I saw this a while ago, but given my absence, I’m just reviewing it now. There was a good buzz surrounding this, critics praising it as a great British comedy. The trailer looked promising, so I was pretty excited for it. Anyway, the movie is about an Irish cop in a small town where what looks like a ritual murder takes place. An FBI agent, played by Don Cheadle, comes to Britain to speak about three big-time drug smugglers lose in the country, and the Irish cop is there to hear his presentation. The Irish cop, with provincial views, makes one racist statement after another. Don Cheadle is obviously not amused, but he soon becomes interested with what the Irish cop has to say after he identifies one of the drug smugglers as to have been responsible for the recent crime in his town. The rest of the movie involves the two partnering up to find the drug smugglers, Don Cheadle putting up with the Irish cop’s racist statements. Yet as ignorant as the Irish cop is regarding Black people, he’s actually pretty good at his job; he’s smarter than he appears to be.

There are lots of funny moments, and although the Irish accents are pretty thick, I understood almost all of the dialogue (that doesn’t always happen). The script is well-written and the acting is solid. The story is not the most complex of all, but it isn’t dumb either. Great movie over all. 4/5

My favorite movie of the year so far. I expected a lot from this, and it did not disappoint. It’s the perfect example of what a small budget and great casting can do. From what I’ve heard, none of the actors are known in England, and they’re certainly unknown in the rest of the world. Anyway, the movie takes place in inner-city London about a group of teenagers who encounter an alien and kill it. A bunch of bigger, meaner aliens come after them. The kids do two things: either fight back or run. The aliens look cool and unique. You can tell that the filmmakers had to be creative since they were working on a small budget. What they ended up with was an awesome horror/action/sci-fi/comedy. It’s such a fun movie. Loved, loved, loved it! 5/5

Foreign language films usually don’t stay that long in SLFS theatres, and that’s a damn shame. I don’t understand why people hate reading subtitles so much. I have a friend who didn’t like subtitles, but I took her to a French movie anyway (she didn’t tell me she didn’t like subtitles). After the show, she said that she was surprised she actually was able to enjoy the movie and that the subtitles didn’t bother her. That’s what I keep telling people—your brain can handle the images and subtitles at the same time. Stop being so subtitle-phobic.

Anyway, Life, Above All is an outstanding film. It takes place in South Africa about a girl whose baby sister dies, and her mother’s illness gets worse. The illness is unspoken, but if you know anything about South Africa, you probably can guess what it is. Yep—AIDS. Everyone’s afraid of it, but no one understands it. They think the infected person is cursed, so they force them out of town, or resort to murder. No one wants to get infected, obviously, and those who are don’t go to legit hospitals for treatment. They’re in denial of their disease as their neighbors all gossip, and when they die, friends and family lie about the true cause of death. In the film, one girl challenges the prejudices, ignorance, and denial about AIDS when her mom gets infected.

The young actress is impressive. The ending gives me hope, although I’m not sure if it’s the kind of thing that would happen in real life Africa. Let’s hope it is.

On Flixter, I rated this 4.5/5, but now that I look back, it deserves a 5.

This is a really good movie. I waited a while to see it because I haven’t had much time to see movies lately, so I’ve been going for the ones that were gonna leave the theatres soon or those that were most convenient. I liked Another Earth’s trailer. It didn’t really tell me much about the movie, but I did hear good things about it from Sundance. I didn’t know anything about the movie outside the trailer since I don’t read reviews, and most of the time I don’t read synopses either. So anyway, this movie was quite a surprise. There are things about this movie that I related to, but I won’t mention them here because they’re too personal. Another Earth—in case you’re wondering about the plot—is about a girl who causes a fatal car accident. She spends 4 years in prison and when she gets out, she abandons her dreams of becoming an astronaut, or astrophysicist—something that involves astronomy—for the life of a janitor. The movie takes place in present time, but not exactly our reality. In this sci-fi world, a planet exactly like Earth is discovered and can be seen in the sky. The girl finds an opportunity to visit the planet—Earth II—in order to confront her other self and possibly find a new life. Like I said, I really liked this movie. I had a feeling I would like it, but I definitely liked it more than I expected. The ending is weird; it’s an open-ended one, which is a bit gimmicky, but it left me thinking about it for a while. I have a theory about the ending, which may or may not have been what the screenwriter/director has intended. But I get the feeling they didn’t intend anything at all aside from wanting it to be up to the viewer to decide. 4/5

