You’ve got to know going in, if the movie is about Alzheimer’s, you might as well bring a box of kleenex with you. Julie Christie was great, and still so beautiful and luminescent at 65. First time writing & directing by Sarah Polley = pretty impressive.

That said, it was one of those movies that while totally going with the story and enjoying it while watching, afterward I just kept thinking about certain of the plot manipulations and how unnecessary they were. i.e., I could see a reason for them being there, but felt my reaction to the chain of events and the situation would have been just as powerful/effective WITHOUT those external plot manipulations. And if they stick out as manipulations, then do they really work? Worth seeing, will definitely look forward to Polley’s next project. But think there were several things that could just be dropped out of the plot without any discernable loss to the viewer’s experience.

Truly bizarre. Hyperbole in EVERY scene just wears ya out. Disjointed, unconnected, illogical. There were so many things that were bizarrely wrong with this movie. A few random cute moments…that made absolutely no sense within the context of the movie. And a million more nonsensical and noncute ones. Cameron Crowe = unusually off his game.

Actually pretty entertaining in a goofy lighthearted way. It’s just a few kisses and gropes away from being a good movie. I mean, come on, people, is that too much to ask in a movie with two hot leads?

p.s. and for my fellow Buffy fans, hello Oz is in this! And he’s got some really funny lines!

Still in disbelief that this was nominated for best picture. Didn’t really think much of it at all. Didn’t think it was about “miscommunication” and whatnot as the title might imply. Thought one storyline was so very very tenuously connected to the others that it belonged in a different movie. Far more questions than answers. And sooooo many things that could have made it better, could have made it worth watching, could have made me care at all about any of these characters. But no.

An Altman-esque “Short Cuts” or Paul Haggis’ “Crash”-type disjointed narrative. My co-viewer thought it better than Crash; although she found it frustrating, it raised interesting issues in her mind. I felt the opposite. It seemed to raise no coherent issues whatsoever. At least in Crash, the issues were recognizable whether you felt they were well done or not.

Anyone want to take this DVD off my hands? I’ll happily send it to you, I’m certainly never going to rewatch it.

This movie is getting much better reviews than I would give it, Rolling Stone seemed to like it A LOT, and I’m wondering if they saw a different cut than I did? Bizarre. The manipulation stuff is, as expected, pretty fucking icky. But there’s other icky stuff as well. There’s about a zillion things you can pick apart in this plot, and nothing that WOWed you enough to make you not notice the gaping holes. Not recommended.

Portuguese title: Um Tiro No Escuro. Half the story of a kidnapping, half a crime caper movie, the two of which get really bizarrely entertwined. Some great acting. Little worried that we were at a porn flick due to a few scenes at the beginning shot so close up that they make the Bada Bing look tame.

While watching: totally entranced, worried, upset, shocked, moved.

But once removed: wow, there are a lot of things you could pick apart about this plot. but oddly enough, still doesn’t make me have enjoyed it any less.

Definitely worth seeing.

From the same brilliant minds that made OfficeSpace. But significantly darker, to my mind anyway. Two people of average intelligence are sealed up for an experiment…yet while they’re “asleep” the entire society gets so dumbed down (ouch! too close to home?) to the point that when these two are mistakenly awaked, they are now geniuses. And the contretemps ensue…

Luke Wilson is great in this. And I loved the whole “Who’s on First?” tattoo machine moment. Also: “Gatorade” has taken over the world!
Sadly when this really goes down it’s going to be a company a LOT worse than that…

Funny. But sort of secretly dark. Or super dark behind the scenes once you start thinking about how likely some of it feels… You could watch it without those inner thoughts. But who would?

How is it possible that there are still people out there who don’t know about the humor that is the masterpiece Office Space? It doesn’t SEEM possible but apparently it IS as I just had the chance to initiate someone into the gloriousness of this movie. There are so many funny moments in it, it’s not really describable.

If you haven’t seen it in a while, maybe it’s time for a rewatch. And if you’ve never seen it…it’s available on DVD and it’s worth the money, slackers. GO.