you miss a payment, well, the repo men are coming to take that organ back.  jude law and forest whitaker are the guys who come to take back the organs from those who are past due.  sure, this removal usually results in death, but that's just part of the job.  for an interesting concept, it really falls back into the tropes and cliches of an action/sci-fi film.

timer

a light sci-fi romantic film that adds an interesting element to finding your soulmate: you can get a digital implant in your arm that is a countdown clock to when you will find the love of your life.  sure, it hopes you don't ask any big questions like 'how could it know the future?', but don't worry, you can look past it pretty easily.  we follow a woman who decides to get the implant and when she turns it on she finds out that its blank!  what does that mean and how does she deal with that is where the film goes.  its more interesting than it is good- a great premise, but not that great of a follow through.

hit and run

is this a great movie? no, but it sure it a lot of fun!  there is no pretense in this one, it just simply meant to be a good time.  this one is the passion project of dax shepherd- it was written by, co-directed, and stars dax and his wife.  there are some great chase scenes and funny bits along the way, but this one is just pure fun!

movie 43

the marketing for this movie is definitely correct: this one is very outrageous.  its a sort of series of short stories linked together, each story is filled with famous people doing really gross-out and crude things.  now, is it funny? some of it is, but not enough to make it worth the effort.  its mostly just gross for the sake of being gross.  for as much talent as there is in front the of the camera, that same talent is missing behind the camera.  the farrelly brothers really dropped the ball on this one.  some of the stories have good elements, but they just weren't crafted enough to make them actually good stories.

Lone survivor

ugh.  my dad really wanted to see this one in the theater, i knew it wasn't exactly my style, but it's not like i'm going to turn down an invitation to the movie theater!  its 100% one of those 'rah rah merica!' type movies and doesn't really dig beyond that level of depth.  its a perfectly fine and well made movie, the roles are well acted and the whole thing is very competently made, its just that it was so hollow and predictable.  you know exactly how its going to end- just look at the title!  as i was watching it i realized that this movie is basically a horror film.  it follows all the tropes of a horror film: we are introduced to some young beautiful people, we get to know them while their defenses are down and they are joking around with each other, but once the terror begins, they each get killed one by one by a faceless killer until the last remaining person has to face them and defeat them.  oh, and its super gory.  i'm not usually interested in war movies, and i have very little patience for patriotic garbage.  this one fits exactly into all the stuff i do not like.

jiro dreams of sushi

this is the kind of documentary i love: a look at someone who does something very specific, but does it really well.  this film follows jiro, a man in japan who owns a small sushi restaurant who has worked over the course of his lifetime to make the best sushi he can.  and apparently all that work has paid off: his food has earned three michelin stars- one of only about 120 restaurants in the world to earn this prestigious ranking.
the film looks at all the elements that go into jiro making his perfect sushi, all the steps along the way like making the right rice, picking the perfect fish from the fish docks, and everything else you could possibly imagine.  an interesting element in the documentary is the relationship jiro has with his son and the other workers who have dedicated their lives to making this food.

the killer elite

this one should have been really cool: the staith, clive owen, and de niro.  now thats a pretty cool tough guy cast!  unfortunately the whole thing is very lame and convoluted.  i basically love anything with the staith, but this one was rough even for him!