Movie Reviews.

Music & Lyrics (D+)
I really like Hugh Grant. And I love Drew Barrymore. But there is absolutely no on-screen chemistry between the two. Worse yet . . . there is absolutely no plot. It’s bad. Real bad. And my favorite genre is romantic comedy. So if the two stars and the genre can’t win me over . . . then something is wrong. Anna and I were watching it and just kept saying when are they going to get to or develop a plot. They never did and it’s quite obvious. I would compare it to a grown up version of Lizzy Maguire. The only thing redeeming about it is the satire of the world’s most famous pop star, “Cora”. And the satire of “pop music” in general. I liked that. But it wasn’t worth sitting through 2 hours of it.

Why We Fight (A-)
This is probably the best war documentary I’ve seen thus far. It reminded me of the book Hubris that I read a couple of months ago. It’s really not so much a critique of the Bush administration, which I thought it would be. Rather it takes a look at Eisenhower’s farewell speech when he developed the theme of the military industrial complex. So the whole movie is set in backdrop against that speech and those ideas and is more a critique of American foreign policy since that administration. The movie takes a look at America’s role of “police officer” and it’s foundation of “empire”. It’s really intriguing and spends little to no time attacking Bush. Instead they focus on Wolfowitz and Cheney and their philosophical backgrounds on foreign affairs. It also spends some time critiquing the “think tanks” and the privatization involved with war. They don’t spend a lot of time in one area, rather they sort of move around and look at all of these different areas. If you aren’t familiar with Eisenhower’s speech or the term military industrial complex, it’s certainly worth looking into in light of our current foreign policy.

Flight of the Conchords (A+)
If you haven’t seen this show, you need to. NOW. It’s amazing. As I mentioned before, the first episode is available and free online. They are only 4 episodes into their first season, but it is one of the most original shows in a long while. You can find couple of excerpts of their stuff on YouTube here and here. Those are just the songs. The characters are even more amazing than that. You have Jemaine and Bret who are the singers. You’ve got Murray, their band manager. And Mel, the crazy fan. It’s one of those shows that get funnier and funnier the more you watch it too. The only downside is that it’s on HBO. Which most people don’t have and you can’t download it from iTunes. But of course you can download it (il)legally (ask and I might tell). But it’s so incredibly funny. And there are so many great one liners. Think of Tenacious D with non-hostile lyrics, New Zealand accents, and better personalities. I can’t say this enough . . . it’s really, really, really, really, really, really, really good. You are missing out if you haven’t seen this.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (A)
Best Harry Potter movie hands down. I went to the midnight showing (dressed up of course with my trusty Slytherin cloak than I got for $3 in the left over kids bin after Halloween) so I had every reason to be tired and fall asleep. But to no avail. It was easily the darkiest movie yet. Very creepy and heavy at times. Harry really wrestled with all kinds of things and is starting to take a more adult/darker turn. I got chill bumps twice. Once when the Order came in and took Harry to the Black residence on their brooms. That was epic. It felt like Lord of the Rings. These underdogs trying to escape and fight back against the growing darkness. The second time, was the fight scene between Voldemort & Dumbledore and the Order & the Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic. The special effects were amazing. I think my mouth was open the whole time. It was so twisted and dark and full of action and fireworks. Every time I saw Tonks & Moody, I got this rush of wanting to be a wizard. The girl who played Luna Lovegood was freakingly freak. She kept talking about pudding all of the time. But she nailed the character dead on. And that’s a great acting job for a teenager. I was a little disappointed Ron didn’t play more of an up-front role. I’m glad they explored Neville a bit. And Hermione borders on dramatic. My only complaint was that they condensed an 800+ page book into 2 hours. I wish the movie (and all of them for that matter) were twice as long so they could develop and give each character their proper time. Hagrid barely made an appearance. They didn’t explore Creature at all. Or the giants. Or the recruiting war. Or Bellatrix. All that being said, even if you don’t like Harry Potter, I think you’ll like this movie. Because it’s so adult-y. And for the amazing 20 minutes of fighting that goes on at the Ministry of Magic. Good stuff.

[tags]Movie Reviews, Music & Lyrics, Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Why We Fight, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Eisenhower, Military Industrial Complex, Flight of the Conchords, Harry Potter, Order of the Phoenix, Luna Lovegood, Dumbledore, Voldemort[/tags]