MIT: Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story

Rating: 9.5 out of 10 stars
Watched this on November 17th

Ok, new idea, from now on if there's a recent movie that I miss when it's in theaters but I see it soon after (well, I guess in the same year) I'll review it and classify it as Missed In Theaters. So anytime you see MIT before a title I didn't see the movie in a theater but still it's a recent-ish movie.

First of all, I absolutely loved this movie. Lee Atwater was as fascinating as he was deplorable and the man himself made this movie worth watching. With my politic fix mostly gone after the elections this was a great view.

For those less fascinated with politics and Karl Rove and such this may be much less exciting. Overall it's a good but not great documentary if you're not interested in the topic but if you are, it's amazing and enthralling.

Worth a view either way but don't get your hopes up if politics doesn't tickle your fancy.

Next on my list, I'd like to see JCVD in theaters (maybe tomorrow night) and I'll probably watch The Fall in my MIT series.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars
I saw this movie on November 18 at Coolidge Corner

This movie was very interesting and I'm glad I didn't miss it before it left town. I found all of the characters amusingly shallow and fun to pull your hair out while watching. I'm not sure that I would want to spend time with any of the characters but the twisting, changing plot and the characters reactions to it was hard to turn away from. A great follow up performance for Javier Bardem to show his versatility.

Not the best movie I've seen but a decent, fun watch.

Man on Wire

Rating 7.5 out of 10 stars
I saw this on September 17th at Coolidge Corner

The story was really good and really suspenseful and a lot of the camera work was fairly interesting and it's probably about as good as you could have done with this but at the end of the day it was about a tight rope walker and there's only so much you can do with that type of story.

It was made very artistic and I'm glad I saw it but it's not the most memorable thing ever.

Hopefully I'll pick up my movie viewing again pretty soon

Tropic Thunder

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
I saw this at the Loews in the Boston Common on August 23rd

This movie was hilarious. I usually don't find Ben Stiller that funny and I've never been a fan of Robert Downey Jr. (although I admit I haven't seen Iron Man) but I think the way the two of them worked together was brilliant. The role (and presence of other big time actors) reigned Stiller in (I think he is at his worst when he's over the top) and Downey Jr. really got to showcase himself. I would've liked to see Black's role be a little larger or slightly different. He was good but he didn't play into the movie as much as the other two in my opinion (although he had a few good moments).

The opening scenes were an ingenious way to start this movie and it worked really well.

Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey have small parts that they'd both pulled off extremely well and really added a lot to the movie.

I was laughing through most of the movie. The story was good, the pace was good, and it was very funny. I couldn't ask for more and I highly recommend it.

The Rocker

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars
I saw this at the Boston Common Loews on August 23rd

This movie was pretty freaking funny. Rainn Wilson did a really good job. I was very skeptical that he could sustain an entire movie as the lead comic actor because it is pretty hard to do but I was very pleasantly surprised.

The review that framed it as "40 year old virgin meets School of Rock" is probably the best way to describe it. It definitely had both of those feels at times (the end concert was absolutely a School of Rock ripoff). That being said I felt like there wasn't much development. I was looking for more sideplots, hindrances, and development of romances and/or rivalries and this movie had all of them but they didn't focus on and develop many of them.

Example of under developed aspects that were touched upon *CAUTION POSSIBLE SPOILER*
1. Fish's romance with Curtis' mom
2. The manager hitting on Curtis' mom
3. Curtis and Amelia's romance
4. Curtis and Fish's friendship
5. The manager's deviousness
6. Matt's girlfriend

All of those things were touched on but should've either been developed more or dropped.

That being said the movie was pretty effing funny and worth a look.

The Wackness

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars
I saw this on August 12th at Coolidge Corner

I liked this movie a lot more than I thought I would. I'm glad I finally saw it. Kingsley and Peck both do a great job and the characters are pretty interesting and fairly well developed.

I think the movie did the period well (it was set in the summer of 1994) and dealt with the whole teen finding himself/teen angst without being too hokie.

Not really much more to say here. I really liked the two main characters and it was a character piece.

No specific dates set but I'm looking forward to seeing "Gonzo," "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," and "Frozen River."

Encounters at the End of the World

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars (probably against my better judgement)
I saw this movie on August 12th at Coolidge Corner

This was a Werner Herzog documentary (same guy who made/narrated "Grizzly Man") about the people and work being done at the South Pole. The music was really great and stoic and almost made the movie feel like a religious experience. The visuals were also breathtaking in their magnanimity. These were the major selling points of the movie.

