Superbad: (B+) IMDB | ROTTEN TOMATOES

This is another Judd Apatow film, the guy who did Knocked Up and the TV shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. The TV shows, while not making it past one season, were critically acclaimed and hilarious. Knocked Up was also one of my favorite movies of the year and starred Seth Rogan, one of the main writers of Superbad. Written by Rogan and his buddy while in high school, the movie is almost a story of their sad, pathetic attempt to fit in and meet girls in their adolescence.

This movie is just flat out funny. Two best friends struggle through one day in the life. They are seniors who are going to different colleges, and this kind of puts something between them. Michael Cera, from Arrested Development (another must-rent TV series for anyone who hasn’t seen it)Â is just perfectly cast as an insecure, nice guy. Jonah Hill is his loud-mouthed buddy, who tries to be the man and bring alcohol to a party for a girl he likes. Although these guys are the stars of the movie, Christopher Mintz-Plasse is about the funniest part of the movie. He gets a fake ID with the name “McLovin” (which is where the t-shirt idea comes from) and the fun never ends.

It’s a vulgar, perverted, hilarious, funny and has a good little story to tell.

Becoming Jane: (C+) IMDB | ROTTEN TOMATOES

Jina was looking forward to this one despite the bad reviews leading up to it. It’s the story of Jane Austen and how she started out, what happened to her and how she became a writer. The story itself was kind of interesting, especially the idea of women writing novels back in those days being looked down upon. At least, that’s what I gathered from it.

But the movie itself was pretty dull. I wanted to like it. There have been some fantastic movies about the books she wrote like Sense & Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Emma. This one just didn’t have the writing or the heart that the other ones did.

I also am adopting a new ratings system for myself, because…well, 5 stars just isn’t enough detail for me. And since I’m in school and love reading Entertainment Weekly, I’m going with letter grades from now on.

Until I change it up again, of course.

Zodiac: (A-) IMDB : ROTTENTOMATOES

Okay, this movie was long: 2:40. But while you could tell it was long, I was never bored or waiting for it to be over. I was glued to the screen watching this flick about a serial killer and those who investigated him. According to the text before it started, this was based off true events and case files from the San Francisco area. That added a lot to the realism and intensity. Some of the scenes in which they show the serial killer doing his thing (and there aren’t many) were chilling and gruesome.

But the main draw of the movie is the letters he sends to the newspapers, the codes, the reporters, detectives and others trying to find him. The movie takes place over a great deal of time which I think adds even more to how great it is. All the actors in it were fantastic…Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr. and the rest.

It’s not a scary movie for the most part, although at times you feel it’s about to go all Brad Pitt and Seven on you, but it never does. It was just a well-made whodunit and one that was creepy, realistic and detailed. Great film.

Bourne Ultimatum: (A) IMDB : ROTTENTOMATOES

This movie as of the time of this writing had a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes (see link above). That is outstanding for an action film. I was so excited to see this because the other two were so great and intense, especially the second one I thought.

I was soooo not disappointed. I’ve seen most of the action and summer blockbusters this year. Live Free or Die Hard, Pirates of the Carribbean and Transformers. Pirates sucked of course, but the other two were pretty good action films, with Die Hard probably edging out Transformers on my ratings.

However, I thought that in terms of action adventure movies, the Bourne Ultimatum simply blew the others away. Casino Royale is the closest I can get to comparing this film to in recent years. Smart, intense and classic spy movies. While the others this summer were great “fun” movies, the Bourne Ultimatum was smart and just on a different level.

From the opening scene on, you really don’t have many moments to catch your breath. Nor do you really want any breaks, because the action and intensity was just amazing. Paul Greengrass who directed this one and the last film, is such a genius with the camera and with fighting scenes. The chase seen over rooftops in Madrid was unbelievable, ending in a magically choreographed one-on-one dual that you rarely see.

Everything felt “real” to me when I watched this. Yes, some things you of course will wonder if someone could live through. But it just didn’t feel like an over the top action movie. Which is what made it all that much sweeter. The simple scenes when he guides a reporter through a mob of people to keep him safe was utterly brilliant. Much can be attributed to the camera work, but the writing and execution was awesome.

