Movie Week Part One

I thought I would take the next few posts and report about the movies I've watched recently on DVD.

Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class) is a science-fiction animated comedy about a little trash bot that lives on human uninhabitable, 2700 AD Earth. His job is to take out the trash. He meets EVE, a search robot, and follows her on the adventure of his life. It was cute, cute, cute.

Although I had never heard of Iron Man, the Marvel Comics hero, before the movie, I thought it was well made. I cannot think of a better choice to play Tony Stark/Iron Man than Robert Downey, Jr. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his secretary, Pepper, and Terrence Howard plays Rhody - his best friend and colleague. The premise is that Stark is a wealthy philanthropist and genius inventor who develops a suit of indestructible armor that he uses to thwart evil. It was very good.

Lust Caution, in Mandarin with English subtitles, is about a young woman who is recruited into a theater company that turns out to be a front for a revolutionary group. Her job is to get close to a powerful political figure in order to facilitate his assassination. It is set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai in World War II. It was alright.

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising is about a young boy who happens to be an immortal warrior and who is the only one who can save humanity from the dark forces of evil. The only two people I recognized in the film were Frances Conroy and Ian McShane. It is based on a series of books by Susan Cooper. It was pretty good, and it is definitely a family movie.

In Swing Vote, Kevin Costner plays this loser dad whose vote will determine the winner of the presidential election between the incumbent, played by Kelsey Grammer, and the challenger, played by Dennis Hopper. There were many other movie stars and real-life people (playing themselves) in this cute, little comedy. I liked it.

The Edge of Heaven is a complicated drama that tells the interconnected story of six people. It is set in Germany and Turkey, and told in those respective languages with English subtitles. A widower invites a prostitute to live with him. After an incident in which she dies, the widower's grown son travels to Germany in the hopes of finding and helping out her daughter. It was alright.

The Devil Came on Horseback is a documentary about the atrocities in the Sudan. Brian Steidle, a former US Marine captain, joined the African Union peacekeeping force and travelled to Darfur. He witnessed and chronicled the horror, then published his pictures worldwide. His efforts brought awareness of the problem to the forefront, and defeated the Sudanese government's denials about the genocide. It was very interesting.

Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman, Jeremy Piven and Richard Jenkins star in The Kingdom. When American forces in Saudi Arabia are attacked, a group of U.S. counter-terrorism investigators travel to Riyadh and attempt to capture the perpetrators. It was good.

The Ex is another movie with Jason Bateman, as well as Amanda Peet and Zach Braff. A couple is forced to move back to the wife's (Peet) hometown, where the husband (Braff) takes a job in his FIL's advertising company. The star employee is the wife's now wheelchair bound former one night stand. Apparently, he wants to steal the wife back and to remain the star of the company. It was way silly.

Zodiac is based on the real events surrounding the Zodiac killer who committed a series of murders in the San Fransisco area in the late 1960s. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo (my secret boyfriend) and Robert Downey, Jr. star in this movie. It was interesting.

The Falcon and the Snowman is also based on real events. Set in the 1970s, this movie is about two longtime friends who are caught selling secrets to the Russians. Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn star in this movie that is an oldie, but I just got around to seeing it. It was good.

William H Macy, Adam Arkin and James Cromwell star in A Slight Case of Murder, is about a powerful movie critic (Macy) who accidentally kills his lover and in trying to cover up the incident, unleashes a series of madcap events. I would consider it a dark comedy. It was okay.

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama is an interesting documentary in which a reporter asks the Lama philosophical, yet practical, questions. It was good.

Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles and Mia Farrow star in The Omen, a remake of the 1970s horror flick about the birth of Satan's child and his role in the death of civilization. It was good, and I think even better than the original.

Whew! Done....Tune in soon for another installment.

MK out.