Movie Reviews @ The Temple

The Black Dahlia - Y'know, I'm not sure.  There's something about any movie in America before 1960 that wants to be interesting just by context.  But this movie didn't really hook me.  Came off too cheesily dramatic or too convoluted or something.  I can't really point out anything that was especially bad, yet I wouldn't call the movie good.  *shrug*  Dunno.  Also, I have a question for Scarlett Johannson: Is this all you can do?

Night at the Museum - Aw it's cute.  It's exactly what you'd expect, and as long as that's all you want - silly goofy cheesy comedy that makes you giggle - then you'll be happy.

Black Christmas - Jesus.  Not that anyone expects it to be good.  But I can enjoy crap horror movies, and still I fastforwarded through this piece of crap.

Rocky Balboa - Yer not gonna believe this, but this movie is good!  I mean, it's not good.  But it's good!  It's mostly what you would expect, yes he drinks eggs, yes he runs up the steps.  Nonetheless, I was impressed, it seemed to have a bit more of the classic Rocky heart than the last movies.  Sure, it's not wonderful writing, no actors are winning an oscar, but Rocky knows how to play Rocky, and you are absolutely on his side again.

 The Illusionist - Meh, this movie not so good.  I feel like it had some promise, like it coulda been good, but somehow it failed.  I hated the way it was filmed.  The whole movie had this weird soft on the edges, 1980s soap opera dream sequence thing going on.  And a weird, not sepia, but somehow still glowey orange-brown tone to it.  The acting wasn't necessarily bad, but Norton's accent annoyed me.  The tricks were cool, but the drama was not exciting.  I dunno, just not so good.

Children of Men -  On the other hand, WAY GOOD!  I wasn't sure about this at first.  For the first 30 min maybe, I was unconvinced.  But the longer it went the more I was wrapped up in it.  As predictable as many parts, including the end, were, I was impressed.  Besides, the only thing better than an apocalyptic setting is a dystopian setting, and this pulls that off wonderfully.  It's dirty and grimy and hopeless and oppressive and complete and hopeful.  Yes I know I said opposites!  It was good!