I didn't like that Herzog tried to do too much and tell too many stories with very little unifying theme or thread. It seemed very scattered and aimless at times.

I also am still not a fan of scientific (or historical for that matter) documentaries without an argument. I don't find them well suited to big screen documentaries. This is probably a personal bias but I felt like this would have been better served if it were drawn out as a multi part piece on Antarctica for the Discovery channel. It's definitely episodic in nature and I just think movies like this (and "March of the Penguins") belong on the Discovery Channel and not the big screen.

I probably should give this a lower score but I'm in a good mood today. It was good for what it is, I just don't particularly like what it is.

If you know what you're getting into and the archaelogical and especially scientific aspects of Antarctica interest you then this is definitely worth a view. Otherwise it is not a travesty to miss.

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 stars
I saw this on August 4th at Coolidge Corner

This documentary on Roman Polanski was ok. It was mostly about Polanski's trial and most of its value comes from the fact that Polanski is a very interesting character and his story in rather compelling as well.

The downfall of this movie is the production and telling of the story. It was very blatantly a made for tv documentary that had a hackneyed 'Dateline NBC' feel to it. There seemed to be very little direction to the documentary and could more aptly be described as a mere history program. I would go to see this movie especially if Roman Polanski interests you or if you hate to miss a documentary.

It was a pretty good movie but nothing to write home about.

Tell No One

Rating: 4.5 out of 10 stars
I saw this on August 4th at Coolidge Corner

This movie got me thinking that watching foreign thrillers probably just isn't worth it. Dramas can be great but things like thrillers and horror movies might as well be remade. It wasn't a bad story but I didn't find myself being drawn into the movie and I felt at times as if I were missing something. That and thrillers aren't always that great in English. Overall this movie left me uninterested and unimpressed.

Not really worth the time in my opinion.

The Visitor

Rating: 7.5 out of 10 stars
I saw this on August 2nd in Somerville Theatre

This was a really great and touching movie. I had really high hopes and it may not have met all of them but it was still a very good movie. I think the characters were very compelling and it was really a meaningful story of a developing nations professor coming face to face with illegal immigrants from developing nations. I think the movie offered some interesting thoughts on academia and what happens when it meets reality.

This movie is worth a view.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars
I saw this on July 26th at the drive-in in Luneburg/Fitchburg Massachusetts

The writing of this movie was pretty bad. The dialogue was stilted and irritating and the whole movie pretty much spits in the face of science. It was fairly exciting though and the visuals were pretty neat (even if they didn't really look that believable who doesn't like glowing birds and sea monsters?)

Most of the excitement and interesting pieces came from Verne. The execution and narrative thread really weren't compelling or well done at all.

Probably not worth seeing but it was ok.

I missed my chance to see 'The Visitor' at Coolidge Corner but I still hope to see 'The Wackness' and the Roman Polanski movie this week.

The Dark Knight

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars
I saw this on July 19th at a theater in Brooklyn

This movie was visually amazing and Heath Ledger delivered a great performance.

Here are some of the things that didn't fly well with me:
1. They essentially reinvented the story of the Joker. They didn't expand it and slightly change it like the Michael Keaton/Jack Nicholson did. This was essentially an entirely new back story. I don't like that.

2. On top of that, the Two-Face story was changed. That's two alterations in one movie.

3. The city itself was not that dark. The Joker was very dark but the city was too 'standard' for me.

4. I like Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne but I'm not sold on him as Batman. His new suit is better but I'm still not a huge fan.

But many, if not most, of the other aspects were very good. The story was good. It is definitely worth seeing. I'm also hesitant to call an action movie "great" so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Radio Cape Cod

Rating: 1.5 out of 10 stars
I saw this on July 15th at Coolidge Corner

I don't want to say too much about this but I'll say a few short, detached things I thought about it

It was pseudo-intellectual, pseudo-artistic BS

The whole time I was thinking "Ok...WHO CARES!?"

The only reason this scored as high as it did with me was that the lab was an MIT lab and Cape Cod and the general scenery was beautiful.

Do not see this sack of crap.

I still intend to see The Wackness. I will probably see it next week.

