in the mood for love

wong kar wai makes beautiful movies, and this is perhaps his most famous movie stateside. with the recent release of the semi-sequel “2046,” i had to see “in the mood for love.” and it was everything i expected: slow, moving and beautiful down to every last detail. i think “mood” here is the operative word. if you’re not in the right mood for a movie like this, i can see sleep winning out over attention, but if you’re in the right mood, the movie is pretty amazing.

dark days

the tunnel people of new york have shanty homes to live in -- complete with tvs, electricity and all sorts of "junk" that were thrown away by the people upstairs. this zero budget production documents the lives of a small band of homeless who live in the amtrack tunnels underneath penn station. make sure you watch the deleted scenes and the making of featurette to get the full behind-the-scenes story. everything about this film is really amazing, even if you'll be looking for subtitles for the first ten minutes.

broken flowers

talk about disappointing. i like jim jarmusch, i like the droll bill murray. i liked the idea of jarmusch and murray teaming up for a relatively accessible movie. and broken flowers certainly seemed accessible from the plot synopsis, but in reality, it's accessible only because there's nothing there. nothing to grasp onto, no characters, no plot, no catharsis, nothing. that may miss the point of jarmusch movies, but i'd rather not see his take on the romantic comedy -- one without any romance, comedy, or anything else worth watching.

sky high

i have a weakness for superhero movies. my proudest possession is the new x-men poster on my wall -- framed no less. so when a movie about a high school for superheroes-in-training arrived, i had to see it. and for me, it was a glorious experience. great casting, great use of superhero powers, fun riffing on the "superhero vs sidekick" dynamic, spectacular as far as the child in me was concerned. however, if you're not into superheroes and/or under the age of fifteen, i'd maybe pass on sky high. your loss though.

pushing tin

pushing your patience is more like it. i can't say that this movie's outright bad but at the end of the day you're left wondering, "wow, did i just totally waste my time?" i fell asleep for half an hour and didn't miss a beat. the only really good thing here is cate blanchett's acting, and the incendiary prescence of angelina jolie -- even if her nipple was gratuitously exposed. i don't think seeing angelina's nipple has ever been so underwhelming.

this is the movie where billy bob and angelina met, so i guess it's got some historical significance, if nothing else.

cold mountain

if someone had told me that the screenplay for cold mountain was adapted by anthony minghella (english patient), i would have skipped the movie. sadly, nobody did. so i suffered through a confusing opening, an intriguing middle, and then a terrible last act that just defies all rationality. if ever someone shouldn't have died at the end of a movie, it was jude law in cold mountain. and i normally love it when the hero dies.

on the other hand, it was fun to see which b-plus actor showed up around each corner. i had no clue this movie contained so many familiar faces. there were a good half-dozen "hey, it's [insert full name]!" moments.