Movies Catch Up

Revolutionary Road
To this day, I'm not 100% sure how I feel about Revolutionary Road. The acting is beautiful, mostly. The directing is good, mostly. I actually think my issues with it were mostly writing. But there were these random pauses and awkward conversations and pauses. . . that I don't think were supposed to be awkward. . . and this one random character, thrown in, it seemed, to spoon feed us the subtext, that just got to me. And while the subject matter certainly made me think, I don't think I'll ever need to see it again.


He's Just Not That Into You
A big famous cast like this can quite often be a recipe for disaster, frankly. It happens fairly often in a movie like this. But we were pleasantly surprised here. It's not Love Actually, though it was a similar formula. . . but there were definitely interesting characters. . . and I found myself relating to almost all of them in one way or another. Which I suppose is the point. It's a little heavier than your average chick movie. . . but that's probably why Ben didn't hate it.

Nights in Rodanthe
Oh my word, this was badly written. I can totally get behind a movie starring both of these actors. But they couldn't save it. I like sap, in the right amounts, but this wasn't just a chick movie, it was a BAD chick movie. There was no connection. BLECH. Don't watch it. Seriously.


Jesus Camp
This documentary about Christian children was disturbing to me on many many levels. Not because I disagree with teaching children about God from an early age. I think that's great. My church certainly does it. . . but the intensity with which they train them. The guilt the instill so. . . almost violently. It just gave me the heebie jeebies. Not to mention the political aspects of it. . . I felt like I needed to take a shower when it was over. And pray for those kids to grow up with some perspective. . . though I doubt that's really possible.


Vicki Christina Barcelona
We started this movie together one night. . . and it was VERY Woody Allen. And we stopped it early. Ben said "Let me know if it gets better when Penelope Cruz shows up" so I finished it when he was at class one night. And it got a LOT better, and Penelope upped the ante considerably. It turned out to be a very entertaining movie (despite miss Scarlett Johanson, who has just played a ho in too many movies I've seen lately for me to like her right now)


The Painted Veil
I just finished this movie last night. It sat and sat on our entertainment center for weeks. And the first hour of it I thought I might not finish. . . and then the story got more interesting, the characters more rounded. . . and I started to care. And by the end, I was sucked in. The scenery and the music would have made the movie worth it, frankly, but it was also a really well written and well acted movie. You have to be in the mood for something without a lot of action, but it's a good one.

In The Valley of Elah
I liked this movie a lot more than I thought I would. It wasn't a scathing anti-war piece, though it was obvious that it wasn't pro-war. It pointed out the damage that combat does to people, that the military mentality does. . . but it wasn't an "I-hate-George-Bush!" movie. It was about people. The acting was good. The writing was good. It was really powerful. And depressing.


Burn After Reading
I was really excited to see this, with the cast it had. I knew it was Cohen brothers, so I knew it would be odd. . . but it just didn't speak to me. I was just bugged by most of it. The characters had no redeeming qualities. The plot was all. . . crazy and stupid. . . So I didn't care.

Death At A Funeral
Again. . . no redeeming character traits in ANY of the main characters. Everything went wrong the whole time, which is one of my LEAST favorite kinds of movies. They amp up my anxiety way too much. . . So, despite a couple of actors I really like, generally, I could not like the movie.