Movies Movies Movies!!

The time has come to catch up on the movies I missed this past summer.
So here we go...

500 Days of Summer
Such a refreshing movie from a new director. The style and concept may have been a bit 'trendy', but I was perfectly fine with that. The acting was thumbs up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt being one of my favorite 'somewhat indie' actors (awesome in both Brick and The Lookout) and Zooey Deschanel was her usual quirky self. Her character irked me a bit which tells me right there that she did a great job. I can always appreciate a director that adds artistic qualities to the production. It just makes it so much more imaginative.. so much more than just watching people act out a real life situation on film. The music was also great, and I plan on hunting down the soundtrack. Overall, wonderful.

Moon
This movie was quite simplistic and yet so grandiose at the same time... if that's even possible. With pretty much only one actor, Sam Rockwell, and a talking robot voiced by Kevin Spacey, it kept my attention very well. It's a very quiet movie, with an amazing soundtrack done by the incredible Clint Mansell. Mr. Mansell is also responsible for one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, The Fountain. His pieces are so haunting and earth shattering and passionate. I've found myself near tears just listening to his work. The flick is short at only 93min. Any longer and it might have felt draggish. The actual plot is not something one can even mention without giving everything away, so I'll leave it at this- Moon kept me on the edge of my seat with it's simplicity and slowly revealing plot/theme that goes way beyond the scope of the movie.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Blah. I never know what to say about Harry Potter movies. The action is entertaining but there is just always too much missing. Even at 2.5 hours, I felt like they didn't even explore the importance of the title! The books are too long to squish everything together into a reasonable timed movie. There should be a part 1 and 2 or something. I feel like I watched the movie and by the end barely knew what was really going on in the story. Everything was too vague and too rushed. Thankfully I read the books a few years ago, so I was able to fill in the gaps. Not sure I'd recommend the movie to anyone who hasn't already read the books. Overall, it was good not great.

Up
How sad do Disney movies have to be, seriously!?! The opening was heartbreaking, but it overall redeemed itself. Actually, I fell asleep for the last 20min... so I guess I'll have to go back and watch it again. Hate when that happens.

Pandorum
Horribly disturbing concept, but also completely intriguing. Plus, Ben Foster doesn't have to do much to creep me out.. something about his acting is so unsettling. Or perhaps it's just the characters he plays. It was cheesy at times, and I had horrible flashbacks to the awful future in "The Time Machine" remake of 2002 (apparently futuristic human cannibals bother me). Overall I found it interesting but way too disjointed and jumpy. It was hard to follow at times and that's never the key to enjoying a movie. Not awful, not great.

last but not least

Public Enemies
To say I'm on the Michael Mann bandwagon is somewhat of an understatement. He can do no wrong in my book. His style is exactly what I'm drawn to in movies. Long shots, beautiful scenery, haunting scores, incredible acting. Come on people! Mann is a genius. Sometimes I watch his movies just for the cinematography, example being Miami Vice (I still barely even know the plot of that movie and I've seen it like 20x). Public Enemies could have definitely been a bit shorter. 2hour 20min is asking a LOT of my attention and ability to stay awake, but I managed. Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard were perfect and everything lived up to my expectations. Great movie. Can't wait to watch it again.

Still to go...
GI Joe
Star Trek (2nd time)
Paper Heart
9

what else am I missing?