Haven’t written a movie review in a while. I had started one or two, but I just didn’t have enough to say or I was too lazy to come up with anything to say to make it worth posting. I’ve seen a good handful of movies since my last review. Some good. Some bad. Some so-so. I think there’s gonna be some spoilers so watch out!

Atonement
I missed like the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, but I don’t think I missed anything that vital. I thought it was a story about a love strong enough to overcome the trials of war and soldiering. The whole time I’m thinking that it’s all about Robbie and Cecilia (I came in at the part where he’s typing that explicit letter and you see in humongous letters on the screen: “In my dreams I kiss your cunt, your sweet wet cunt.” That’s a priceless moment right there), but it’s actually more about Cecilia’s little sister, Briony. After some misunderstandings and a little jealousy on her part, Briony accuses Robbie of raping her cousin and he’s sent to prison. Three years later, he’s able to get released but at the cost of signing up for the military in World War II. Cecilia has never forgiven Briony and the little sister has matured and realized her mistake. The rest of the movie follows Robbie trying to make it back home and Briony serving in the nursing corps. There’s a sort of twist in the ending concerning the fates of Robbie and Cecilia… and ultimately Briony. And it’s Briony in the end who is trying to atone for her mistake, because if it wasn’t for her, Robbie and Cecilia could have had the happiness together they deserved. As for the film aspect, the direction was pretty good and the actors did their job well. The music and scores were excellent, I think, and the theme of a typewriter plays big into it, since you hear big clacks of the typewriter at some pretty intense moments. My rating: 8/10.

No Country for Old Men
Holy shit. This movie is fucking nuts. I’m talking about the violence… it’s not so much action packed, but more about the way the killing is shown. They don’t pan away for a lot of the killing blows, and the villain, Anton Chigurh, certainly gets creative with a captive bolt pistol. And damn… Anton is one cold-blooded killer. He has a real intimidating presence and I actually felt a little fear whenever he was on screen. Now, the movie pretty much follows Anton, a hitman; Llewelyn Moss; and sheriff Tom Bell. Llewelyn finds a satchel filled with two million dollars and throughout the movie, he’s dodging Anton who is following him in order to get the money, killing everyone in his way mercilessly. Llewelyn is pretty smart and it’s interesting to see his cunning work when attempting to fight back or hid the stash. But Anton is relentless and promises Llewelyn that he would kill his wife if he didn’t hand over the money. Sheriff Bell is attempting to solve the string of murders in Anton’s wake, and tries to get Llewelyn’s wife to cooperate with him. I loved the action and the writing in the movie. And Anton is just fierce. However, my little beef is with the ending… Llewelyn ends up dead (though not killed by Anton), Anton gets away (after leaving Llewelyn’s wife’s house, not implying whether he killed her or not), and Sheriff Bell never encounters either of the other two at all and ends the movie with him talking about a dream he had. I think there are supposed to be some underlying themes in the movie, but it’s been a while since I seen it. I would definitely see this one again. I rate this movie: 9/10

Cloverfield
I wanted to write a whole post on this movie… OK, I’ll admit that I was just too damn lazy to. Anyway, if you haven’t seen this movie, check it out! I saw this movie twice, and it was just as good. I was psyched to see the movie for a couple reasons: 1) You don’t know exactly what to expect other than it’s a monster movie; 2) It’s presented through the view of a hand-held camera; 3) Lost co-creator, J. J. Abrams produced the movie; and 4) It just looked like a fun movie to see. They generated a lot of buzz around the movie with its tiny sneak preview a year ago… no one knew what it was about and rumors and speculation were rampant. I also thought it was interesting that they presented it through the documenting of a video camera, similar to the Blair Witch Project. I think it really worked to its advantage, because it really immerses you into their world, like you’re experiencing everything that they are on screen, seeing it through their eyes. The action gets a little shaky, but the direction was well put together and you see enough to know whats going on and the dire situation everyone is in. And omg… the MONSTER. I had no inclination of what it would look like, but the progression of the movie slowly introduced it and when it was finally revealed… I was like, “OH SHIT.” Crazy. There are a lot of elements in the movie I just thought were awesome, but I really would do you an injustice if I revealed all to you if you haven’t seen it. My rating: 10/10. Yeah, that’s right.

Charlie Wilson’s War
Yay, Tom Hanks! One of my favorite actors. And his character, Charlie Wilson, is pretty awesome himself. Alright, there was a lot of dialog in here that went over my head, so a lot of how Charlie did what he did kind of went in one ear and out the other. But the reasons for why he was doing it were pretty clear. While defeating the communists was the number one goal, helping out the people that were being slaughtered was more important to him. And it’s unfortunate that in the end, we didn’t follow through on helping Afghanistan rebuild. But other than that, the story worked really well. Philip Seymor Hoffman was brilliant, his character really worked well with Hanks’. Julia Roberts was okay, and I think the movie might have worked just as well without her character. But what’s this? ::gasp:: Amy Adams is in it too! I didn’t know that, and I was all like, “That’s gotta be her.” Hehehehe… I love her. And her character, while minor, was still great. I rate the movie: 9/10. And I gave it 2 extra points for Amy Adams alone.

How She Move
Oh geez. Move on and don’t waste money on this one. It’s not even worth talking about. 1/10.

Jumper
Saw this one last night. Don’t go in expecting an outstanding movie. I still think it’s fun, but I also think it fell through on some points. The film centers around the concept of “jumping” where people can teleport anywhere, anytime. The special effects are pretty cool to watch, and the action and creative use of ‘jumping’ (particularly, the driving scene in China) is awesome. I don’t really have any interest in Hayden Christensen after he killed those little Jedi kids, but I’ve got a thing for Rachel Bilson, knowing her as Summer from The O.C.. Samuel L. Jackson was cool too… although it’s weird to see him with so much white hair. And that’s probably all that I like about the movie. The story ran short on a lot of plot lines and fell through near the end. One is the fight between the main character, David Rice, played by Christensen, and Griffin. The fight was awesome, but really, there was no build up for it… it looked like they were going to team-up and do some cool stuff together, but the fight seemed rushed and needless. The whole thing with David and his mom was kind of lame too. Oh wooo… she’s one of the Paladin’s that hunt Jumpers. That could have been a cool thing to explore, but it was lame how in the end, she’s all like, “I’m only giving you a head start because I love you.” Whatever, like it’s no big deal. Blaaah… the story could have been really cool. Almost on the scale of Heroes. But it felt like it was just an excuse to show off cool teleporting effects. But overall, I thought it was a fun, kill some time, movie. Creative, but no depth, I guess. And yeah, Bilson needs to be in more movies… maybe together with Amy Adams? I shall bestow upon this movie a rating: 7/10.

Next movie? I dunno… I have a strange urge to go see Step Up 2. I haven’t seen the first one, but I’m diggin’ on the soundtrack… and that Briana Evigan? Yow. She’s hot.