Movie Thoughts

Somehow Ryan Reynolds is not convincing as a FBI agent. "Smoking Aces"

"The Departed" would have been better had not Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) died at the hands of Sgt. Dignan (Mark Wahlberg).

A few movies I am looking forward to seeing: "The Golden Door", "Ladron que roba a ladron", "Gone Baby Gone", "American Gangster", "The Darjeeling Limited", "There Will Be Blood", "Dan in Real Life", No Country for Old Men",

Watched "The Big Country" again and was still disappointed that we couldn't see a final rebuke seen with the Major's daughter, Patsy.

Shakespeare's plays have influenced us so completely, that in order to make a successful film about Ancient Rome, the actors must tote English accents to be "authentic".

I have watched "Serenity" now over 20 times. That may be alot but it does not come close to my three leading movies "Where's Marlowe (>60), "O Brother, Where art thou?" (~35) and "Tigerland" (~30). Other viewing estimates: "Gladiator" ~10 times, "Master and Commander" 7-8 times and the "Star War Original Trilogy" ? times.

Another famous movie star dies this week. Another young man with everything. Heath Ledger died in Manhattan tonight. This follows Brad Renfro last week. Rest in Peace dudes.

I can't help but compare two recent films on life's unfairness for Africans, "The Constant Gardener" and "Blood Diamond". Both star white protagonists and both die at the conclusion of the film. While "Blood Diamond" was a big budget Hollywood film and "The Constant Gardener" a smaller indie, both were gritty enough to depict the terrible conditions plaguing the African continent.

Is Scarlett Johanssen a good actress? Or is she just a pleasure to watch? I think it's the latter because she isn't believable in anything I have seen her in outside of "Lost in Translation". Absolutely awful in "Scoop" and unconvincing in "The Black Dahlia".

Oscar nominees feature a few for Best Picture that I definitely want to see, including "Juno" a film that may be a different take on "Knocked Up" and a continuation of "Superbad" for Michael Cera, from "Arrested Development".

I wonder when we will start seeing the action-dramas start showing up in Hollywood from the Iraq-Afghanistan conflicts a la "Black Hawk Down". David Simon is currently filming a series of the taking of Baghdad but I am sure there will be feature films to follow.