Sunshine Cleaning -

Amy Adams turned in a really fine performance. Man, her acting in the scene in which one of her clients turned out to be a former classmate is some of the finest work from an '09 film. Blunt was good. I think I would've liked the film more if they treated death more seriously within a light dramedy context.



Avatar -

My first 3D film so I have no frame of reference as to its use of it. I already love films with active foregrounds so having shit jutting out majorly was a real treat but my aesthetic pleasure wore out as the film went on. I'd love to see what filmmakers do with 3D outside of a sci-fi, fantasy, or action context. Kudos to Cameron for shooting action scenes that can be made out. Weaver's dialogue in her first few scenes was unbelievably bad. The cop from The Shield got even worse lines. Not a waste of money (though I did get bored for long stretches), but I don't love the film, either.



Taking Woodstock -

I kind of liked it alright.



The House of the Devil -

Really dug the slow burn of the first 75 more than the horror of the last 10 or 20 minutes. Solid effort. Didn't like Greta Gerwig prior to this, but her performance here and the vibe I get from Greenberg has me real curious to see how her career will go.



Next Day Air -

Not all of it works, but it was entertaining and funny in spots. I'd watch it again. Mos Def was funny in his second scene. Wood Harris has the best delivery of "Why?"

Day of the Jackal (1973)
Long. Methodical. Excellent. I already thought the remake was shitty, now it seems extra shitty.

The Exiles
Awful faux-documentary.

Tyson
Compelling as hell.

Food Inc.
Lots of stuff that's already been covered in recent books and docs, but still a worthwhile and terrifying movie.

Jump Tomorrow
Wife and I jumped our asses right outta that movie 30 minutes into it.

Primer
I'm officially anti-time travel in movies.

Not Quite Hollywood
Them Aussies was wild as fuck back in the day. Pretty entertaining doc.

>The Exiles
>Awful faux-documentary.

I was severely underwhelmed. It's undeniably culturally important as a document, but it was really tough to finish. And I can't say it's good as a film in and of itself.


>Not Quite Hollywood
>Pretty
>entertaining doc.

Yup.

Zodiac -

Tentatively #2 in my decade top 100. I get more impressed each time I watch it. I can only nitpick. Ruffalo here is the business.


The Death of Mister Lazarescu -

I'm still mightily impressed by it. Near-perfect. Tentatively #6 on my aforementioned list. Fiscuteanu and Gheorgiu give 2 of the decade's finest performances. While the film isn't funny all the way to the end, there is some humor in the first 30 or so minutes. Don't let the title and synopsis fool you.


Requiem for a Dream -

I recently learned that it's thought of highly by a good number of OKPs and decided to give it another go. I thought it was okay the first time and my evaluation is the same now. Burstyn!


Black Dynamite -

For me, funniest flick since The 40 YOV. Possibly top 20 of the past decade.


Veronica Mars Season 2 -

Not as taken by it as I used to be. Still, highly entertaining and funny though. The writing is first-rate. Anyone that likes good mystery should watch the series.

Brazilian friend of mine hipped me to these 2 films. Both were really really cool. I liked Redbelt a little more but only cuz I'm a sucker for the samurai one-man-against-all storylines.

-----------------------

A Single Man - enjoyed the look of the film in the beginning; agree with whoever said the younger kid was miscast

Cafe Lumiere - had the DVD for years; finally got through it in one sitting; girl was kind of odd looking; nothing really stuck with me, but then that song got stuck in my head; really want to see it again now

Saw all of the following in a theater at USC:

Baton - rotoscoped film by Shunji Iwai, Ryuhei Kitamura, and produced by one of the guys behind Afro Samurai; it was cool I guess

Hana and Alice - haven't seen All About Lily Chou-Chou yet, but I have the DVD; the two girls were cute, but this film made me feel like a perv at times

Air Doll - need to watch it again, but thought it was pretty good; actually want to see it again unlike his other films

Eureka - had this DVD for years as well, but it's like 3 1/2 hours; not sure I liked it as much as I thought I would

Sad Vacation - need to see Eureka before seeing this; need a few days to think about this one

>Cafe Lumiere - had the DVD for years; finally got through it
>in one sitting; girl was kind of odd looking; nothing really
>stuck with me, but then that song got stuck in my head; really
>want to see it again now

It's such a spare and quotidian flick that it's seemingly about nothing. I like the way I react to the flick which is like a cup being filled with water drip by drip.


>Air Doll - need to watch it again, but thought it was pretty
>good; actually want to see it again unlike his other films

I make it a point to watch After Life at least once a year, and I'll probably do the same with Still Walking. Really want to see what Bae Du-na does with her role in Air Doll. You've seen Linda Linda Linda?


>Eureka - had this DVD for years as well, but it's like 3 1/2
>hours; not sure I liked it as much as I thought I would

I used to really like it.

>>Cafe Lumiere - had the DVD for years; finally got through
>it
>>in one sitting; girl was kind of odd looking; nothing really
>>stuck with me, but then that song got stuck in my head;
>really
>>want to see it again now
>
>It's such a spare and quotidian flick that it's seemingly
>about nothing. I like the way I react to the flick which is
>like a cup being filled with water drip by drip.

I started to like it because it reminded me of riding the trains in Japan.

>>Air Doll - need to watch it again, but thought it was pretty
>>good; actually want to see it again unlike his other films
>
>I make it a point to watch After Life at least once a year,
>and I'll probably do the same with Still Walking. Really want
>to see what Bae Du-na does with her role in Air Doll. You've
>seen Linda Linda Linda?

I've seen The Host and Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, but don't really remember Bae in those. I'm not into Korean girls, but she's one of the best looking girls I've ever seen. Has she had any work done to her face? If she's in Linda Linda Linda then I have to check it out.

>>Eureka - had this DVD for years as well, but it's like 3 1/2
>>hours; not sure I liked it as much as I thought I would
>
>I used to really like it.

Maybe I would've liked it more if I was sitting in those ArcLight seats. Maybe it's because I saw it for the first time like 10 years after it came out, and I've seen a bunch of films from Japan already.

>>>Air Doll - need to watch it again, but thought it was
>pretty
>>>good; actually want to see it again unlike his other films
>>
>>I make it a point to watch After Life at least once a year,
>>and I'll probably do the same with Still Walking. Really
>want
>>to see what Bae Du-na does with her role in Air Doll.
>You've
>>seen Linda Linda Linda?

>I've seen The Host and Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, but don't
>really remember Bae in those. I'm not into Korean girls, but
>she's one of the best looking girls I've ever seen. Has she
>had any work done to her face? If she's in Linda Linda Linda
>then I have to check it out.

She doesn't have much to do in tH and SfMV. She's great in Take Care of My Cat which is a relatively criminally neglected flick. But she really shines in Linda Linda Linda in which she gives a funny and absolutely charming performance. I'm not taken with LLL overall but the scenes that work for me are some of my faves of the past decade.

It even won a Razzie

When I wasn't turning the sound down I was very entertained by James Caan's uncanny ability to consistently crack me with his delivery in asking rhetorical questions throughout the film.

"What?...Did someone else just walk in the room & you're talkin to them?"

Only James Caan can deliver a line like this. Reminded me a lot of Robert De Niro in Heat. Noticed a lot of things here that I had seen in many of Mann's later crime flicks. Especially Heat. The cinematography, phone conversations, meets, tough talk, one-liners, bad editing, etc...etc...

All in all not bad but it sorta lost its mojo towards the end.