Chick 2 says:
Whether it is the best movie ever made or not, I feel that Valkyrie is an important movie, and definitely one to go see. Tom Cruise plays Claus von Stauffenberg, a German colonel committed to leading an assassination plot of Adolph Hitler. Having been to Germany and walked through a concentration camp myself, this movie struck a note with me about Germans who believed in a Germany without Hitler. Read more
Chick 1 says:
Will Smith in a drama; I’m there. Will Smith in pretty much anything; I’m there. The man has earned my trust. He can act. He’s charming. And he can make the most mundane line funny.
What I Liked: Shocker. I liked Will Smith. I cared about his character, Ben Thomas, and wanted to know what the heck was going on with him. Read more
Chick 1 says:
All I knew about this movie from director Danny Boyle was that it was about a boy from the slums in India who gets to go on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and that it was getting a lot of Oscar buzz. The words life affirming had also been thrown around so that made me inclined to see it. Read more
Chick 2 says:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is very curious indeed. What was once a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald perhaps should have stayed a short story, or at least been a shorter version of a movie. Born with an unknown ailment (perhaps brought on by a clock that ticks backwards) that causes him to age backwards, Button (played by Brad Pitt) begins his life as an infant eighty-year old man not expected to live. Read more
Chick 1 says:
I like Jim Carrey. I think he’s both funny & he can act. He’s proved himself in movies like Ace Ventura, The Truman Show, Bruce Almighty, & one of my favorites, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But he’s also put out quite a few mediocre projects and Yes Man, about a man who is challenged to say “yes” to every opportunity, looked like it might just be Jim Carrey Comedy #48. So I went with limited expectations. Read more
Chick 2 says:
Right now, Michael Bay wishes he were Baz Luhrmann. Australia touted epic and it delivers. It introduces the characters in typical Luhrmann fashion, a bit silly and showy, but within 15 minutes or so it begins to improve and, in my opinion, proves to be the director’s best work. The leads, played by Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, are both people of tremendous character, the kind of people the world needs today. Lady Ashley (Kidman) comes to Australia and immediately must decide between the easy choice of returning to London and ignoring the injustice that’s being done Down Under, or making the tough decision to fight the battle of saving her husband’s ranch and the people whose lives would be affected. Read more
Chick 1 says:
Yummy Daniel Craig follows his debut as James Bond in Casino Royale. Did I notice anything in the movie besides the ludicrously attractive Craig? Surprisingly, yes!
What I Liked: The movie goes straight to the action, and it doesn’t let up. Director Marc Forster employs the increasingly popular handheld camera to capture the fights & it really gets you inside the action. The plot is driven in quick terse scenes, barely giving you time to catch your breath before you’re pulled into the next sequence of bone crunching stunts. Things move fast & the ride is awesome. The cast does a fine job & there are some very nice cinematic storytelling moments from both director & cinematographer. Read more
Chick 2 says:
Director Danny Boyle definitely has a style about his movies (Trainspotting, Millions, the Beach), and I always enjoy the way he likes to push barriers. Sunshine is a film that brings up philosophical questions about creation, natural selection, and preservation of life in a sci-fi setting. Eight astronauts are on their way to a dying sun carrying a nuclear bomb with which they hope to restart it, the second mission following a mysteriously failed first attempt. The closer we get to the end the further off the deep end this film steps, not quite to the extreme of 2001: A Space Odyssey. (As far as landmark films go, I get Citizen Kane; I don’t get 2001.) Perhaps some needed exposition was cut from the beginning of the story in order to quicken a still slow start, but the hand-held close-ups of the actors during the climax only adds to the confusion. “Is he trying to get away or running to his death?” It was hard to tell. In the end you realize that this movie is actually “pro global-warming” – apparently death by solar fire is beautiful and pleasurable. The cinematography is very stylistic, gorgeous, and just plain cool, as were the CGI effects. There are also good performances by the cast and it’s nice to see Cillian Murphy, who I think is a decent actor, in a good guy role.
IF you like stylish, weird, philosophical, and not entirely lucid, THEN GO (rent it).
Chick 2 says:
If 1+1+1=3, then in movie math Leonardo DiCaprio + Russell Crowe + Ridley Scott should = great film. But Body of Lies just doesn’t quite add up. It is well acted, at times intense, and there’s nothing wrong with the direction or the cinematography, but it is not packing a punch. Crowe’s character is in charge of CIA Intelligence in the Middle East and DiCaprio plays his man on the ground in Jordan. Crowe, who is generally watching the action unfold via satellite sitting inside Langley, only knows his bottom line in the goal to get intel and hopefully apprehend the world’s most wanted terrorists, while DiCaprio is in the middle of the fray and the culture witnessing first hand the personal collateral damage that is brought about on the way to the bottom line. While I would now watch a movie about paint drying if Leo was in it, and I consider Crowe one of the best actors of our time, it has to be the script that falls short this time. The movie seems long, the intrigue expected, and though there is the required near-death experience, there is no unexpected climax. However, the fact that what takes place in this movie must happen every single day in that real world makes you ponder things for a quite a while after you leave the theater. It does make an impression.
IF you don’t mind that 1+1+1= 2.5, THEN GO.
Chick 2 says:
Hoping for something a little more historical or, in these times, political, or even something as different as Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, The Duchess was somewhat disappointing. Based on the true story and adapted from the Amanda Foreman novel Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, the story quickly dissipates into soap opera love stories rather than epic romances. At her first dinner party engagement the Duchess voices her political views and gives hope for a more intelligent and meaningful movie, but just as abruptly as the Duke leaves the table apparently bored with political rhetoric, the script leaves behind depth and underlying story. Kiera Knightly gives yet another impressive performance, and Dominic Cooper is proving that he could quickly rise to the same ranks. Ralph Fiennes can always make you love him or hate him and gives another stellar performance as the Duke of Devonshire. With such extravagant sets, wardrobe, and actors I would have thought that the script, camera work, and continuity would have been better, but good acting goes a long way. As the love triangles unfold, it just makes a girl thankful not to be married into royalty, especially in the 1700’s.
IF you are looking for yet another period piece about adultery and bearing a male heir with talented actors doing their thing, THEN GO.
