The Class - A teacher at an inner-city school in Paris tries to get through to his students who respond to his methods with a mix of indifference, insolence and even violence. The film is shot as if it is a documentary, favoring style over much of a plot; realistic perhaps, but realism isn't always particularly entertaining.

I got it from the library and that was the best part. I am not a huge fan of the show and the movie was like a four part episode. A waste of time not a time waster.

Sugar - Miguel "Sugar" Santos is one of hundreds of young Dominican baseball players chasing the dream of a big league career in America. But it won't come without a price that takes a toll on the vast majority of them.

This may be one of the most honest, authentic, heartfelt sports movies I've seen in a long time, a timeless story of hope and heartbreak that's repeated in ballparks all across Central and North America every spring.

Sunshine Cleaning - Two sisters, Emily Blunt and Amy Adams, struggling to make ends meet by cleaning houses, up their game, and their financial gain, when they start cleaning up crime scenes. From the same producers who brought us Little Miss Sunshine (seriously, are they going to put sunshine in the titles of all their movies?), I expected an acerbic little comedy, but this is a poignant, bittersweet story with some light touches.

^ +1 (what he said)

Rudo y Cursi - Rudo and Cursi are brothers who play out their sibling rivalry every week on the dusty soccer pitch of their small Mexican village. But when a talent scout tumbles into town, he sees a much brighter, and richer, future for them. Soon enough their rivalry becomes big business with big stakes; can Cursi overcome his weakness for hot women to break out of his slump? can Rudo pay off his gambling debts and still save the ball?

It took a while for me to warm to the loopy antics of this off-beat Mexican comedy with a touch of Shakespearean tragedy, but my patience paid off as the tension between the brothers amped up through the third act. Worth a look.

I've Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime) - After serving 15 years in prison for her crime, Juliette tries to re-connect with her sister and find her place in the world.

What a dull, artsy drama. The thin story plods painfully along for far too long (almost two hours to tell a twenty-minute story), the dialogue is banal, the acting is often obvious and the climax is underwhelming.

Dragonslayer: It still holds up pretty well. I enjoyed it.

Watched "The Eagle has Landed" (1976) a few days ago. Thoroughly enjoyed it...but I do love my WWII movies.

Good actors...in their much younger years. :-)

Watched "The Eagle has Landed" (1976) a few days ago

Just watched that too, good movie. Also watched Force 10 from Navarone (meh, not that good really)

Trying to get my GF to watch Highlander, I loved it years ago but it's starting to look long in the tooth. Queens soundtrack is great, gonna have to watch Flash Gordon again.

Terry Gilliam directed Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Madeline Stowe dystopic film holds up very well. A hopeful flick that may discourage those intent on eliminating humanity.

4 stars

Hunger - A brutally vivid dissection of the hunger strike over by IRA member Bobby Sands in the early 1980's by Irish video artist Steve McQueen concerns itself more with disturbing, claustrophobic imagery than plot or dialogue as it contrasts the inhumane prison conditions in the film's first act with Sands' steadfast self-destruction in the third act. Not for the feint of heart; some scenes are guaranteed to stay with you.

Lymelife - A by-the-numbers coming-of-age story set in Long Island in the late 1970s that touches all the usual bases: introverted kid who steers his way through a minefield of dysfunctional family and quirky friends to win the affections of the hot girl. Redeemed by some good performances by Alec Baldwin and Timothy Hutton, as well as some decent comic moments.

Easy Virtue - Jessica Biel as a pioneering race car driver loosens the stiff upper lips of her new British in-laws in this tepid comedy of manners that falls a little short on the comedy.

I watched the first one on DVD, the other two on overseas flights:

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Little Miss Sunshine - A highly dysfunctional family embarks on a road trip from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach so that daughter Olive can enter the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant. Along the way, they learn a few lessons about joy and sorrow, love and unity.

This movie was surprisingly enjoyable, and considerably better than I expected it to be. The simple story moved along nicely and the reasonably well-developed characters were quirky but interesting. (Alan Arkin's character, in particular, was a lot of fun.)

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The Proposal - When Margaret, a hard-nosed and unlikeable Canadian editor-in-chief at a U.S. publishing house, finds out that she's about to be deported, she forces her assistant, Andrew to marry her. Andrew agrees, then whisks her off to Alaska to attend his grandmother's 90th birthday party. While in Alaska, Margaret's tough shell cracks and she and Andrew fall in love.

Although it was terribly clichéed and had some utterly ridiculous scenes in it, it was watchable.

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Year One - A couple of Bible-era morons get kicked out of their tribe and embark on a series of "hilarious" adventures.

A couple of chuckles aside, this is a pretty lame film. Jack Black is his usual self, and Michael Cera's morose, deadpan delivery wears very thin very quickly. And that's about it.

I just got Coraline 3D Blue ray....I loved it in 3D and in 2D. Sound Quality was awesome and the picture clarity was equally good!!!
Love it!!!

Also watching The fellowship of the ring trilogy upconverted to HD on the new 50 inch plasma,,,,
Looks really good!!

Food Inc. - A documentary that examines the costs and implications of the factory food industry, essentially the movie version of Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation. Sobering food for thought (pun intended).

The Taking of Pelham 123 - Dispatcher Walter Garber is forced into the role of reluctant negotiator and hero when a group of bad guys hijack a NYC subway train and threaten to kill their hostages unless their demands are met.

Lame, lame, lame. The thin story is bad enough, but padding it with crappy dialogue to stretch it out is even worse. Characters are uninteresting or downright stupid, the choppy and/or slo-mo camera work is irritating and the ending is ridiculous. What a mess.

Whatever Works - Whatever Works answers the age-old question; is the world big enough for the neuroses and cynicism of Larry David AND Woody Allen? The Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm auteur picks up the mantle of bitter, world-weary schlub with really bad fashion sense who STILL manages to woo the young, impressionable woman (Evan Rachel Wood) in a film written and directed by Allen. The result isn't pretty, and I'm not talking about Larry David's knobby knees.
Badly written, really badly acted (Seriously, who but Allen would think Larry David could carry a movie? But the sad shocker is how bad Evan Rachel Wood is in this movie.), annoyingly presented (various characters pause in the dialogue to break the fourth wall and talk to the audience).