Terri is a film about an overweight kid named Terri, who’s been showing up to school late and whose grades are slipping. The high school principal, played by John C. Reilly, befriends him, scheduling Monday morning appointments where they discuss Terri’s life and problems. A troubled kid named Chad, who also has regular appointments with the principal, befriends Terri and so does a pretty girl whose reputation is tarnished because of an incident that takes place in Home Ed class between her and a boy. There are so many funny moments in this movie, especially those that involve the principal and the kid Chad. The acting feels genuine, and the movie remains honest throughout. I’m so far removed from high school that movies about teenagers usually bore me, but not this one. It doesn’t have the usual high school clichés that didn’t exist in my high school experience. What it has are interesting, flawed characters who find themselves in need of company—not always in a sexual or romantic way—in order to make life bearable. There’s a sad tone throughout the movie, but not too much that it asks the audience for their pity. Nor does it make the audience disgusted by the characters’ flaws; if any, the flaws make the characters relatable, and that’s one sure way to make a story intelligent. The kids and the adult actors do a great job, and for the fans of John C. Reilly: He does not disappoint in this movie, so go see it! I was the only person in the theatre when I saw this, so it made my cinematic experience even better. 4.5/5

I loved the original. This remake made some changes to the first, but it holds up to its own. A lot of people who’ve seen both criticize McLovin. The guy in the same role in the original was brilliant, but I think McLovin deserves some lovin’ as well. I thought he was funny. The original character is different anyway; he’s a skeptic, whereas McLovin’s role in the remake is the one convinced Colin Farrell is a vampire. Speaking of Colin Farrell as a vampire—I thought he was awesome. He was super creepy. In the “beer scene” (not giving the details cuz I don’t wanna spoil it), he was such a creep, he made me so uncomfortable in my seat. Another change in this movie is the role of the horror t.v. show host. In the remake, the character is changed to a popular magician in Vegas, where the story takes place (the original takes place in a small town). The actor who plays the magician is hilarious, and apparently he’s also the new Dr. Who (don’t quote me on that; I don’t watch the show). I really enjoyed this movie. There’s little build-up to the action, unlike the original, but the action is good. 5/5

Another movie I missed at Sundance. It got good reviews there, and I’m glad it got a theatrical release. I didn’t grow up listening to A Tribe Called Quest cuz I avoided hip hop when I was a kid, but I’ve grown to know better & expanded my music taste. I haven’t listened to a lot of A Tribe Called Quest particularly, so mostly everything in this documentary was new to me. I do enjoy watching documentaries about musicians, especially bands/groups because they’re always full of real-life drama. Not everyone gets along, and this fact is highlighted in this movie. The ending is a happy, one, though, and I’m glad. 4/5

I was planning on seeing The Trip today with a friend whom I haven’t seen in while because he’d been in France for more than a month. But he forgot we made plans, and I didn’t remind him last night as I should. Since I was already awake early in the morning (ok, not that early), I decided to go to SLC anyway and watch a movie by myself (Yes, I’m one of those people who’s got no problems seeing a movie alone. Having worked in a movie theatre, movie theatres are like home to me—a place I feel very comfortable in being by myself. Besides, I learned that some of the most dedicated, frequent moviegoers often go solo). Anyway, before heading to Broadway Cinemas this morning, there were two movies that I hadn’t seen before: The Trip and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I didn’t hear good things about Snow Flower so I wanted to take my friend with me to The Trip instead, and we still might be able to see it together when I go back to SLC on Thursday. I’ve mentioned before that I get free passes to SLFS theatres, so I watch pretty much everything they show, even if they get bad reviews.

I’ve also mentioned before that I’m a cry baby at movies. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is very melodramatic, but surprisingly, I didn’t cry a single time. The drama just didn’t sink in deep enough. I read a couple of one-liners from critics after I watched the movie, and they said the same thing—sentimentality that fails to touch the viewer. However, I think the movie is better than what the critics say. For one, I didn’t walk out of this movie, and I didn’t get impatient waiting for it to end. I ended up thinking it’s an ok movie. Not great, not too good, just ok.

