Horton Hears a Who

I liked this one a good bit. It was funny, I laughed aloud more than once. Olivia laughed aloud a lot. It maintained is Seussian feel. It avoided the cheap shot of letting the bad guy get beaten up a the end, with Horton being magnanimous all the way to the end. Just good stuff. It also celebrates the value of all people, regardless of their size or power or whatever. I enjoyed it. The bridge scene was probably one of my favorites. Another one I will enjoy watching again on cable.

Last Holiday

There wasn't anything terribly wrong with this. It was probably the same genre as Mad Money but it was not quite the same stupidness to it. Queen Latifah is fun and I like watching LL Cool J, who can't help but be cool. I also liked Gerard Depardieu. Easy, non challenging. Not much there, but not offensive.

The Bank Job

I liked this a lot. First of all, it was a heist film. I like heist films. And while the robbers in this film are not particularly adept, it still had the cool factor of Confidence or Snatch without the high gloss of The Italian Job or Ocean's Eleven, all of which I liked, but, truth be told, the less glossy I like more. Second, the film takes place in England, which means lots of British accents. Always a plus for me, added value, if you will. It starred Jason Statham, whom I like quite a bit, from The Italian Job and Snatch. It also saw a very good performance by Keeley Hawes. She did a fantastic job as Statham's wife, in love with her man and frustrated about his burglary. The story was based on actual events, which lended a cool feel to it. All things considered, a very good movie I look forward to seeing again.

Be Kind, Rewind

I liked this one too. It was a good weekend for movies. It was not the simple, kinda stupid movie I expected it to be. It was about community and gave a little hout out to the value of community and the value of old neighborhood stores, even though they are doomed to change. I like Mos Def a lot, even though he usually plays himself. I also like Jack Black as himself when he has good material to work with. The Fats Waller bit was good here, and there were several cool shots, indicating Michel Gondry's participation in the project. I did not like Mia Farrow's small role, but other than that, it was all good.

Definitely, Maybe

Well, here's the thing. When Ryan Reynolds isn't doing things like Waiting, I really like him. I thought he was good here. I also thought Isla Fisher was good. I like her, too. The story was interesting. I liked thinking about Abigail Breslin in the movie as being Olivia's age. I could imagine her doing some of that stuff. Not all of it, but some of it. I liked the way the story was told. I liked the connections to the Clinton campaign. I liked the ending. Maybe it was facile, but I enjoyed it. And, I thought Isla Fisher was very good, as was Reynolds, as was Elizabeth Banks. Enjoyable, easy movie.

Shoot 'Em Up

This was somewhat entertaining, though it certainly felt more like satire than an actual action flick. I like Paul Giamatti and he was good here as a terrible bad guy. Clive Owen was also good as a terrible good guy. This was all about guns and violence. Ridiculous things: a carrot was a murder weapon more than once, Owen participated in major gun battles while delivering a baby, having sex, and the standard dropping down the middle of a stairwell, he used a gun to cut the umbilical cord in the aforementioned delivery, he used a gun to make a merry go round turn so that the target on the merry go round would not be so easy a target for Giamatti, etc. Not much funny, not much actual story, mostly just gun battle after gun battle after gun battle. I'm glad I saw it. I won't need to see it again.

Hannah Montana ...

This was not terrible. Ah parenthood.

Semi Pro

This was not a very good movie, it seemed poorly edited, the story was kinda silly. However, it did make me laugh out loud a couple of times and it's not like I was expecting Citizen Kane. Ithought Andre Benjamin was typically good. I thought Woody was believable. I thought Mara Tierney played Abby from ER, which was surprising, I guess I expected more from her. Will Ferrell was good, if he was playing himself. So, over all, it was doable, but not worth a trip to the theater if it was on DVD.

And the Winners Are:

Best Supporting Female Role
Allison Janney, Juno

Best Supporting Male Role
Sam Rockwell, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Best Actress
Elle Page, Juno

Best Actor
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises (I mean naked fighting? Come on!)

Best Film
Juno

Worst Film
The Contract

Best Comedy
Knocked Up