Milk

2008

Directed by: Gus Van Sant

Written by: Dustin Lance Black

Starring: Sean Penn, James Franco, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna, Josh Brolin

This movie, based on a true story, is moving and well-done. Everyone and everything looks prettier than it would have, of course, this is Hollywood after all. But the historical context and events are portrayed and set up well. There are some great performances, notably by Sean Penn and Josh Brolin. I really enjoyed this movie, though it was sad, and it made me think a whole lot. Watch it if you're interested in history, San Francisco, or the gay rights movement!

Grade: A

The Bucket List

2007

Directed by: Rob Reiner

Written by: Justin Zackham

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman

Two old men with terminal cancer decide to leave the hospital and complete their 'bucket list', or list of things they want to do before they die. The beginning, I found, was painful in that it was what you might really go through in the beginning stages of being diagnosed with cancer. The 'funny' parts were more amusing than funny; I didn't laugh much. However, the movie is quite sweet and endearing. The character development is good but sort of cliche. It's sad, though, so be warned about that. It makes you want to do more with your life. As a side note, I love how Morgan Freeman's character is so trivia-obsessed. There's a bunch of Jeopardy in it! Awesome.

Grade: B

I Love You, Man

2009

Directed by: John Hamburg

Written by: John Hamburg and Larry Levin

Starring: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones

This movie is hilarious, heartwarming, and painfully awkward. A real estate agent (Rudd) and his fiance (Jones) are planning their wedding when it becomes apparent that he has no male friends. He sets out, with the help of his gay brother (Andy Samberg) and his mother, to find some.

Rudd is so funny and awkward, as is Segel - I love him from HIMYM. There's some great cameos, as well, including one from Lou Farrigno. There's so much Ho Yay it's ridiculous, but it makes it even more awesome. Basically, I really enjoyed this movie. And it has some great quotable lines - even better!

Grade: A-

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

2008
Directed by: Bharat Nalluri
Written by: David Magee and Simon Beaufoy
Starring: Amy Adams, Frances McDormand, Ciaran Hinds, Lee Pace

This is a movie about a governess (McDormand) in the 1940s who gets fired and finds herself desperate for work and a place to live. She ends up becoming a social secretary for an American starlet (Amy Adams) and helps her navigate her complicated love life.

The movie is adorable, happy, and ultimately even triumphant. It's a sweet story of love, and of not being ashamed of who you are. There are themes of choosing love over advantage and being able to find love even after you've given up hope. The filming is gorgeous and the costumes are pretty. I really liked it! Also I already loved Amy Adams (Enchanted) and Lee Pace (from Pushing Daisies)

Grade: A

About a Boy

This is a touching movie about an immature, shiftless, womanising man who grows up a little due to the influence of a troubled young boy. He finds love, and the boy's mother doesn't commit suicide. He pulls through for the boy. It's also funny. I liked it.

Grade: B+

PS I Love You

AKA PS This is a terrible movie.

I'll admit, the premise is sort of sweet. At the same time, it's sort of creepy and even a little disturbing. It seems almost wrong that someone would do something like this to someone and not let them move on in a normal process of grieving. I'm not sure what Hilary Swank was thinking; she's much better than this. Romantic 'comedy' is not her thing at all. The characters were sort of annoying, the dialogue was terrible, and the acting was pretty bad as well. There's not really a lot of romance, and I was pretty unsatisfied with the ending. Basically, not at all good.

Grade: F

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+

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+

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

Jesus Camp

This movie was just as scary as I was expecting it to be. Not only that, it reminded me a bit of people I've known, and the youth group I used to attend. It is somewhat scary to realize that I could have become as fanatical as the people in this movie. The radio show host, clips of whom are interspersed throughout the footage of the camp and the personal interviews of those involved, is the voice of reason in this. He is shockingly rational about his faith and about Christianity in general. It is terrifying to see the process of brainwashing the kids in this movie endure. They are basically being made into political tools by the evangelical adults portrayed here. What is really unsettling is that there are a lot of people whose beliefs are very similar to what's shown in the film. It is a must-see, people need to be aware of this huge influence on politics - after all, evangelical Christians have a huge amount of voting power.

