MOVIE REVIEW - Michael Clayton (2007)

I'm not a Clooney fan, but he nearly won me over. He plays the hatchet man for a large law firm, cleaning up the dirty laundry of the partners. He gave up his law practice to do what he does best, but he no longer enjoys it, and he's a tad ashamed of what he's become. When a friend and colleague starts to lose it because of a case, he has to take care of him, too - but has a major ethical dilemma doing it. Great acting by Clooney, Tom Wilkenson, and especially Tilda Swinton, who I hope gets an Oscar nod.

MOVIE REVIEW - Eastern Promises (2007)

Viggo Mortensen plays a Russian mobster in London. The lovely Naomi Watts plays a midwife who crosses his path and catches his eye. Their boring story, set to tons of boring Russian classical music, is a Russian Godfather story, but tons less compelling - and I thought The Godfather was pretty boring.

MOVIE REVIEW - Last Picture Show, The (1971)

This movie has held up really well over time. A coming of age story about a small town in Texas. It launched the careers of Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Randy Quaid, Timothy Bottoms, and gave Oscars to Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson. Surprisingly interesting for a dusty black and white drama set in the 50's and made in the 70's.

MOVIE REVIEW - Road To Perdition (2002)

Not a bad mobster flick - nice loyalty/conflict set up between Paul Newman and Tom Hanks. But I never really believed Hanks as the bad guy. Lots of good killing, though.

MOVIE REVIEW - Atonement (2007)

Hate it. A story finally does appear in this pretentious period piece, but it takes a full hour to even begin. The first hour is supposedly setting up the barely existent love affair between the lovely Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, and also placing hints at the conflict that comes in the second half. But an hour in, I was about to pull my hair out waiting for any motion, for any plot, for any character to invest in. And while a tiny bit of motion (war) and a tiny bit of plot (deception, betrayal) finally arrive (literally, a full hour in), I so didn’t care about anyone by then. There was a 15 minute scene showing James writing a letter to Keira, opera playing in the background, rewrite after rewrite, agony, struggle, saga – apologizing over a broken vase. Are you kidding me? Yes, the letter did play a role in the plot, but my word, that is not good filmmaking. The music was interesting, though they used typewriter strokes throughout the score as percussion, and it got annoying after a while. Some critics are calling a 5-minute extended camera shot at Dunkirk Beach “one of the best scenes ever filmed”. I just wanted it all to end. It didn’t, of course – what a snoozefest. Like The English Patient (the worst movie of all time), they tried to make a beautiful epic story where there is no beauty and no story.

MOVIE REVIEW - Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)

A naked, thrusting Philip Seymour Hoffman is not a good way to start a movie – especially when there is the stunning (and naked) Marisa Tomei waiting to be filmed (don’t worry – she gets there – a lot). But the story goes uphill from that opening shot. Two brothers decide to rob a mom and pop jewelry store to get them out of their individual financial trouble, and my word, does it go incredibly, ridiculously wrong. This is the story of a life (several, actually) unraveling. As PSH says, “I’m not the sum of my parts” – and while his character certainly is not, the movie is. The storytelling is enhanced by smartly planned time jumps that give you just enough information when needed. There is some icky drug use, and it’s a bit depressing overall; but a well-told and well-acted story.

MOVIE REVIEW - Juno (2007)

A delightful (at times too much so) and mildly edgy 16 year old gets pregnant and decides to give the baby up for adoption. Ellen Page is the reason the film (mostly) works – she’s adorable, confident, unflappable. When she says, “I’m dealing with things way beyond my maturity level”, we doubt it, because she is amazingly self-aware and capable of making good choices in the midst of her bad ones. She (and her hilarious parents played by Allison Janney, J. K. Simmons) drown every problem, no matter how big, with a healthy sense of humor and a realization that it’ll all be ok. Jennifer Garner plays uptight a little too well. Jason Bateman plays the adoptive dad perfectly, if maddening. This is a nice, funny drama in the vein of Little Miss Sunshine (but much more functional), with some cool folksy music. But I left thinking it was all a little too cute.

