Planet 51

Welcome back to my blog from a much too long absence (again). Over the weekend, I saw the animated movie, Planet 51. It was a sparse crowd (only 4 of us) probably because everyone else was at either New Moon or The Blind Side. Knowing that I have gone through a bit of a withdrawal at seeing movies and that in a month I will need to start my Oscar-watching viewing, I chose to get back into watching what I assumed to be a 'cute, simple kids movie'. Anmiated movies seem to have changed. It seems like instead of enjoying a cute animated story, we must make a political statement. In this case, that people not like ourselves are not bad simply because their different. While I agree, I would rather have the "A-ha" moment come to me rather than feeling forced to feel a certain way. We don't necessarily all respond well to force. The animation seemed good. The voice-over work was ok, Gary Oldman and Seann William Scott seemed to be the saving grace. John Cleese wasn't featured enough and could have been funny but wound up being irritating. Duane Johnson, besides not sounding like himself, seemed somewhere between trying too hard and not caring about the lines...considering that the lines were written by the writer of Shrek, very surprising. Speaking of which the animation gravitated between Shrek and Wall-E but not as good as either one; especially the former. I think a couple of times there was humor that was a bit adult-themed. I think most people would feel a bit bored at times but young boys would appreciate it the most for the space/alien topic. Overall, I enjoyed this movie as a simple sidebar to fill time in between other tasks...1 thumb up pointing to the galaxy to wonder if there is intelligent life out there--or at least over in Hollywood.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

What is it with me and movies that are based on short stories? Not since the 2006 (released in 2007) movie Away From Her- based on Alice Munro's short story "The Bear Came Down the Mountain" have I loved a movie this much. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story of the same name published in 1922. The movie is the story of a man who ages backwards. Brad Pitt shows and especially Cate Blanchett again proves their awesome ability at taking on a character and making them their own. Taraji P Henson confirms her much-deserved nomination as Queenie, Benjamin's mom. Mr. Daws (as played by the late Ted Manson) is the comic relief of the film at his plight of being struck by lightening--seven times! Besides the wonderful acting, the makeup is amazing. We know that Brad Pitt is not as short as a child but the makeup is seamless in its depiction of an old man played by Brad Pitt on a child's body. The score accurately depicted all of the years of Benjamin's life. The story was easily followed, true to the short story and well-directed by David Fincher. You walk away from the movie almost emotionally spent from laughing, crying and especially concentrating on the thought-provoking master of dialogue. You will also walk out in disbelief that you just spent 2 hours and 40 minutes sitting in a theatre. I give this movie two HUGE thumbs up in awesomely representing its own tag line: "Life is not measured in minutes but in moments."

Doubt

Hindsight is 20/20 and if I would have known that Madison's own Stroller's Theatre put on the play "Doubt" last September, I definitely would have seen it. Note to self: support local theaters and artistic venues. John Patrick Shanley wrote the play, screenplay and directed the movie, Doubt. What an amazing accomplishment. He has written and directed a story that is topical (Catholic priest's actions), personal (our own individual opinions on religion), heart-wrenching and most of all, extremely thought-provoking. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep show their usual awesome acting ability. Like them or not, you have to admit that they really become the roles they portray. Amy Adams in my mind was better in Enchanted or even Charlie Wilson's War. To me she was a little too naive and trusting but now as I write this, I think that was the point of her character. Viola Davis totally steals the 1 scene that she is in (pretty amazing when she shares that scene with Meryl Streep) and deserves her nomination in the same way that Dame Judi Dench wowed viewers with her brief but Oscar-winning performance in Shakespeare In Love. If you walk out of this movie in not only awe from the acting and story, you will at least be thinking the title in your head. I give this two thumbs pointed up in prayer to the heavens hoping for justice to any wrongdoing OR wrongful accusations.

Seven Pounds

I started out 2009 seeing this movie. Will Smith is a handsome man so to sit in a theatre watching him for two hours is not a bad thing. I thought the movie, although slow in the middle, was good. It felt like it was trying to hard to be great and as such suffered by not just letting it be its own movie. I enjoyed it better than I am Legend and equally as well as the Pursuit of Happyness. It seemed like Will Smith suffered from a serious case of over-acting and Woody Harrelson's character would have been better suited in an SNL skit. Rosario Dawson, Michael Ealy, Barry Pepper and especially Robinne Lee were very good supporting actors that helped to elevate the movie as a whole. I can't really get into too much detail without causing a spoiler alert but the title as it relates to the story is determined by each individual viewer and once you figure out where the story is going you'll be amazed at how sucked into the story you become. Very creative although as I said a bit slow but generally I give Seven Pounds an overall thumbs up with a disappointing thumbs down for Will Smith's over-acting. He's still handsome though!

Academy Awards 2009

Hello, to all you readers out there. It has been way too long since I wrote in here. Please remember that I profess to be a writer not an editor so ignore spelling and grammar issues please; just enjoy. I simply hope to inspire you to see any or all the movies even if just in the brief moment of your minds while reading my reviews. There is more to movie critique than bashing actors, writer and directors. OK, now off my soapbox and onto the task at hand: The nominations were announced back on January 22. It is one of the best nomination years in recent history. One surprise is that Clint Eastwood wasn't nominated for Gran Torino. I have heard mixed reviews about it and will withhold final judgement until I see it but I am happy that a movie he directed (The Changeling) got a lead actress nomination for Angelina Jolie. I'm not usually a big fan of Ms. Jolie's but she was amazing in that role. The other amazing role I saw was Richard Jenkins in the Visitor. That was an amazing film in how the main character grew from the beginning to the end of the movie. A really good story showing real people and a topical issue (immigration) in a not lecturing but heart-feeling way. From my interest in the Oscars, I knew to keep an eye out on the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations as a possible precursor to the Oscars. In that aspect, I was not surprised to see nominations for Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Wall-E. Nor was I surprised to see Heath Ledger get a posthumous nomination for his role in the Dark Knight. Usually the lesser known categories, like Best Documentary Feature has at least one film I've heard of but not this year. I guess, Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock were busy doing other things (bashing Bush or eating cheeseburgers, etc.) Stay tuned and check back to this blog often for my opinion about all the nominated films that I see. Above all, please enjoy this blog and either agree or agree to disagree with my opinions.