The only thing about this movie is that it leaves you wanting more. There are rumors that a fourth film could happen, but I reluctantly hope it ends here. While the sequels have stayed at the same great level, I think the story had a nice conclusion and doing more of them would ruin the great trilogy we have here.

Likely one of the greatest action trilogies of all time.

And it didn’t disappoint. The movie is about a pilot who crashes in Laos during the afore mentioned war, is captured and put into prison camp where he meets others, some of whom have been there for over two years. Bale is very, very good in this, probably taking his experience for these kind of roles from a movie like The Machinist. He was believable and different than you usually see him.

The story itself is intense and hard to watch sometimes, but I thought it was unique and just an amazing tale of survival. 5/5 stars.

The next film we saw was A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints on DVD. It came out last year and stars quite a few people, like Robert Downey Jr., Rosario Dawson and Shia LaBeouf. It is based on the book of the same title, and written and directed by the author of that book, Dito Montiel. It’s about his life growing up Austoria, N.Y. and about how he changed and wrote a book later in life. It’s one of those semi-depressing movies, but it’s also well done and well acted. The way it kind of displays that this is a book being read by the real author, and the integrates the past with the present is pretty cool. 3.5/5 stars.

All in all, a good weekend of movies. We’ll probably be seeing Flags of our Fathers and The Good Shepherd next weekend. I also may sneak out of work early this week and see Sunshine…

We heard about this film from Ebert and Roper, an Irish musical sort of that was at Sundance and just amazing. Well, I have to mark it down as the best movie I’ve seen so far this year.

I still can’t stop thinking about it. The story is simple. A guy plays music on the streets and he’s brilliant. And he meets a girl who plays the piano and they play some music together and it goes from there. The music is haunting and totally brilliant. The two actors are singer/songwriters, but you couldn’t tell they aren’t true actors. They were perfect…everything about it was perfect.

It’s like a musical, but not really. You get sucked into the music, you feel it…but you also watch these two and just feel it all. I dunno how else to put it…this film will sit with me for a long time.

Breach

We saw this on DVD this past weekend…great little movie that probably didn’t get enough props. The story is about the FBI task force that went after their own intelligence agent who was a spy for the Russians for about 35 years. It’s a great movie, good writing, nice performances and a chilling sample of what happens in the world of espionage.

Also joining Blockbuster Online has been awesome. $15 a month, 3 DVD’s out at a time, and 2 free in-store rentals a month…such a great deal.

I am going to try and think back on the movies I’ve seen this year, rate them, and then add to it when I’ve seen a new one.

The best movie I’ve seen so far this year has been Batman Begins. There just has never been such a well-done super hero movie that completely shows the motivation behind a hero’s evolution into a super-human.

Such a great supporting cast. Michael Caine was perfect as Alfred. He brought some humor to the story, but also a deeper connection with the Wayne’s, that shows why he’s so concerned for Bruce.

Christian Bale was a perfect choice to play Batman I think, brooding, but looked the part.

If I had to rank them, I’d probably list Batman Begins, Spiderman 2, Spiderman and X-Men 2 as the Top 4 comic book movies of all time.

Other great movies this year…Cinderella Man…Crash…Mr and Mrs Smith, The Interpreter.

Here is my current ranking of movies I’ve seen this year, with DVD’s noted, on a scale of 1-10.

Hotel Rwanda 10.0 – DVD
Batman Begins 10.0
Cinderella Man 9.5
Crash 9.0
Garden State 9.0 – DVD
Merchant of Venice 8.5 – DVD
Primer – 8.5 – DVD < very different time travel movie
The Interpreter 8.5
Mr. And Mrs. Smith 8.5
Kinsey 8.0 – DVD
Maria Full of Grace – 8.0 – DVD
Revenge of the Sith 7.5
Sin City 7.5
Anchorman 7.5 – DVD
Manchurian Candidtate – DVD
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle 7.5 – DVD < Hilarious!
Assassination of Richard Nixon 7.5 – DVD
Hitch 7.0
War of the Worlds 7.0
Being Julia 7.0 – DVD
The Forgotten 7.0 – DVD
Kingdom of Heaven 5.5
Longest Yard 5.0
Without a Paddle 5.0 – DVD
Ladder 49 5.0 – DVD
Cellular 5.0 – DVD

If you have questions about these, just send me a comment!

Mike