Critic's Corner

We've watched several movies over the past few months that I never commented on. I think we've finally caught up on watching the Best Movie nominations for last year's Oscar's (except for Munich, which neither of us wanted to see).

We had already seen Crash, which won Best Picture. I now can say with a clear conscience that I agree with them, although I must admit the reason is more about the themes of racism they explored more than anything else about the movie.

We saw Good Night, and Good Luck about three months ago. Here's where I have to admit pregnancy may have affected my normal movie watching skills. I thought there was waaaaayyy too much talking and was slightly bored by the movie, even falling asleep for a part of it. I loved the jazz singer all the way through, though. Jav thought it was better than I did. I probably need to give it another chance one day to see if it was just hormonal.

Truman held my attention all the way through, and I thought it was the next best nominated movie after Crash. You should watch just to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman's amazing transformation into Truman Capote. He is great - and deserved to win every Best Actor contest for last year. The story itself is riveting, especially since it's based on actual events. I found myself thinking about the movie for weeks afterwards, especially pondering the question - how would it make you feel to know that your biggest success, including money and fame, was caused by other people's tragedy? It got me to thinking about all the books and movies coming out about 9/11 right now. Any movie that gets my brain juices flowing that much will be always well-remembered.

We watched Brokeback Mountain last weekend. It was as good as everyone's told me, and the acting was tops. Heath Ledger's performance was so subtle and understated, but SO moving and powerful everytime he was on the screen. Seeing this movie definitely made me a fan of his for life. I thought the story itself was sweet, sad and poignant.

A couple of other Oscar nominated performances are worth a mention:

I tried to watch Syriana, but found it so complex and all-over-the-place that my muddled brain couldn't take it. Jav and my Dad both fought it through to the end, but were still confused about parts of the story. Plus it's hard for me to watch something that's so close to actual events taking place right now that are so upsetting.

The Constant Gardener, with Rachel Weisz that won Best Supporting Actress, was an example of a complex plot that was followable (is that actually a word?) It had a very intriguing story, amazing acting and directing, but the horribly upsetting subject matter of the African people and their daily life amidst war and poverty. I'm still really glad we saw it, though.

Now, the best movie we've seen during this time period came out in January 2006 (and the fact that we agreed on that point says alot). Match Point, directed by Woody Allen, was unexpectedly brilliant and totally not what we were expecting. First of all, I figuired Woody Allen would be in it, which he is not. I am a fan of some of Woody Allen's movies, and this movie most reminded me of Crimes and Misdemeanors, which is my second favorite behind Hannah and Her Sisters. But it's even better. I thought the movie was very much like an Alfred Hitchcock thriller. You were on the edge of your seat the whole time. And the way the story plays out with the narration of the main character is just genius.

Preview of Coming Attractions:
We have a French thriller called Cache, The Wedding Crashers and Finding Nemo (no, believe it or not we haven't seen it yet) to watch and review soon.