22 - The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Jacquer Cousteau was a big part of my childhood. I remember spending a lot of time just watching him in his travels. Even though his programs focused a lot on oceans and sea creatures, I remember being focused more on the journey that was a huge part of his documentaries. It was that life at sea that kept me watching. The Life Aquatic accentuates that aspect, in this case, of Steve Zissou. I love how the movie covers a lot of life stories but wraps them all with this dark humor and smart wit of the characters.

Angelica Houston will always be Morticia Addams for me...and here she kinda brings that back (for me, personally anyway :) ). It was fun listening to all the Portuguese David Bowie acoustic music. Willem Dafoe and Cate Blanchett play excellent character studies and, as expected, just simply deliver.

21 - Full Frontal

The first twenty minutes or so was an exercise for me identifying all the actors. Watching a movie with a huge cast was fun. It actually kept my attention... I'd like to think that the idea here is to play not just a couple stories but an endless series of incidents. Cathy Keener had the oddest scenes (and the most amusing) :)

20 - Hard Candy

Care for some dose of Misery 2? (well, this one ain't a Stephen King flick)

I admire the tension that the director maintained throughout the movie. It was a mixture of dialogue, suggestion, and doubt that just kept you on the edge. It makes you question the actions these characters did and sometimes think in general...does one become a vigilante and make things right? What does right mean? What if you were wrong? But everyone is capable of making a mistake.

The initial hurdle was getting over Ellen Page's character (who was rather annoying)...and then trying to constantly rationalize. It was exhausting and there were scenes that just made me want to turn away (but of course I didn't :) ). The feeling reminds me of Requiem for a Dream...it was very difficult to watch Ellen Burstyn's deterioration in that story. You just want to jump in and give em a piece of your mind.

But hey, it's a movie ;).

19 - Confessions of an American Girl

It could have been a good story, but this movie just did not have enough of a script and this is one of those movies that really needed a director that was obsessed about it.

The casting didn't help either. Jena Malone and Brad Renfro have had success before, but they alone couldn't save this movie. This is one of those situations where a great director could have made a difference, gotten the right performance out of the actors, explored the better aspects of the story, and probably pushed the script, editing, and casting further.

I hope someone does pick-up this story one of these days and gives it justice.

18 - Me and you and everyone we know

What a force! One moment it seems like you're watching just your average life scene...and then something random comes up and you don't immediately realize the meaning, but you feel it...these reactionary pulses form the strength of the movie and that makes it really beautiful.

17 - Garden State

I heard it was really good but for the life of me I refused to see it. I guess somewhere in mind I thought this would just be like Natalie's other "coming home" movie, Beautiful Girls, and I probably just wanted to leave it alone.

It was actually a great movie. Surprisingly, Natalie carries another boy name (Sam) in this movie (in Beautiful Girls, she was Marty). Ian Holm only had a few scenes, but he provided the tension with his rather odd character. I just love how he swithes from Frankenstein to intense to normal in each scene.

16 - The Man Who Cried

Cristina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, John Turturo...how could anything go wrong? The movie could survive on all the interaction between these great actors :). Indeed, I was very much drawn to the characters they created more than the actual story itself. Cate is vintage Cate (and what great stage presence) and John Turturo shows his bravado as...an italian opera singer (hey...why do I suddenly have flashbacks of him in Mr. Deeds ;)...sneaky?).

Of course, Christina Ricci's cold stare is in full force...and who could match than Johnny Depp (who has that silent stare himself). I would like to take notice of Claudia Lander-Duke (who played young Suzie). I really liked her performance...I thought I saw Wednesday Addams in her scenes...but hey, she does play young Wednesday Addams :) :).

Why can't I write anything serious today...oh well :).