MOVIE REVIEW - Gone Baby Gone (2007)

A story of a Boston kidnapping and the ensuing police investigation. Casey Affleck is the local street kid turned private investigator helping to find the kid. Brother Ben directs. Casey is getting rave reviews, but I thought he tried to play with too much street cred, too tough, and doesn’t quite pull it off. Amy Ryan was excellent (here, and in Devil Knows You’re Dead). Michelle Monaghan was great and gorgeous. The moral dilemma and plot twists were interesting, but I wasn’t really drawn into the story.

MOVIE REVIEW - Die Hard 4: Live Free Or Die Hard (2007)

At times absurd, but still a lot of fun to see John McClane on the big screen again. Good side kick, good bad guy, a few amazing action segments (even though they felt a little overly spectacular - "Hey, let's spend $80 million for the next 5 minutes").

MOVIE REVIEW - Invincible (2006)

Mostly-standard sports movie with a heart. Wahlberg makes everything he touches better than it would otherwise be.

MOVIE REVIEW - Into The Blue (2005)

Lame, but packed with pretty people. A decent thrill ride, given its near-B-movie script.

MOVIE REVIEW - 3:10 To Yuma (2007)

Very good Western. It had a couple of flaws, but overall it was terrific. Russell is my favorite actor, and Christian did an equally terrific job. The storyline was great, though I was disappointed with a couple of highly unrealistic developments - but overall, still, competes for the best movie of the year. Steve the Pirate from Dodgeball was great. Peter Fonda was completely unrecognizable. Luke Wilson had a tiny non-comedic part. Russell grins, and as usual for him, he brings such a complexity to his bad guy - is he good? is he bad? He is certainly complicated. Great job.

MOVIE REVIEW - Superbad (2007)

I must be old. This movie is aptly titled. My word, it was terrible. Michael Cera, what was up with that??

MOVIE REVIEW - Shadowboxer (2005)

Mostly dumb assassin movie.

MOVIE REVIEW - Cape Fear (1991)

Nicely scary, with DeNiro strutting around as a majorly deranged and vengeful convict. There's a bit of cheese factor that hasn't held up perfectly over 15 years, but it's still a good movie. Nice to see Mr. Peck with a small, humorous role in honor of his original.

MOVIE REVIEW - Déjà Vu (2006)

Decent, but nothing great.

MOVIE REVIEW - Ella Fitzgerald - Something to Live For (1999)

GREAT documentary with lots of concert footage and interviews.

MOVIE REVIEW - Transformers (2007)

Absolutely horrible.

MOVIE REVIEW - American Gangster (2007)

Very good - Ridley definitely deserves a nomination, maybe even a win. I didn't find it overly compelling, but I think it should get a Best Picture nod (but not a win).

MOVIE REVIEW - Beowulf (2007)

I didn't see it in 3D, and I hear (and could tell) it has many great 3D sequences. But the story, ... sheesh, it was awful.

MOVIE REVIEW - No Country For Old Men (2007)

I never give a movie a 4.0 or higher on first viewing, so this is the best movie of the year. The Coen Brothers took a break from doing great films like Fargo, but they've finally returned to form. This quirky, violent southern drama is almost Hitchcockian, in that silence plays a major character in the movie, building the intensity of most every scene. Tommy Lee Jones is so dry, he blends into the Texas dust – and that’s a compliment. Javier Bardem is a definite for winning Best Supporting Actor as the creepiest bad guy in recent memory. After you watch the movie, let me know, and I’ll tell you why this movie deserves to win Best Picture – I don’t want to ruin anything for you, but the ending, while a tad controversial, rocks (imo).

Here’s what I loved: We follow Josh Brolin's character throughout the entire movie. We root for him, get to know his family, hope he gets away from the bad guys. And then, 20 minutes before the end, he’s dead, and we don’t even get to see the shootout – just the delayed aftermath. Every other movie would’ve made the shootout scene the climax. And here, it’s not even shown. Some would think this robs the viewer of the big scene, but I think it was creative to skip a beat to Tommy Lee’s perspective, then back to Javier’s perspective, leaving Josh in the dust. Ultra Cool and original.

MOVIE REVIEW - Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Very interesting concept, where an author's character starts hearing her narration. Nicely done, but it really had no where to go, and it fizzled at the end.

MOVIE REVIEW - Prestige, The (2006)

Excellent twists, interesting story, good acting.

MOVIE REVIEW - Good Year, A (2006)

Critics didn't care for it, but I thought it was nice. Basically, it's Under The Tuscan Sun with a guy lead (Russell).