Thursday, March 01, 2007

Watchlist 2007

The Departed. Best Movie and Best Director, huh? I thought it was a good film, but I can't really say whether it's "Best Movie" material or not (having only seen Little Miss Sunshine among the other nominees). Everyone knows the premise: Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio as snitches. It was pretty exciting watching them try to avoid being discovered, although Matt Damon was generally smoother than DiCaprio, who just seemed harassed all the time.

Jack Nicholson stole the show, however. I was never really impressed by his acting in the two movies I saw him in (A Few Good Men and As Good As It Gets), but he was very good in this one as a Mafia Boss. He made you like him one moment, and then loathe him the next.

Someone said that this movie was about sons and their relationship with their fathers. I'll buy that.

Lord of War. Nicolas Cage acting like...well, Nicolas Cage. It was a good, but ultimately depressing, movie. Ethan Hawke was channeling Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, and ex-Mrs Tom Brady Bridget Moynihan acted about as well as Jessica Biel did in The Illusionist. Interesting to see how arms dealers plied their trade, but uncomfortable watching the conflict in Africa. War is ugly, and they certainly didn't glamorize it in this movie.

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