Grade: A

The Mist

This is an adaptation of a Stephen King novella. My mom says it's pretty true to the source material. Ted assured me it was good. Unfortunately, I already knew the ending going in. I won't reveal it, but it's quite shocking. This was quite entertaining. For some reason, it felt a little B-movie-esque. It was a high quality B movie, mind you, if it was one. The camerawork, the dialogue, and the music were a bit cheesy to me. Anyway, it has a nice amount of suspense, blood and guts, and religious fanaticism. Worth watching.

Grade: B-

Dan in Real Life

Okay, not only can I not remember who I watched this with in theatres originally, but it seems I did not even blog about it before! I swear, I saw it in theatres.... anyway, watched it tonight with Mom because it was on Netflix. It is quite awkward, and quite sweet, with touching moments, painful moments, and funny moments. It is a very real movie, that's for sure.
Grade: B

Last 3 Views: Enchanted; Dil Se..; Chaos

Enchanted

A cute new Disney movie. The first song includes a hilarious line: "lips are the only things that touch." Of course when the princess goes into the real world (a new twist for Disney!) she is seen as naive. But then the guy believes in the power of a kiss. It's pretty conservative-themed, but sweet, and Patrick Dempsey looks good in tall boots.
Grade: B-

Dil Se..

This is the first Bollywood movie I've seen. It has the song Chaiyya Chaiyya which is an excellent song. Also Dil Se Re and Jijya Jale. But probably the best song in it is Satrangi Re. The visual metaphors... oh my. The video there has translations of the lyrics... awesome. This is an extremely beautiful, moving, and disturbing movie. The ending - I can't believe that actually happened. Anyway, great, but sad.
Grade: A

Chaos

A Jason Statham movie. Not as entertaining as Crank, plus I fell asleep in the middle. Lots of twists, but I guess most of them were somewhat unnecessary or just misleading because I still understood the end. It was alright.
Grade: B-

The Triplets of Belleville

This is a quirky French animated movie about the Tour de France and the French mafia. There is barely any dialogue but somehow I'm okay with that. I was quite amused.

Grade: B-

The Descent

Tonight Sebastian said he was in the mood for a horror movie. So I told him I had a good one. This is the third or fourth time I've watched The Descent, and it was no less tense and jolting than the first few times. It's actually better with freaked out reactions from friends to go along with it. It's creepy, and psychologically jarring. Quite the horror movie. It's in a different league than most. One of the only recent horror flicks that truly disturbs me. Made me afraid of spelunking (not for the monsters either by the way!).

Grade: B+

40 Days and 40 Nights

I just caught the last half of this on Lifetime. But don't worry - I've seen it before. The premise is a guy decides to give up sex for Lent - well actually to become completely celibate. A lot of people bet on when he'll break his vow. He meets the girl of his dreams during this time. She's upset because he won't have sex with her (at first) then realizes it's something he just needs to do. I didn't like this movie the first time I watched it. I was uncomfortable with the 'sex scene' and the part where they symbolize the 'wet dream'. But on a second look, it's pretty good. Though it doesn't really deal with the fact that there is unnecessary pressure for sex very early in adult relationships. But, it does reinforce the fact that sexuality is natural and an important part of who you are and that's good. The 'sex scene', where Hartnett's character gives the girl an orgasm just from flower petals and blowing on her, is pretty hot. I want to try that now. And also Josh Hartnett was much better looking in this than in 30 Days of Night. So I liked it.

Grade: C+

The Heartbreak Kid

This is the newest Ben Stiller movie. A guy rushes into a marriage with a girl that seems perfect, only to become someone else entirely on their honeymoon. During these horrors, he falls in love with another woman. It's pretty funny. No, not a great message or anything. I didn't like the ending. But it was decent.

Grade: C+/B-

10,000 BC

This movie was better than I was expecting. It was really epic, of course, and quite good, actually. The CGI was awesome - those mammoths! The story was very touching and uplifting in the end. Not bad portrayals of hunter-gatherer and herding societies. Of course, I'm sure it's not historically accurate in the least. But it's about the people, really. A man who will do anything to get his love back to him, and also to free his people. Very positive.

Grade: B

Eagle Vs. Shark

This is a New Zealand-made romantic comedy starring Jemaine Clement (of Flight of the Conchords). It is really awkward but funny. If you like FOTC, you may like this. A lot of people (online anyway) criticize it for being too much like Napoleon Dynamite; I don't think it's really like it other than being in the awkwardly-funny camp. But I enjoyed it a lot more than Napoleon Dynamite. Anyway, I thought it was quirky and cute.

Grade: B