City Island (2010)

Both Nathan and I smiled through most of this movie. Yeah, it's silly and convoluted -- but it's also touching and full of, in a roundabout way, truth.

Botero!

B

Kick-Ass (2010)

Extremely disappointing, and I wasn't even expecting that much.

The basis was a decent idea that just kind of got thrown out the minute after it was introduced. We saw precious little of our nasally everyman fighting crime and, instead, got introduced to the ol' ultra-violence and mob subplot.

And can Christopher Mintz-Plasse please go away now? Certainly there can't be many more films that can put to use his niche "appeal."

D+

The Square (2010)

Well-acted and nicely-paced film about an adulterous couple planning to run away together by taking apparently stolen cash from her husband. But things get complicated, as things always do.

It was tense and almost quietly desperate, which was terrific, but just TOO many things went wrong. I don't think that an enterprise like this one should be easy -- but I also don't believe there's any way it would be this hard.

If it weren't for the fact that Murphy's Law seemed to be the force behind the narrative, this would be an A. As it stands, I can't go higher than...

B

Fingersmith (2005)

A little "family" of fingersmiths (con artists/petty thieves) from the fringes of London concoct a scheme to bilk a lonely heiress out of her fortune: a young woman from the group will apply to serve as her personal maid and then use the influence of her position to push a marriage to a young man of the group.

It's nicely told from the perspective of the uneducated Sue and then the same ground is covered from rich Maud's point of view. It's really quite good, but there wound up being maybe two twists too many and the ending was less than satisfying because it was a little too tidy.

B

Bandslam (2009)

What a pleasant surprise!

This is a both clever and poignant story of a boy trying to change his life and having the good luck to fall into the job of managing a high school band. Of course there's a love interest and complications but, for a high school movie, it rang really true and some of the scenes actually got me to tear up.

That said, I still can't stand Vanessa Hudgens. Though she starts out as an affected loner, she eventually morphs into the Hudge we know too well: cutesy-wutesy musical goddess. Ugh.

B

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)

Seriously shallow story taking place over the course of one night. Nerdy/cool guy with a bitch of an on-again off-again girlfriend meets a nerdy/cool girl with an ass of an on-off boyfriend and spend the night falling in love while enduring a few wacky adventures with his gay bandmates and her drunk pain-in-the ass friend.

Nothing much here, but the chemistry between the two leads actually exists (and should have been put to better use) and the soundtrack is killer.

C-

Written on the Wind (1956)

Capital-M Melodrama.

Guy meets girl...rich buddy meets same girl and marries her immediately...rich buddy's sister is a slut...rich buddy has a doctor-described "weakness" making it unlikely he'll make babies...which means a pregnant wife = suspicion and murder. Lots here in general, but also lots to specifically make me giggle.

The hands-down best thing about it were the costumes -- if I were a fashion designer I'd be stealing inspired by a lot of these looks.

C-