Run Lola Run

1998 (R)

Another movie in subtitles - this time the language was German. I've known of this movie for quite some time. . .it came out in the 90's, as you see above. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it's way cooler than I thought it would be. Lola is actually running almost the whole time! I kept thinking of what great shape she must be in. LOL. The story looks into how the slightest different actions she takes shape her (and others) future in drastically different ways. Quite interesting.

The Wedding Planner

2001 (PG-13)

I remember liking this one a lot more than I did this time around. I'm even embarrassed to post this because it's so not even close to other movies I love blogged about below. But it's cute, I guess. I'm surprised to see that it came out in this decade; I would've bet it came out in the 90's. I think this one was towards the beginning of Jennifer Lopez's and Matthew McConaughey's string of romantic comedies. I probably shouldn't go back and re-watch some of these chick flicks I thought were cute the first time around. . .keep good memories of them.

Once

2006 (R)

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!! It's considered a musical, and it's incredible. The music is. . .I don't have words to describe. I just loved it. We downloaded the soundtrack the night we watched the movie. The story is about this man and woman who meet, and during the course of a week, their friendship develops and they write and record songs. I highly, highly recommend this one!!

Into the Wild

2007 (R)

I saw the book of the same story in Barnes and Noble a few months ago, and I thought it looked really good. So when I heard it was a movie as well, I was so excited to see it. It's a true story of this guy's journey "into the wild", living in Alaska with nothing but a few supplies in a backpack. The majority of the movie was REALLY good. I was soooo mad at the end, though. I had no idea that what happened at the end was coming. It's even worse knowing that it happened in real life. Still a good true story though.

Dan in Real Life

2007 (PG-13)

Ahhhhh. LOVE this movie. Love Focus Features. Steve Carrell is AWESOME in it. I love that he can play such a wide variety of characters. Juliette Binoche is great too. And I would never claim to be a fan of Dane Cook, but he was hilarious! In a way, the movie kind of reminds me the Family Stone (which I also enjoyed). I completely recommend this film to everyone.

Waitress

2007 (PG-13)

I like Keri Russell. Loved Felicity. I didn’t expect much from this movie, so I wasn’t disappointed. I will say that it was a cute, not-have-to-think movie. It really cracked me up that the main character consistently named the pies that she made after what she was going through at the time, such as "I Don't Want Earl's Baby Pie".

No Country For Old Men

2007 (R)

Uh, I don’t know where to go with this one. It is hands down the most disturbing movie I have ever seen. The violence was unlike any I’ve watched on screen. Not in a guns or swords or beating up kind of way. But carried out in a cold, calculated, mental, manipulative manner. I think I kind of liked it. There were some really cool foreshadowing moments. I would consider reading the book, but I think I might be even more terrified reading the story. I’m still in shock that it won the Academy Award for Best Picture. And there's no way that I can rate this film in terms of emoticons. It just doesn't seem appropriate.

Amelie

2001 (R)

I must start by saying this is a French film. All subtitles, of course. Typically I avoid foreign films for that reason, but I heard this one was great, so I conceded. And, as per usual, after about 20-30 minutes, I no longer was annoyed that I was reading the dialogue at the bottom of the screen. I totally enjoyed this movie; it’s very artistic and charming. Audrey Tautou is just awesome in the film. The more I think about it in retrospect, the more I really, really like it.

Fanaa

2006

Ok. This was my first Indian film (as in from India, not Native American). Let’s start with the positive. . .the colors were beautiful. There was cool dancing. The storyline was decent to begin with. The negative. . .I watched this movie for 2 hours and 45 minutes (past my bedtime, mind you) just hoping that in the end there would be redemption. I don’t want to give anything away here; let’s just say I was disappointed – at the least. Also, the acting was kind of sucky.

I Heart Huckabees

2004 (R)

I’ve seen this movie a few times now, and it’s still just as good as the first time! As one of the commentaries says, the more you watch it, the more layers you uncover. It’s a typical Jason Schwartzman movie. And the cast is pretty incredible – Mr. Jason, Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Mark Wahlberg (who’s HILARIOUS, by the way), Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin. . . I have to say, though, that it’s rated R for a reason. The language is terrible in parts; in fact, right off the bat it’s pretty intense. (And there’s a "love" scene that’s short, but raunchy.) So don't watch this if you're sensitive to this; I could hardly handle some parts. But it's a very creative film.

Stardust

2007 (PG-13)

I really liked this one! It reminded me of Big Fish. Definitely fantasy/sci-fi. There’s some witchcrafty magic stuff in there that I didn’t care for (and don’t promote!), but overall, the love story was awesome. Claire Danes is so cool, as a fallen star, no less. Michelle Pfeiffer is good in it too, but totally freaky at times. Michael even admitted that the movie was better than he expected!

Things We Lost in the Fire

2007 (R)

It's been a really long time since I've seen a movie with Halle Berry. She's REALLY good. I was undecided until about 45 minutes into the movie. Then I came to the conclusion that it is a great movie. It seemed kind of slow paced for a while. . .I think that's why I was undecided for so long. But it really was moving. Benicio Del Toro is so cool. The actors who played the kids were great too. I definitely would recommend.

Live Free or Die Hard

2007 (PG-13)

I had not expected to like this movie. In fact, I hadn't plan to watch it at all. . .I was hoping that Michael would watch it without me. But it didn't work out that way. I did end up liking it! I haven't seen any of the other Die Hard movies, but I found that it didn't matter. Bruce Willis is totally hard core. Justin Long (AKA the Mac commercial guy) was great as well, and provided some comic relief.

