movie reviews

every year around this time is exciting for me on account of ben being in the WGA, and getting invited to all kinds of advance screenings of movies angling for award consideration. so far this season we have been to see 5 of these screenings. here are my reviews:

1. the secret life of bees - more like the secret life of effs. stank.

2. the wrestler - meh. the wrestling, the planning of the wrestling with the other wrestlers and the self-preparation for wrestling (tanning, bleaching, steroids) was awesome. anything where mickey rourke had to interact with his girlfriend or daughter was like a bad hallmark/after school special.

3. frost/nixon - politics not being my cup of tea, this was very enjoyable and very well-acted. big plus for me - faithful recreation of 1977 homes, hotels, restaurants and some stellar outfits.

4. defiance - ben put it best when he said this is the holocaust movie christopher guest's crew is making in their next phony documentary. just because it's about terrible tragic events and heroic personalities and stars some of the best actors around doesn't make it good. it doesn't even make it watchable. be on the lookout for tv guest-star staple mark feuerstein as "the intellectual".

5. australia - seven years after moulin rouge!, my favorite director presents his return-of-the-epic epic. excellent art direction, costumes and visuals, average story and nicole kidman is really tough to watch with the botox and lip injections. the word 'krikey' is used at least 4 times. it had a lot of aboriginal folklore and as usual for baz luhrmann, a red-headed, money-hungry villian. not my favorite of his movies by a long shot but an enjoyable evening. plus, baz was at the screening for a q & a afterwards, he just might be the world's most charming gent.