box of Jack

I’m ashamed to say this, but I’ve been watching a lot of movies at home.

Warning: Amazon links ahead

Hoodwinked - 3 stars
On the repeated recommendations from Karan and the fact that he seems to hold this movie in higher regard than Happy Feet (blasphemy!), I decided to watch this. It’s clever with a tinge of sarcasm and the way the story unfolds is fun. Unfortunately, the jokes seem to come straight out of bland Saturday morning cartoons.

There is only one scene where he yells

Stranger Than Fiction - 4 stars
This is Will Ferrell’s best movie ever because it isn’t a Will Ferrell movie (in the same way that The Truman Show isn’t a Jim Carrey movie). He has surrendered a lot of his trademark humor to participate in a story that had me totally intrigued throughout. This movie makes you want to watch it to the very end and then write a clever novel of your own.

Red sharpies. Heh.

Secretary - 3.5 stars
After developing a slight crush on Maggie Gyllenhaal, I picked up this movie. It is predominantly a movie about two people coming out of the closet about being into sadomasochism and falling in love as a result. The characters are fun and original and somehow the movie carefully sidesteps the very dangerous territory of (non-consensual) violence against women and male dominance because somewhere along the way you stop caring about the social issues and focus mainly on the characters. Ultimately, while the movie manages to stir up interest in its two main characters, it fails to deliver any meaningful background on them. Sort of frustrating.

Yo!

Rocky Balboa - 4 stars
I know, I know. People are going to yell at me for giving this movie 4 stars. The whole thing plays like Sly Stallone composing his own video for when he is finally inducted into the Academy’s Hall of Fame. But it’s a classic more-heart-than-head underdog story. And I mean that because you really need more heart than head to enjoy it; you have to ignore the improbability of a very old man boxing. Or a current champion taking notice of him. Or the fact that they make sports jackets in Rocky’s size. But the emotional scene’s with Rocky missing his wife and his friends supporting him are just sappy enough without being too serious. The boxing scenes are deliciously shot (except for the eye-rolling montage they used). I’ll tell you a secret: I had my fists clenched in excitement for the final scene in this movie.

Seriously? Go watch the Tribute video instead

Tenacious D in ‘The Pick of Destiny’ - 1 star
Just plain awful. Cock jokes and songs about cock jokes. This movie makes me seriously doubt if Jack Black is funny when left to his own devices. The only funny scene is the one with Ben Stiller and you can see that on youtube.

Volver - 3 stars
Another sort of average movie with a few things going for it. It’s in Spanish so that makes it foreign and sophisticated, Penelope Cruz is so absolutely gorgeous in every shot that I don’t know why all the women in the village don’t plot to throw acid on her face and this is just a very colorful and good-looking movie. At its essence, it is a movie made by a person with a serious crush on Penelope Cruz, that’s not a bad thing but I know a lot of people don’t like her for some crazy reason. I like her and I have walked away with an even bigger crush on her.

Pan’s Labyrinth - 4 stars
Imaginative yet brutal. The fantasy world of a little girl in the midst of a civil war sums up the movie nicely. It would make a fantastic fairy tale if not for the war going on but you wouldn’t want the movie any other way.

Science of Sleep - 2 stars
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind but without the clever script. This movie feels like an experiment. I liked all the disjointed and confusing visuals but I was hoping they would all lead to some grand insight in the characters. Didn’t happen.

Thank You for Smoking - 3 stars
Sure, it takes some shots at the tobacco industry but that’s like saying war is bad. This movie doesn’t try to be an expose, instead it just focuses around one tobacco lobbyist. It almost glamorizes him in the same way that Hollywood has glamorized criminals. It’s an average movie and generally good movie night fodder.