The Devil Wears Prada

2006 (PG-13)

I must admit, I haven’t seen many Meryl Streep movies, but I LOVED her in this one! I appreciate her acting in this movie even more after the third time seeing it. Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt were great too. There are clearly some very poor messages in the movie that I definitely do not condone. But it helps a little to see Andy get some perspective and make a change. . .and I totally love the fashion.

Pride and Prejudice

1995

Is there a better love story portrayed in book and movie than this? Jane Austen, bravo. Love the book, love the movie. How many times have I watched this one? I don’t think I can count. Even though the time commitment is intense – it’s a two-disc/five-hour movie – it’s totally worth it. Not to be confused with the newer version starring Keira Knightley, the BBC version parallels the book remarkably. Colin Firth was made for the role of Mr. Darcy; sorry Matthew Macfadyen, but no one else compares. The one question that this version of the story begs is: What is up with the casting of Jane Bennett?!

3:10 to Yuma

2007 (R)

Christian Bale. . .Russell Crowe. . .need I say more? These two are such incredible actors, and they were amazing together in this movie. It’s definitely a western – one without a love story that I’ve come to expect from movies that are to be my favorites. But instead, there was a human being whose disposition changed from the beginning to the end of the movie. Not in totality, but enough to make you cheer. In retrospect, I should have known what the end of the movie would bring, but I did not expect it, which made the previously mentioned character’s change all the more momentous.

Sweet Land

2005 (PG)

What an incredibly beautiful piece of art. My sister recommended this one to me, and I have to say, it was a fabulous recommendation! The music was breathtaking and the cinematography staggering. The acting was phenomenal too. All in all, it is a glorious love story that stirs up all kinds of emotions. I also highly recommend!

Bourne Ultimatum

2007 (PG-13)

I don’t have a lot of things to say about this movie, though I definitely enjoyed it. It’s one of those that Michael picked out and I thought would be completely not my thing. But it was great! Suspenseful. . .lots of action. . .I just heard they’re doing another Bourne movie – yay! More Bourne!

Jesus Christ Superstar

1973

This is an oldie for sure – old movie, older story. I’ve seen this musical – live – twice. And absolutely loved it. The movie was pretty good too. Ted Neeley plays a 30ish year old Jesus in the movie. (Ted’s the same guy I saw playing Jesus live, but much, much older than he was in the movie. I have to admit, Jesus at 60 is not as believable as Jesus at 30. But his voice sounds the same, eerily.)

I have to admit that there are definitely some things in the musical that I don’t love, and that are questionable as true to the story, and potentially offensive to God. (Though I’m not referring to Mary Magdelene’s affection towards Jesus, and vice versa, though I believe the writers might have tried to make that very controversial.) My mind is not so creative. . .imaginitive to picture Scripture as it happened. So while there are those questionable areas in the musical, I love seeing the story acted out. And the music is incredible, I think. Andrew Lloyd Weber is phenomenal.

I’m not rating this one because I’m not sure if Jesus would be okay with the movie or absolutely hate it. He knows the reasons I like it so much, and I think he’s okay with my liking it.

American Splendor

2003 (R)

This was definitely a Michael Pick. It’s based on the life of (cartoonist) Harvey Pekar, and it’s quite strange. You have Paul Giamatti playing Harvey Pekar in the 70s – 90s. Intermixed with that is the real Harvey Pekar – present time – interjecting his own thoughts and experiences. On top of that, comics are interspersed, showing various events from Harvey ’s past.

It actually works together. It was funny, sad, happy, weird. . .kind of slow, but no biggie. A nice afternoon movie.

27 Dresses

2008 (PG-13)

I don’t really know how to approach this one. . .going into the movie, I thought, chick flick, Katherine Heigl, weddings. This should be great! It was so not great. It had the makings for something really cute, but the dialogue was cheesy, at best.

I’m not willing to say it was terrible, though. Katherine is really likable, and because of that, I truly wanted to love the movie. Michael’s going to hate this, but I’m putting it on our Netflix. Mostly because I loved the outfits Katherine’s character wore to work. I want to copy. I realize this is pretty pathetic.

A Mighty Heart

2007 (R)

As much as I want to really dislike Angelina Jolie for moral reasons, I think she’s a pretty good actress. I’d heard from a friend that this movie was very good, and I think Angelina was even honored for her performance in it.

But I was disappointed to say the least. Actually, bored out of my mind. The movie was really long and slow moving. I suppose Angelina’s performance was good enough. I might like it better if I had initially known the true story. I’m not saying the movie wasn’t a good portrayal of real events, but I can’t compare the two because I just don’t know. So based on the movie alone, not a winner in my book.

Juno

2007 (PG-13)

Michael surprised me by getting us tickets to this movie. I thought we were going to see No Country or There Will Be Blood (neither of which I was thrilled about, but it was his turn to pick). So when we got into the theater and the intro began, I was excited – I’d heard great things about this one.

I LOVED the movie. Well, LOVED might be a little strong, but I really, really liked it. Ellen Page was awesome as Juno, and the storyline was fun. The dialogue was hilarious in most parts. Actually, I think the best part was Ellen’s performance.

Atonement

2007 (R)

How this was nominated for awards, I have no idea. I was so excited to see this movie. I bought the book before seeing it and was slowly working my way through reading it. I got maybe 40 pages into the book when we decided to see the movie. (My intent was to finish the book first, but the other movie options that night were not great.)

I was incredibly disappointed. Surprising, as it got so much hype and it was done by Focus Features – one of my favorites. Consequently, I’ve hardly looked at the book since seeing the movie, which is too bad, because there’s a good chance I would love reading it.