Movie: A Serious Man

I love the Coen Brothers. I didn't love this movie. I was tickled by the jewish references, but overall, forgot this film as soon as I saw it.

Movie: Zombieland

Enjoyable. No attempt to answer any of the questions of why or how, but an entertaining action-comedy anyway.

These guys are pretty good shots.

Movie: Encounters at the End of the World

Werner Herzog's Antarctica documentary. He spends way more time interviewing the strange characters he meets than I expected. Still, he manages to draw out some interesting stories. He does spend a little too much effort trying to raise the emotional significance of the events his interviewees are describing. Still, there is some incredible footage in the film, and he makes liberal but apposite use of the footage from the Shackleton expedition.

The penguin scene is amazing. And the seal calls are mind-boggling.

Overall, more restrained than I expected, but not devoid of Herzogian craziness.

Movie: Company of Wolves

There's a new Little Red Riding Hood movie being made, and on some blog (io9, maybe?), this movie was cited as a good psychological previous version of the story.

Um, no.

A couple good gross-out sequences, but overall I could have happily lived my life without ever having known this film existed. It was made in the 80s, but feels like a refugee from the early seventies.

Movie: Jennifer's Body

No better than I should have expected. But Diablo Cody's involvement gave me perhaps too much hope. And so many movies have gotten at least some of the high-school-popularity satire so right. This one did not.

Somewhere, among the slow-motion shots of Megan Fox in her underwear, is the beginnings of an exploration of female agency. Still, it seems tragic to fumble this good a setup: she literally has to devour boys to survive. How can you blunt that?

Sigh.

Movie: Contact

Deals substantially with the conflict of reason and faith.

This was a long movie, which allowed it to play out with a certain deliberation. Although slow, I thought the pacing worked.

Movie: Julie and Julia

Cute. Meryl Streep is great as Julia Child. The Julie sections do drag somewhat, though.

Movie: Moon

Good stuff! A science fiction movie with an actual science-fictiony plot.

Is it a new thing that movies take corporate evil for granted? I mean, it's realistic and all, but just assuming it feels new.

Movie: Inglorious Basterds

I'm kinda stumped. I'm just not sure what I think of this film. It was clearly too long--two and a half hours--but one of the reasons it was so long was the way certain scenes were drawn out to the point of extreme tension and beyond.

It's interesting to me how much I expected the war movie trope of each member of the basterds becoming a (sketchily) developed character. A couple of them were, but mostly, they were cannon fodder (and in a Tarantino movie, that's a pretty important role!), not to mention three of them just sorta disappearing, unless I missed something.

There's a thesis (or two) lurking in the wings about women in Tarantino films. In this one, they all get their comeuppance, along with half the basterds and all the Germans. ans why is it that this crack Jewish commando unit was led by an ostentatiously goyische backwoods Tennessean? Who, of course, triumphs.

The Hans Landa character was well-written and brilliantly acted. Interestingly, several of the main roles were played by actors who'd not had much US exposure.

Movie: In the Loop

Relentlessly cynical, frequently funny.

Interestingly, no sympathetic characters at all. Cracking dialog, though.

Movie: Darjeeling Limited

I am not a big fan of Wes Anderson, and this movie did nothing to change that.

Three privileged brothers traipse through India, gaping at the scenery, desperate to have spiritual experiences, contending with the wildlife, and screwing the women.

It all went downhill after Naked Natalie Portman, and she wasn't really even in the movie.

Movie: The Other Boleyn Girl

If you ever had any sympathy for Ann Boleyn, this movie is here to change that.

Pretty movie with good acting, though.