Russ Taylor ephemera

Some of the movies I have seen since summer began.  All in all, it's not a great summer for movies.  Oscar season was so great (The Reader, Frost/Nixon) that it was all downhill from there.

X Men Origins Wolverine -- Slow.  Unsympathetic characters.  Unrealistic.  Unwatchable.

Valkyrie (DVD) -- I thought this might be a dud, but I really enjoyed it.  I knew very little about the historical context -- it was interesting to see how quickly the plot fell apart over a few mistakes / ommissions.

Star Trek -- Started slow, finished pretty good.  Captain Kirk and Spock were a perfect odd couple / buddy cops pair, but I thought Simon Pegg (Scottie) stole the movie.

Up -- Perfect movie, although the animation of some of the characters was a bit odd.  Still most of the scenes, including the dog scenes, were amazing.  Like most Pixar films, there is very little to criticize.

Taking of Pelham 123 -- Fun movie.  A bit unrealistic bad guy played by Travolta.  Still it was fun.  It had a good tense pace.

Easy Virtue -- Mildly humorous.  Too many stock characters and movie cliches.  Colin Firth looked miserable.  He phoned it in.

Year One -- Yes, the jokes were obvious and the plot incredibly thin, but watching Jack Black and Michael Cera trudge through history was hilarious.  Cera's quiet asides were classic.  Mindless humor.

Whatever Works -- I can see how it got some bad reviews, but I thought it was actually really funny in parts.  Larry David was not particularly strong as Boris, but the whole premise (an exploration of how to live if you believe life has no purpose) was very carefully constructed and well executed.

... more later ...