Movie Reviews.

Stranger Than Fiction (A-)
I really enjoyed this movie. I’m a huge Will Ferrell fan so I might be biased. But it was a nice little story. Ferrell is also proving himself to be a pretty good actor when he’s not in a comedy as well (see Winter Passing). I love Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dustin Hoffman. My only complaint about the movie was that it felt like Ferrell’s romance with Gyllenhaal kind of came out of nowhere and felt somewhat unbelievable. I mean it’s good for the character. But since it came out of nowhere you didn’t really feel anything either way when they got together. And then they sort of just ignored it the rest of the story. But that’s a small complaint I suppose. The movie really is good. Mildy funny. Very entertaining. And worth a watch.

Babel (C+)
To me this was a knock-off version of Crash. Like it was trying too hard to be Crash. The stories didn’t really connect like they did. It was really more or less 4 disconnected stories. And I didn’t understand the relevance of the Japanese girl and her father. They seemed out of place. As if they just needed an extra character to round out the story. It just didn’t feel like it fit. It also seemed rather long. Now that I’ve got my negative critique out of the way . . . I did moderately enjoy this movie. It wasn’t breathtaking . . . but it wasn’t bad. I really enjoyed the themes of the wealthy American lives being taken care of by the poor Mexican nanny and the poor Moroccan family. When our lives collide . . . it seems that we aren’t so different after all. But in the end . . . I felt like it just painted a picture of chaos and despair. Instead of hope. Again, not to compare it to Crash, but that movie left you with a feeling of hopeful optimism. Babel left me feeling isolated from the rest of the world.

The Last King of Scotland (C)
This movie was OK. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good. It just was somewhere in the middle. Perhaps its because I was anticipating it so much . . . but it just didn’t blow me away. Although Forest Whitaker was absolutely amazing and deserved every bit of praise that he got. I really think it might have been one of the best acting jobs I’ve seen in a long time. I didn’t really enjoy James McAvoy either. He didn’t feel like the right actor for the part. He reminded me to much of the kid from Almost Famous. I did think that the camera views were amazing. The coloring that was used to accent and set the mood of the geography was amazing. It had that weird yellow/orange hue to everything. The scene where they hang Dr. Garrigan though was brilliant though. To set the scene . . . Garrigan is getting ready to get tortured. Amin says that when he tortures him that every time he yells the “evil” will be leaving him. How long it takes him to die depends on how long it takes for the evil to leave his body. So Amin hangs him up by his skin (a bit on the graphic side) and Garrigan doesn’t yell at all. Doesn’t scream. In many ways this is a portrait of non-violence and turning the other cheek. Amin is expecting the violence to empower him and justify his actions. Garrigan refuses to allow the violence inflicted upon him to change him . . . even in his death. Amin is caught off guard and is shamed by his own violence and actions. It is one of the most powerful scenes I’ve seen in a long time and one of the most beautiful, honest portraits of honesty non-violence I’ve ever seen.

The Holiday (B)
To be fair . . . I picked this movie out. And it is what it is. A sappy, poorly acted romantic comedy. But I must say it wasn’t all that bad. Anna thought it was horrible. I ended up getting salty excretions out of my eye twice. Kate Winslet was believable and great. Jack Black should stick to comedy. Cameron Diaz has no talent at all. And Jude Law (despite being a real prick in real life) did a good job. there were a couple of horrible scenes. And a couple of really horrible scenes. But somehow at the end I felt all warm and cozy inside.

[tags]Movie Reviews, The Holiday, The Last King of Scotland, Stranger Than Fiction, Babel[/tags]