Updated for The Box and Bruno:
WATCHMEN
I'm not sure how to rate this. It's good but not great. Enjoyable. A worthy adaptation. Probably the closest we'll come to a great film version of Watchmen. But there are still flaws... flaws that would always be there because it was a comic, not a film. But yeah... it's good enough for me. 4 might be too high but 2 might be too low, so I think 3 is right for me. The movie made me realise even more how brilliant the story Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons have created is and I doubt I will ever see this again as I'd rather read the graphic novel instead.
MONSTERS VS. ALIENS
Predictable story but great animation and a brilliant voice cast. Really enjoyable and a lot of fun.
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
A lot of potential that is completely wasted. A movie that is sometimes about Wolverine but mainly all over the place. I had low expectations and even I was incredibly disappointed. I can't believe filmmakers get away with stuff like this after comic movies like Iron Man and The Dark Knight.
STAR TREK
I loved it. I had high expectations for this movie and it met them. It is flawed but so well done that the flaws don't matter - incredibly enjoyable and just a fantastic experience all over.
ANGELS & DEMONS
A decent movie with a pretty good cast that seem to be wasted. It's entertaining and an average thriller and worth seeing but I doubt I'll ever bother seeing it again. Tom Hanks deserves to be in better movies than this.
STATE OF PLAY
An interesting thriller and an entertaining movie. Some of it does get bogged down with the twists but the excellent cast makes up for it. Like DSF, I now want to see the original mini series and it has me interested in a career in journalism. I don't know if it will stand up on repeated viewings so it may lose a point in the future.
TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
I didn't like it as much as the first one but it was still an entertaining action movie. Some of it was annoying and some of it was actually really funny. Not sure if the comedy is a good or a bad thing. Wanted to see more of Isabel Lucas (Alice, the Decepticon Pretender that went after Sam at college). Some really epic fights and amazing special effects. The more I think about this though, the more I think how different it would be if I got a crack at it. And it sort of disappoints me that this is what we have to settle with.
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
While some of it is really stupid, it doesn't take you out of the movie and the cast's charm and strength makes up for any mistakes. The movies are mediocre adaptations from the books (I wonder how well I would enjoy them if I hadn't read the books, for example) but I really like the style and the tone of each movie as the series progresses. While I disagree with the idea of splitting the last movie into two, I will see them, probably enjoy them, but probably never have a desire to see them again. More than anything, these movies make me realise how much I enjoyed the books, and I guess that's a good enough reason for seeing the movie.
PUBLIC ENEMIES
I was really excited for this but was prepared for disappointment when I heard the mixed reviews. I was always worried about Mann and his camera and while it did get pretty annoying sometimes, I got used to it and I think this is the first time I've been fine with it. I really liked the cast and while there wasn't much characterization, it was still a lot of fun. And those guns were badass.
CORALINE
This was good. I think I still prefer The Nightmare Before Christmas but this was still a great animated movie. And man... some of that animation was amazing. I loved how unique it was. It was like Selick's previous animated movies on another level. The story was good too (Neil Gaiman knows how to tell a story) though there were a few iffy bits which I don't think were explained well enough or at all. However, these were few and far between and didn't subtract from the overall charm of this film.
DISTRICT 9
One of the most unique movies I've seen in years and incredibly well done. A lot of effort and thought has been put into this movie and it's really fun. Great special effects and action while remaining quite intelligent. Very recommended.
KNOWING
This movie has an interesting idea but is let down by basically everything else in the movie. The cast is wasted (Nicholas Cage is terribly boring and Rose Byrne is wasted), the special effects are iffy (the plane sequence was fantastic and I thought the train sequence was poor, but the stuff at the end was neat) and all the other technical bits (lighting, sound etc.) seemed really off for some reason. I wanted to like this but I just couldn't.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
I'm a massive Tarantino fan so I might be biased, but I loved this movie. If you thought Death Proof was weak, then you'll be glad Tarantino is back. This is so essentially Tarantino yet so completely different - I don't know how to explain it. The characters, dialogue and soundtrack are just as fantastic as they've always been. My audience loved it and applauded at the end, which is a very rare occasion in my cinema-going history here. I don't know if it's his masterpiece but it's up there. Great movie and now I enter the depressingly long wait until his next, and I fear this may be his last...
GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT
I thought this was pretty mediocre until the point where Sinestro goes to the Qwardian Weaponer and gets his yellow ring. And then I started paying attention. It got pretty awesome. I think most of this would be perfect for the live action Green Lantern movie. I hope they don't **** that up. Anyway, the voice cast was of a particular high quality, especially Victor Garber as Sinestro, who was badass.
OBSERVE AND REPORT
I think this might be brilliant. It's so radical and yet so simple. For some reason, I thought this was another Judd Apatow production (I guess because Seth Rogen was involved) but now that I see it's by this Jody Hill guy, I want to go back and watch The Foot Fist Way and Eastbound & Down. The cast was unusual yet perfect in their small doses and I continue to really like Seth Rogen, no matter how deranged he becomes. I'm not sure if this is a great movie (or even a particularly good one) but it seemed so different to every other comedy I've seen recently, and I like it for that.
ADVENTURELAND
This was really sweet. I am a fan of these recent teenage drama comedy things (Superbad, Juno etc.) because I am at a similar age and they make me rethink things I've experienced in my life and whether I did the right thing or if I'm on the right path. The soundtrack and cast were great (especially the lead guy who I've never seen before - I guess he's the new Michael Cera?) and I'm really looking forward to Mottola's next movie, Paul.
I LOVE YOU, MAN
For such a simple movie, this was surprisingly good. I thought this was really funny and I laughed at it a lot more than any other comedy this year. Jason Segel and Paul Rudd have great chemistry together and I'd love to see the two together in an insane adventure movie in the vein of Pineapple Express. Some of the stuff Rudd said was ridiculously hilarious. I would be his friend.
CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE
This was ridiculous. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. I like these movie for their insanity but I got bored during this one. Jason Statham is cool but he's cooler in movies like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, where he's much more subtle rather than movies like Crank and The Transporter where he's allowed to go nuts. Amy Smart is nice but I wish Statham would have chopped Bai Ling's head off. She was so annoying.
UP
This was fantastic. I think it's probably the best Pixar movie I've ever seen. I loved all the characters, the storyline was simple but brilliant, and the animation was fantastic. The moment where the balloons first pop out of the house and it lifts off the ground... magical. Total Miyazaki moment right there. Pixar continue to be the masters of animated films and are constantly proving that they are an entirely credible medium. Every Pixar movie I see inspires me to try and write something on that level and I thank them for the inspiration.
THE BOX
This could have been so good. The premise is amazingly simple yet brilliant - a mysterious man offers you a box with a button - press the button, you get $1 million... but someone dies. Do you press the button? I don't think I like Richard Kelly. Donnie Darko is an interesting movie but one I don't particularly enjoy. Southland Tales was an incomprehensible mess. The Box lies somewhere in between. Half of it is really good... and the other half is just boring, typical Richard Kelly stuff - weird **** that doesn't get explained. I can understand directors that do this in order for the audience to make up their own mind - Stanley Kubrick and 2001 comes to mind - but at least Kubrick had an idea for what 2001 was about. I don't know if Kelly does. He obviously has a lot of unique ideas but I think he needs to figure out what he's doing. He is talented and the movie is well directed but I just didn't care about it because I was wondering what the **** was going on for the whole time. You can't let the audience fill in the story three times in a row. I think that's a cheat. I have no desire to see it again.
BRUNO
This was pretty funny but it wasn't as good as Borat. While Borat seemed very real, Bruno seemed very set up - I got the impression that a lot of it was staged. I don't know if this is true or not but it sort of took me out of the movie. I still think Sacha Baron Cohen is brilliant and this was still an enjoyable movie but he has done better. Now that he's so well known, I am interested to see what he does next.
Hopefully I will see the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus soon.
