movies, movies

I just took a few days off of work, and with that time off what did I accomplish? Not a dang lot, but I did watch an impressive stack of movies. None of them were life-changingly awesome, but here's the rundown:

Confessions of a Shopaholic - dumb. not even really cutesy chick-movie dumb.

The Soloist - TERRIBLE. seriously, don't rent this. I turned it off 45 minutes in, and I never turn movies off. completely, overtly, anvil-t0-the-head manipulative.

Henry Poole is Here - I love Luke Wilson, but I knew this was probably going to be terrible, so I have been trying to avoid renting it, but since I had the time I just decided to get it over with. I wanted this to be a nice little film on faith, but it was just kind of vague and trite and cheesy.

The Reader - This was a difficult film to watch due to its morally complex storyline, and is even more difficult to recommend, due mostly to the explicit sexual content. However, Kate Winslet turned in a powerful performance, and the movie was provoking, and possibly heartbreaking.

A Thin Red Line - I own this one, and decided to watch it again just to kind of cleanse the palate of some of the bad movies. This is a great movie, and if you haven't watched it, you should. Terrence Mallick does a great job of involving nature as a main character in his movies, and his tone-poem style doesn't work for everyone, but it's interesting and I think everyone should check out one of his movies just for the experience.

The Fall - I own this one too, and hadn't watched it since I purchased it. It's got some powerful imagery in it, and although the bouncing back and forth telling-a-story-to-a-child-while-paralleling-adult-issues could be offputting, I find it to be charming and powerful.

Eastern Promises - Viggo Mortensen is totally bad-ass and terrifying in this one.

All the Days Before Tomorrow - a vague story about two not-quite-romantic friends that bounces back and forth between significant moments in their relationship. pretty cinematography, 'meh' writing.

Knowing - I am still trying to decide what I think about this one. It's sci-fi/allegory ending kind of left me feeling uneasy, because while it offers a general redemption ending for mankind, characters in specific that we are asked to identify throughout end up s.o.l.

Wristcutters: A Love Story - I think I liked this one best out of all the rentals. Quirky dark comedy that just completely worked for me, despite the suicide scene at the beginning that made my joints all go 'rubbery'. Patrick Fugit is always great, in my opinion, and even the appearance of Shannon Sossamon (generally a movie-killer for me) didn't ruin it for me.