serene’s posterous

This is one of those movies that you have got to pay close attention, otherwise you might get a little lost.  I guess I rely on subtitles a lot, and when I don't have it, it is more difficult for me to follow what's going on in the movie.  The acting was excellent.  Rachel Weiss is luminous, Ralph Fiennes is reserved and Bill Nighy is exceptionally slimy.  It was a good, thought-provoking thriller without the constant stream of action-movie staples.  But this isn't a movie you would want to watch when you want something lighthearted. 

A frothy and enjoyable movie set in London just before WWII.  Amy Adams was luminous and irresistibly charming in her role as Delysia Lafosse, a singer juggling three lovers.  Frances McDormand plays the title character with verve.  Both Lee Pace and Ciaran Hinds were charming too.  I think I just love movies with a touch of whimsy...and of course happy endings.

This was an absorbing thriller.  The acting was good all round.  Don Cheadle was particularly good as Samir Horn.  Is he with the terrorists or a double agent in deep cover?  His acting is never showy, but is nevertheless powerful in its nuances.  There's a lot going on in the movie but it is definitely worth watching.

I guess the movie was mindlessly entertaining.  Since I watched the Transformers cartoon and played with some of the toys when I was a kid, I was mildly interested in how Michael Bay will update it for the big screen.  The action scenes were good, particularly at the start during the attack on the army base, and some bits at the end.  But the movie felt too long, and it sagged in the middle.  I find Shia LaBeouf really irritating for some reason and the crazy amount of product placement was annoying.  All those GM vehicles.  Bumblebee is a Volkswagen Beetle not a Camaro!  And that long lingering shot of the Panasonic SD card was particularly gratituous.

I was in that kind of a mood so I ended up rewatching bits of The Lake House, a preposterous romantic movie starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves.  The thing about these romantic movies, they sometimes have great music.  The Clientele's (I Can't Seem To) Make You Mine opens the movie.  It is a lovely ballad, off their Strange Geometry album.

This is a fan made video of the song using scenes from The Lake House - so it starts with cheesy audio from the movie, and has cheesier scenes from the movie.  The song starts from 0:25.

A documentary by Werner Herzog about Antarctica, and it isn't about
"fluffy" penguins. It is narrated by Herzog, with his observations
made in a deadpan manner. The interviews with various people that
populate Antarctica were interesting - what kind of people would chose
to work at the end of the world? The underwater scenes were
otherworldly. And you wonder about that one penguin heading towards
the mountains.

The Counterfeiters is a German/Austrian movie about the secret plan of
the Nazis to destabilize the economies of the allies by flooding their
economies with forged currencies. The movie focuses its attention on
Salomon Sorowitsch (played by Karl Markovics), a Russian Jew, who is
considered the world's best counterfeiter. Another key character is
Adolf Burger who is an idealist and sabotages the operation to delay
the forgery of the dollar. One of the key questions of the movie was:
is it morally wrong to provide services (in this case - using the
talent for counterfeiting) that help the Nazis in return for survival
and a less harsh life in the concentration camps?
 
Karl Markovics was excellent in this complex role. Although he is a
criminal and his sense of self-preservation is strong, he has a code
of conduct. He bears the burden of this moral dilemma.

I liked this movie. It has a whimsical feel and pretty set design.
The costumes that Penelope, played by Christina Ricci, wore were
especially lovely. I want that purple coat, with the great sleeves
and buttons!

I didn't give the movie my full attention, but it is the usual based
on a "true" story about an inspirational teacher. This time, Antonio
Banderas stars as Pierre Dulaine, a ballroom dance teacher that
inspires a bunch of rebellious high school detention students. The
movie was very formulaic, following an expected trajectory to the big
dance contest at the end. I don't think the movie was all that good,
and the dancing wasn't all that fun to watch either.

It was a silly comedy but enjoyable. I used to watch the old TV
series on reruns, so I had fond memories of the slightly incompetent
spy with the phone in his shoe. Steve Carrell did a great job with
his deadpan delivery. The plot didn't amount to much, but that
probably isn't the point of the movie. And yes, nuclear isn't
pronounced as "nu-cu-lar".