I've seen a few new movies in my absence.... Part 1

Warning: This is a 100% Spoiler Zone

Adam- I feel like I should talk about whether or not to go full retard. But instead as annoying as Hollywood feels this need to have happy endings, Indiewood needs to have either a downbeat or an alternate (i.e, they live better lives only not together) happy ending. I don't care either way along as the ending feels organic. This is a case where the full on happy ending would have worked better or a few different scenes before the big reveal. C+

Adventureland- Any movie that has Jesse Eisenberg looking out a bus window while Unsatisfied by The Replacements is playing is going to receive good marks from me. B (However, I would not be surprised to see this grade rise with a 2nd viewing).

Angel- Loved the first hour. Unfortunately the playful wit Ozon brought to 8 Women, Swimming Pool and the first part of Angel is replaced with a tone shift to the serious that the film never fully recovers. B

Anvil- Enjoyable standard issue rock doc. B

Away We Go- The crass caricatures presented as a cross-section of America does not work, but the human moments between Krasinski and Rudolph work quite well. B

Bandslam- The 15 year old girl in me loved this movie. Todd Graff continues down a similar road as Camp, showing talented teenagers performing all of the onscreen music. Graff seems more at home in the world of pop music than he did in the world of Steven Sondheim. By sticking to a more pop formula, he was able to find a consistent tone that Camp never fully acheived. B (Not a great movie but one I could see myself watching again in the near future).

Brothers Bloom- There are worse things you can do than try to rip off Wes Anderson. This was a vast improvement over Brick. B

Cheri- Engaging enough for awhile until a film stopping monologue by Pfeiffer that seemed to last for 20 minutes. C+

Cherry Blossoms- Starts out as a variation of the Make Way For Tomorrow/Tokyo Story variety that twists elsewhere. The most mature Doris Dorrie work to date. B+

Confessions of A Shopaholic- I'm not sure what planet this movie takes place on, because I'm pretty sure it is not Earth. C

Departures- Sweet story about a man who goes home to find out who he really is. B

Drag Me To Hell- Excluding Evil Dead 2 which is in many ways straight comedy, Sam Raimi needs to stop injecting humor into genre pieces- Darkman, Quick and the Dead, etc. Here he falls flat, although does manage to pull off a couple of visual setpieces. C+

Duplicity- Probably the most smug, self-satisfied movie I will see this year. Are Clive Owen and Julia Roberts playing the con, playing each other, playing the audience? I mostly didn't care, yet at the same time the ending was satisfying enough to give the slightest of recommendations. B-

Easy Virtue- Thoroughly enjoyable romp (minus the slapstick bit involving a dead dog)in the Importance of Being Earnest vein. Stephan Elliott was even able to produce a pretty decent performance out of Jessica Biel. B

Everlasting Moments- A very ordinary story that was full of few surprises, yet visually sumptuous. B

Fast and Furious- Probably my favorite since the first. This time Justin Lin learned his mistakes from Tokyo Drift: he toned down on making every hang out scene look like a skanky rap video, didn't abandon the cars for a huge portion of the first half and as an added bonus he killed Michelle Rodriguez very early into the proceedings. B-

(500) Days of Summer- The most uneven film of the year. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is fantastic. Summer's only character traits are 1) she dresses like Zooey Deschanel and 2) her favorite Beatle is Ringo. There are 2 moments where I yelled out the word "really." The first is actually showing The Graduate (wow, we get it) and the other was naming Summer's successor Autumn. Entertaining nonetheless. B-

Flight 666- The story of Iron Maiden refurbishing an airplane flown by lead singer Bruce Dickinson to transport the band, their families, crew and gear across the world so they can play places like Chile and India where they are treated like the biggest band in the world. B

Funny People- After the perfect balance of humor and sentimentality of Knocked Up, Apatow leaned a little too far towards the sentimental side of things. Like Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown, this is messy, slightly long and the director was probably too close to the material. Also like Elizabethtown, I liked it better than most people did. B

Girlfriend Experience- The most sexless movie ever about a porn star. B-

Gomorrah- Pointless movie about the Italian Mafia. C+

Goodbye Solo- Once you know the setup of cantankerous old man who is befriended by an immigrant cab driver with a seemingly sunny disposition while scoping out a teenager who works at an art cinema, you can pretty much connect all the dots without seeing the rest of the movie. Completely fine. B-

Harry Potter 6- The first 3/4 were better than the last two. The finale was underwhelming to say the least. B-

Herb and Dorothy- Fascinating doc about an eccentric couple who have figured out how to cram more art into their apartment than is humanly possible. B

Hunger- Downbeat story with minimal dialogue about Bobby Sands's hunger strike during The Troubles. Gruelling film I don't necessarily want to watch again anytime soon. B

Hurt Locker- A star making performance for lead Jeremy Renner. Definitely the best narrative film about the Iraq war. B+

I Love You Man- Anytime Jason Segel is on screen it's awesome anytime Jason Segel is not on screen very less than awesome. B-

In The Loop- Funniest British film in some time. A subplot with Steve Coogan doesn't really work, but there are some killer one liners. B+

Informers- Gregor Jordan understands what a Brett Easton Ellis movie should look like even if he hammers the "gee I wonder if she is going to die from aids" angle in the most obvious way possible. B-

Inkheart- Another mediocre movie by director Iain Softley. C

The International- Dull conspiracy movie with one good setpiece. C

Just Another Love Story- In some ways similar to the superior Open Hearts, in other ways similar to While You Were Sleeping. Yeah, I'm still not really sure how that's possible. B-

To Be Continued...