Paper Heart

unique, but not too interesting

charlyne yi (actress/comedian/musician) is the star of this 'documentary' about love and how she doesn't believe in it. the characters are thinly veiled versions of themselves as this is kinda a mix of documentary and behind the scenes footage, but a lot of it is scripted. the interesting/touching parts involve real people talking about love. that's the documentary part of it. things change when yi develops a relationship with michael cera (her real life boyfriend at the time) and the "filmmakers" think she's falling in love. yi is likeable to be sure, but she's not feminine at all, and the fact that she doesn't believe in love gets annoying. i don't see what cera sees in her, other than she's quirky and funny.

Miss March

dumb raunchy comedy that has some great moments

i've never seen 'the whitest kids y'know' or whatever the show is that launched these guys, but they have talent. the 2 main dudes in this film were unknown to me, but they are pretty damn funny. zach cregger plays eugene, a straight laced virgin in high school. his best friend tucker (trevor moore) is a playboy obsessed sexaholic. the 2 play off eachother well like any other comedy duo. basically eugene goes into a coma on prom night right before he's about to have sex with his long time girlfriend for the first time. 4 years later he comes out of the coma and discovers his woman is now a playboy centerfold, so he and tucker go on a roadtrip to find her at the mansion. hilarity and grossout moments ensue. plenty of win, but also plenty of gagworthy moments (including explosive diarrhea).

North Face (Nordwand)

amazing action, incredible true story

north face is the true story of a german mountain climbing team trying to be the first ones to clmb the north face of the auger mountain during world war II. friends toni and andreas are extremely skilled alpinists who decide to make the attempt, along with other climbers from other countries. their childhood friend luise is a journalist assigned to cover the story. her role was kinda over-emphasized, but not too damning. the real treat in this film is the action and intense edge of your seat thriller moments. the film is intense and gripping, and it's a story i wasn't even aware of. great stuff all around.

Ponyo (Gake no ue no Ponyo)

cute, but beautiful anime film

once again i am amazed by the films of hayao miyazaki. his films (and plenty of other anime features) are so much more impressive than the pixar/dreamworks crap they keep churning out. i was once again reminded why i love traditional animation. ponyo is a young goldfish in the ocean who wants to be human like her new friend sosuke. she tastes his blood while healing his cut, and she begins to transform into a mermaid/girl. she and sosuke have an adventure trying to get to his mother during a major flood caused by the father of the sea. it's a little too childish for my tastes, but it's a fun heartfelt film by a unique master.

Stranger Than Fiction

good idea...

will ferrell is great in this film as harold crick, a fictional character made up by an author (emma thompson) who's a very boring mild mannered IRS worker. his organized life starts spiralling out of control when he hears emma's voice narrating his life. there is a lot of win in this film, but sadly some fail. films like this always have a strange need to fill casting spots with weird out of place actors. like having queen latifah as the author's assistant. her character was completely unnecessary and just annoying. dustin hoffman was actually pretty good as another quirky professor (similar to his role in i heart huckabees). the unexplained stuff was kinda weird, like how did harold become real and was the author some sort of god? who cares, will ferrell was great in a mostly dramatic role, and his romance with maggie gyllenhaal's hippy character was enjoyable. more good than bad overall.

The Invention of Lying

great setup, but almost no plot

ricky gervais is great, and in this film he's charming, likeable and funny. but this almost plotless movie about a world where no one ever lies, except him, falls flat after about 10 minutes. mark is a loser in this fantasy world of all truths, until one day he is able to lie and get everything he ever wanted. this is a funny set up, but then they bring god/religion into the mix (which isn't funny at all) and it becomes a rehash of life of brian, but not funny. i can't stand jennifer garner anymore, and louis C.K. and phillip seymore hoffman are thrown in as pointless unfunny characters. this shouldn't have been made into a feature film.

Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story

really low budget improv mockumentary

blackballed isn't a bad film, it's just not a very good one. rob corddry and a bunch of other really funny people (the human giant guys, rob riggle, ed helms, etc.) made this mockumentary about bobby dukes (corddry), a paintball player who was the best, but due to cheating, was banned for 10 years. now 10 years later, he's back and wants to get back on top. so he assembles a team of ragtag paintballers and they go play in a tournament. there isn't much substance here, and most of the jokes are so slight and not really funny. it's humorous to be sure, and the absurdity of it all carries the film along... but the talent is wasted in this basically plotless improv fest. christopher guest films have done way better with the same kind of limited plot idea.

Titan A.E.

very meh animated feature

wow, this is a forgettable animated film. don bluth's sci-fi thriller kids film titan a.e. (after earth) is boring, predictable, and lifeless. the earth is destroyed, and it's up to matt damon's character to find the titan space craft that his dad built so they can restore humanity. lots of weird alien creatures and some explosions ensue. decent animation, but it's incredibly dated already.