For those who haven’t heard of this movie: This film is about two BFF’s who parted ways. These are characters who live in present-day China. Parallel to the story is another story, just like the present-day one, but it’s set in imperial China. It’s also a story about two BFF’s, and played by the same actresses as the present-day ones. In Roger Ebert’s review, he jokingly writes that the Chinese invented BFF’s, which is probably true since the Chinese invented EVERYTHING. We learn in this movie that female BFF’s are called “laotong.” And that’s basically what all the movie’s about—friendship that starts strong, ends abruptly, then comes back strong again because it never really went away to begin with. 3/5

The Tower Theatre in SLC is having a midnight movie series with lots of awesome films, but I can’t go to any of them because nobody wants to go with me, and I can’t go by myself because public transport stops running by then. Anyway, the Salt Lake Film Society, which owns Tower Theatre, is commissioning local artists to design movie posters of the films they’re showing. I went to Broadway Cinemas, the other theatre owned by SLFS, today and saw the posters the artists have designed. I’m not too thrilled by them, except for this one pictured above. It’s the best one of the lot, so I bought a print, #3 of 35 made. I went to Michael’s to get a quote on custom framing, and even at 60% off, it was damn expensive. So I went ghetto and used tacks. Anyway, I love this poster. Oh, and of course, I love the movie too.

I initially wasn’t interested in seeing this movie, but I heard it’s pretty good, so I was intrigued. Besides, I love Mila Kunis and I like Justin Timberlake’s acting. They were both great in this movie. What I wasn’t expecting—since I didn’t hear anything about it, but then again I don’t read complete movie reviews since I don’t like knowing too much about a movie before I see it—were Woody Harrelson’s and Patricia Clarkson’s awesome performance. They were very funny, very well-written characters. This movie isn’t perfect, tho. One thing that annoyed me: I seriously cannot believe that someone like Justin Timberlake’s character, who’s very hip & media-savvy, doesn’t know what a flash mob is. I also didn’t like the fact that Shawn White is in this movie, cuz he annoys the fuck out of me. This movie tries to be hip & cool in many ways that it makes my uncool, un-hip self a little alienated. Or maybe I’m just too cool for it. Haha. No. 3.5/5

I love genre hybrids, and I was definitely excited for this one since I love Western & Sci-fi (The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly is my fav film of all time.) I was expecting this to be epic, despite what I’ve heard from some critics. When I’m excited for something, I don’t care what critics say; I wanna see the movie and judge for myself. Only movies that I wasn’t interested in to begin with are capable of winning me over when a trusted critic says it’s good. Anyway, Cowboys & Aliens fell a little short of my expectations. It’s enjoyable, but I wanted it to be more over-the-top. It restrained itself quite a bit for a movie that should be crazy & shameless. When I saw the trailer for the first time, I was so excited and expected it to be the epic blockbuster of the year. It’s still a good movie, and def worth my time. 3.5/5

Troll Hunter. Or, as it’s billed, TrollHunter.

First off: I hate shaky handheld filming. It makes me nauseous, especially after a cup of tea and a cigarette, both of which I always have before taking a seat in the cinema. I knew this film is a found-footage film much like The Blair Witch Project, which is why I avoided it at Sundance, even though I totally could have made it to the Tower screening, which took place right before I Saw the Devil, which is an awesome South Korean film—def worth seeing! I heard TrollHunter was good and not as annoying as TBWP, so I decided to see it since I’m a horror fan and a SLFS member at the level where you get free tickets to all the screenings. I tried not to focus on the shaky cam too much, and surprisingly, it worked. A couple of cool things I learned from this movie: Trolls are mammals and can smell the blood of a Christian. Pretty neat, huh? More about the film: It’s about three journalism students who follow a suspected bear poacher, who turns out to be Norway’s lone troll hunter. The trolls look really cool. If I were still a little kid, they would have scared the fuck out of me. 4/5 stars

The story is so stupid, which makes this movie infuriating because the acting was great. I loved Kevin Spacey, Charlie Day, Collin Farrel, and Jamie Foxx. Acting gets 5/5. Story gets 2.5/5

Hilarious! Depending on whose story you believe, this documentary is either about a woman who travels across the Atlantic to rescue her fiancé from Mormon missionaries who’ve brainwashed him, or a story about an obsessed woman who spends a ton of money she’s made from being a call girl to kidnap a Mormon missionary and rape him. Errol Morris once again makes a film that explores truth & recollection. It’s so fun to watch movies like this in Utah. Supporters of the Salt Lake Film Society are mostly liberal folks, so this kind of film is shown here. 5/5

I cried. But then again, I’m a crybaby at movies. 4/5 stars.