Movies of 2008

	Twilight 19 Dec, 2008 Don't! The movie gave me such a low opinion of women after watching it that it must be misogynistic propaganda! The pancake make-up will send you howling with laughter more than any of the suspense or romance will. If you want 2 hours of dramatic glaring from Vampire Without a Cause and his I-love-him-and-I-torment-him-but-he-loves-me-so-much-I-can't-leave-him girlfriend, then this movie is for you. Honestly, there is the nice guy at school who asked her to prom, but she flat out rejected him for a loser in body glitter who will eat her as soon as kiss her, she needs to get a clue. This is not a love story, it is Ghost of Domestic Violence Future; just in time for Xmas.
	Slumdog Millionaire 13 Dec, 2008 Someone said it was a must see, very joyful. So was Life is Beautiful! This movie is a 1.5hr slog through a thousand reasons not to grow up poor in India followed by a 15 minute moment of bliss. I saw it at the Landmark after Billingsley. The acting was stable for most. the directing was great and often humorous. It bounced between funny and terrifying and tragic. It was something different.
	Ben X 20 Nov, 2008 It was the Belgium entry to the Oscars. I saw it with Maria and Mike at the NuArt. The movie is part love story, part coming of age, part mystery with a twist, and part loner...all with an uneasy balance. It bounces between a documentary style and being narrated by the main character, who is supposed to have Asperger's Syndrome, but seemed to be more down the Autistic spectrum. He finds it hard to engage with people in the real world and retreats to a world of warcraft like online game where the rules are simpler, no faces to read, and he is a hero. You see the cruelty of kids through his eyes and watch what is difficult for a "normal" teen become impossible for one who is different. His realities start to break down with dramatic results. It is hard for me to judge the acting for foreign languages, but I was immersed. The plot and movie are original and engaging. It was not an easy watch.
	Happy-Go-Lucky 08 Nov, 2008 After a terrible week, needed something fluffy. It is a GREAT film. A slice of something odd and off the wall, but nice and sweet. Like an exotic dessert. I went to Santa Monica ICE to ice skate in the 70 degree weather then saw this. So it was odd all around.
	Burn After Reading 06 Nov, 2008 The Cohan Bros. are another source of joy for me. They are either hit or miss. This movie was not as slapstick/bizarre as their other comedies, not was it as dark and suspenseful as their adventures. So people who don't enjoy things that don't neatly fit in a category probably will hate this. But I found it totally worth while. Tilda was icey and fun, but McDormand stole the show. Saw this with Tom on the Promenade followed by polish food.
	Zack and Miri Make a Porno 01 Nov, 2008 Why not?!? Always excited fror Kevin smith and a fan of Seth Rogan. This movie had the crass humor of both but the sweet and street direction of Smith. Saw it at the Landmark with Keith after Billingsley's.
	Rachel Getting Married 04 Oct, 2008 Anne! Wow! Amazing! This movie was oscar bait Anne and some of her co-stars for sure. The quick and dirty: a lot of the scenes could have been cut, the director tried way to hard to make a wedding that was interesting to watch and instead made one that was too preposterous to believe. At first the tight camera work left me claustrophobic, but ended up bringing me into Kim's (Anne) world without letting me escape, just like her. She BLEW ME AWAY! The story is intense, slow, and unflinching. Kim is a junkie. She in in rehab and leaves for a weekend to watch her sister get married. As the movie stalks forward, clues and histories unfold as Kim threatens to fall apart as well. Teetering between being despicable and pathetic; Kim struggles to make everyone around her struggle with her. In the end, you are left scared and hopeful.
	Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist 03 Oct, 2008 It is hard to imagine two kids more cute and more likable that Nick and Norah. This sweet ambling "night in the life of" kids in New York could be a minor Breakfast Club for this generation. Its host of eclectic, yet real characters are scrambling from bridge and tunnel burbs into NYC to find a rumored secret show by everyone's favorite band. Instead of 80's style burb kids in the city thrills and scares (a la Adventures in Babysitting), NYC is shown as an amazing collection or excitement and wonder for the never sleeping kids. They maneuver bus stations, all night cafes, street parking, drag queen Christmas reviews, and relationships with youthful abandon. It is a great big world out there, and it is all for those who can stay up and join it! It was optimistic and touching. While the script was pretty much what you would expect from young adult lit, it was very enjoyable and the actors were great.
