ratatouille

this movie is cute with a few laughs directed at the adults. I thought it was odd when my companion commented that books can't really float, but said nothing about rats cooking. animation has that really strange selective suspension of disbelief thing going on.

madea's family reunion

another absorbing Tyler Perry movie that is an odd mixture of melodrama and comedy, focusing on domestic violence, the foster care system, incest, child abuse, faith, love, and old men farting.

colma: the musical

this movie has a very original premise: it's a musical based on a suburb of san francisco with more dead than living residents (home to a large cemetary). unfortunately the execution does not live up to the promise - it's basically the story of three angst-ridden kids fresh out of high school fighting with each other and singing about it. too bad.

rescue dawn

this true tale of a captured American in a camp in Laos in 1965 is riveting, and the cinematography is gorgeous. Jeremy Davies is disgustingly emaciated and Steve Zahn is wonderful as a dazed but optimistic prisoner. war is really insane.

why did I get married?

thoroughly enjoyable melodrama following four couples having relationship drama. all of the actors are either good or hot, so this movie works.

enchanted

this is a good movie. it has cute jokes, it moves quickly, it's sappy but not sickeningly so, and it plays the whole fairy tale vs New York reality contrast perfectly. you don't even need to bring a kid with you to enjoy it. I had some great flashbacks to Patrick Dempsey when I loved him most, back in the days of Can't Buy Me Love, Some Girls, and Loverboy.

fred claus

I'm a big Vince Vaughn fan, so it was quite a disappointment to realize at the end of this film that I hadn't laughed once. it's just not funny, and there's nothing else good about it either. although I did smile watching him try to eat all those cookies while delivering gifts, for whatever that's worth.

elizabeth: the golden age

this movie is gorgeous, especially the clothes. I can see my oscar ballot now. Cate Blanchett is luminescent, Clive Owen is hot, some ships get destroyed in a blazing inferno, Samantha Morton is gleefully wicked as Mary Queen of Scots, and Abbie Cornish is very pretty. so it's not a perfect movie but there's lots to love.

mr magorium's wonder emporium

since writer/director Zach Helm wrote Stranger than Fiction, I though this script would be witty and intellectual, but it turned out to be just a cute kid's movie. nothing wrong with that, especially if you're a kid, but both Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman were mildly annoying with their wide-eyed belief in magic and Jason Bateman plays it straight, so nothing interesting there. Zach Mills, the little kid with big ears, was pretty good though.

I now pronounce you chuck and larry

the first part of this movie is just as horrifically homophobic as you would imagine, and the rest of it is all about how tough it is for straight people who are pretending to be gay to suffer discrimination. but is it funny? well once or twice but not really. unless you think imitating someone's dead wife is funny. chaque a son gout.

lions for lambs

this movie violates the cardinal rule of screenwriting, show it don't tell it. it's all blah blah blah with absolutely nothing happening. I'm all for anti-war films, but this one is particularly pedantic and dull. cliche-ridden and pretty much a complete waste of time.

stay

I had high hopes for this film directed by Marc Forster starring Ryan Gosling, Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, and it starts out cool with blurred realities and eerie occurences, but unfortunately, without giving it away, the ending is a complete cop-out. oh well.

the hunting party

this movie is smart, quick, outrageous and well-acted. a true story about journalists in Serbia trying to do the UN's job for them. I don't want to give anything away, because it's all too good, and shocking. Terrence Howard is great as always, Richard Gere plays washed up beautifully and Jesse Eisenberg has one classic scene that makes his presence completely worthwhile.

things we lost in the fire

this is an intimate drama about a man's family and junkie best friend coping with his sudden death. Benicio del Toro is really good, and the two little kids are pretty awesome. Halle Berry doesn't do much except look grim and throw temper tantrums now and then, but the whole movie is very watchable, and surprisingly not overwhelmingly sad.

american gangster

in a year of mostly kind of dull movies, this one really stands out. Denzel is great as the infamous Frank Lucas, although he plays him so sympathetically it's hard to remember that he's actually a bad guy. Russell Crowe is less impressive as the Jewish cop with a bad haircut pursuing Lucas, but the movie, though long, is compelling to the end.

the slaughter rule

this is an odd movie set in Montana about a kid who loses his father then gets recruited for a 6 man football team by a pervert. great cast - Ryan Gosling, Clea Duvall, David Morse, Amy Adams, Kelly Lynch, and a very cute Eddie Spears - but the whole movie is just kind of random.