Captain America
You can read my original review here.
I don't have much to add to my review. This was one of my favorite movies of the summer and is probably my favorite of all of the superhero movies that came out this year. I've already purchased it and I recommend it highly.
Attack the Block
Here's another movie I really loved. It wasn't in the theaters very long in the US, but it's a great, fun movie! It's what I wish Super 8 would have been. It's probably one of my favorite films of the year. I think it might make my top 10 list.
The original review.
Synecdoche, New York
This is one that started off great, but then got too weird for me. I only stuck with it because it stars the PSH and I can watch anything with him in it. Overall, it's a good cast, but I think the story is going to lose most people.
It was written and directed by Charlie Kaufman. I've loved Kaufman's work in the past, but normally someone else directs his movies and I think that needed to happen here. This was Kaufman's directorial debut, but I think his strength is in his writing. In the hands of another director, I think this would have worked much better.
I thought it was a tough movie to get through, so I can't really recommend it. If you really like the PSH or Charlie Kaufman, then you'll probably get something out of it, but for anyone else it's probably going to be too hard to watch.
The Ledge
I watched this because of the strength of the cast (Patrick Wilson, Liv Tyler, Terrence Howard), but this wasn't good at all. This is a good example of a movie that went straight-to-DVD for a reason. I'm not even going to bother talking about it. I've watched this movie, so I can tell you that you never have to.
Pass.
The People Vs George Lucas
This won't have much appeal to you if you're aren't a Star Wars nut like me, so most of you can stop reading now.
Based on the title of the documentary, you'd think this would be more of an attack of George Lucas. However, it ends up being kind of a tribute to the guy, which I didn't mind. I mean he did create Star Wars and turn himself into a hugely successful brand. You can't deny that. I'll always appreciate that he created this universe and it has meant a lot to me.
They do go into his tinkering with the films. It's interesting because this documentary was made before the Blu-Rays had come out. I'd be curious to see if the makers of the documentary, or the people being interviewed, would have felt the same or have gone into that further since there was such an uproar on the latest number of changes in the Blu-Rays. Seems like a missed opportunity there. Speaking of, I still need to finish my blog post about my thoughts on the new Blu-Rays. It's still a work in progress.
Anyway, it's worth a rental for the Star Wars fans out there.
Faces in the Crowd
This was a stinker. It stars Mila Jovovich as a woman that is injured in an attack and now suffers from 'face blindness' Yes, face blindness. First wrap your face around that premise. Actually, I hear that 'face blindness' is actually a real thing, but this is the first I've heard of it. I guess you can accept the premise if you know that. Okay, well then try to get past terrible acting of Mila Jobobovovich. I was on her case for her bad acting in The Three Musketeers, but I thought she was even worse here. Then, you get to witness Julian McMahon playing one of the most inexplicably dickhead cops I've ever seen on film.
I could barely finish this. It's awful. Do not see it!
Father of Invention
This movie bummed me out a little. It stars Kevin Spacey, and starts out as a movie making fun of late night infomercials. I thought the opening sequence was kind of funny and thought that maybe I'd stumbled across a hidden gem. Unfortunately, it devolves into just a piece of junk movie where he loses everything and spends the rest of the movie trying to get his life back together. You've seen this all before. After that opening sequence, it was just boring and unfunny. This is the total definition of a movie that should have gone straight to DVD, and hey, look at that, it was! Seriously though, Kevin Spacey deserves a better story and script than this. Actually, there several people in this that deserve better. I hope they at least got paid.
Pass.
The Set Up
This was really bad. It's almost in that 'it's so bad, it's good' territory. When a movie stars Ryan Phillippe and 50 Cent, you can be pretty sure you aren't in for a masterpiece. I don't want to slam 50 Cent too much, but he's got a long way to go before he can be considered even an adequate actor. I don't think Phillippe is all that good either. He has that same weird, forced quality to his voice that Paul Walker has. You know, like when someone is trying make their voice sound deeper than it naturally is?
The real surprise here was that they somehow got Bruce Willis to be in this. He must have owned someone a favor. He really phoned it in on this one.
Pass.
Winnie The Pooh
Yeah I actually watched this. I'm not above watching kids movies. :P There's lots to like about it though. It's short, sweet and made me nostalgic for when I watched Winnie the Pooh cartoons as a kid. It's good for the kids and even for adult fans of Winnie the Pooh. The voice acting by the cast, and narration by John Cleese, was great and I got a kick out of the Huell Houser cameo at the end.
The only thing a little distracting was that most of the songs were performed by Zooey Deschanel. It's not that she's a bad signer, but her voice is kind of distinctive, so when I'd hear her sing all I could think of was Zooey Deschanel. This is a minor nitpick though. Otherwise, I have nothing bad to say about this movie.
High rental recommendation if you have kids or are just nostalgic for Winnie the Pooh.
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