life of david gale (2003)

kevin spacey is still best as a smarmy type of guy right? his attempts at other roles have usually failed but it's easy to forget how effective his face and voice were in se7en, the usual suspects, and american beauty. underrated voiceover prescence. the whole movie is underrated actually. maybe it's the subject matter but the movie is a must see that nobody's seen. superb acting all-around (laura linney and kate winslet both shine) and great plot to boot.

saved! (2004)

ten minutes into the movie, i thought we were heading into "classic" territory as saved! skewed the lifestyle of teen jesus lovers accurately and with great humor. any film that hinges on a virgin sleeping with her gay boyfriend in order to cure him sounds good to me. mandy moore is great, macaulay culkin is great, jena malone is pretty good. classic territory. then when the "message" starts to get in way of the satire, the movie goes downhill pretty quickly. but still worth viewing for the first hour or so.

because i said so (2007)

diane keaton must of had a field day "acting" in this movie. she's trying to be one of those over-bearing slightly loopy moms that have become almost commonplace. trouble is, we like diane better in more serious roles (see, family stone or something's gotta give). here she's thrust in situational/physical gags that don't quite work. oh right, and the movie sucks too. if not for the late hour and the lack of other options, i would have walked out around the 45 minute mark.

i swear i read a good review of this from my favorite movie critic, don't believe it.

the sound of music (1965)

i've been waiting to re-watch this guy forever. fabulous. great movie. nothing really to say about it. except "five things i now know about the sound of music." the 40th anniversay edition comes with all these extras i still need to watch. a must see and must buy.

brick (2005)

take all the conventions of a traditional film noir detective story but set it in a modern day (dingy) high school. clever right? it might be overly clever. the styling of this film is excellent, the acting isn't too bad, and everyone takes their roles -- and the stylized dialogue -- very seriously. you still kind of wish more happened though. it's an interesting idea but not exactly a great movie.