waist deep

I thought this Vondie Curtis Hall written-and-directed movie would be better. for some reason, Hall decided to cut all the action scenes shortly after they began, leaving one to wonder what the true point of the movie was: ex-con and heart of gold hooker fall in love? there just wasn't enough action or drama to keep my attention, but fortunately, Tyrese and Meagan Good were so damn good-looking that I happily gazed at them for an hour and a half. I always love Larenz Tate, and Henry Hunter Hall as Junior was adorable.

reign over me

Adam Sandler plays a guy devastated by the loss of his wife and 3 daughters in 9/11 who, to cope with his grief, turns into Adam Sandler minus the jokes. he jams, plays video games, rides around on a scooter, and eats a lot of Chinese food. Don Cheadle is a guy looking for an escape from his adult life who tries to join him. everyone is good but a lot of the movie doesn't make much sense. why would a therapist set up two of her clients? why would extremely hot women try to give their dentist a blow job? why would a judge let someone's in-laws decide whether a man pointing a gun at police officers needs psychiatric help? bring kleenex and/or plenty of disbelief suspension.

my super ex-girlfriend

this movie is a waste of the comedic talents of Anna Faris and Wanda Sykes. also the mediocre talents of Luke Wilson. Uma Thurman looks hot as librarian-type and super hero, but that's not enough to save this movie. Rainn Wilson (some guy from the U.S. version of The Office to most people; to me, Arthur from Six Feet Under) is oddly cast as Wilson's obnoxious sidekick. a movie with a decent premise, terribly executed.

I Think I Love My Wife

Chris Rock is funny. period. so the best parts of this re-make of Eric Rohmer's Chloe in the Afternoon are when Rock is just doing his thing, for example, yelling about chicken. I also love Gina Torres and Kerry Washington, so this movie was almost 100% pure pleasure. Steve Buscemi was also great as a sleazy co-worker. the moral of the story: married people should have sex. hope I didn't give too much away.

shortbus

this is John Cameron Mitchell's first film since Hedwig and the Angry Inch. it's a movie about sex, and depression, and sex, and relationships, and sex. there's a lot of sex in it. a lot. it's fairly interesting but not nearly as riveting as Hedwig, mostly because there isn't that much plot in it. sex therapist that can't have an orgasm with her husband - how ironic! dominatrix who really just wants to paint and have a normal relationship - how unusual! gay couple who introduces a new boy into the mix - how modern! well you get the point. but it's still worth seeing, if only for fun things you don't usually see on screen, including a great feat of contortionism.

running with scissors

I don't know how much of this memoir is actually true but wow, it's messed up. to say that a kid's crazy mother gave him away to her even crazier psychiatrist doesn't do it justice. if you love movies about dysfunctional families, this one's for you. Annette Bening, Evan Rachel Wood, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, and Gabrielle Union were all particularly entertaining. I'm not sure if I should read the book or not. any opinions? anyone out there still reading this blog?

fast food nation

I really wanted this movie to be good, but it just wasn't. maybe the material is too hard to translate into fictional material, or maybe Linklater was having an off few months, but it is a shame because the messages in Schlosser's book need to get out. the cast was decent but the movie didn't hold together. Linklater climaxed with a scene of the meat packing plant's killing room floor that was so disgusting, I had to fast forward through it. very disappointing, but definitely read the book instead.

the future of food

great documentary about biotechnology, genetics, and food with many shocking facts. you might already know that Europe and Japan have stopped all imports of U.S. corn due to genetic modification, while Americans are not even allowed to know which brands have been modified, but did you know that a phamaceutical company has patented the gene that causes breast cancer, and now charges exorbitant fees to anyone who wants to research breast cancer? scary movie, but highly informative.

when the levees broke

this documentary about Hurricane Katrina is spectacular. it is a four hour mix of politics, music, culture, emotion, truth and tragedy. best taken in small (one hour) doses, it overwhelms with sadness and anxiety, in a good way. thank you Spike Lee.

miss potter

first of all, why Renee Zellweger as a British writer? admittedly she is odd, which suits the character, but she is just so quintessentially American. being miscast as Bridget Jones shouldn't have helped her get this part. the rest of the cast is good, especially Emily Watson (as always) and the movie is nice, but sad.

music and lyrics

the most surpising thing about watching this movie was the absolute hysterics that it sent my father and friend (male, 40s) into. they found it thoroughly amusing, while I sat staring at the screen with a blank, seen-it-all-before look on my face. Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore doing romantic comedy - nothing new. young ingenue spoiled pop star - seen it done better (Anna Farris in Lost in Translation, Michelle Trachtenberg as Celeste on Six Feet Under). tv actors as sidekicks agent and sister cheapened the whole thing. Campbell Scott provided an all-too-brief flash of real acting. the movie wasn't really painful, but it wasn't much of anything else either.

the lives of others (das leben der anderen)

this German movie beat out Pan's Labyrinth for the best foreign film oscar so of course, it's good. a member of the East German secret police becomes obsessed with the lives of the writer and actor he spies on. it's long, but doesn't feel too long. what more could you want? the version I saw had English subtitles on the bottom and Spanish subtitles on the top - a little hard to see the 'action' sometimes, but good for practicing languages.

fed up!

this is a documentary about genetic modification and (some of) the politics of the food industry. it packs a lot of information into an hour with a refreshingly global perspective. I watched it for research and recommend it to anyone interested in the current status of food engineering. typically, Europeans have successfully struggled to be able to identify genetically-modified through labeling - Americans remain blissfully ignorant of what they might be putting in their bodies.

the quiet

I thought this was a family drama about a deaf mute teenager adopted by her godparents after she becomes orphaned but realized about one third of the way through that it was actually an incredibly crude and trashy thriller about incest, murder, teenage horniness, pill addicts, and pathological liars. it was great! also excellent cast of Elisha Cuthbert, Camilla Belle, Edie Falco, Martin Donovan and Iceman from X-Men. really, really trashy.

for your consideration

Christopher Guest's latest satire got such mixed reviews that I was completely ready for it to suck, which it didn't. of course I love Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Eugene Levy, Jennifer Coolidge, and making fun of the indie film business. Fred Willard had the best lines, but it was all faintly amusing and a pleasant way to spend an hour and a half. especially enjoyable right after the Oscars, and I loved the jokes about the French movie.

stranger than fiction

this movie is excellent. great cast of Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah, all giving understated performances in this quasi-science fiction, literary, intelligent, and amusing story. take my word for it and watch it.