The Beaches of Agnes

Beaches of Anges really gives you a feel for who Agnes Varda is. I loved listening to the way she narrates this documentary about her life, and seeing all the fanciful, whimsical images she comes up with.

Beaches of Agnes is basically about Agnes Varda remembering some stuff that happened to her around beaches. I just like Agnes Varda. It's interesting to see the things that she comes up with. They're so fanciful and whimsical. The mirrors at the beach at the beginning are so cool.

Repo! The Genetic Opera

Repo! The Genetic Opera is just really, really bad. It looks cool some of the time, but the terrible music kills it.

Back around the time Repo came out, a friend watched it. For some reason I wasn't interested, or he was watching it when I was about to go to bed or something, because I saw about the first third of it and not the rest. People seem to like it, though, so I thought I should see the whole thing. It turns out the first third was the only halfway decent part and it's all downhill from there.

I did like the Graverobber. He's easily the best part. I like his aesthetic. And he has the best song, about Zydrate, which is the only good song. The music is really terrible. Shilo's punk interlude was the worst. It didn't make any sense at all. Rotti's children were so weird. They didn't have any depth at all, which I guess was the point, but it made them really hard to get into.

RocknRolla

RocknRolla is a fun movie. I guess the plot is sort of original, but it mainly gets by on the likeability of the characters.

I guess I can officially say I like Guy Ritchie's stuff. The Man from U.N.C.L.E was great, and I liked Sherlock Holmes and Snatch (although I no longer remember the latter). RocknRolla really pulls you in. It's engaging right from the start, and the characters are all likeable. It's interesting how little Mumbles and One Two want to hurt people, considering their line of work.

Synecdoche, New York

Synecdoche, New York follows the proud tradition of Charlie Kaufman movies that I don't enjoy. His characters are always unlikeable, and I can't get invested in them. There are a lot of things about it that could be funny if it weren't so depressing as a whole. I can appreciate it, but it's resoundingly not my thing.

2008 seems like a long time ago. It was only seven years. Maybe anything before 2010 registers as "a long time ago" for me. Charlie Kaufman is not my favorite writer. I could appreciate Being John Malkovich, but I didn't like it. I found the characters to be really unlikeable, which was the same problem I had with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I generally hate surrealism, and that movie is pretty out there. Plus if you don't like the characters, it's just really hard to be invested in what's going on.

Ong Bak 2

Great action.

Ponyo

Huge disappointment from Miyazaki. Ponyo herself was really annoying.

Slumdog Millionaire

This was okay, but it wasn't as revolutionary as everybody made it out to be.

The Promotion

Even with a bad haircut, Stifler wasn't believable in this role. Lili Taylor speaking in a Canadian Scottish accent made the movie. I wanted it to be more about working at a grocery store than it was. It did a good job keeping both guys pretty equal at all times, though; I liked that I never felt like either one of them was the underdog.

Sex and the City

It was nice to see it again, but it was even worse than the show. The plot was completely contrived and predictable. Everyone also looked insanely, un-attractively thin. Despite the fact that it was like half-strength fluff, I would probably watch another one if they made it.

Eagle Eye

Exceeded expectations. There were a couple things I'd never seen done before, and it kept me interested in the plot the whole time. At first I was disappointed with who was behind everything, but I gradually came to accept it. Michelle is pretty, and they couldn't possibly have found a cuter kid to play Sam. Roasario and Billy Bob were nice to see, too.

The Dark Knight

The entire movie is basically an exhibition of Heath Ledger's awesome portrayal of the Joker, which makes it better than Batman Begins. I knew it was him the whole time, obviously, but I didn't recognize him under the make-up until about halfway through the movie. I loved everything they did with his character aesthetically; hair, make-up, clothing, all of it. Christian Bale does a good job too, but Bruce/Batman is a minor player compared to the Joker.

Choke

I don't remember Fight Club anymore, so I have no idea what Palahniuk's work is usually like, but this was pretty intense. I wouldn't go so far as to say I liked it, but it was engaging at least. It veered off course at the end; Paige's backstory was completely unbelievable, and the way things ended for Victor and Denny didn't match the tone of the movie.

Babylon A.D.

When I saw the trailer for this a while ago, I thought it was another Riddick movie. But it's not. The first half was really interesting, but then it took a turn. It's lousy with plot holes, but it's great visually..at least until everything goes to shit two-thirds of the way through.

Death Race

It had a few flat moments, but it was everything I expected and more. The characters were likeable, the action was exciting, the story and ideas behind the race were simple but interesting. The soundtrack was surprisingly awesome, with the exception of one horrible choice at the end. And I did finally like Jason Statham in something, yay.

Quarantine

I had to see it because I saw the trailer two or three times and I wanted to know what the secret was. The part before they get to the apartment building was dreadful, but there was stuff that made it interesting later, and I found it to be appropriately suspenseful.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Hands-down the best in the franchise. I actually liked it, although maybe after The Scorpion King, I would've enjoyed anything. Also, I think I'm becoming immune to the terrible camp of the family. Not only did they switch out actresses for Evelyn, but they also switched out her character, which was a little weird, but whatever; like I said, the family's going to suck no matter what, so you've got to focus on the other part of the movie, which of course had Asian people, so I enjoyed it thoroughly. I was also happy to see Jonathan, which was unexpected, but I liked his character in this one. And I liked the yeti, and the sorceress. Also, it wasn't in the desert for once, and they didn't do the stupid repetition thing.

The Bank Job

This was the first Jason Statham movie I saw, and I wasn't really impressed.

I liked the 70's London setting. The "black power" subplot was lame, but I guess it was necessary since it really happened. Overall, it was too amateur and small-timey to be interesting, and I didn't find the ending to be realistic at all, probably because that's not even what happened.

Step Brothers

It was about what I expected. A little lame, a little good. Reilly bothered me less than I thought he would. Mary Steenburgen looks fake tanned and terrible; I'm not sure this is a movie that really needs to be seen on the big screen. It does have more laughs than you see in the previews, although those are the main ones, but there are also a couple of plot points beyond "I hate you, now I like you," which is good. Best line in the entire thing: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but I'm going to kick you in the balls repeatedly."

Definitely, Maybe

Ryan Reynolds is so attractive. And adorable in a bed. I still don't like Abigail Breslin. Thank Christ Elizabeth Banks doesn't look like any other actresses; it would've been more than I could handle, what with Isla Fisher being a body double for Amy Adams, and Rachel Weisz the same for Kate Winslet. I was a little disappointed by the movie being overly cutesy, but it isn't a complete waste of time..as long as you're just there to watch Ryan.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Typical Hellboy atmosphere, but I would've liked to've seen more of the creature world. The ending came without enough sacrifice, and I missed the Professor.