elizabeth

i've been trying to watch elizabeth for years. the oscar hype and awards this film received, plus the many nice things people have said about cate blanchett, seemed to make this movie a winner. once again, the oscars have led me astray. the movie is almost over-dramatic, with too few explanations for what is happening on-screen. without some historical knowledge on the viewer's end, it's very easy to lose the point of the movie. who are all these characters and exactly why is elizabeth surrounded by deception and turmoil? the movie won't tell you, wikipedia will.

sketches of frank gehry

i like to say that gehry is one of my favorite "architects." it's a self-aggrandizing statement. i know, maybe, five architects in total. still, i've always admired gehry's work and would love to see the guggenheim bilbao. i thought this movie would explain gehry's inspiration and methods. instead it made me like gehry less, as it seemed like he did more "found" architecture than anything with a particular vision. magical buildings, not so magical inspirations; the wizard had his curtain pulled.

murderball

i'd avoided this film for a long time because i figured you see one inspirational sports story you'd seen them all. and for the most part, i'm right. however, the characters here are pretty captivating and the stories and circumstances behind their current situation is very interesting. this is not a sports story, as the action scenes obscure the fact that quad rugby seems to be a game with very little defense. however, the film was able to make the players "cool." which is exactly what the participants wanted.

in one of the extras, the jackass crew hang out with some of the murderball stars -- and showing them a hell of a time. as steve-o says (paraphrased), "i'm always one stunt away from being paralyzed myself."

kicking and screaming

NOT to be confused with will ferrell's soccer comedy of the same name, kicking and screaming is about a group of 20-somethings trying to figure out life after college. noah baumbach's (the squid and the whale) first film is (overly) clever and has some nice moments but it didn't capture my attention for some reason. the characters are witty, but in a sort of annoying witty way. which is, i guess, part of the point. the structure of the story isn't engaging either.

the only reason i know about this movie is because espn's bill simmons said that it captured the zeitgeist better than singles or reality bites. so i had to see it for a comparison point. it's no reality bites, put it that way.

clue

a true classic. while some may be turned off by its somewhat slapsticky humor (of a kind i usually hate), the movie goes through everything so quickly that there's hardly time to dwell on the "bad" scenes. to think that they made a successful movie out of a popular board game, how great is that? just a fun movie all around.

i guess, maybe, if you don't know or enjoy clue, the movie could be a bust since it seems a bit "pointless." but if you don't know or enjoy clue, we probably shouldn't be friends anyway.