Daywatch

I couldn’t say what was going on, but the visuals, the set pieces and the overall style trumps that pesky need to get the plot. Action-packed and visually fantastic.

Knocked Up

Formulaic but really funny. Is it a raunchy guy comedy disguised as a romantic comedy, or is it the other way around? Very insightful about men’s identities and finding the balance between taking responsibility for yourself and pursuing the things that make you happy. First half is much funnier than the second half.

Fracture

Well-acted and well-made, but familiar.

Pirates of the Carribean - At World's End

Very well done and exciting. The plot only occasionally made sense. The writers make a noble run at giving all the main characters a goal, which most often takes the form of a curse needing to be lifted. But when all of these plots start twisting and overlapping, it’s like a Lost episode on steroids. So the confusing middle-third gets bogged-down a bit. Nevertheless, the acting is top-notch and the set-pieces are unprecedented. The final action sequence is the best of its kind. Be sure to stay til the end of the final credits.

Waitress

The chickiest "chick flick" I’ve seen in many a moon. Keri Russell is great and the pace and editing are strong. Well-written by Adrienne Shelly. The ending loses it’s own point as the empowered lead makes a couple of decisions only to prove to the audience that she’s empowered, not because they make any sense. Otherwise, it’s fine. But chicky. Really.

5/25/77

Low-budget nostalgia piece a la Dazed and Confused, but about Star Wars. We saw a very rough cut that was about 45 minutes too long. Could be something nice and sentimental, but needs major surgery.

Mr. Brooks

(World Premiere) Started out well with a creepy rapport between Costner and his alter ego William Hurt. Too many complications and a very contrived subplot for Demi Moore makes this potentially interesting thriller marginal at best.

Shreck the Third

Well-animated. Unfunny.

Away From Her

Great performances, and adeptly directed by Sarah Polly, but long and sad. Transitions from scene to scene consist of lots of unnecessary walking and/or driving. Conversations lumber with unnaturally long pauses. Though the emotion here may be true, the glacial pace sucks the urgency out of things. But get ready next winter. Accolades will be continual.

28 Weeks Later

Near the beginning of 28 Weeks Later, the two main characters do something SO STUPID that it becomes impossible to root for them and/or sympathize with them for the duration of the movie. Throughout the story, these two stupid characters encounter numerous obstacles, all of which are rooted in people making the most counterintuitive, ill advised and judgment-impaired decisions any humans have ever made in the history of man. And so I ask you, humble blog-readers, who are the TRUE zombies?

You Kill Me

Noir auteur (and AFI alum) John Dahl does a great job with the execution, but the premise is weak. It boils down to one big problem: what does Tea Leoni see in Ben Kingsley? He’s way too old for her and she’s way too hot for him. There’s some good black humor here, and a nice redemptive ending, but when the premise is weak, there’s nothing on which to hang the rest of this stuff. I love Tea Leoni, but I don’t feel like she’s had her definitive role yet. So… a ho-hum show.

Spiderman 3

Anybody who’s seen it, I’m not saying anything new: there’s too many plots. This could be three movies. Performances are good, but action scenes are cluttered and lack internal logic. There are TOO many villains. The upside is, there’s humor throughout. Bruce Campbell hams it up as a French waiter, and Peter Parker made up like Jared Leto in Thirty Seconds to Mars, ordering the fawning neighbor girl to make cookies with nuts, is CLASSIC. Spiderman 2 is an almost perfect movie, and therefore there were big shoes to fill. This movie is bloated and over-cooked, and unfortunately, it won’t resonate.