Vera Drake is a little thin on plot, but it's a compelling character study of a working class cleaning lady in post-WWII London who helps young women end unwanted pregnancies on the side. She doesn't do it for money; she regards her role more as a community service, as most of these women have nowhere else to turn.

The director, Mike Leigh, is careful not to make any judgements; he just shows us Vera's daily life, until it all comes crashing down around her.

Imelda Stauton is certainly deserving of her Oscar nomination, and the performances of all the supporting actors are also very strong.

Have 'Vera Drake' on order - couldn't find it locally. Looking forward to its arrival and our viewing.

Watched 'Willard' last eve. Weird Willard and his rats, lots of rats!! Great stuff to contemplate when you turn the lights off and go to bed! :eek: Not the greatest movie, but an entertaining view, with a solid performance from the lead.

Mrs. Zoo & I rented Closer , City Of God , and The Notebook this past weekend. We found Closer to be... well blah. Some of the performance seemed wooden and the plot just plodded along. Not the most engaging story (our opinion). City of God is an amazing movie. The lack of concern for human life by many of the characters mirrored my parents impression of Rio when they visited there in the 80's. Its the only place they have visited in their travels where they felt concerned for their lives and well-being. The Notebook is quite the tear jerker. The female lead is very well played (Rachael McAdams?). I think she played the evil blonde in Mean Girls. Someone can correct me if I am wrong. In the extras they talked about how they ended up casting an "unknown". From the great performance she put into this movie she definately deserves to be known. Great story, great acting 'nuff said!

Zoo

Willard was a perfect roll for Mr. Glover.

I saw 'Closer' on the w/e as well. Slow moving and uneventful. Ms. Portman is a cutie.

I did the 'good partner' and sat through the second Bridgette Jones entry. I figger I'll be in the good books for a bit :).

I saw 'Closer' on the w/e as well. Slow moving and uneventful. Ms. Portman is a cutie.
.

Then you should watch Garden State.

Then you should watch Garden State.

Knock another in the Garden State category. You saying that because Ms. Portman is a cutie or because it's slow and uneventful? Or both...? ;)

I thought Garden State was one of the best films of last year, Zach Braff made a hell of a writing/directing debut.

It seems i cut and pasted where than i intented. She's a cutie and its a good movie. Better than what i expected.

Life is Beautiful - first view of this wonderful Italian movie. We sure found it well-worthy of all the praise and awards that it, and its director/actor (Roberto Benigni) received. We watched the 'Italian with English subtitles' version.

That's a good movie. I have it on DVD but haven't watched it since seeing it on tv many years ago. The movie is basically 2 movies/stories in one.

Watched "Bridget Jones 2" the other night and must say it was a dissapointment, especially considering I really did enjoy the first movie. Everything seemed to be slightly forced and fake. Rene really walked through this part - no real acting whatsoever.

Also watched the Forgotten. This really was a mess of a movie. Utterly predictable and no real shock factor at all. SO much for being a thriller (part where the car gets hit by the SUV was neat though).

Hopefully better luck next weekend. VHQ is sending me Sideways and Spanglish.

...enjoyed To Be Or Not To Be ('42), from Warner's new Classic Comedies set, and Laura ('44), murder mystery, part of the new Fox film noir collection.

...watched Fight Club for the first time (yep). I can see how some would like it.

...got a big boxed set of Laurel & Hardy discs from the UK; scoring points with young and old.

Laura is good, even Roger Ebert recommended it as his DVD pick of the week. 3 more Film Noir (FOX) movies are coming out in mid-June.

Fight Club was ok, but its been many years since i've seen it.

I had ordered the Classic Comedy boxset but Amazon suddendly stopped selling it. It was a good deal (about $63). Sunrise has it for about $90.

Watched "Bridget Jones 2" the other night and must say it was a dissapointment, especially considering I really did enjoy the first movie. Everything seemed to be slightly forced and fake. Rene really walked through this part - no real acting whatsoever.

Also watched the Forgotten. This really was a mess of a movie. Utterly predictable and no real shock factor at all. SO much for being a thriller (part where the car gets hit by the SUV was neat though).

Hopefully better luck next weekend. VHQ is sending me Sideways and Spanglish.


I saw the first one out of boredom late one night and really enjoyed it. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason was a joke, you're right about how it seemed forced and fake, it felt like it was rushed and bad writing and what was up with that Ski Resort and Madonna/Jail Scene?!?!?

The last 40 minutes of The Forgotten was like, what just happened? Like a bad episode of The X-Files or something.

I picked up Sideways today and I'm still debating if I should use my free rental at Blockbuster for Spanglish?

I had ordered the Classic Comedy boxset but Amazon suddendly stopped selling it.
James, I guess I got lucky. I hung in there with my pre-order at Amazon, got delivery about a week after due date.

BarnesAndNoble.com is a decent option State-side.

I pre-ordered it and then forget about it and it disappeared from my profile. They never ever sent me a note. I was hoping Wal-Mart would have it since that's where i got my Hitch**** Boxset last fall but no luck.

Primer

????????????

Er, I'm still not sure what it's about. But here's what I do know:

• Ultra low-budget independent feature, cost about $7,000 to make
• A couple of buddies create in their garage some kind of device that somehow seems to duplicate matter, allowing the same thing to exist in different time dimensions
• Of course, they have to see if it works on people
• They see the potential for vast wealth
• Paradoxes happen, trouble follows
• Interesting, if a little perplexing

Ray - Excellent movie. After a while, I forgot I was watching Jamie Foxx and not Ray himself. He deserved the Oscar®.

Also watched Dawn of the Dead on MCHD. Bad movie. A few laughs and alot of blood. Overall poor movie. HD quality was good.

Primer... Er, I'm still not sure what it's about.

I also, saw Primar and thought the movie had an interesting concept even though the movie's plot got progressively confusing and convoluted. Primer was still impressive for a movie that only cost $7,000 to produce. Primer won the top award at Sundace the year it was in competition.

Elektra - Jen Garner...what more need I say?! Actually, it was a pretty decent flick. Certainly better then the movie that spawned it.

Flight Of The Phoenix

Entertaining popcorn movie. If you've seen the movie Alive before, this one does not compare at all. However, if you have a DTS-ready sound system and are looking for a movie to showoff your bass, the plane crash scene will literally break your walls apart! I have Aura Bass Shakers in my sofa and I almost lost my teeth fillings! That crash scene is intense!!!