fog of war

interesting and well made, but a bit dull. i mean, it's interesting in historical context and as a film -- basically just an interview with robert mcnamara -- but you really have to know the period and the crises to really get everything out of the film. i'm not that well versed in mcnamara's legacy so it was educational to be sure, but also tepid at times.

enron: the smartest guys in the room

while superb documentaries are being made these days, (some) people are trying to do too much with them. stop the ironic music, titles, and random shots of random things. it doesn't make sense. keep the "art" out of it and just gimme the information; especially when dealing with something complex like the enron scandal. after getting the gist of what happened, the documentary quickly devolved into a bad television biography.

stranger than fiction

to be fair, i hate will ferrell; also, i only watched the back half of the movie. tragically, i watched the second half. even then, i did enjoy some of the little fight club type of screen tricks, some of the individual shots were very nice, and maggie gyllenhaal was less annoying than usual. the central conceit of the film is a great idea but executed to make people feel warm and fuzzy; which i hate.

casino royale

if this is the best of the "new" bond movies then just kill me now. the opening credits were the best part about this film and it was steadily downhill from there. okay, we get it, the daniel craig bond is muscular and manly. the poker scenes are horrific. everyone knows what texas hold'em is all about by now, do we really need some terrible dialogue about it? speaking of terrible dialogue, the whole movie is packed with it.

i was under the impression that this was a prequel of sorts. but apparently it's more of a "reset" and the previous 20 bond movies are not part of its continuity. oh, okay, now it makes sense. not.

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