What movies have you seen recently?

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June12: Sherlock Holmes 2 DVD release!! !

-Morocco (1930)
A pre-code era film staring Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper. It's a pretty basic romantic drama where a French Foreign Legion soldier (Cooper) falls for a nightclub singer (Dietrich), but they can't be together due to their own personal lives. The film caused a bunch of controversy back then, especially scenes where Dietrich performs a number wearing a tuxedo and where she kisses a woman. Not entirely shocking today, unless you live in North Carolina. (my only political joke, I promise) Not a bad film, but some of its edge is lost over time.

-Random Harvest (1942)
Another romantic drama (no, I'm not on a kick of those lately) with Ronald Coleman and Greer Garson. A British WWI soldier is brought back from the front with shell shock and amnesia. He escapes from the asylum where he was held until he meets and falls for a local stage performer, eventually getting married. But when the soldier regains his memory years later, he has no memory of his life while he had amnesia or his wife. This was a much better film due to a good script that keeps the multi-year story intact.

-Man Of A Thousand Faces (1957)
This was basically a biopic of the legendary silent film star and makeup pioneer Lon Chaney. James Cagney does a good job as Chaney and a solid supporting cast keeps the film interesting. Naturally there are liberties taken with the story as with most biopics, but it's still an interesting story, especially for those interested in film history.

I just watched Fly Away. It's about a severely autistic teen who lives with her mom. The mom has a hard time dealing with her daughter and balancing her own life out. The mom has to face a decision on what would be best for her daughter.

I thought that the actress who portrayed the autistic teen girl was brilliant. She did an excellent job and I guess she did so well because she has experience working with children who have autism. Another neat fact I found out about the actress is that she's currently 20 years old and she's a member of Mensa. She graduated high school when she was 15 years old.

I just got back from seeing an indie comedy called Damsels in Distress.

Good, funny comedy; crappy-ass title.

Payback: Straight Up (2006)

I had seen the theatrical cut of this movie and enjoyed it, but I was always aware of this alternate version that stuck closer to the book (The Hunter by Richard Stark, aka Donald Westlake). I like it. I'm not sure which version I like better; this one is certainly more hardcore and deserving of the R rating, but I like it pretty much evenly with the theatrical cut. This is not some re-discovery of some new amazing cut, like with Blade Runner. It's interesting and good and valid, and I'm not sure whether I like it more than the theatrical cut. Both are very good.

-Unfaithful (2002)
Diane Lane and Richard Gere play a typical hum-drum couple living in the New York suburbs. One day while in the city, Lane encounters a younger, more attractive man. One thing leads to another, and you can take a guess as to what happens. This was a remake of a 1968 French film called "The Unfaithful Wife." Not a very gripping plot since it's a pretty common one, but it's well-directed (Adrian Lyne of Fatal Attraction-fame) and well acted. Lane is good, but I loved how Gere handled his character's reactions once he finds out about the affair.

-Call Northside 777 (1948)
James Stewart plays a Chicago reporter investigating a curious story about an ad he answers offering a reward for information. Turns out the ad was sent in by a washwoman trying to overturn the conviction of her wrongly imprisoned son who was sentenced to life for allegedly killing a policeman ten years prior. Not a bad story about investigative journalism. Pretty interesting they were able to get away with a story like this given the restrictions put on films at the time.

The Tourist - This movie gets way more hate than it deserves. In fact, I actually thought it was really cute and fun. Johnny Depp never ceases to amaze me with the characters he plays. In the beginning I was like "Aww, he has Asperger's-like symptoms!" but at the end of the movie I was like "8O Guess I labelled him too quickly..."

The most recent would be Wrath of the Titans. Piece of crap, in my opinion.

I just got back from seeing Dark Shadows.

Who cares what the critics say; get to your nearest theater that is playing this
and see it, you may have a fun time watching Dark Shadows, and Johnny Depp
is amazing as always.