Movie Review Catch Up

Once again, it has been far too long since I did this, so the list will go on forever.
I'll try to be brief.

Rachel Getting Married
This movie feels. . . long. It's super realism, so things tend to happen on screen at least vaguely at the pace of real life. . . and that makes it drag. There are also a LOT of uncomfortable scenes of family discord, that just made me squirm. Anne Hathaway is, indeed, brilliant. But I didn't really find the movie to be so.


The Reader
Speaking of uncomfortable. Set in Germany leading up to World War 2 and extending to the present. . . the subject matter is tough, but interesting. Again, I didn't think it was a great movie, but Kate definitely deserved her many awards for this one. She's wonderful. The boy who plays opposite her, teaching her to read, is not great, though. Although you have to give him credit for hanging with Kate in their scenes together and not getting stomped on.



Up
OK, I was told to take tissue. I didn't listen. The first 20 minutes of this movie were AWESOME cry-inducing scenes. Not that the rest isn't also wonderful, but the beginning was just SO wonderful. Ben's favorite part was the dog.

I ask you, is Pixar ever going to really screw up? Not that I want them to, I'm just amazed that it hasn't happened yet.


The Proposal
I wanted to like this movie. I am an unabashed lover of the cheesy chick movie, and I really like both Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. . . and yet. . . the writing is SO bad, the plot SO contrived, that I just couldn't like it. When Betty White can't pull off her lines, you know they're bad. & that's all I have to say about that.


Happy Go Lucky
I must admit, I didn't finish watching this. (Don't cry Melissa. I tried) I made it about 2/3 of the way through and just couldn't see a compelling plot point coming. . . so I quit. I was mostly just annoyed with all of the characters the whole time anyway, though I know I was supposed to find them charming. Maybe I missed something in the last 1/3, but I can't see how it was nominated for so many writing awards.


Things We Lost In The Fire
This was on one of the movie channels one Sunday afternoon, so I started watching, and then I got stuck. I vaguely remembered seeing the ads when it came out, but I never made an effort to go, or to add it to my Netflix queue for that matter. But it turns out, it was a really good movie. The acting is great. The plot is compelling and believable. . . It's not cheerful, by any stretch, but it's a good film.


My Sister's Keeper
Let's just say I cried through this entire movie. I didn't read the book, and was therefore not thrown by the ending. . . but regardless, it starts you crying a couple of minutes in, and doesn't let you stop until it's over. Every few minutes, you realize you're at it again. Enough said.


Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
In preparation for seeing this, I didn't go back and read all of the books. I have an awful memory for the things I read, and though I really really enjoyed the books, people like Ben, with a great memory for what he reads, end up enjoying the movies less. So instead, we watched the first 5 movies. And that was the perfect way to go about it. I really liked this one. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending. I did remember the ending of the book, and was looking forward to the scene they left out. . . but other than that, it was brilliantly done, for me.

Star Trek
I am NOT a Trekkie. In fact, I mock them, I must admit. What I am, though, is a huge JJ Abrams fan. And after many weeks of positive reviews from people who were also not Trekkies, Ben and I went to see this. It is, in fact, the only Star Trek movie I've seen in a theater. And I liked it. A lot. There, I said it. Long live JJ.

The Ugly Truth
I sort of thought I was going to hate this little Cyrano spin. And it's true, it was totally predictable in plot. No surprises at all. (& it's a little bit dirty, in places, you should be warned) BUT, and this is a big BUT for me, Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler (who is not at all hard to watch in general) had really great chemistry. And that sort of sucked me in and kept me there. And in the end, in the badly green screened end, I was happy for them.