deja vu

denzel washington is the man. unchanging, unwavering, unlimited. well, actually, he's only unlimited within his limits, thus limited; but you know what i mean. regardless of the movie, denzel is always denzel. stick him in a tight, convoluted (sort of) thriller that moves at a good pace and you get deja vu. it's nothing you haven't seen before -- poetic considering the title -- but it's still decently enjoyable. plus, i can't resist a movie involving time travel or attempted explanations of einstein-rosenberg bridges -- from adam goldberg no less.

for your consideration

hey, i'm in love with christopher guest as much as the next guy -- more probably -- but even i can admit that this effort was weak. perhaps the characters are becoming too familiar, the laughs less uproarious, the concepts thin; something was missing. this is still better than 80% of the crap out there, but many of the laughs fade quickly. fred willard is, as always, the star.

does anyone else think parker posey is on the verge of wasting her career? her turn in superman certainly didn't help her any, and posey is suddenly, incredibly, middle aged (on and off-screen).

the prestige

one of the few movies i've been able to look forward to during this crappy fall movie season, the prestige turned out to be finely acted and, for the most part, well constructed. some say that "the illusionist" was better, but i enjoyed this particular magician movie much more than that one. i thought the way christopher nolan did the (to many critics, superfluous) time jumping from scene to scene was seamless. a bit of suspension of disbelief is required but then again, it's about magic: believe or don't believe, enjoy or don't enjoy.

the book version that sounds pretty intriguing. and reading up on the real life nikola tesla is very educational.

man of the year

(we walked in half an hour after the movie had started)
no "wag the dog" or even a "dave," this movie wasn't terrible but there's hardly anything meaningful to say about it. it was semi-funny, semi-skewering, but mostly just floated along with no real impact. it does makes you think about our current political state ("red state, blue state, why can't we just be the united states?") but the provocative moments quickly cut to another one-liner or another scene.

robin williams is likeable though, and i usually find him super annoying.

the departed

inviting inevitable comparisons to the original (infernal affairs), i initially decided that i liked the re-make much better. more exposition, more guns (not necessarily a good thing), more overt moments. however, upon further contemplation, i think the two movies are incomparable. the hong kong version is quieter and more about what you don't see. the departed is brawny, loud, and slams you in the face. both are worthy of viewing but some of scorsese's choices didn't jive with me -- too obvious perhaps. then again, i didn't exactly love infernal affairs at the time either, so maybe i just need to re-watch both films.

moving the setting to boston was great, as it's really the most logical american city to set up this type of tale.