Coming Soon!

Delayed reaction! here's a post of capsule reviews I tried to post back in January but accidentally saved as a draft from 2006...so here they are, with my latest cinematic experiences tacked on at the end.

Miss Potter: A- -- Adorable, well-shot, well-cast, sweet and inspiring and endearing. I saw it with my family, and we all appreciated the incorporation of the watercolor figures and hope for many incarnations of biographies where authors interact with their art.

Curse of the Golden Flower: B -- Intense colors, strong acting, lots and lots of blood. I probably spent about 1/4 of the movie with my hands over my eyes, but if you're feeling bloodthirsty and want to walk around paranoid that your family is plotting against you, this is definitely the film to see.

Volver: A- -- this was a challenging film to get through, but Penelope Cruz and the rest of the cast are strong and engaging. Volver's another great picture in the Almodovar tradition, with pathos, humor, drama and beautiful cinematography. A very grown-up film.

The Holiday: B+ -- good romantic fun. It's definitely more than the previews made it out to be, so if you're in need of having your relationship optimism restored, check this one out.

Happy Feet: A- -- Get over yourselves and see this one if you haven't already! It's adorable, with a lot of great music. It raises some sobering issues for a kids movie, but c'mon, even Toy Story brought up Plastic Corrosion Awareness.

The Queen: B -- When it comes to indulging America's passion for royals, this movie's like a big wet blanket, because apparently the royals are foible and fairly humorless individuals. Lots of good performances turned in by Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, Helen Mirren as HMQE2 (though I spent too much time despising the character to notice). Not so much a laugh riot as a Dignity riot.

Night at the Museum: A -- Exactly what was called for during the holiday season..silly, a teensy bit education, and providing lots of fodder for intermarketing spinoffs (see the current Sleep Over At the Museum series being held at the Natural History Museum...) Ben Stiller is a silly silly man, but this film nearly redeems him for Zoolander.

The Pursuit of Happyness: A -- The side of the holidays everyone needs to remember -- the plight of the less fortunate in a race-conscious world. Will Smith was amazing, his son Jaden was captivating, the connection between the two is strong enough for a movie all to itself, so the overcoming adversity is almost a bonus.

Dream Girls: B -- As much as I love to see Broadway hitting the big screen, (a trend I really feel was revived with Moulin Rouge, so Thanks, Baz Luhrman!) this didn't quite hit its mark for me. Great music, but it made you want to go listen to the real thing rather than purchase the soundtrack.

Knocked Up: B -- I loved "40 Year Old Virgin" and I love this filmmaker's eye for the messy humanity of relationships. I didn't enjoy the bathroom humor, but I enjoyed the cast chemistry and the message of the film through all the crudity. Don't see it with your parents, but do see it.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3: C -- as a movie, absolutely terrible. Cluttered, self-indulgent, insufficiently edited, lazily written. But as a cinematic conclusion to a great franchise, thoroughly enjoyable. Characters you like, a budget to make them really shine, lots of silliness. Kick back and watch it in conjunction with the second one and it'll probably go down a lot easier.

Surf's Up: B- -- Penguins are cute. Everyone knows this. They are cute when they stand around holding eggs on their feet, cute when they dance, and cute when they inexplicably congregate on a beach, have access to mass media, and surf. The animated documentary gimmick of this one made it cuter than a straightforward narrative would have been, and lent it sort of an overdrawn Christopher Guest atmosphere. Still, only one or two big laughs amidst a gooey puddle of cuteness.

Shrek 3: B- -- utterly pale in comparison to its predecessors. Shrek and Fiona are trying to find a way out of being the next King and Queen of FarFarAway, so Shrek's hunting down the other heir to the thrown while Fiona's coping with pregnancy and to throw in some extra giggles Donkey and Puss have switched bodies. Which would be a lot cooler if it wasn't, you know, a pre-recorded process that required no effort on the part of ... anyone... to arrange. *sigh* I wanted to love it, but failed to do so. Stick with the original and you'll be a happier camper. Made me wish Mike Myers would do more actual movies again. We haven't seen him looking like himself since...what.."Wayne's World 2?"

American Dreamz: C -- Funny concept, lame execution, kind of weird subplot integration.

Accepted: B+ -- a small movie with reasonable ambitions. An underachieving high school graduate doesn't get into any of his college choices, so he invents his own and an online glitch allows hundreds of other rejects, misfits and freak shows to enroll as well. Pretty clever, and enthusiastically executed. Quite successful, and Lewis Black's cameos as the fake college's dean are HILARIOUS, as they are straight from his own material. All the fun of Billy Madison without the implausibility of Adam Sandler as a romantic lead, as Justin Long is good looking.