I missed the first 45 minutes or so as I was busy putting pictures of my ass up on the Internet (I know, I wish I was joking too).

One of (several) Prefontaine movies. Wow, I loved this. Billy Crudup is yummy even with the scary ’70s hair and the Prefontaine ego, and look at those muscles. Was it this way in real life: were all the other runners so much skinnier than Pre and more “the normal skinny shape for long distance runners” or is that just how it looks in this film? Donald Sutherland is great, although so emaciated you can almost see his bones coming through his skin. Now who is…oooo it’s Jeremy Sisto playing one of the other runners! I never liked him until I started watching Kidnapped this year, but now I am a fan.

Oh and creepy “Ethan” from “Lost” plays “Bob” (which is always said in a very creepy tone), Pre’s sometimes roommate.

Loved it. Totally cried at the end! Poor Mary! Despite lack of first 45 minutes. Maybe someday…

OK. Better than The Good German. But not great, not what it’s trying to be.

Felt this was a very PHYSICAL acting role on Matt Damon’s part, similar to what Heath Ledger did in Brokeback. It wasn’t just in the way he talked, but in the way he walked with his shoulders hunched, the way he stared, the way he always seemed to have one eye looking over his shoulder. You constantly felt the burdens he was under.

Robert DeNiro was great, think he may have underused himself here. Alec Baldwin continues in his string of recent very welldone supporting roles. Angelina did a good job decaying of unhappiness. William Hurt was just as icky and creepy as you can imagine, and honestly he might need to do a “good guy” role sometime again soon or I might not be able to watch him on screen much more!

Movie covers a LOT of ground, about a 25- to 30-year time period, with flashbacks and jumping back to present. I liked the transitions / B&W slowly into color. Thought there were a couple of twists done wrong / i.e., when there’s a big “reveal” of a bad guy: it has to be someone you care about. Otherwise it’s thrown away.

Didn’t love it. But did make you ponder some things. Like how the fucko rich boys in skull&bones have fucked the shit out of our country and aren’t they still continuing to do so. But that’s really a different topic isn’t it?

Long and slow. A lot to take in.

A nice try, but some problems, probably in the script, that make it unsatisfying in the end. Clooney’s character is a reporter, so you’re thinking he’ll DETECT what’s going on and be the one who figures things out. Uh, No, not so much. Everything that happens seems to take his character by surprise which was a) not really believable and b) made the story not work so well.

Plus, honestly, could little tiny Tobey Maguire, using ONLY ONE ARM, beat the crap out of George Clooney? In what world? (Clooney gets the crap beaten out of him a lot in this flick.)

Cate Blanchett was good. Beau Bridges was good (haven’t seen him in anything in ages, but he’s also brilliant in “The Fabulous Baker Boys”).

In contrast to Goodnight and Good Luck, where you may remember black & white film was used to its fullest crispest shimmeriest goodness, in this movie, it’s used to look like old news reel. Hence super contrasty / too dark in some scenes / washed out in others. Went with the mood of the flick, but seemed like a WASTE to me. And something that will make MORONS talk about how B&W is bad, when this is just a bad example of it. Eh, what can you do.

Icky movie where lots of icky things happen. Bruce Willis is good in it, but why not watch a movie where he’s good and the icky things are less icky? 16 Blocks, for example.

Total chick flick. But harmless and cute. Nothing wrong with spending a couple hours watching an (oddly tan?) Jude Law.

Third storyline (old dude next door) kind of thrown in arbitrarily.

But enjoyable.

A little convoluted at the beginning, but when you get to the end you figure it out and the whole movie makes sense.

Basically four (or five/six?/can’t remember exactly) other people were shot (but not killed, according to the post script, although it seemed like one character was definitely pretty close to dead!) when Bobby Kennedy was shot / it was in a crowd. So the movie follows those characters throughout their entire day until the shooting. So at first, I GUESS I can see why people are confused because it doesn’t come clear why you are following those specific characters until they get shot at the end.