Eastern Promises

cronenberg's most "mature" film

david cronenberg is one of my favorite directors. ever since i saw existenz (probably one of his worst films), i was hooked. he's fascinated by human skin and gore and awesomely unique things you don't see featured in good films often. eastern promises is an awesome russian mob movie with viggo mortensen at his usual best. he's a gangster working his way up the ladder, meanwhile naomi watts is a midwife trying to find out the past of a 14 year old patient who arrived at the hospital beaten and bruised and in labor. the woman died and left a diary with important information about the russian mob boss and how he raped her. the mob is desperate to get the diary from naomi, and viggo gets involved. it's pretty impressive stuff. the big part of the film is the tattoos that the mobsters all get as part of the ritual, and how accurate they are and everything. good stuff from one of my favorite actors, and directors.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

weird, disjointed, and not good

terry gilliam's latest film (and heath ledger's last) has a promising plot. doctor parnassus (christopher plummer) is a man with eternal life and plays various games with the devil (played by tom waits) throughout the years. in modern time the doctor is a travelling carnival man with a show that gives participants the chance to enter their imagination. his daughter is about to turn 16, and when she does her soul will belong to the devil, but he decides to play another game of chance with the doctor. whoever gets 5 souls first wins! seems simple enough, especially when the dr. meets heath ledger and he helps him recover souls in some weird choice the person makes inside the 'imaginarium'. the setup is interesting, and it's a typical terry gilliam weird-fest... but for some reason the emphasis is all on heath ledger's character, and not on dr. parnassus and his daughter (the hot lily cole). it's all weird and disjointed, probably because heath died during filming, but even if he lived to complete it, it'd be pretty crappy by gilliam's standards.

Up in the Air

great performances, and unique perspective

going into 'up in the air' i was expecting another hollywood type movie with little plot and some quirkiness. i was pleasantly surprised by this film however. george clooney plays ryan, a guy who's job is to fire people. he travels all over the country firing people who get laid off. he loves travelling, and is a loner with no real home. his life is great, until the company he works for decides to keep him grounded and have the people do the firing through teleconferencing. ryan hates this idea, but is forced to take the brainiac woman who came up with it on 'tour' with him to see what he does. the plot seems really thin, but it's actually really interesting. the film is sometimes funny, poignant, and often sad. there is no hollywood ending, and that's a great thing. overall this is a great sleeper film with some great performances, especially from george and the 2 female leads.

Porco Rosso (Kurenai no buta)

another amazing hayao miyazaki animated feature

i simply love good anime films. especially miyazaki's masterpieces. porco rosso is the story of porco, a seaplane fighter in the 1920's who looks like a pig-man. he ends up in need of repairs to his plane in order to challenge curtis,an american pilot, for his honor, and ends up meeting a young girl engineer named fio. the plot is simple and not that important. the animation is amazing and the action is great. just a wonderful animated film that is more mature in nature.

The Lovely Bones

good moments, but overall crappy

peter jackson has been one of my favorite filmmakers since i saw the frighteners as a kid. my favorite films of his also include dead alive, meet the feebles, bad taste, and the first lord of the rings. this latest opus of his has some great elements, but seems too much like a shitty knock off of 'what dreams may come'. susie salmon is a young girl who gets murdered, and the film is about her journey through the afterlife trying to lead her father to the killer. it's original and all, but not necessarily a great setup for a film. the scenes with stanley tucci (the killer) are great and all, but all the afterlife stuff is lame and played. mark walburg breaks a bunch of class bottles with model ships in them in an obvious act of rage. it's just not a good original film at all.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

guy ritchie makes a more commercial film

robert downey jr. seems to be able to do no wrong these days. he stars as sherlock holmes in this action packed film based on the classic detective character. he and watson (jude law) are through with their final case as partners, a supernatural satanist serial killer is finally brought to justice... but days after his execution, he rises from the dead and it's up to holmes to figure it all out. the funny parts are funny, the action scenes are cool, and overall it's a well made film. it just feels a bit too 'hollywood' and commercial. i really enjoyed guy ritchie's early films, and this one has elements of his style, but quite mainstream. this is a good start for a new series of sequels to come though.

Where the Wild Things Are

good dramatic adaptation of a classic kids book

where the wild things are is a reimagining of the classic maurice sendak kids book. the film is almost nothing like the book, other than the monsters look amazingly similar. max is a rambunctious kid who is having a rough time growing up. he is kinda a loner with few friends, and he feels like he's being ignored by his mom and sister. one night he goes 'wild' and runs away... he sails to a new land where the wild things are. he meets carol, douglas, kw, ira, the bull, and others. they eventually make him their king and all is great, until max starts playing favorites and doesn't rule properly (he is a kid after all). he finds out that carol (voiced by james gandolfini) is in love with kw, but wants everything to be a certain way. he eventually finds out that max isn't a real king, and flips out, forcing max to hide. he realizes that life isn't all fun and games, and that he misses his mom. the dramatic elements are amazing in this film. i teared up watching carol the monster express his feelings. it's quite impressive. it may not be how the book goes, but this version of the classic childrens book is a very good artistic achievement.

I Heart Huckabees

existential comedy that isn't funny

i heart huckabees is a film about some existential philosophical stuff... 'is everything connected', 'is nothing connected', etc. bottom line, it's not funny. i love jason schwartzman, and that's my main reason for seeing this... but this film sucks. jason is a guy who's trying to make sense of some coincedences in his life, so he seeks help from an existential detective duo, dustin hoffman and lily tomlin. they basically lead him on a journey to discovering the truths about his existence, meh. all the characters are annoying and unrelatable, and like i said, it's not funny.

The Road

heartbreaking, well acted, but not perfect

obviously no movie is perfect, but the road has a lot going for it. it's nearly flawless in my opinion. the biggest problems are the ending, and the kid that gets more annoying as the film goes on. viggo mortensen stars as the man, along with his son they are navigating their way through post-apocalyptic america in search of heat, shelter, and warmth. the world they live in is always cold with very little light and almost nothing is alive. we don't know what happened to the world, but almost everything is now dead. the man was married to a woman (charlize theron) who couldn't handle the hopelessness that this new world brought, and eventually ended her life. now the man and his son are on the journey to survive. they encounter gangs of cannibals who are searching for any food available. the film is very dark, and plays out kinda like a thriller. the kid gets very annoying as the film goes on... he says 'papa!' in almost every scene, and it gets very cliche. overall a good movie, but the ending also isn't that satisfying.