Movies Seen

Life Support from HBO
OK this was an HBO version of a Lifetime movie. Whereas a Lifetime movie would probably be about a white chick with AIDS who was betrayed by her dirtbag husband/lover/boyfriend, this HBO version was about a black chick who was doing drugs with her husband. A woman who now educates others about the perils of unprotected sex and struggles with her connection to her daughter. Don't get me wrong, I like Lifetime movies sometimes...but that's what this was...HBO-ified...so a tad better, but still pretty true-story formulaic. I think Queen Latifah is hot, but of course this was not a sexy role.

Veronica Mars (Season 1)
The smart people were talking about it (my college alumni email list) and I was trying to avoid it. I get hooked too easily on tv shows for smart people. But, here I went, watched the first season on DVD. I couldn't stop. I had things to do, but I'd keep going with the next episode. I keep waiting for some miraculous feed to show up and inject me with the next season. I couldn't help it, I had to peek at an episode guide to find out if a character lived. This show satisfies that teen girl flick itch (yes, I get those) that mystery itch (I don't usually get those) and that outcast but cool itch....oh wait, that's the same as the teen flick itch. Now I must wait while the 40 some people with holds ahead of me get the second season from the library before I do.

An Unfinished Life
I was impressed with Jennifer Lopez as a woman who escapes a battering boyfriend. Her eyes....are incredible...jewels of the soul. She runs to her father-in-law who blames her for his son's death years before. Her daughter gets to know the grumpy codger played by Robert Redford, and his disabled buddy played by Morgan Freeman, and all begin to heal. The bear is a powerful metaphor, and the grizzly just about steals the show. (Umm, why isn't he listed as one of the cast?)

Batman Begins
Liked it. I'm not a comic book reader but like comic book movies. I liked getting the backstory to batman. How bats became the thing, how he got the batcave and the batmobile. How Gotham became infested with crazies that would keep batman busy for a long long time.

12 and Holding
This is my first movie inspired by my viewing of the IFC movie awards. I listened to just enough of the commentary to find out the director was involved with Six Feet Under and seemed a little miffed that reviewers saw a bit of that in this. I didn't see that, other than the movie wasn't afraid to make people die. It was dark and existential. Shades of Stand By Me but more complex. Hollywood movies throw you some cotton candy so the audience goes away happy. Bad guys are bad. Happy endings. This one doesn't let you have the sweet tang of a fulfilling ending, characters that resolve themselves. I really liked this movie, but I was left the that addictive little itch, that question, "where's my Hollywood plot fix?" Of course that says more about me than the movie. Children die in this movie. Children make some complex and twisted emotional choices, and the interesting thing is, the flaws of the adults in their lives gave them a nudge in those twisted directions. There is dharma in this movie, the kind of dharma it's hard to look at straight on, but the director doesn't let us look away.

Over the Hedge
OK here's my Hollywood cotton candy. As soon as I saw the trailers featured a turtle, I knew this was one kids movie I had to see. I ended up liking the raccoon a lot more, most intriguing character. There's a couple of shorts on the DVD that are really more funny than the movie itself, but you have to watch the movie first so you know the quirks of the characters. I loved Wanda Sykes as Stella the skunk. She is so cool in Curb Your Enthusiasm, possibly my favorite character on that show.

The Village
I watched this a while back but I forgot to write about it and sure enough, I almost couldn't remember the title. William Hurt was in it, but for some reason the other scraggly actors were in my head: Kris Kristofferson and Nick Nolte. While I was doing some creative sleuthing to find the title, I discovered IMDB.com now has keywords, like tags, but not enough yet that I could find it. Creature in the woods keeps the town isolated, blind girl makes the perilous journey to get medicine, the only one 'innocent' enough that the creature won't harm her. It has a twist, the director M. Night Shyamalan likes his twists. I liked it, but I clued in pretty quickly to the twist, unlike my experience with The Sixth Sense.