2 more reviews

Thanks to the babysitting of my Mother, Hayley and I were able to catch a couple of movies Saturday night and I thought I would share what I thought about them.

The Reader: Horribly Depressing in every way possible. If you are hanging on by a thin thread then do not see this movie. Stephan Daltry continues to make quality movies and needs to be considered for all these awards being thrown about, maybe next time. Kate Winslet is heart breaking as a woman afraid to admit she doesn't know how to read and it's amazing to see what some people will do to keep things secret. David Kross plays The Boy she seduces and does a brilliant job of portraying someone learning to understand why people do some of the maddening things they do. I don't understand why he isn't getting more consideration for awards either. Overall the acting and Stylistic look of the movie is excellent, even though the story it self is quite slow and depressing. I would have to give this one a B+.

Doubt: Movies based on plays usually come off a little slow, thankfully this one does no such thing. Roger Deakins needs to win a academy award for this movie. It was beautifully shot. The acting was even better then I had heard, I am not usually a huge Meryl Streep fan but she was terrifying in the role of School Principal. Phillip Seymour Hoffman gives a performance that is going largely unnoticed do to other actors in other movies having great years, but this is easily one of his best parts. Viola Davis is getting a lot of press playing the mother of a boy who is believed to have a inappropriate relationship with Hoffman's Priest, She is very good in the 5 minutes of Screen time that she gets, but I would have to say that Amy Adams easily holds her own as a naive young nun, and should be getting more attention for such a understated roll. The movie is 2 hours long, but moves very quickly with fast dialogue and great performances. Probably third on my Top five list for this year behind Slumdog and Dark Knight. A

Movie Reviews

Because I have Nothing better to do right now and can think of Nothing else to write, I am going to review a few of the movies that I have seen over the past few weeks.

Slumdog Millionaire: I was almost expecting this movie to be vastly over rated just because it was getting so much hype. I am a big Danny Boyle fan (think I am one of maybe 10 people in the world to not completely hate 'The Beach') and I was amazed at this movie. The Acting and Directing were brilliant, but for me the writing and cinematography were simply astounding. I have never seen such a great job of taking something so horrible as the Slums of Mumbai and making it look so visually stunning. They Did such a great Job of showing the real people and real attitudes of a place that we really don't get to see outside of a CNN news report. The Writing was incredible as well. I have not read the book that it was based on but it was such a intriguing way to pace a story, You never lost interest and you knew just enough about the peripheral characters that what they did actually mattered. So far I would have to say this is the best movie of the year that I have seen and hope it continues to get the recognition it deserves.

I would rate this a Definite: A

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Okay first off I really wanted to see this movie. I like David Fincher, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. But I gotta say that it is a bit over rated. The technical aspect of what they Did with Brad Pitts Character was well done, I just feel that the movie could have been shorter. Was very slowly paced. Again photography was beautiful, some really great visuals throughout the movie. I have no qualms with any of the acting jobs everyone was decent, I thought the lady who Played Pitts mother does one of the better Jobs in the movie. I guess overall I was just expecting to be blown away and I wasn't. It was a good, Solid movie. Not sure it should be getting some of the accolades that it is receiving, but not horrible either.

This one is a: B

Valkyrie: Okay i know I am going to take some shit on this one. I really enjoyed this movie. Fast moving, Great Cast, Great Story, Solid Directing. I actually enjoyed this one more then Benjamin Button and for the life of me can't understand why it is not getting more attention. I understand that they had some production problems, but shouldn't a movie be judged by what is on film and not what happened on the set? The movie is 2 hours long at it felt like 30 minutes. Even though you know how it ends, you're still hoping that somehow that damn bomb blows Hitler to hell 9 months early. I thought it did a great job of showing How the German people were feeling about the Ruling party towards the end of WWII. Great use of Light through out the film, and I loved the fact that they get right to the story and don't waste time on stuff that doesn't matter. VERY under rated movie .

Definite: A-

I know only like 6 people read this blog, but I was bored and felt like writing this anyways. if you have seen any of these and feel like you agree let me know, if you don't agree feel free to call me a jack ass and please let me know why. I am hoping to see some of the new movies this weekend and will review those as soon as I can.