But why does it have to be clear? Whatever, I didn’t have a problem with that myself.

So what is the point of that set-up? The point is that each of those people had hopes and dreams about the future, and Bobby Kennedy represented at least one little part of their hopes & dreams. That so many people lost something that day / not just the OBVIOUS. That an event like that can turn your life upside down whether or not you’re political and whether or not you agreed with his stance. And that, overall, in the big scheme of things, it was a huge moment. Arguably huger than his brother’s shooting, because his brother’s shooting is part of the history. Because it was the SECOND time. Because it closely followed MLK’s shooting. Because these things don’t just happen to one person / they happen to all of us / and there is/was a cumulative effect flowing through those years.

Because sometimes what someone stands for is so much bigger than who they were.

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Written & directed by Joey Lauren Adams, “Amy” of “Chasing Amy”. Starring Ashley Judd, who was really wonderful here.

It’s a small film. A “coming into one’s own” film (rather than “coming of age”). A film about, really, just one moment / one turning point. Realizing that you have to make your own choices. That you can’t rely on old crutches, or blame other people and the past they’ve saddled you with for the decisions you’re making today.

A small, quiet movie. But moving. Well directed, well acted. Well worth the admission.

Well worth the drive to Highland Park, somewhere neither of us had ever been, to go to this last night as it was only playing at 4:10 in the city. Somehow we made it before the previews were even over despite getting lost in suburbia.

People are calling this the best Bond film in years. Yeah, because it’s not really what we have come to know as the Bond film, it just happens to have him as a character in it.

Ways in Which This Film Resembles a Bond Film

• His name is Bond, James Bond.
• Judi Dench is his boss.
• He works for MI6.
• Sleeps with more than one girl.

Ways in Which This Film Does NOT Resemble a Bond Film

• He’s blonde not dark, short not tall, and has actual muscles instead of the lanky Moore/Dalton/Brosnan shape. (Craig is bulked up like a male gymnast in this movie. Quite the contrast from his Munich and LayerCake silhouettes).
• He takes cabs!
• He fights with his hands a lot (limited gun usage)!
• He gets the crap beat out of him several times and is very bloody and battered and completely messed up.
• Subtle dialogue. No cheeseball stupid lines like “I thought Christmas only came once a year” but instead nice play-by-play (Her: “I’m the money” Him: “Worth every penny.” Moneypenny. Get it?)
• Only one scene with anything very “gadgety” (and it was medical.) Otherwise straight fists / guns / regular cars / nothing fancy.
• No Q.
• Falls in love, bares his soul.
• Drinks some crazy fruity drink he makes up with 1/2 teaspoon of a billion different things.

Ways in Which This Film May or May Not Resemble Bond, I Cannot Remember
A really sadistic sadomasochistic beating scene that I can only imagine made all the men in the audience cringe with sympathy pain.

It was pretty good. Not a GREAT FLICK by any means, but very enjoyable. Daniel Craig is pretty yummy, even bloody and battered. (As some of us like to say, “I’d tap that.”)

Revenge. Twisted competition. And in the end, through two different revelations, you are brought face to face with the almost unbelievable level of horror humans can stoop to when caught in the throes of such. Crazy ending to wrap your mind around.

Chilling.

(Christian Bale was really great, despite his weirdly all the exact same size, all the way across the top teeth.)

Loved it (man I’m easy sometimes).

Loved the costumes and the pageantry and the yummy yummy food. I was so hungry afterward, filled with longings for cakes and pies and tarts and eclairs and perhaps a jar of frosting to eat with my fingers.

Thought Kirsten Dunst was really good (I also like her in Wimbledon, although in general I really don’t like her and there are a number of movies she has totally skeeved me out in).

Overall, a tremendous feeling of sadness. Her life became so barren, so lonely and alone and full of distrust and gossip…

Really well done.