Getting up to speed

I will not have time to write a full review for all of the movies that I have seen since I last updated (before I went overseas), so I will be writing one sentence reviews of them all.

The Good Shepherd:  3/5, A pretty standard production, not blown away by anything, the story was not as gripping as I expected/wanted.

21:  2/5, I suppose Kevin Spacey needs some money, which is why he chose to star in this.

88 Minutes:  2/5, about 66 minutes too long.  Pacino needs money, too, apparently.

Penelope:  3/5, a cute story, ok performances, nothing particularly outstanding

Kung Fu Panda:  2/5, Computer animation isn’t enough, let’s get some real characters in the voices and script.

Dr. No:  3/5, not the best Bond, not the worst, a bit brief and unmotivated, but you have to start somewhere.

Pink Panther: 4/5, Peter Sellers is, as always, fantastic.

Bourne Identity: 3/5, there are better spy movies out there, but this was pretty original, does not do the book justice.

Austin Powers 1: 3/5; 2: 3/5; 3: 2/5, This is a trilogy that has not worn well with time.  And the third one didn’t even do well in it’s own time.  Also, I think that my not being in middle school may have had something to do with it being just ok, and not raucously funny.

Departed: 5/5, Fantastic movie on all accounts.  So good I went back and watched it 3 days later and was still blown away by it.

The Bunker:  5/5, a fantastic performance by Anthony Hopkins as Hitler

Raising Arizona: 4/5, a very good Coen brothers film, funny and fast.

Fido:  4/5, A good zombie comedy, with absolutely beautiful design and color choices.

Lars and the Real Girl:  5/5, fantastic performances and story.  Touching and thoughtful.

Brick:  5/5, a high school film noir that is both intriguing and beautiful.

Be Kind, Rewind:  4/5, a good movie, but the movies that they film overshadow the actual plot, pretty standard Gondry, I suppose.

Conspiracy:  4/5, great performances, a movie about a discussion that could have changed the world.

28 Days Later: 4/5, a good zombie movie that takes an honest look at how people will react if the world falls apart.

28 Weeks Later: 2/5, took all the thoughtfulness of 28 Days Later and threw it out the window in favor of standard zombie fare.

From Hell (graphic novel):  5/5, Allan Moore provides a fantastic story, that is made all the better by the 50 pages of endnotes from his research

1776 (book):  3/5, a brief, superficial look at the revolutionary war.

God of Small Things (book): 5/5, I wouldn’t normally like books that juggle time, but it is an engaging story with beautiful language, that trumps a rather trite author’s tool.

Maurice Maeterlinck (book):  4/5, interesting, but pretentious.