Hm, where was I? Oh yes, a little Jack Black, Mos Def, Michel Gondry film. I’m a big fan of Gondry, and always end up attributing him to the success of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind, but then realize that the real genius behind that was Charlie Kaufmann. Gondry has done some other interesting stuff, like The Science of Dreams Sleep (which had a derived a good portion of its charm from Bernal and Gainsbourg). But maybe he just knows who to work with.

This was also a charming little piece of film, which is exactly the type of film you need to see after you go see There Will Be Blood—not before. That’s exactly what we did, and it sort of ruined the whole night. We also saw this up at the Court Street cineplex, the place where feet are always hanging off railings, the machines that sell tickets so you don’t have to talk to anyone (I may be social, but I hated working in a theater after a while, too, so rudeness towards patrons is not justified, but understandable), and where I always end up spilling popcorn. That said, I will always think of Jack Black’s Ghostbusters theme when I think of this movie. Nevermind that that was in the trailers and commercials, it’s still my favorite part.

I don’t really like Tom Hanks that much anymore, but I liked him in this, because he just played a drunk. The first time we went to Cooperstown I remember seeing all the Rockford Peaches stuff and thinking that I’m never gonna play in the major leagues. That’s kind of a shitty thing to remember first thing in the morning before you have to go to work.

The funny thing about thinking about all the movies I saw this year, you can actually tell when I’ve spent most of my time (weekends) at home because there’s movie after movie after movie of stuff that you see on USA or TBS every weekend. This one is probably seasonal, but for the life of me, I can’t understand why Miss Congeniality or Legally Blonde or Miss Congeniality 2 is always on cable. Every weekend. I’m sure there’s a real good explanation for that.

Again, one of those flicks on TBS. Sad to say it, but this isn’t the first time I saw this movie. I tell you what, though, everything in this movie is totally unrealistic—and I’m not talking about all the fate crap, I’m talking about going into Serendipity (the tourist-trap dessert bar famous for its “frozen hot chocolate” uptown) without waiting for 2 hours. I’m talking about them actually moving around in Macy’s without running into 50 other people. I’m also talking about sitting in the middle of an ice rink without getting your face stepped on. Total FANTASY.

I will say this: If they get the right script, Piven and Cusack are best-friend gold, and the more they work together, the better. In fact, if the two had the choice, I’m sure every movie they would be in would be with each other and Joan. So, watch out for it—sequels to Say Anything and Grosse Point Blank. I’ll start writing ‘em now.

The first Sidney Lumet film I saw was 12 Angry Men. I remember thinking how the hell a film that took place in one room could be so engaging for so long. I don’t know much else about Paddy Cheyefsky, but I’m willing to bet that the combination of the two is really what made this film so great. I start to think about how the media these days is so crazy and out of control, and how way back in 1972 it was all predicted and identical all at the same time. Just like how everything gets taken out of context, I hear the “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” every once in a while and think how much that’s lost its meaning.

We saw this at Film Forum, and the satire of the film made me a little bit sad and feel gross about watching the film and yet still sort of condoning the whole thing — Watching reality television and feeding into the media that’s portrayed as satire in the movie but is not far off from reality. Hell, it is reality.

This is the one that Paul Greengrass directed, and I also remember someone telling me they were doing some Filipino martial arts in this film. I didn’t notice, unless there was a point where MD was using some arnis, in which case I probably would have noticed.

The fact that Run Lola Run dies in the first 10 minutes of this movie basically gives Bourne free-reign to be a total badass, which I suppose he was in the first movie, but in this one and the next one, where he pulls the I’m-in-your-office-because-you’re-dumbm trick a few times is proof positive that he is the most badassed guy around. I also like this better than a lot of other spy role because there’s not boring or unlikeable or uncomfortable stuff that goes around and makes you feel like this is just make-believe, like the Bond films. That said, I haven’t seen Casino Royal, and the poster for the new Bond movie is pretty sweet.