	Shoppen 27 Sep, 2008 Instead of my old midnight movies, I did my last German film with Keith, Shoppen. Shot in sparse settings, almost like a documentary, this film shows a speed dating session for 16 Munichers. It was kinda funny, kinda bleak, and sorta depressing. I was hoping for shots of Munich, but those were not to happen. It was well written, good acting, and tight direction...just not the light hearted hijinks one may hope for.
	Lisa und der Wilde Kaiser 24 Sep, 2008 It was the German film festival at the Aero in Santa Monica, a great redone movie theater by the same people as the Hollywood Egyptian.The Goethe Institute was playing a series of notable movies from Bavaria. This was my first of two that night. While it lagged a little in the middle, it was hysterical. It was animated in a similar style to Shrek, but it's humor ran more like a mix of Douglas Adams and Police Academy. I have never heard so many Germans laughing before...in fact, I didn't know that they did at all.
	Keinohrhasen 24 Sep, 2008 Keinohnhase, or Rabbit without Ears, was supposed to be a cute romantic comedy. While some of its franker discussion about "love" were more real that most hollywood scripted chit chat, the rest was subpar. It is sad to think that our Sandra Bullock, pretty girl made hollywood ugly, bad boy who wants to change formula really are that much better than other people's. This movie hit every formula low note it could. It wasn't romantic, nor was it funny. The only really redeeming qualities were wonderful shots of Berlin and some settings.
	Tell No One 07 Sep, 2008 Tell No One is a stylish french thriller that loops back on itself like a film noir. Some of the scenes, especially of a childhood tree surrounded by bushes of flowers, were beautiful and well crafted. The story, while layered, did not drag down the movie nor was it hard to follow. It was engaging, leading me one to the "why" is this happening. The acting looked competent to me, but it was subtitled, so I have to admit I loose some of the nuances. Plus it is great to see a french thug and a lesbian lawyer getting all power-player for the defense.
	House Bunny 31 Aug, 2008 Another teen angst Sunday? Why not? House Bunny was a solid C movie, while my company of Shelli and Maria was A+. Anna Faris played the same cutesy ditz for which she is much loved. The movie eschewed several tired plot gimmicks in favor of just weird ones at times. There were honest laugh out load moments, but there were just as many head scratching moments that left you wondering if it was a joke, an attempt at plot, or hope for quirky charm. Mostly it just came of as confused and random. Worth a Sunday on TBS if you are too hung over to leave the room.
	Cthulhu 28 Aug, 2008 This movie was bad. It was confusing, poorly constructed, and just bad. In the very empty theater, most people left before it finished. The other group that stayed to the end, left cursing. BUT, it was a bajillion times better than hamlet 2.
	Hamlet 2 23 Aug, 2008 Call the Haige, because everyone involved in this movie should be executed for crimes against humanity. I have NEVER hated a movie this much, and I liked Zombie Strippers, so you know I am pretty generous. The of humor is just a bunch of unlikable, psychotic characters with single one-dimensional schticks. This movie made Catherine Keener unfunny, unlikable, and unwatchable...which tells you of the evil it wrought! The people being mean/stupid jokes all fall with flat thuds, then they just let them linger there like stale farts on screen. Steve Coogan's naked ass, not funny once, and certainly not funny twice. Bad editing, crappy writing, and awful acting all conspire me to wish justice on all involved. Spare yourselves...run away from this as fast as you can!
	Bottle Shock 16 Aug, 2008 Back to the Landmark for a inoffensively mediocre movie. Some stilted acting, some dialed in acting, and a really good Alan Rickman. It was fun to look at, they had nice location shots. You really had to be into wine to probably care as much as you needed to. But it was fun to see what we think of as a the height of snooty California shown as backwoods rednecks and such back in the 70's, and how it all began.
	Brideshead Revisited 25 Jul, 2008 Two words, one contraction: DON'T! It was terrible. You would think that the wine bar at the landmark could soften even this blow...but it wasn't enough. All the characters are so ambivalent and un-engaging; except the mom and the fey son...but they fade out of the movie once it starts to get interesting. It is as if you were watching Grease, but instead of watching John and Olivia; they faded to background characters while we watch the dull, dull life of the principle and her assistant. Who cares?!?
	War Games 24 Jul, 2008 A re-release in hopes of getting people to buy the sequel on DVD. The cleaned up movie really held up...the sequel looks like a disaster or a movie. Watched it at Century City...not planning to return there anytime soon.