American Teen

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars
I saw a sneak preview showing of this on July 15th at Coolidge Corner

Wow! I had a hard time believing this was a documentary because it was so complete. It made me very angry at times but mostly because it represented different facets of high school life so well.

I thought it was magnificently done and painfully honest. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. It is not your stereotypical happy ending teen movie (although the ending is fairly happy or at least mediocre...I guess real).

I think it carried extra weight with me because I've been a high school teacher but this movie almost had me screaming at the screen. It is just really well done.

Mongol

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars
I saw this movie on July 10th at Coolidge Corner

There were a lot of things to like about this movie. I enjoyed how they kind of mixed Hollywood with the more raw Central Asian/Eurasian feel that Sergei Bodrov used in "Prisoner of the Caucuses." I think there was some interesting camera work and effects that gave parts of the movie a unique and innovative feel. Fight scenes were pretty good and Temudgin was a good character.

That being said I think the story jumped around too much and there was so much to cover that the movie would've been well served if it were longer and it could flush things out more. It could've been a four hour epic movie, IMO, and been much more full and robust. Heck, I would even have liked it to deal with his entire life and been a really long series for tv.

Overall, see it if Genghis Khan interests you, if you like Central Asian-y movies, or if you just like seeing lots of movies. It's decent but not amazing.

I intend to see "The Wackness" next week. It doesn't look amazing or something that I would normally like but it's at Coolidge Corner (ie it's free for me) and it did ok at Sundance so what the heck

Constantine's Sword

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
I saw this on July 7th at Coolidge Corner

Wow! I had no idea that I would enjoy this movie as much as I did. This movie tracks Christian anti-semitism from Constantine to the Holocaust to evangelizing going on in our Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

I was originally worried/frustrated that James Carroll had not tied Constantine and the Papacy during the Holocaust to the current day issues. It was done very well and James Carroll is in a unique position to tell this story (Carroll was a Catholic priest who left the Church soon after Vietnam and his father was the first head of the Air Force).

This documentary may seem rambling at times but it is very powerful and the message rings very forcefully. It seems a little too conclusive at the end (for my liking) but the shear weight of the story and powerfulness of the message carries this documentary to be one of the best of the year so far.

Don't miss this movie!

I intend to see Sergei Bodrov's "Mongol" tomorrow.

Kung Fu Panda

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 stars
I saw this movie in late June at Fresh Pond Entertainment Cinema

First of all, it is hard to realize how many big names are in this movie until you see the credits but they all defer the spotlight to Jack Black in this hilarious animated film from Dreamworks.

The message is great and Jack Black punctuates the movies with his special brand of humor and really carries the movie well.

I think the real gem of this movie is the artwork of the epic battle scenes and how they are cut and put together. It borrows from anime and epic martial arts movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the visuals just really shine through in this one.

Visually interesting movie that is so funny it'll make you say 'stop, I'm gonna pee'. Don't miss this one!

Movies I will see soon: I am looking forward to seeing "Constantine's Sword" on Monday night this week and "Mongol" on either Tuesday or Thursday. I don't know much about "Constantine's Sword" but "Mongol" comes from renowned Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov so I think that should be a very good film.

Wall-E

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
I saw this in late June at the Fresh Pond Entertainment Cinemas

This movie was adorable and amazing. It was heartwarming and thought provoking and delivers a great message (with a little dab of political and environmental commentary in there for good measure) to kids and grown ups alike.

Wall-E and Eve are great and their touching love story is set against a futuristic vision of an unliveable earth and lazy, technology driven human race. It works well on every level and you won't even realize how little dialogue there is because it is so well done.

GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 stars
I saw this in mid June at the Boston Common AMC Loew's

Disappointing for an Indiana Jones flick but an ok action movie. It was obvious that whoever had the idea for this new Indiana Jones movie (probably Spielberg) just wanted some more money because this movie at times seemed a spoof or cliche of the Indiana Jones movies. It borrowed/rehashed too many Indy conventions to the point of seeming hokey. They tried to wrap up way too many loose ends that no one even considered loose ends until they were reintroduced in the movie (did we really need to bring Marion Ravenwood back?).

The storyline is way too sci-fi and not enough supernatural religious like previous Indy movies (even Temple of Doom). It seems like it would've been easy to come up with a better/more suitable premise for the new Indiana Jones movie and leave this silliness to another action movie.

That being said the action scenes were well done (if not over produced and unrealistic at times). Because of the action it was still a fairly enjoyable movie to watch.

