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• 5/26/2008: New Film Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. After years of rumors and hype about the possibility of a fourth Indiana Jones movie, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had a lot to live up to. Whether it did or not is something you'll have to decide for yourself—and certainly there are a fair number of outraged fanboys out there—but, as for me, I loved it. [Read more]
• 5/26/2008: New Film Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Once again, the Apatow crew have made a winner. This time it's Jason Segel who fronts the movie as the writer and star. Many of you will remember him from Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, but my first experience of Segel was as Seth Rogen's sleazy roommate in Knocked Up. This certainly shows him in a different light as the heartbroken Peter, although I gather that it was really Knocked Up that was the departure for him. Anyway, I thought he was really quite good in this film, managing to come off as pathetic, likeable, and funny all at the same time. [Read more]
• 4/30/2008: New Film Review: Smart People. As I am now apparently making a habit of lateness, you will probably have to wait until this comes out on video to see it. If you like quirky dramedies, though, it might be worth checking out when it does become available. Smart People is the story of Lawrence Wetherhold (played by Dennis Quaid), who is an intelligent but extremely arrogant and self-absorbed literature professor. His relatively dysfunctional family consists of a daughter (played by Ellen Page), a son (Ashton Holmes), and a "loser" brother (Thomas Haden Church). [Read more]
• 4/4/2008: New Film Review: Married Life. Entertainment Weekly put Rachel McAdams' performance in this film in their "Must List," so I had high hopes that Married Life would be the movie that made me change my mind about her. Unfortunately, it wasn't--I still think she's just mediocre. It's a real shame, too, because the rest of the cast was pretty good. It's not the best I've seen out of any of them, but then, that bar is pretty high--Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clarkson, and Chris Cooper have all done really great work in the past. [Read more]
• 4/4/2008: New Film Review: Atonement. It's been almost two months since I saw this one, so my memory of it is a little spotty. I think that it was a pretty good movie with some good performances, but nothing about it really blew me away. Keira Knightley was still pretty lackluster, unfortunately, although I guess I disliked her less in this role than I usually do. On the other hand, James McAvoy has become someone I'm keeping my eye on, and although I'm not sure that Saoirse Ronan deserved an Oscar nomination I did think she was just right for her role. [Read more]
• 2/24/2008: New Unsolicited Opinions: Sakeriver Movie Awards for 2007. I wonder how many different ways I can say that I've been lazy lately? Less than two hours remain before the Oscars start (my traditional deadline for these awards) and I haven't even reviewed the last Oscar-nominated film we saw. But enough complaining--here we go. Best Drama: Once This was the only no-brainer this year. I simply loved this film. The combination of amazing chemistry between the leads and wonderful music just worked so well for me. Once was definitely my favorite movie of the year, and is now one of my favorites of all time. [Read more]
• 2/13/2008: New Film Review: No Country for Old Men. I wish I could tell you that the reason I waited forty days to write this review was because I wanted to take time to really think it over and give you an honest review, untainted by initial glow. I'd be lying if I did, of course. Still, having had the time to reflect on it was useful. What I've determined is that this was a very good movie that, nevertheless, didn't have that great a story. The film is amazingly well put-together. [Read more]
• 1/4/2008: New Film Review: I Am Legend. I had been really excited about I Am Legend ever since I saw the first teaser trailer several months ago. It just looked awesome. As it turned out, it was awesome but, even so, I don't know if I enjoyed it a whole lot. The whole thing was just so intense. I don't usually find myself highly affected by movie tension, so it should tell you something that I was on edge nearly the entire time we were watching this one. [Read more]
• 1/4/2008: New Film Review: Juno. Juno has been quite the critical darling, so I had pretty high expectations for it. I'm glad to report that it didn't disappoint. The movie follows the title character through an unplanned pregnancy, which she decides to give up for adoption rather than keep or abort. It sounds like kind of a heavy premise but the movie is actually both adorable and funny. The entire cast was just great. The big star, of course, is Ellen Page as Juno, whose offbeat teenage sarcasm and sass was just about perfect. [Read more]
• 12/22/2007: New Strobelight Review: All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone. The review wasn't dead, just resting. [Read more]
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