	The Dark Knight 18 Jul, 2008 Saw the first screening at 12:01 at the Landmark with Sam, Maria, Mike, Joe, Elissa, and Laura. Some of us had dinner at Matteos. When they annopunced that the movie was 2hr and 40 some minutes, I did panic a little...thank goodness for comfy seats. Starting midnight, the Landmark was doing 5 showings, and that was all they were running; so the place was wall-to-wall in Batman t-shirts, decoder rings, etc. There was a huge buzz of excitement. I am sure that everyone already knows, it was a great movie.
	Mamma Mia! 18 Jul, 2008 A HUGE must see! Saw with Keith and Shelli at the Landmark after Billingsley. The landmark was swamped with open weekend Batman and Mamma Mia crowds...how very different the wine bar looked. The movie is schmatlz to high heaven, but fun, joyful, and set in the blue sea'd backdrop of a sunny greek island. YOu could just watch it on mute for that. But, it is also drenched in fun, fun Abba, so don't mute it! I knew three songs and still loved every minute of it. It's like Grease, but older and in Greece.
	The Incredible Hulk 10 Jul, 2008 meh! Marvel is gearing up for another franchise to pick like X-Men or Spider-Man...this won't be it. Saw it with Joe on the prominade. I was distracted the whole time as I waited for pouting Liv Tyler, Daugher of Aerosmith, to start speaking elvish. It couldn't have hurt the movie. The only really interesting part was the begging scenes...just because they are filmed in the impossible setting of urban Brazile. Watch that on TBS and change the channle, unless you are looking for a nap.
	Hancock 08 Jul, 2008 I have no great love for Will Smith nor his summer blockbusters. This one was pleasent enough and some of the quirkier casting (Bateman), really do add to the film. I saw it with Joe and Elissa on the prominade as a late night distraction. Totally worth seeing, but not very memorable. Theron was great to watch.
	Wall-E 28 Jun, 2008 Saw Wall-E at the Disney mothership of the El Capitan with Maria, Sam, Tom, and Keith. We had dinner at Hollywood Italian reseraunt that I cannot remember the name of now. They had a pre-show show, which was a bunch of dancers to clips of their big movies, which seemed more like an advertisement for the Disney DVD Library. The movie was amazing. When you think that it is basically done almost with nothing but a two word dialog spoken between what looks like a flying Apple Mighty Mouse and a VCR that was built by Tonka, you are stunned because the movie communicates so much. It is almost dance meets pantamime, meets puppetering. Plus the movie is bueatify to watch and very creative.
	Wanted 27 Jun, 2008 Lifted from the pages of anouther comic (novels are too hard, Barbie), by the director of Day Watch and NIght Watch. I was excited by the director and the cast. The movie is very invcentive, over the top, and in some parts original. It is also a little too over the top at time. It is totally a fun watch though that does deserve a big screen. Saw this with Sam at the prominade/
	The Thing 11 Jun, 2008 Saw this as part of a double feature at the Aero. The second movie was the Fog, which I had already seen and so I skipped it. The Thing was great and had aged well. John Carpenter was on hand to answer questions between movies. I think some of the crew was there to fish for compliments.
	Sex in the City 30 May, 2008 Hmmmmm, it was what you expect. They put everything back into place for a sequel. The characters were who you expected. The crowds should have been maced.
	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 28 May, 2008 It was a very bitter-sweet return to the franchise. Remember though, Indy is fluff. Holy Relics, supernatural tombs, bad accents. We waited in line in westwood for the open 12:01 show. The audience was totally into it. Very fun! Shia as disaster. Cate Blanchet's accent was hilarious. The sword fighting scene was unforgivable, but better than the ending. Let's all agree, the franchise never made a movie past 3!
	OSS 177: Le Caire Nid d' Espions 17 May, 2008 Le hilarious! The movie had no single great punchline that stands out, but it was in french; but the whole audience was in tears. It was clever, funny, insightful, and bitter in a way. We all left humming the music.
	Forbidden Kingdom 14 May, 2008 In what should be a super-powered kung-fu combination punch of Jackie Chan and Jet Li teaming up for the first time, you instead get a Chinese version of The Neverending Story. Bullied, head in the clouds, loaner magically transports to magical land of his fantasies to save everything, and return with the obligatory scene of using his new found powers to best his former bullies. Jackie Chan recycles all of your favorite moves from the Drunken Master and I have seen Jet Li in better things too. All in all, the movie was a fine after work escape, just would rather have seen it at matinee prices.