See it cause it's and Indiana Jones movie but don't expect an amazing film.

Bigger Stronger Faster

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 stars
I saw this in mid to late June at Coolidge Corner Cinema

This movie was terrific. Truly a hidden gem. Chris Bell addresses the idea of what it means to be American (especially an American male) with a takeoff point of steroids and his personal and family experience with steroids and other performance enhancing substances.

Bell does a great job analyzing how American's perceive themselves, each other, steroids, drugs, and a host of other topics and does it in a nuanced and masterful way. It does a great job of not answering the questions that we might have but framing them well and presenting all sides in a compelling manner and raising more questions we didn't even know we should have.

Extremely informative, well put together, insightful, go see it!

War, Inc.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars
I saw this movie in mid June at Kendall Square Cinema

I was pretty disappointed in this movie. I went into it with high hopes that it would be a biting satire of the modern day mercenary practices being utilized by the US in the war in Iraq but it merely had a war funded by a mega-corporation as the backdrop to an otherwise unremarkable script.

It wasn't actively bad writing. It had some twists, some intrique, and some surprises but it was wholly unremarkable. I give John Cusack and his cohorts credit for a decent script set in a very interesting and fresh setting. This feel could have been more exciting if it played on the underlying setting instead of leaving the 'corporate war' 'mercenary' idea to play as the background. Nothing risked, nothing gained.

An ok movie, but nothing spectacular. Did not live up to my expectations.

The Happening

Rating: 2.5 out of 10 stars
Saw this at Somerville Theatre in Mid-June

Is crap-tastic a word? Cause if not, it should be. M. Night Shyamalan served up a royal piece of crap for this one. I went to it because the idea sounded interesting, the trailer made it sound decent (even if it had limited appeal), and Mark Wahlberg was in it and he can do a pretty decent job if given a good role.

Basic premise of the movie: Humans have a basic instinct to protect themselves from harm. What if there's some sort of highly contagious epidemic (possibly biological weapons) that reverse this instinct and make people start killing themselves.

What went wrong: Quite simply, the writing was terrible. Mark Wahlberg's first scene as a teacher in a classroom sounds like it was written by a third grader who just learned what global warming is. The entire movie's plot is stilted and feels strained. Auxiliary characters seem to come in with surprisingly relevant suggestions about what could be causing the epidemic way too conveniently.

Also the only characters we see for long enough to really develop any plot worth noticing are Elliot (Wahlberg), Alma (Zooey Deschanel), and Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez). Other characters come and go too frequently to be of any consequence and the movie seems to need more development of side plots (maybe more with Julian (John Leguizamo)). Even the main Elliot/Alma and Alma/Jess relationship stories aren't flushed out. You know where they're going but you aren't really brought in enough to care and the emotions of Alma don't seem to develop even though you know how she will end up at the end of the movie.

Don't waste your money, this movie is not worth it.

Intro post

Ok, in the past I have been bad about sticking with blogs but I believe they should be distinct so I am creating my second blogspot blog (http://strikeforceoftruthandjustice.blogspot.com/ is my currently semi-dormant political blog).

Topic of this blog: Movie ratings and reviews.

Format: Each blog post will be named after the movie it's rating and will start off with the rating and date (or approximate date) I saw it. Following this will some brief info and commentary about the movie. Some posts will end after that and some will include movies I intend to see fairly soon.

About my rating system: I will be rating movies overall on a scale of 1 to 10 stars (half stars will also be given). This system may be refined possibly by rating movies in multiple categories instead of only an overall or maybe I'll change from stars to something else but for now let's start with this.

Reason for this blog: I feel like I've seen a fair amount of movies recently and would like to record my thoughts on them somewhere. Also, I just became a member of the Coolidge Corner Cinema and will get to see their movies for free M-Th and get $3 off on the weekend so I'll be seeing a substantial number of movies this year.

I do not aim to see every movie but I will see many that pique my interest, especially if they are playing at the Coolidge Corner Cinema. This means I will be quite a few independent and non-mainstream movies (because that is what Coolidge Corner specializes in). I will see some mainstream movies when/if they interest me but expect to see more of the movies that are off the beaten trail on this blog.

A note on the title of my blog "Fat Flicks": I named it this because I am indeed overweight and people love alliteration (wouldn't you rather have crippling cancer than debilitating cancer?).

Here we go!