Movie Reviews of the Week

First of all, let me express my appreciation for Dollar Movie Theaters. I quite enjoyed informing my good friend Malika Toure (there's an accent on her "e", but my keyboarding skills are not quite ready for that) that where she, in New York City, pays up to $10 for a movie, the good people of Cinemark have acknowledged that we in Provo are not quite as tolerant of the Box Office. As such, they have kindly provided us with a lovely theater that we may enjoy for only $1 on weekdays (50 cent mondays) and $2 at the weekend.

And now, the movies of the past week (please note that I do not usually go to the movies so often as I have this past week. There is no real reason...)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Kevin Costa took me to see this delightful boy-movie. As seems to be the right of my sex, I must admit that I quite enjoy a good chick flick. However, I think growing up with my boys, I have learned to appreciate the "boy-movie". Wolverine was everything it promised to be: action packed, testosterone filled and comic savvy. According to its innate purpose (to be the saturday morning comic cartoon style movie), it fulfilled its duty and I think did so very well. Some observations: why isn't the lead girl in anything huge by now? She was quite spectacular. Ryan Reynolds (as always) did not disappoint- his sword skills blew me away (as did his biceps, let's be honest. Another reason to frown about Scarlett Johansson). Liev can actually pull off the fangs. The memory erase was such a cop-out. Hugh's performance was engaging and I was rather relieved to note that his hair wasn't in that awful devil-style that he tried to rock in the X-Men movies.

Brothers Bloom. Thanks to my lovely roommate, Thalia, for introducting me to this trailer. even more thanks to the Dollars for not charging me $8. This was one of those movies that I don't think enjoyed enough credit for what it offered: a great adventure story, some incredibly hilarious lines, wonderful characters and impressive writing. I very much enjoyed Mark Ruffalo in a role other than the passive submissive silent type that gets his heart broken in every other movie he does. Adrien Brody and Rachel Weiss had genuine working chemistry that drove the plot. This was yet another flick that made my pen hand itch, and lived up to everything a movie should be. Go see it!

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Despite a few good laughs, this movie was regrettably... well, regrettable. If the direction that the Chick Flick is going these days is into an abyss of highly sexually charged abuse on the female character: count me out. A few people in the theater got up and left- I wanted to stand and applaud them. Matthew McConaughy seems to tigh-cast himself in every movie he does, so his character was predictable- but still managed to shock me with how despicable he was. If this is how men think and act, my faith in the human race is dwindling. Of course, I understand what message the writer was trying to get across- that that sort of behaviour from a man will get him nowhere in love or life. But really, what man would go see a movie titled "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" without being dragged there by his girlfriend? I was not impressed- and glad I only paid $1. There was a time when movies set out to woo the audience. Now they seem intent on disappointing under the guise or "realism".