	Iron Man 02 May, 2008 I hate this character, but I really liked this movie. Robert Downie Jr. did for Iron Man what Michael Keaton did for Batman. It wasn't what you expect, and you find engaged yourself actually by the character. This was probably the best of the Marvel movie franchises...until that lame teaser ending.
	The Little Mermaid Sign-a-Long 30 Apr, 2008 My first trip to Dough Boy's and taste of their legendary Red Velvet cake, which was definitely good and definitely than their tomato soup...or the server's skivvies! Then my Trivia Team walked back to the El Captian to sing and stomp along with The Little Mermaid. The best part is always the pre-show wurlitzer organ.
	Deception 26 Apr, 2008 Once again, started this movie off by praying at the temple of the green goddess...salad dressing, Billingley's. Then to the Landmark. The acting was great, then the rest was not. Well, actually it was probably better visually than anything else going for it. The plot tried for some Hitchcock suspense and twist and was left swinging under its own weight.
	Zombie Strippers 23 Apr, 2008 Too much of a camp thing. It played at the NuArt, where else! It is heart warming to see the movie geek taking tickets with the same bored glare of a teenager who is thinkin, "I won't be doing this for the rest of my life." As for the movie, it was a 45 min gem trapped in 94 mins of schlock. Jay Lee wrote, directed, and edited the movie and it was clear that he wasn't going to part with one minute of his work. The end really lagged as he tried to wrap up each character, but they are zombie strippers...you really don't care enough for the next half hour to keep going. And it started with a fun little anti-government satire , but then he brings up a conspiracy again and drags the movie even on longer. It's Zombie Strippers! Just wallow in the pop-corn whore-horror and stop trying to redeem this movie. That is what took it from A to C. There are a lot of great laugh out loud moments, high brow humor, vulgar jokes, buckets of gore, and everything else I wanted though. I cannot wait for the DVD so I can edit it down to an A+ movie!
	Flawless 05 Apr, 2008 Another night at the Landmark after Matteo's. As for the movie, wow! Just stylish good fun. Moore and Cain team up to create a tense and enjoyable dynamic. There are enough twist to keep things interesting without being preposterous. The characters and plot are intelligent and not spoon fed to you. The 60's London setting is so immersive it is almost a character in itself.
	Be Kind Rewind 07 Mar, 2008 It was low budget thrills. Jack Black chewed the scenery and all of the characters were from alternate universe were people are naive and all from Camp Warm Fuzzy, but the movie was charming. I loved watching Goundry create amazing homages and thrilling visuals all with props and imagination that any 11 year old could have done...if he were amazing.
	In Bruges 16 Feb, 2008 Why? Why?? WHY?!? Billed as comedy, even a dark comedy is not fair. This movie was short on laughes and full of grim shots and half hearted attempts at light hearted moments. The most redeaming thing about it was the scenery...and I'm not even talking about Collin.
	Step Up 2 16 Feb, 2008 This was totally one of those "why the hell not" sequels, but it made good for a teen-angst movie session complete with Shelli and the Prominade. It turned out to be charming. It was the typical girl and boy meet, but immediatly hate each but obviously secretly love each other. And like all good movies, the only way to get to that love is with a bunch of amazing song and dance numbers...minus the songs. The acting was about as simple and pleasent as the plot. The music was fun, the dancing was great, and the non-choppy editing (What? In a teen movie?!?) let you really sit back and enjoy the show.
	Michael Clayton 02 Feb, 2008 Another landmark evening. Hmm, a very well done movie, but not a feel good one. I will see almost anything with Tilda Swinton in it, and she did not disappoint. At the end the crowd actually applauded for the character, which I found amazing. No one in this movie is likable. There is no real hero, just one side fed up enough to stop being sleazy before the other. Maybe it is because it is an election year and people were eager for any kind of redemption they could find.
	Persepolis 12 Jan, 2008 My first movie of 2008! WOW! WOW! WOW! What a GREAT movie. Billingsley then off to the Landmark. To feel like an joyful child, an awkward and alienated teen; to see the revolution, to fear disappointing your parents, to miss your family, to be homesick, to be scared to stay or go. This movie was so amazingly honest and haunting. Plus, just to watch the screen, was a joy.

Page tree