Movie reviews...

Yes. I am still working on finishing my movie lists. It is going to be a while until I have them all completed, so bare with me. I have the Academy Award Best Picture Winners, AFI's Top 100 Movies, and the 82nd Annual Academy Award Nominees, plus many more lists which we need not get into today.

I have seen Inglourious Basterds, Up, An Education, Avatar, District 9, and A Single Man. But I have much more nominees I need to see in one month!

Here are some movies I have seen recently...

Tombstone (1993)
-Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer.
Wyatt Earp, his brothers, Virgil and Morgan, and Doc Holiday are retired in Tombstone, AZ when trouble comes a knockin. The Cowboys (the bad guys) are shootin women, newlyweds, sheriffs, bein scoundrels and they need to be stopped. But who could tame such unruly curs? Wyatt Earp, of course! Val Kilmer as the tuberculosis stricken Doc Holiday is amazing! I am really shocked he didn't at least get an Oscar nomination.


The Sting (1973)
-Robert Redford and Paul Newman.
These two actors together are just amazing. I personally like them better together in Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, but this is just a great movie. Two con men team up to seek revenge on a fallen friend. There are great twists and turns and you have know idea who is friends with whom. The ending is classic with the greatest Sting ever played!


Defiance (2008)
-Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.
This is a true story of four Jewish brothers who escaped the Nazis in Russia during World War II. They set up camp in the forest to survive. Their story got out and Jews went in search of living in freedom with them. Hundreds of Jews lived in the forest together and fought off the Nazis. In the end thousands of lives were saved because of the brothers' will to stay alive and help others.


The Last King of Scotland (2006)
-Forest Whitaker and James MacAvoy.
I am usually not a Forest Whitaker fan but he is fantastic as the Scottish obsessed Ugandan President, Amin. James MacAvoy, as Nicholas Garrigan goes to Uganda to be a doctor after graduating from a Scottish medical school and soon becomes Amin's personal physician. Amin turns out to be one of Uganda's worst rulers. This is based on the true events during his rule in the 1970's.


Yentl (1983)
-Barbara Streisand and Mandy Patinkin.
Musical. Check. Inigo Montoya. Check. Babs. Check. Even with all these great features, it is just an OK movie. Girl wants Jewish knowledge. Its forbidden. Girl pretends to be a boy. She falls in love with boy. Trouble ensues. Predictable.


Bright Star (2009)
-Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw.
A wonderful story about the poet John Keats and his love and muse, Fanny Brawne. This is a true love story about a poor writer in love with a beautiful fashionable girl. He is of course too poor to marry her, then tragedy hits and he becomes very sick. Her mother allowed them to be engaged at least. He died at the young age of 25 after just knowing Fanny for 3 years. The poem "Bright Star" was written about their relationship. This is a real tear-jerker.


District 9 (2009)
Before I saw this movie I thought, "Why did this get an Oscar nomination for best picture?" And then I saw it. WOW! It is such a new style of movie. It's like documentary, sci-fi, thriller, and love story all rolled into one. The editing and cinematography styles alone are so fantastic! Aliens land in Johannesburg, South Africa. They are kept in districts, but its now too over populated so they are moving them to a new camp. In the process, the man in charge of moving the "prawns" gets badly injured, and he begins to transforms into an alien. Still, I can only say WOW to describe this movie. I was pretty shocked it wasn't a video game first!


Phoebe in Wonderland (2008)
-Elle Fanning, Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Bill Pullman
This is a total sleeper film that I don't even remember hearing about when it came to the theaters. Thanks to Netflix insta-view I was able to watch it! Phoebe, Elle Fanning (who is fantastic), is a special little girl with a wonderful imagination. She is getting in trouble at school, until the unconventional theater teacher casts her as Alice in Wonderland. Her parents try to keep her happy while she tries to survive in the rule-stricken world around her. This is such an honest movie with heart about accepting people for who they are. Highly recommended!


Funny People (2009)
-Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan
This is a Judd Apatow movie? Named Funny People? So you think its gonna be hilarious, right? Not so much. Yes, there are dozens of funny people thrown around in the movie, but it's not that funny. I do like the fact that it's a nice dramedy about living life and no regrets, but maybe you shouldn't have named it something so obvious when the movie clearly isn't. All I can say is "Humph." Although, the classic Adam Sandler clips strewn about the movie are amazing!


I am now off to see A Single Man again so that Tony can see it this time! Again, it's the best movie I have seen in a really long time...