I think it's been a while since I've written anything about a movie on here, so I think I'll do that right now.
No promises as to whether it will be a regular occurrence, but I know if I don't do it while it's fresh in my head it's not likely to happen.  I've seen three movies in the theater this month and three last month.  I'll start with the most recent one, which I saw last night with my friend Nick and one of his co-workers...

There Will Be Blood (B+) - I remember seeing the trailer for this one some time last year and thinking it looked like it could be good, but I had not put it on the top of my list of things to see.  Aside from the trailer, the selling points for me were that Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead did the score and Paul Thomas Anderson (of Magnolia and Boogie Nights fame) was the director.  Sadly, neither of those two aspects impressed me after seeing the movie.  Although many people seem to be praising the score (it almost got an Oscar nod too) I thought it wasn't overly original or different and didn't really "belong" to the movie.  There were many times when I thought the volume of the score was too loud and overbearing and actually sounded as if it was supposed to be a horror film at the beginning.  The movie would have suffered if there was a absence of music but in my opinion the score really needed to posses some original themes.  Jonny did a much better job with the music for Bodysong.  I did enjoy the classical pieces, but it's hard to applaud those since they weren't written for the movie.  PT Anderson did a fine job of directing but you didn't get much of a feel that it was one of his movies until the final scenes.  The script needed a little bit of work as well, I thought they needed to spend a little more time on the Paul Sunday character and the development of the H.W. Plainview character seemed to pretty much halt after one pivotal scene.  It also seemed that as soon as the momentum of the story started to speed up it got a little messy and from that point on it lacked in focus and direction.  The one aspect of the film that was absolutely flawless was Daniel Day-Lewis' acting.  He was excellent, I was in awe.  I know the film was nominated for excellence in a few areas, but his best actor nod was the only one 100% agree with.  Paul Dano (from Little Miss Sunshine) was decent but his character just didn't give him the opportunity to go beyond that due to the loss of direction in the movie.  All in all it wasn't a bad movie, but Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of Daniel Plainview was what really made the film worth seeing.

I Am Legend (B+) - My dad an I went to see this because I had a free movie pass from AMC that was about to expire and most of the other movies I would have considered seeing had the "no passes" restriction.  I was glad we saw it though, it was much better than I had expected.  You've got to commend both Will Smith and the director, it's not easy to keep an audience entertained for 90 minutes with one minimal set and pretty much just one character.  After the second major character entered I thought it took the movie down a notch, but the ending wasn't horrible and nothing got too ridiculous so I don't have much of a complaint (except the Bob Marley bits, I don't think I will ever enjoy reggae, sorry).

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (B-) - I saw this once twice.  Not because I loved it that much (I don't think I would have even rented it to watch a second time) but because by paying to see it on January 4th allowed me to see it with Tim Burton in attendance (and we were also treated to an appearance by Martin Landau)! Tim did a Q&A in Hollywood at Arclight Cinemas as part of AFI's directors screenings that was announced less than 48 hours in advance.  I got to go and it was great, but I didn't get to meet him because he darted out the minute the Q&A was over.  I've got some pictures on Flickr; they're not my best work but not bad for having to shoot from my seat in the 5th row.  Anyway, back to the movie.  I had no prior exposure to the music or story of Sweeney Todd other than the short part that Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, George Carlin and the little girl in Kevin Smith's "Jersey Girl".  I don't "despise" musicals, but the ratio of ones I do enjoy versus the ones I don't is probably like 1 out of every 12.  For some reason I thought since Tim Burton was directing that the musical aspect would have been toned down a bit, I was severely mistaken.  Someone at work brought up mentioned "but he did Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride which were both musicals" which was a good point, but I guess since I like both of those I didn't mentally file them in the "ugh, musicals" category.  There was very little dialog in Sweeney and half of the musical numbers made me cringe in misery.  I was impressed with Johnny Depp's ability to sing, but I didn't think his acting performance was anything above his standard level of quality showmanship.  Helena Bonham Carter seemed very appropriate for her role and delivered well.  Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) gave a fine performance as well, I'd like to see him in some more regular acting roles.  The sets were nice and the colors/mood/etc were all at the level I expect from Tim Burton but the lack of dialog and simple plot prevented me from being fully entertained.


I've got a school assignment that is due in an hour and a half, so I'll have to try and get to The Waterhorse and Juno later on.