movies, movies, movies
Over the past few weeks, I've watched a bunch of movies. Some good, many horrible. Here's the run down in the order that I saw them:
Caterpillar Wish - this Australian independent film was pretty good. It flew in the face of all the stereotypes of Australia (the wild, dry outback, the bustling cities, etc), and presented the country as a relatively ordinary place, with ordinary people, with ordinary problems. All the same, the acting was superb, and cinematography beautiful yet elegant.
The Weather Underground - this documentary wasn't half bad, but it felt like it ran for hours and hours. They could have easily slashed it down by 30 minutes or more.
Cashback - I think I liked this film, even though it was a bit bizarre at times. It was definitely different, and used quite a few dream sequences which seemed to slow the plot down a bit.
Captivity - what utter crap. When it wasn't using ridiculous cliches, it was utterly predictable, and most of the time it was both. Sure, I didn't have very high expectations considering the content, but I was at least hoping for something original, and there was nothing.
Sugar Creek - this was easily the weirdest, most confusing Western I've ever seen. I'm really hoping that it was just overladen with too much symbolism for me to understand, rather than just being an incoherent mess. That said, it definitely had scenes that were entertaining and interesting, but overall it was way too muddled for me to get engrossed in for long.
Ocean's 13 - The first film (Ocean's 11) was very entertaining and original (or at least as original as the first one). The 2nd one was semi-confusing, and mostly boring. This one was so utterly ridiculous and pointless I could have sworn that I saw George Clooney yawning in a few scenes. They really need to cut this thing loose. The plot has become so predictable, the characters so one dimensional, that I was severely tempted to stop watching it mid-way through.
Bourne Ultimatum - Absolutely amazing & awesome. This was easily one of the best action flicks that I've seen all year. The only other one that came close was the last Bond film. This one easily outdid the 2nd Bourne movie, and was measurably superior to the first. Superb action sequences that were brilliantly executed and a great conclusion to the story arc.
The Hottest State - I really had high hopes for this one, and it was rather disapointing. It was trying really hard to be this coming of age story, but I just hated all the characters so much. They were annoying, self-centered, immature whiners who deserved to be miserable.
Closing Escrow - the mockumentary tried so hard to be as good as the Christopher Guest mockumentaries, and really didn't succeed. It had moments that were hillarious, but overall the story just didn't work smoothly, and felt forced much of the time.
The Boss of it All - As hard as I tried this film made absolutely no sense whatsoever. I don't know if I was just dense, or if there was some weird cultural thing going on, but I just couldn't figure out wtf was going on 90% of the time. People were crying, arguing, laughing & dancing for no apparent reason. I ended up turning it off less than half way through.
Knocked Up - I really wasn't sure what to expect from this. It would have either been a fairly tasteless schlock piece, or a cute comedy. Thankfully, it was a mixture of the two, but it definitely leaned towards the latter more than the former. I'm actually thinking of seeing Superbad next.
Alone With Her - Basically an overhyped, preposterous tale of a stalker & his prey.
The Lookout - Joseph Gordon-Levitt did a stellar job. Jeff Daniels was cute, but mostly unnecessary. Beyond that the plot was silly, even though it tried so hard to be serious.