Last Movies You Have Rented

[Critical]

Table for Three - Brandon Routh (Superman) as a normal guy being terrorized by his new roommates, superclose couple Sophia Bush and Jesse Bradford. Not rocket science, but Sophia and Jesse were horrifyingly good as the couple who can't stand to be apart for one second.

Meet Bill - I LOVE Aaron Eckhart and I really liked this movie! He stars as a semi sad sack who works for his father-in-law and hates it and then learns that his wife (Elizabeth Banks) is sleeping with a TV reporter (Timothy Olyphant). He finds himself paired with a high school kid in a mentor program and the kid teaches him to loosen up and have fun. In a shocker, Jessica Alba manages to actually act like she's having a good time.

The Neighbor - Matthew Modine stars in this one as the upstairs neighbor of a woman who has bought his apartment...only he won't move out. Totally formulaic, but a nice little romantic comedy.

[BritLit]

Watched "The Boys are Back" last night with Clive Owen. Absolutely wonderful. From the Simon Carr memoir, The Boys are Back in Town. About a young widower in Australia trying to raise two sons on his own. Funny and poignant. Truth in advertising: I totally adore Clive Owen in films. Just sorry he decided to do "Duplicity." Another terrific film of his is "Greenfingers," true story about inmates of a British prison who discover gardening and end up competing in the Hampton Court Palace Garden show. Helen Mirren is hysterical as Georgina Woodhouse, the garden guru/author who takes them under her wing.

[ClosetRTWatcher]

Surrogates - It was okay. At times it felt almost like a mashing together of Avatar and District 9. It had a couple of twists that I didn't anticipate, which is always a good thing. My gripe would be that in a couple of places that plot turns were a bit obscure and it felt like I was not completely following where they were trying to take the story.

[shopgirl06]

love happeds

[Duxxy]

Does anyone remember a movie from 1998 called "The Mighty"? I just found out that my daughter's class is reading "Freak, the Mighty" which is the book that the movie is based on. I loved it when I saw it and now I get to share it with my kiddo! I just ordered it off eBay - it should be here in a week, I'll ask the teacher if he wants to borrow it.
Last term the class read "The Lightening Thief" and that comes out in theatres this friday, we can't wait to see it!

[ClosetRTWatcher]

The Hurt Locker - Very well done. Sad ending, but not necessarily in the traditional sense. My husband really enjoyed it also.

[Critical]

I've seen a bunch and haven't posted about them. Here's are the ones I remember:
Water - fabulous Indian film I've been wanting to see for years. It's about a young girl - 8 years old - who is sent to live in an ashram with other widows when her much older husband dies. It really shines a light on this situation - and it's still happening in India - where widows are forced to retreat from society, never remarry and basically disappear. It was sad, but also uplighting. Definitely

The Chorus (Les Choiristes) - I think it was nominated for Best Foreign Film a few years ago. Sort of a French Mr. Holland's Opus only much better. A man becomes a prefect at a school for troubled boys and starts a chorus that changes everything. Very sweet and touching.

Defiance - I watched this one last night. It focuses on four Jewish brothers - the eldest three (who are more central to the plot) are played by Daniel Craig, Liev Shrieber and Jamie Bell - in Belorus during WWII, who helped hundreds of other Jews hide in the forest and avoid the Nazis. It's a true story and the brothers helped to save over 1,000 people. Really well done and very emotional.

Adam - Hugh Dancy as a man with Asperger's and Rose Byrne as the neighbor he falls in love with. Hugh Dancy did a terrific job. It was a very sweet movie.

I also saw I Hate Valentine's Day with Nia Vardalos and John Corbett and it was not good. Let's just say that lightning isn't striking twice for Nia. She came off as slightly manic and way too smiley and John was sort of lifeless (maybe he was embarrassed). None of her films after My Big Fat Greek Wedding have been very good. Maybe she only had one good script in her

[Rattus]

I also saw I Hate Valentine's Day with Nia Vardalos and John Corbett and it was not good. Let's just say that lightning isn't striking twice for Nia. She came off as slightly manic and way too smiley and John was sort of lifeless (maybe he was embarrassed). None of her films after My Big Fat Greek Wedding have been very good. Maybe she only had one good script in her

I'm one of those who didn't think she had even one good script in her .

Anyway, borrowed, not rented, but I watched The DaVinci Code on Sunday, but fast forwarded through a number of areas, including the end - yeah, yeah, yeah, she's the...well, you know. I followed that with Angels and Demons on Monday, but fast forwarded through a goodly portion of the first half hour, determined that life was too short for movies I have to fast forward through in order to tolerate, and put on episode one of Veronica Mars instead. And this is why I find myself buying series' instead of movies these days.

[Critical]

Touche, Rattus

I watched Angels and Demons a few weeks ago and thought it was better than Da Vinci Code. I felt the same way about the books as well, although I'm not a fan of Dan Brown at all. I thought the story was better and it was more well-suited to a movie than DVC was. Plus, you know, they fixed Tom Hanks's hair, so I didn't have to suffer through that horrid haircut for 2 hours!

[waywyrd]

I watched Angels and Demons a few weeks ago and thought it was better than Da Vinci Code. Plus, you know, they fixed Tom Hanks's hair, so I didn't have to suffer through that horrid haircut for 2 hours!

Oh, good, I have this one queued up to come in soon. DVC was rather hard to sit through.

Recent stuff I've watched:

Zombieland - dragged a bit in the middle, but I love a silly horror movie so overall I enjoyed this one. Poor Bill Murray.

Let the Right One In - Wow. This was probably the most low-key vampire movie I've seen, but very well done. Low on the gore scale, but when they threw some in there, it was quite effective.

All About Steve - Meh. I just felt bad for Sandra Bullock's character, I didn't think it was cute at all.

Repo! The Genetic Opera - we didn't know what to think about this one when it started out, but once it got going we hated to see it end. Two thumbs up!

Nevermore - Good God. I don't know how this got in my queue, but we couldn't get through the first 30 minutes before turning it off and stuffing it back in the envelope. It had Judd Nelson as the star. 'Nuff said.

Year One - a not terribly funny caveman movie with Jack Black. Watch it you enjoy fart jokes. Otherwise, I'd pass on it.