But really, since all I can do is think about Palin these days, I most like this movie because MD is thoughtful about the whole ordeal. You saw that vid, right? And before you GOP-ers (are there any out there?) go talking about how celebrities shouldn’t talk politics, take a good look at Palin and tell me she isn’t milking “celebrity” right now. I mean, where’s the beef, Guv?

We went through this phase where we went out and bought all the Bourne movies and just watched them every weekend. They’re pretty consistently great and that has a lot to do with Matt Damon being able to pull of the sort of anguished, extremely-serious-but-also-can-flash-a-smile type action hero that not that many people can pull off. Doug Liman, the director isn’t someone I’d say, “Hey, I gotta see more of his movies” but I will admit almost got me to see Jumper (until I found out it was the hack Hayden Christensen starring).

Still, the franchise had room to grow, and we found that out quickly. I just saw the last half of Flight 93 today and it was gripping and sort of made me a little sick that I had to watch advertising between scenes (it was on TV). But Paul Greengrass did that movie pretty tastefully, and his directing in the other Bourne films seems to exemplify the fact that it doesn’t have to be too flashy to be engrossing.

Another of those movies I saw by flipping through channels some weekend. It was really badly edited and the censoring was laughable, as usual. Mother-fricker is just not the type of language you use when you’re pissed off. Unless you’re on BSG. Or you’re trying to make people laugh.

It’s too bad that the commercials that JCPenny was putting out that aped every memorable montage scene from the film weren’t airing at the time they played this. Or maybe that’s good, because it could have reduced the nostalgia by reminding everyone that when everyone goes back to school, Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald probably won’t stay together much longer than a week, and even if they did, don’t they know that Judd was really a pretty huge asshole in the movie? I understand that the character-building basically explained away his bad attitude by revealing that his dad was also a really huge asshole.

But anyways, what the hell am I doing, analyzing a John Hughes film? By and by, how badly would Principal Vernon get reamed if he treated all those white kids that badly these days? Poor white kids.

This is funny, because I remember watching this at home on some lazy Sunday afternoon while reading the Times. I kept looking up and seeing all the scenes thinking they must be shot somewhere in Vancouver. Turns out, the whole thing is supposed to take place somewhere in Eastern Washington (Someone sometime mentioned Spokane in the movie).

When I started keeping track of movies I had watched this year, I didn’t really think about whether or not I would keep track of movies that I saw only by accident. Nor did I take into account whether or not I would have to count the ones I was really embarrassed about watching.

But really, I’m not ashamed of this any more or less than any other drivel I’ve watched. Besides, it’s about a cute dog shooting hoops with some kid that doesn’t have the confidence or cred to play with his school. Whatever it takes, huh?

Michael Cera has some sort of atomic clock in his brain that allows the brilliant comedic timing. His acting wasn’t the story in Juno, I know, but I don’t really think the writing was the best thing about the film, either. Actually, I’d be hard pressed to tell you one very outstanding thing about the film — Really, it’s more just the combination of all the little things that worked so well together: Writing, acting, pace, music. I’d take none of it separately, but all of it worked really well together.

I’m pretty sure I saw this in December sometime, then again at the beginning of the year because it’s just the type of movie that you go see again and again. JK Simmons never gets any love for his role in this movie as the sort-of-naive-but-also-really-understanding dad. If Alison Janney was actually Sarah Palin, then I might be okay with Sarah Palin. I know I keep mentioning her in every single post here, but I started having nightmares about the whole thing the other night. I couldn’t sleep, I swear.

I hope this movie isn’t the best thing that Kitty Pryde does.

I’ve never been that huge of a Bob Dylan fan and I still couldn’t tell you anything about him or name any albums or anything. That’s pretty huge for a music geek like me, but I’m not ashamed. I don’t hate him or anything, like John Sellers (author of really annoying book, “Perfect From Now On”), and yet I still managed to find this film innocuous and towards disaffecting. Sure, Blanchett was great, but isn’t she always? Haynes direction and the structure of the film was interesting, but it’s the kind of interesting that I feel is just the easiest way to say “artsy.” Interesting to note that a little before we saw this, I had read that Heath Ledger was really disappointed with his performance in the picture. A few days later, he was dead. Still puzzled as to why that is.