A Complete History of My Sexual Failures

This was a hilarious, endearing, and moving documentary. It also included several scenes of nudity. It is about a man, Chris Waitt, who attempts to interview all his ex-girlfriends to find out what is wrong with him, since they all dumped him. We are taken on Chris's journey of self-discovery to the sad realization that this whole project was really an attempt to get back together with one particular ex. It is the kind of documentary that pulls you in, you feel like you become friends with the somewhat-pathetic Chris during the course of the film. And you cheer at the end when he gets a great new girlfriend, and wonder how he's doing now.

Grade: A+

Man On Wire

Man On Wire was about a Frenchman, Philippe Petit, who wirewalked between the Twin Towers in the ‘70s. It was an amazing documentary – it explored the reasons the guy wanted to do this, what he had done leading up to it (Notre Dame and Sydney Harbour Bridge), and his relationships with his girlfriend and his friends and how they changed as time went on and as he became famous. He saw that the Twin Towers were ‘going to be built at some time’ when he was 17, and it was his life’s dream to walk on a wire between them. The movie was beautiful, funny (he got arrested each of these times and it was kind of hilarious – like the police report for his Twin Towers request said “Description of Complaint – MAN ON WIRE”), and extremely interesting. The music is wonderful as well. I am really glad I saw it. It is an excellent documentary.

Grade: A+

The Dark Knight

I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. I had to wait a week because it came out late in New Zealand. I must say, I was not at all disappointed. Christian Bale was great. Heath Ledger was phenomenal. It was less weird to watch than I had expected, it was like he was someone else entirely. It was sad, truly moving. It explored deep moral and social issues. The 'social experiments' the Joker does are especially intriguing. I don't want to give too much away. It was a deep, heavy movie. And I loved it.

Grade: A+

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story

Christopher Moore is one of my favorite comedic authors. Wikipedia calls his style "absurdist fiction" - that fits quite well, in fact. I have read several of his novels, but there are still a few I've not gotten around to. Bloodsucking Fiends was in my closet, and while looking for anything light after Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I found it and immediately knew it would be perfect. It's about vampires: a beautiful girl gets attacked and wakes up to discover she's now a vampire. She finds a random guy to live with, who happens to be a young aspiring author. Craziness ensues, and well, you just need to read it. It's about an unconventional way of finding love. I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel, You Suck: A Love Story.

Grade: A+

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

It took me nearly a year to get around to reading this book - in fact, I started it sometime during my freshman year at college, and just could not continue. I finally picked it up about a week ago and dove in again. It struck me immediately that the style was akin to that of House of Leaves, and so I kept with it even though it wasn't the easiest read. This is not because it's not well-written, or insightful, but because the subject matter is tough. It follows a 9-year-old boy, Oskar Schell, who has lost his dad during 9/11. In addition to his search for meaning in all that death and his search for a lock which he found a key for in his dad's closet, the book follows his grandfather's struggle with his decision to leave before his son was born. His grandparents were in Dresden when it was bombed in World War II, and in this way Jonathan Safran Foer parallels the two events, effectively equating them to any act of war in which innocent lives are lost. This is not funny like Everything Is Illuminated, but Oskar Schell is a fascinating character to know the mind of. It's sad, poignant, and moving, and ultimately worth reading.

Grade: B+

The World's Fastest Indian

This is not by any means the world's fastest movie. Nor, however, is it the slowest. I got it in on Netflix for two reasons: one, it deals with New Zealand, and I am feeding my obsession with a place I'm going to be living for 4 and a half months. Two, it's about motorcycles, and my parents are into motorcycles. This is a moving and heartwarming movie based on the true story of Burt Munro, a man from Invercargill whose dream is to break a speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. He's not by any means wealthy, and the movie details his struggle to get to the US, and how nearly no one believed this old man would come back alive, let alone break the record. He catches a lot of lucky breaks once he gets to the States, even though his Kiwi friendliness is met with alarm by many. I was quite nervous while watching it that he was going to be nice to the wrong person, and something bad would happen, but it never did. He made it, he set the record, and he even got back home. At the end some on-screen text tells you he went back 9 times - this is amazing, since he's portrayed as nearly on his death bed in the movie. It's pretty inspiring, and nice to watch, and I enjoyed hearing the Kiwi accents.

Grade: B

Over the Hedge

This is quite an entertaining little family film. The animation is lovely to look at, the characters are lovable and easy to identify with, and it's full of adult humor and social commentary. Of course, it's the usual stuff that goes over kids' heads but their parents can enjoy. I was pleasantly surprised at just how enjoyable this was to watch. I definitely recommend it.

Grade: A