Roger & Ebert ⇒
As you can imagine, I am watching many more movies these days than I used to. Here is a list, in no particular order, of some of movies I have seen recently along with a brief review:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - so bad I couldn't watch more than 20 minutes of it. Too bad really as it had such potential with Depp and Burton back together again. I really feel they wrecked the whimsical quality of the first movie.
Crash - Wow. Wow. Outstanding movie that attempts to show the effect of racism on everyone's lives. It tracks 4 separate stories that eventually tie into one another and really deliver the message that racism, although unwanted, exists in everywhere, even unintentionally.
Jarhead - Went to see this movie when Harry Potter was sold out. It was a lot funnier and lighter than I had anticipated. The acting was decent and the story was engaging, but it is nothing to write home about. Don't bother seeing it in the theatre.
Mr & Mrs Smith - Absolutely amazing chemistry between Brad & Angelina. Seriously, they should do more movies together. You can see why the rumours flew about their involvement. After watching this, everyone would think that they were a couple. This movie was extremely entertaining and completely ridiculous. Well worth watching to escape the real world. The writing is sharp and well delivered with a story line that is mostly believable.
Hotel Rwanda - This is some serious shit. And true. And very, very uplifting and sad at the same time. Uplifting in the power of one person to improve the world. Sad in fact that we (the rest of the world) allowed this to happen for more than 1 minute. Don Cheadle deserved his Oscar nomination for his role as the hotel manager.
Six Feet Under - We heard so many good things about this that we just had to see it. We started right at the beginning and got hooked right away. This is an HBO series that revolves around the Fischer family, who just happen to run a funeral home. As with many HBO series, this is all about character development. There is no star in this show, just a bunch of messed up characters, and the show devotes time to each and every character. Thoroughly engaging and addicting. We are almost done season 4 and then we have to wait until season 5 comes out on DVD. Highly recommended.