The Informant

We went to see The Informant, after having seen movie trailers that made it look like a comedy. I guess that what was most intriguing in the short clips was seeing Matt Damon acting like such a geeky, nerdy guy. It turns out that that is indeed the only interesting thing in the whole movie. My wife and I agreed that this movie is not a comedy. It is not a drama, either. What it would best be is a made-for-tv Sunday night movie. I guess that the story is based an actual events, but there is little in this movie that draws the audience in and makes them care for any of the characters. It was also hard to escape the feeling that one was watching Jason Bourne in disguise.

UP

It has been some time since I first saw this movie, accompanying my eight-year-old daughter and my wife. I was expecting good production quality because it was a Pixar-Disney film. What I was pleasantly surprised to find out was that the movie was also humorous, psychologically savvy, and inspirational. I watched UP another time with other relatives and found it to be equally delightful the second time.

I highly recommend this movie for the whole family. I already know that it will be a permanent addition to my own personal DVD collection.

Slumdog Millionaire

This movie was hard to watch. I had thought it was a "feel-good" show, but it is not much of one. It is mostly a gut-wrenching field trip through the dregs of India with subplots of brutality and betrayal.

There is also a subplot of enduring admiration, love, and generosity, but the good feelings are thin throughout this story.

It is a good show to watch. It is a hard show to watch. Sensitive viewers should exercise great care when selecting this movie -- it will be too rough for some.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I know that I liked this movie because I had fun watching it and I have thought about it days later. The images from the movie evoked feelings that are fun to recall.

I also know that for some reason I did not like this movie because at some point I asked myself how long is this going to last? It was not a bladder condition that had me looking at my watch, but a certain feeling of restlessness. Maybe that it what the movie was going for...

It felt like an epic movie that should be filled with profound lessons. Maybe they were there and I just did not see them. There was a lot of storm imagery -- water, hurricanes, war, etc. There were some revelations of secrets long hidden (a universal theme of discovering that things in our childhood were different than we had thought). There was the peculiar oddity of aging backwards (I had heard that Merlin of King Arthur's Court "youthened" as he got older) that was very well portrayed -- Pitt's understated performance gave the experience a context of grace and patience that comes as close to being a message as anything else in this movie. There were "I want to live life the to fullest" lines inserted here and there -- I suppose an existentialist message in the face of hurricanes, aging, and other forces that overwhelm our human experience.

All-in-all, I would recommend this movie -- with the warning that you might not like it, but I would love to talk with you about it after you see it.

Mama Mia

Mama Mia had been well-liked by others so we went to it with moderately high expectations. Audrey liked it well enough, and made comments like "It was cute..." and "It was a little bit silly, but fun."

Steve and Audrey both agreed that the music was fun to listen to. It was also fun to see Meryl Streep looking happy on-screen and hearing her sing surprisingly well. On the other hand, it was a little shocking to hear how poor was the singing of her co-star, Pierce Brosnon. Another shock was the homeliness of Streeps two sidekicks. They obviously were cast to present the star in a more favorable light by the ineveitable comparisons that occur through close juxtopositioning.

Steve thought that the movie was okay, but not really worth seeing except as a favor to his wife. While the more popular songs were entertaining, there were many obscure songs that will not be familiar to most viewers. It did have the effect of reminding Steve that he should re-watch Across The Universe.

Tropic Thunder

This movie is not a chick-flick by a long shot. It was Steve's choice and he found the movie to be filled with enough humor, explosions, cursing, and sarcastic humor to get his attention. Mercifully, the violence was all pretty much the Hollywood-clean-implied variety. Audrey reluctantly agrees that it is a funny movie. She laughed a few times and never complained about the cussing. There is one very graphic description of a sex act that is rather tasteless (in a very funny way) and many people will find it offensive.

Most everyone that sees this movie will agree that the quality of the actors' performances is superb. The cast is talented and they are fun to watch as they play wildly bizarre characters. the movie does a good job at laughing at itself and the stars in the movie (and there are some big ones) join along by not taking themselves too seriously. In that sense the movie is better than many.

Good job, Ben Stiller!

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Audrey and I both thought that Journey to the Center of the Earth was fun-enough to watch.  We decided that it would be okay to take Courtney and Belle to it, but that it would be a better DVD than full-price theater moive.

We are big fans of Bendan Fraser and that is a big part of liking this movie.  Otherwise it was pretty unimaginative, predictable, and relied very heavily on computer generated special effects.  Not ground-breaking, not overly exciting, not surprising, not an award-winner in any sense -- but fun-enough to watch.