Last Days

LAST DAYS (2005) - Mar. 31, 2006
Hmmm. This movie was really well directed and featured some good performances (though he has almost no coherent dialogue, Michael Pitt still managed to give a really good performance). However, it was the weakest of Gus Van Sant's recent trilogy; it lacked the bizarre hypnotic appeal of Gerry, or the emotional impact of Elephant. It was definitely well directed, featuring some Kubrick-like compositions, but it just wasn't all that interesting. I was never all-out bored, but I was never really entertained, either. **1/2

Serenity

SERENITY (2005) - Mar. 28, 2006 (Third Viewing)
Good stuff! This movie just seems to get better every time I watch it. Joss Whedon's writing and direction were top-notch, and the film was really entertaining all the way through. The performances were all really good, particularly Nathan Fillion and Chiwetel Ejiofor. As Grandpa would say, this was a first-class film. ****

The Awful Truth

THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937) - March. 24, 2006
An entertaining screwball comedy starring Cary Grant (excellent, as usual) and Irene Dunne (who was also quite good). The movie was based on a play and is actually quite stagey, but the dialogue was good and it was entertaining throughout. ***

Inside Man

INSIDE MAN (2006) - Mar. 22, 2006
An enjoyable but overlong film heist movie by Spike Lee. Featuring expectedly good performances by people like Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster, the movie was well made but distinctly uneven. It probably didn't help that a subplot about Christopher Plummer's Nazi past seemed superfluous and out of place. It also didn't help that the movie had the whole Spielberg thing going on, where it refused to end. **1/2

V for Vendetta

V FOR VENDETTA (2006) - Mar. 20, 2006
Though different from the original comic in many ways, this was still good in its own way. All around it was quite well made, and... I don't really have much else to say about this movie. I was a little bothered by a scene where V is revealed to have made an exceedingly complex layout of dominos, which must have taken him days if not weeks to complete. That sort of took me out of the movie, since I'm not sure that I buy that V would have taken a month off to erect a elaborate set of dominos. ***

Final Destination 3

FINAL DESTINATION 3 (2006) - Mar. 20, 2006
A silly but enjoyable slasher movie. It's essentially a series of loosely connected death scenes, featuring the bare minimum in terms of plot and characters to remain coherent. But the death scenes were all well done and the film remained entertaining throughout. The opening theme park sequence in particular was quite effective, doing a good job of slowly building tension. ***

The Palm Beach Story

THE PALM BEACH STORY (1942) - Mar. 17, 2006
A really enjoyable romantic comedy by Preston Sturges. Featuring some really well-written, crackling dialogue and a couple of excellent performances from Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea, this was a really fun movie from start to finish. It even (sort of) managed to avoid the dreaded fake breakup, by essentially making the entire film the fake breakup. Why can't they make romantic comedies this good any more? ***1/2

Mean Streets

MEAN STREETS (1973) - Mar. 12, 2006
Featuring a couple of electrifying performances by Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, this was a somewhat underwhelming film by Martin Scorsese. It was certainly well made, and I was enjoying it quite a bit for the first little while, but it was ultimately undone by its plotless meandering. I was definitely never bored, but towards the end I was losing interest a bit. The performances were the highlight. **1/2

The Hills Have Eyes

THE HILLS HAVE EYES (2006) - Mar. 10, 2006
A well-made and engaging horror film about a family who find themselves under attack by a band of radioactively mutated freaks. Featuring some surprisingly good performances, the film perhaps spends a bit too long setting things up (there's probably about an hour of build-up) but that's a pretty minor complaint. The whole latter half of the film is really suspenseful and pretty much riveting, and features some pretty satisfying moments of gore (mostly involving one of the survivors turning the tables on the freaks). The opening was also really effective, probably one of the better horror movie openings. The ending, on the other hand, could have been better, though it was nowhere nearly as bad as the almost movie-ruining stupidity of the ending for Alexandre Aja's previous film, High Tension. ***1/2

Sex, Lies and Videotape

SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE (1989) - Mar. 7, 2006
Written and directed by Steven Soderbergh, this was a really good movie, especially impressive considering this was his first film. Featuring some really good dialogue (he should write more) and good direction, and some really exceptional performances. Even Andie MacDowell was good, which is saying something. But it was James Spader who really stood out, giving a really impressive performance, one of the best I've seen in a while (you forget what a good actor he is watching Boston Legal, where he seems to coast along with two expressions: smug, and super-smug). ***1/2

Good Night, and Good Luck

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK (2005) - Mar. 3, 2005
A well made, well acted but not particularly interesting film about Edward R. Murrow's fight against Joseph McCarthy. The film didn't have much of a plot, and none of the characters were particularly well developed or interesting; they were just there. If Clooney's goal was to teach me about what Murrow did, and tell me why he was important, he was successful. If his goal was to entertain me... not so successful. I mean, what did I learn about Murrow as a person, other than that he was classy and a good journalist? Or any of those characters, for that matter? The film had some good performances, and Robert Elswit's black and white photography looked nice, but aside from that this was an unexceptional film. That's not to say it was bad, I was never really bored but it certainly wasn't one of the five best movies of the year. **1/2

The Lady Eve

THE LADY EVE (1941) - Mar. 2, 2006
An enjoyable romantic comedy about a con-artist who finds herself falling in love with her latest mark. Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda were both really good in the main roles. The film has a few twists and doesn't really play out the way you'd think it would, and it was quite entertaining from start to finish, featuring really good writing and direction by Preston Sturges. ***

16 Blocks

16 BLOCKS (2006) - Mar. 1, 2006
A decent thriller about a detective who must escort a suspect to the courthouse, running up against a group of corrupt cops on the way (led by a very sinister David Morse). Bruce Willis gave a good performance, though he was essentially playing the standard grizzled, alcoholic cop we've seen about a billion times before. Mos Def gave a bizarre and somewhat grating performance, seemingly channeling Anton Jackson from In Living Color. I sort of figured the character was supposed to be mentally retarded at first, but as the movie went on that didn't seem to be the case. The film was pretty much entertaining, but as much as it was trying to be it was never all that gripping. **1/2