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October 24, 2005
Lots of movie reviews
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
This is one of the best movies of the year, and certainly the funniest. Also the silliest, cutest, and most clever. How that dog can make so many hilarious faces using only 2 eyes and a brow is a true miracle of animation. The voices are great, including Helena Bonham Carter in another sweet and not at all creepy role for animation and Ralph Fiennes as a comical bad guy and my favorite, Nicholas Smith, as the Reverend ("Beware the mooooon.") The jokes are funny, the bunnies are so cute, and the take-offs on monster movies are brilliant.
Shopgirl
Here's a movie that takes itself way too seriously, evidenced by an obtrusively swelling score, oh-so-emotional slow motion shots, deliberate pacing and unnecessary voice-overs. It's unnecessarily self-important, considering that the final few minutes seem to agree that the events portrayed in the prior 80 minutes will be "gotten over" and forgotten before long. I'm sure that to Claire Danes' shopgirl, the events were very serious, but as an audience member, I would have preferred a little more of the comic relief from Jason Schwartzman's goofy character.
A History of Violence
In the end, it doesn't add up to all that much, and the beginning is a little slow, but at least it provides an entertaining story and a couple surprises. And it is at the top of the scenes-of-the-year list with several amazing fight scenes. Viggo Mortensen is believable as both the whimpy guy who's put violence behind him and the maniac who's a killing machine.
Good Night and Good Luck
Too much documentary, too much political message, too preachy, not enough entertainment. Also, not enough context for those of us who aren't old enough to have lived through the Communist witch-hunt. Besides that, it was expertly directed and well acted, and it does exactly what it sets out to do very well.
The Squid and the Whale
This is a very well written and well acted (especially by Jeff Daniels as a self-absorbed elitist and terrible parent) tale of a divorce and its effects on the two children. It has moments of humor, but to me, it was relentlessly disturbing and ultimately depressing. I prefer to just watch Viggo Mortensen beat the crap out of bad guys or claymation rabbits and dogs do anything.
Posted by JoshHornik at October 24, 2005 05:44 PM