Movies 2007, part 2 of 5

Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End
Like a man chasing a bus, I tried to keep up with this movie.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith
The Hitchcock one, not the Brangelina one. Not a good movie. I expected better, but I guess there’s a reason you hear more about Rear Window than this.

Orange County
This wasn’t the same epiphany experience as the first time I watched it, but it was still solid B-grade material. The teacher is still fucking hilarious though.

Keeping the Faith
M likes this movie about a priest and a rabbi (played by Ed Norton and Ben Stiller respectively), so we watched it. It was ok. Now see, I know I take these things more seriously than anybody else, but what I wanted was a movie that—while being a light-hearted romcom with a religious twist—also dealt tellingly with theology. I know that’s asking a lot, and I know that you can’t reasonably judge art for what it isn’t. But the disappointment registers. Still, a fun diversion.

Street Fight
An absorbing documentary about the 2002 mayoral campaign in Newark, NJ. It’s clearly a documentary, but it also has a (seemingly unforced) dramatic arc that's normally hard to pull off in documentaries.

Also, it’s interesting to hear about Newark politics, because that’s about 90 miles away. So you watch the documentary that seems, at times, like a “based-on-a-true-event” story and then find out that the story is still going on, and you’re all like OMFG!!1! That’s for reals!

A Mighty Heart
Smart, well done, still timely, and heartbreaking. Another M choice, another OMFG-that’s-for-reals flick, and an excellent one.

Once
I liked it, I think. A romance that ends with the romantic leads opting to return to their established relationships rather than with each other. Unusual choice, and a nice affirmation of the value of restoration of relationships rather than cutting ties and beginning again.

Idiocracy
I think this is one of those movies that, as a mildly intellectual type, I’m supposed to enjoy, thanks to sci-fi guffaws based on the stoopidity of modern vapidness. However, the movie wasn’t much deeper than the vapidness it lampooned. It’s ok, but ultimately a one-joke movie with a claymore wit.

Friends With Money
A rich-Californians-have-problems ensemble movie (see Crash, Grand Canyon, et al). For what it is, it’s fine.

The Simpsons Movie
I liked it, but, you know, I didn’t like it-like it.