Not much going on in the movie front this week -- spent much more time watching anime and randomly goofing off. I did watch a few decent movies, though.
Atonement (2007): The final Best Picture nominee from last year that I needed to see. I was not sure how much I would like it, but I ended up being very drawn in to the story, especially the second half after all the shit goes down. Keira Knightley is establishing a good career in both gijumbo blockbusters and more low-key, dramatic movies, and the kid who plays young Briony is pretty damn good, too. Having seen this, I would say the Best Picture list goes There Will Be Blood > No Country for Old Men > Atonement > Juno > Michael Clayton.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007): Saw it last year and like it just as much now. The way Johnny Depp channels the utter brutality of Sweeney's obsessive thirst for revenge is still awesome. And the shot where he looks into the fire after pushing Mrs. Lovett into the furnace still creeps the hell out of me. Yeesh.
Iron Man (2008): Liked this a lot, as expected, but what really surprised me is how little Iron Man there actually is in the movie. Tony Stark dons the suit for maybe 25-30 minutes at the most. The moviemakers must have had a ton of confidence in Robert Downey Jr., and it pays off, because he is fantastic. His persona is so perfect for Tony Stark; it is the blockbuster role he was born to play (and I am glad to see him get a huge, moneymaking role like this, because he is a great actor). Downey has a ton of great lines -- and, of course, it all sounds so slick and natural coming from him, as if he just thought of it at that moment. (Seriously, he has Groucho Marx-esque timing when he speaks.) Overall, what I like most is that the movie is not afraid to have a bit of fun. I love The Dark Knight, but superheroes aren't always srs bizness. The random comedy in Iron Man is excellent. My favorite gag is when Tony falls through the roof of his house, plunges through the piano and lands on top of his car, whereupon the robotic fire extinguisher hoses him down. It's like a Charlie Chaplin joke, haha.
On the queue for this week: The King of Comedy (1983), The Emperor and the Assassin (1999), Dial M for Murder (1954) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
(Note: I might edit in a couple of movies later -- not actually picking up stuff from the library until Friday, so more might come in, and I might find some at the library, too.)
Movie Count: 112 (Live Free and Die Hard, Time Bandits, The Hustler, Black Dragon (Miracles), Hollywoodland, Blood Diamond, Animal Crackers, Marie Antoinette, Inside Man, The Fountain, Tombstone, Jurassic Park (Rifftrax), No Country for Old Men, Juno, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Rifftrax), There Will Be Blood, Rize, Born Into Brothels, Eastern Promises, Gone Baby Gone, Hard Candy, The Matrix Reloaded (Rifftrax), Hot Fuzz, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs, Phone Booth, The Dark Knight, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Predator, Ratatouille, Renaissance, Pretty in Pink, Scanners, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, Stop Making Sense, The Killing, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rifftrax), Voices of a Distant Star, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Amadeus, Touch of Evil, Paths of Glory, Gangs of New York, Five Easy Pieces, Perfect Blue, Novocaine, A Fish Called Wanda, A Hard Day's Night, Arsenic and Old Lace, Out of the Past, The Lady from Shanghai, The Wild Bunch, The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Bringing Up Baby, Pleasantville, Citizen Kane, They Live, The Terminator, The Adolescence of Utena, The Castle of Cagliostro, The Professional, High Plains Drifter, In the Heat of the Night, Michael Clayton, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Munich, Traffic, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Bug, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, The Maltese Falcon, Rashomon, Big Trouble in Little China, Sleeper, Badlands, Johnny Guitar, Mildred Pierce, Shadow of a Doubt, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, Hard Boiled, Targets, Away from Her, Hud, The Hidden Fortress, Seven Samurai, He Was a Quiet Man, Gilda, Borat, Ikiru, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, The Boxer, Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, The 39 Steps, The Philadelphia Story, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Adam's Rib, Throne of Blood, Ran, Peeping Tom, Clueless, Shadow Magic, 5 Centimeters Per Second, Children of Men, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Volver, Atonement, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Iron Man)
