He seemed to take Chris Rock's joke about him at the Oscars with humor, and he also played off his activist image when he hosted SNL. (You know, the one where Sinead O'Conner tore up the picture of the pope) Plus, the similarity between his Mystic River and War of the Worlds makes you think he had some meta-joke in mind where people keep trying to kill him, and he resurfaces in other movie spouting his blue-collar philosophizing on the supernatural.

In my head, this is exactly what happened. Because he's just that awesome.

No commercials! NO MERCY!

Tonight's rental theme was magic. I could live without ever seeing The Illusionist again, but I believe The Prestige to be a work of art. I particularly loved how the imagery >>foreshadows<< the secret of >> the prestige. When the child begins to cry because the "brother" bird has been killed it suggests much of the movie's future events without being too overt. Fine, fine work. All the cage imagery is reminiscent of the film's final moment as well. << I'd watch it again, definitely.

Jesus Christ Superstar: my husband's choice because we saw it on I Love the 70's and thought it looked like it might be fun. It was really interesting to see Jesus' later life depicted in a rock opera. The actor who played Jesus seemed intent on sounding like Steve Perry for some reason. We cannot stop singing the "what's the buzz, tell me what's happening" song after seeing this movie.

The Hitcher: my choice because I kept hearing about how great the original was after the remake was released. I was a little disappointed. Rutger Hauer was deliciously evil and menacing, but it was difficult to root for C. Thomas Howell's character because he made a series of stupid decisions throughout the movie.

Notes on a Scandal. Those were some damn fine performances. The only thing was that Judi Dench's character >>made my partner squirm a bit, in that "I hate when lesbians are portrayed like this!" kind of way. Which I agree with, but I tended to think of it in this movie as more along the lines of, hey, creepy stalker woman minus any particular sexuality. I mean, I would have been creeped out by it regardless of the genders of the people involved.<<

I watched Bobby this weekend. I thought it was well done for an ensemble piece. I found myself interested in all of the different story lines. I have no idea how well (or poorly) this did in the theater, but it seemed to me like the kind of movie best viewed at home.

Mean Creek. Very suspenseful and attention-getting, but there were a few instances where I questioned the characters' actions. Granted, most of these characters were really young (13-17 years old, I think) so I guess I was supposed to expect them to make bad choices. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie very much.

Up next is something less serious: The Covenant. I heard the only good thing about this movie is all the beautiful young actors, but we'll see.

We saw it in the theater and we both really enjoyed it as well. I don't think it did well at the box office at all, however.

I watched C.S.A.: Confederate States of America, which was well observed and hilarious in a deeply sobering way. Most of it's power comes from how *little* the hypothetical CSA can be distinguished from the actual America that supposedly moved forward after the war. From a purely filmaking standpoint it won't knock anyone out, but it was damn damn fine satire, exectued perfectly.

Next up: Agnes and His Brothers.

Loooooooved it. Anything with a Culkin is okay by me. And yes; I think the whole point of the movie was how lost and scared those kids felt and how they just didn't know what to do. Similar to Alpha Dog, now that I think of it.

My sister's boyfriend was obsessed with seeing that movie. he wanted me to see it with him, and I was made very damn nervous. Luckily he had a cold, but seriously, of all the movies one could really want to see, why Underworld with man-witches?

...Um you may have to have a talk with your sister about boyfriend. I'm just saying. Theres something weird about desperatly wanting to go see on of the most homoerotic movies of the year (and it really has no redeeming values except for the HoYay! and pretty boys) with your girlfriends brother. I'm thinking of Andy Samberg in that "My Brother-in-law Ray" digital short.

I rented Marie Antoinette, and I hate Kirsten Dunst with the fiery irrational hate of a thousand suns, but she was really good in the movie when she wasn't talking. No, really. They made her look really pretty, and a lot of the movie is just her sort of taking stuff in, like "who are these crazy people and why are they helping me dress?" and she does it well. Then she opens her mouth and it's all over.

The costume porn was awesome.

Dude, that movie only wishes it were Underworld with man-witches! It was seriously, seriously bad. Seriously. I was looking up words in the dictionary the other day and I swear I saw the poster for this movie in the entry for "predictable." Or maybe it was "unoriginal." I don't remember.

However, the boys were very pretty indeed. The lead man-witch (heh) was heart stoppingly gorgeous, in fact, and I kind of wish he'd get more roles just so I can look at him some more. But I don't know if The Pretty is worth sitting through this, though. Straight men and lesbians really don't have a reason to watch this movie unless they're Friday Night Lights fans who happen to be Taylor Kitsch completists.