Over the past year I've been netflixing Babylon 5 and it gets an awful lot better after season one, I think. Sinclair's 'acting' drove me up the wall in the first season.

I just rented Curse of the Golden Flower. So awesome with the betrayal and the colours and the pretty people killing each other. Plus flying assassins. Every ruler should have flying assassins at their disposal.

Too true, but I think in a way, Kevin Smith has more snap, crackle, pop to his than Quent. Still it would be fun.

I liked Step Up as well. Channing Tatum can dance his toes off for me anytime and it was a definite step up (haha) from Save the Last Dance, and similar movies. Loved the final dance and cheered when >>he was accepted to the school.<< Plus, Channing & I share a birthday although I"m *several* years older! Apparently, he was in the first season of So You Think You Can Dance so he has real dance "cred."

I tend to buy movies instead of rent them, but I'm watching Wasabi, and words cannot express the love I have for Jean Reno. *runs to Unusual Celebrity Crushes thread.*

I prefer Tarantino. But thats just me.

My fave example of this is a doc PBS did a couple of years ago on the wives of Henry Tudor. At one point Henry was dancing with a Boleyn (dont remember which one) and they showed Katherine with this awesome "Oh no he didn't" bitchface.

I rented Casino Royal, The Queen, and King Arthur. I watched Casino Royal with my brother and mom and we all loved it, especially the first 15 minutes that has that absolutely crazy chase scene. The Queen I have not yet watched, but from all the good things people here are saying about it, I'm not worried. As for King Arthur, I rented it because of teh pretteh!

The Good Shepherd. I didn't have high hopes, but frankly it was pretty bleh. Matt Damon is a great actor, so I'm blaming his totally empty performance on utterly stilted dialogue and a script that didn't give his character any kind of depth. I felt the same way about Angelina's character; no there there. Which was a shame, because it was a chance for her to do something other than her usual stone cold or stone cold crazy bitch role. Very disappointing, since the cast and the direction was strong. The story was just too weak and boring. I know it wasn't gonna be Bourne, but movies about the CIA have to be interesting and suspenseful, dammit. Not tedious, long, and unworthy. It picked up a little at the end, but there was a good hour and a half where I don't think anything was happening. Thumbs down.

I think I put that in my netflix queue so now I am wondering if I should remove it. I have heard that it was kind of iffy and empty from others.

Thank You For Smoking - Aaron Eckhart was great, and the storyline was sharp and well written. The supporting actors were all great as well.

The Squid and The Whale - not as funny as I had hoped it would be. Still very well written though, and Jeff Daniels was a totally believable arrogant asshole who needed to be slapped several times. The actor playing the oldest son was also excellent in his mimicry of his father's (Jeff Daniels' character) snooty opinions and mannerims.

I saw a few minutes of that move on Starz. I was surprised to see Rachel Griffiths (aka Brenda Chenowith) had a role in this film. Now I'll have to watch it just for her... and the pretty young people of course ;).

Anyway...

-Because I Said So. Such annoying characters. The only ones I could tolerate were the ones played by Lauren Graham and Stephen Collins. The rest were either irritating beyond belief or severely fucked up. And yet... it was oddly entertaining. Go figure.

-Freedom Writers. Really good; I was really surprised by it. The cast gave some great performances. The movie wasn't as sappy as I expected it to be, though there were a few places where I rolled my eyes.

You will not be disappointed as he's often shirtless in that movie (and the film itself is pretty darn good).

And now I have to bump Step Up--also because of Mr. Tatum.

I finally finally actually watched Agnes and His Brothers very different and unusual, but I loved that the most well adjusted person in the whole movie is the transexual, the guy who played Agnes was really lovely and fantastic.

Also finally caught both best actress nominees in The Queen and Notes on a Scandal, and hard pressed I'd have given it to Dame Judi. I was rather underwelmed by The Queen not because it wasn't well done, but because it was just sort of lacking narrative drive, and all I could really think about the whole time was Eddie Izzard going "What on EARTH is that?".

NOAS was high class *trash*, oh the tawdry melodrama of it all, sensationally presented in ever sense of the word. I thought Bill Nighy's performance was one of the most overlooked of last year, small yes but outstanding.

He will always get a pass from me for Love, Actually but if I'm being honest with myself I really thought he chewed the scenery to a fine pulp in this film.

Agreed all over. I didn't love the movie itself; it didn't really seem to have a central plot, exactly, but Robert was amazing (when he's on, he's on) and Channing blew my mind. He cracked me up in She's the Man, but he's so intense and hardcore in this. (I read that in the scene where >>Dito's father has the seizure and Antonio freaks out and ends up throwing the chair, that part was unscripted and Channing just went with it; I totally love method-y stuff like that.<< Now I gotta rent Step Up and stuff.

Next for me is The Science of Sleep -- I adore Gael and I love Charlotte as a singer ("5:55" is so dreamy and nice), so I'm hoping I like this one a lot. It's sort of trippy and French, so I think I probably will.

I know, seriously. I work at a movie store, and a lot of people have been renting Pan's with their kids, and I keep trying to let them know, sorta, somehow. It's a great movie, IMO, but god, I was traumatized/freaked out, and I'm 19.

EDIT:

He'll basically always be Billy Mack to me. My friend and I walked out of At World's End going "Kids, don't buy drugs..."

As opposed to every one else? He was the least over the top and the only character that felt as if he were *real*, not just a salacious stereotype.

You know how some people think there's a famous literary caharcter actors were born to play?

Bill Nighy was born to play the Cowardly Lion.