Burn After Reading
Directed: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Starring: George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, Tilda Winton
Synopsis: Dumb gym employees find an ex-CIA’s memoirs and try to blackmail him.
I would have not known this was a Coen brother movie, if I didn’t know it going in. They usually have a way with words and weird phrases that I love. They even had weird phrases in No Country For Old Men, but I didn’t find any of it in this movie. It mostly had the same actors from other Coen brother movies and it was on the odd side, but it wasn’t one of their better movies.
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Tags: brad pitt, Burn After Reading, Frances McDormand, george clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Winton
Dark Knight
Directed: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine
Synopsis: Heath Ledger is super creepy as the Joker and Maggie Gyllenhaal has thankfully taken the role abandoned by Katie Holmes.
Lately, when I have been watching movies, I snooze a bit during some part of it. Usually only for a few seconds, but it still happens every time. Even though this movie was over 2 1/2 hours long, I didn’t doze off once. I was even amazed that I never felt tired the entire movie. I could feel it was a long one, but I didn’t want it to end. I was willing to have the movie go on forever.
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Tags: aaron eckhart, christian bale, christopher nolan, dark knight, heath ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, michael caine
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Directed: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss
Synopsis: There are no Nazis to fight this time, but an ancient Elvin race from the underworld coming up to cause problems for Hellboy and his friends.
I never imagined that Hellboy and Barry Manilow would share scenes together, but they do go together quite nicely. When the scene happens where Barry Manilow’s music makes an appearance, I realized how much fun Guillermo Del Toro must have had writing and making the film. This entire movie seems more fun compared to the first one. I was not a fan of the first one, even though it was made by the same people. I’m not sure where it went wrong, but it seemed like it was trying to hard and just didn’t work. This time around, the monsters are fantastic, the comedy works and everyone seems to be having a ball. That fun time was infectious and just made watching the movie a good time. I was even not annoyed by Selma Blair who always annoyed me. It was that entertaining!
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Tags: Doug Jones, golden army, guillermo del toro, hellboy 2, Luke Goss, ron perlman, Selma Blair
Get Smart
Directed: Peter Segal
Starring: Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin, Terence Stamp
Trailer
Synopsis: Movie adaptation from the old television show where Maxwell Smart becomes a field agent, but is more of a bumbling fool.
I never saw the series, but I felt like I knew enough about it going in that I would not be lost. It was true, I was able to follow along like there was no series before it. There were some little things thrown in there from it that were found in the “museum” of Control memorabilia, like the shoe phone. I liked the shoe phone since it was so ridiculous.
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Tags: alan arkin, Anne Hathaway, dwayne johnson, get smart, peter segal, steve carell, Terence Stamp
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Directed: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen
The third sequel in the series almost twenty years after the last one where they smartly have Indiana Jones age about twenty years in the process too.
I was a tad spoiled rewatching the old Indiana Jones movies the weekend before watching this movie, but it reminded me how fun the movies were, even when they were being silly. This movie is beyond silly. I believe it started with the monkeys in the jungle, got a little bit goofier with the huge killer ants, and completely lost it with the alien angle. I think the alien angle would have been fine, if it had been suggested, but not verified. I was very ready for the movie to end when it got to that point.
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Tags: cate blanchett, harrison ford, indiana jones, Karen Allen, kingdom of the crystal skull, ray winstone, Shia LaBeouf, steven spielberg
Iron Man
Directed: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, Shaun Toub, Gwyneth Paltrow
A billionaire industrialist gets captured by bad guys and builds a flying killing machine to escape and then do good stuff.
Awesome! What I loved about Iron Man was it was just a guy without any superpowers. He was just super smart and made a super awesome outfit. I enjoyed watching him build it in the cave and then improve it in his hi-tech house. I loved watching the trial and error with all the humor involved, including it launching him into the wall. The robots he had helping him in his hi-tech house had great personalities and reactions when he was yelling at them.
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Tags: gwyneth paltrow, iron man, jeff bridges, jon favreau, Robert Downey, Shaun Toub, Terrence Howard
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Directed: Nick Stoller
Starring: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Bill Hader, Paul Rudd
A guy gets dumped and runs off to Hawaii to get over feeling depressed, only to run into her and her new famous boyfriend.
Judd Apatow (40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad) produced the movie, and has the usual cast of oddball actors in secondary roles, but it is written solely by Jason Segel. He bares his soul and a whole lot more in the movie. You get to see full frontal male naughty bits at the very beginning and end of the movie. In the beginning, it is played for laughs and to also to make the entire break up scene with his girlfriend as awkward as possible for her and the audience. There is a line in the trailer where Sarah asks Peter if he would like to put some clothes on and he asks her if she would like to pick out his break up outfit. That line is not in the movie though.
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Tags: Bill Hader, forgetting sarah marshall, Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Nick Stoller, paul rudd
Run, Fat Boy, Run
Directed: David Schwimmer
Starring: Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton, Dylan Moran, Hank Azaria, Ameet Chana
A guy with commitment issues leaves his pregnant fiance on their wedding day, and then tries to win her back for the past five years. He thinks he has figured out a way to do it by running a marathon.
You aren’t sure why at first someone that looks like Thandie Newton would fall for someone that looks like Simon Pegg. She sells it though, even though there isn’t much for her to do with her character, Libby. She isn’t given much to do besides look moony at her current boyfriend and her son, and frustrated with her ex-boyfriend/fiance when he does his usual adolescent thing. Besides making faces, she isn’t much of a character. She is more of something for Dennis to react to and aspire to be with. She does have an awesome bakery shop called Libby’s Nice Buns (or something like that).
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Tags: Ameet Chana, David Schwimmer, Dylan Moran, hank azaria, Run Fat Boy Run, Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton
Bank Job
Directed: J. Peter Robinson
Starring: Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore, David Suchet, Keeley Hawes
Based on a true story in 1970s London where a robbery of bank safety deposit boxes is more than just about money, but also scandalous secrets.
What I expected to be a fun, little British heist caper ended up being that plus a whole lot more. It was more intelligent than I expected and I had to pay attention so I didn’t miss anything. Jason Statham was impressive and believable as the main guy who used to do bad things, tried to shape up and does odd jobs while relatively staying out of trouble.
I really enjoyed all the British colloquialisms used in the movie like calling the bad guys “villains” and an unsavory girl “scallywag.” There were twists and turns to keep it interesting until the end. There were some unexpected acts of violence that made some of it sad, but everything came together in the best way possible.
Rating: B+
Tags: bank job, David Suchet, j. peter robinson, jason statham, Keeley Hawes, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore
Be Kind Rewind
Directed: Michel Gondry
Starring: Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover
Two video store guys have all their VHS tapes erased, but instead of buying new videos (or possibly upgrading to DVD), they make their own versions of the movies, hoping no one would notice.
What I loved most about this movie were the newer version of movies they created. I found them hilarious and the low-budget way they went about them was highly entertaining. They called these movies “Sweded” which is how they try to describe their technique of taking the basic movie plot and condensing it to about 20 minutes of goofiness resembling the original movie.
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Tags: be kind rewind, danny glover, jack black, michel gondry, mos def
