Movies - short and not necessarily sweet

Skipping all the non-memorable-average-mediocre stuff - here are my latest watched movies;

* All the king's men - almost everything Sean Penn does is great. Which goes to show that there's gold to be found in the most surprisingly places and people, I was far from impressed by him in his early acting days. And yes, he's good as always - what a repetoire he has! - in this movie too. And it is an interesting story about the corruption in politics. But somehow it's just too looong and it struggles, and I'm not really sure what I think. -3/5

* Paris je t'aime - I haven't been to Paris. Yet. And guess what, this movie sure don't make any Paris-itch getting so unbearable I just have to book a plane-ticket... Such a boring, boring movie and a complete waste of talented actors. And, what I suppose, a beautiful, fascinating city. +1/5

* Scoop - yes I'm a Woody Allen-fan, moviewise, there's just noone else who can do a grumpy old intellectual the witty way he does. There have been some mediocre WA-movies, and some really bad ones - Shadows and Fog being the absolute bottom-level. I shudder even at the thought... - but I enjoy the better ones the more! Anyway. Scoop was quite a nice one, and seeing Scarlett Johansson as a young female version WA was kind of surreal and really fun. +3/5

* Hidalgo - movies which includes man's cruelty and ignorance towards animals always gets to me. And so did this. And I do want a happy ending when that happens. And I did get that. Classic adventure movie with an underdog getting revenge. Quite ok. -3/5

* The Mother - british drama with Daniel Craig in a not-very-Bond-like role. But the main-character is a middleaged woman who becomes a widow - and frankly, good riddance... - and a life wasted. But hopefully not completely. Sad, gripping and yet hopeful. 4/5

* Veronica Guerin - a true story about an Irish journalist who was murdered by drug dealers in Dublin in the late 1990ies. It's scary with these parallell lives, probably in any city all over the world, perhaps just a subway-stop away. I had no idea drugs were such a huge problem in Ireland as recent as that, I'd never heard - as far as I remember - about Veronica Guerin until I saw this movie. What a brave woman! Chilling story, but I missed depth and coherence. -3/5

* The Weight of Water - I love Anita Shreve's writing, but I haven't read this book though. But I'm intrigued by the fact that she has re-used the characters and part of the plot in a later book, but changed it slightly. Or perhaps not. I'll write more about that later, since it's more of a book- than this movie-related thing. Sean Penn again, great achievement as usual. As the rest of the cast, apart from that horrible excuse of an actress Elizabeth Hurley. I have no idea what she does in movies except showing of her latest plastic surgery... Brrr. I would have wanted more depth, the movie sort of only scratched the surface in parts. I did like the two dimension outplay though. -4/5

* God is great, I'm not - and neither is this movie. Far from. And I can't help but thinking about what my Belgian friend once said, when I raved about French movies; Ha, that's just because you haven't seen all the crap in French we have to endure on TV here. You only get the very selected parts of the French movie-production. And seeing French movies like this one I totally understand that view. Some sort of pseudo-intellectual, family-drama, lovestory, comedy that's just annoying and a waste of time. Not even Audrey Tatou is enjoyable. Less than 1/5 = worthless

Some French movies, in different genres, I do enjoy in different ways - some I even adore - and really recommend are Jean de Florette and sequel, Le Grand Bleu, Subway, Betty Blue, La cité des enfants perdus, Amélie, A very long engagement, Léon, Les Visiteurs, The Crimson Rivers, Le Placard, Romuald et Juliette - go see those instead!

* American Splendor - American independent movie at its best, love it! Paul Giamatti rules! Memorable quote from main character while looking at himself in the bathroom mirror - Now there's a reliable disappointment. Witty, grumpy, real, 4/5 with an extra plus

* High Crimes - yes I admit, I am a legal/lawyer-movie/TV-series buff and yes, I'm a sucker for a great closing argument. Which of course has to have a certain finesse to it. I'm not sure if this movie has that. But still, it's quite the enjoyable thriller that keeps you guessing right until the end. Morgan Freeman is good as always, Ashley Judd has a great haircut and James Caviezel is his usual creepy self. -4/5

* Old School - yup, this movie reminds me of the American Pie-movies, I admit I find them hilarious in parts, quite enjoyable in all their crudeness. And Will Ferrell is the very essence of comedy. It doesn't hold all the way, but still those moments with roaring laughters was just what I needed. +2/5

* Elina - Som om jag inte fanns (Like if I wasn't there) - a moving Swedish drama set in the Northern Sweden in the 1950ies tells the story about a little, brave girl and her questioning the authority of her petty queen of a teacher. -4/5

* Octane - a bizarre thriller about a mother who has a tense relationship with her daughter and while arguing with her at a gas-station the daughter gets lured away by a cult. Aspire the Twin Peaks-feeling, but ends up completely without its subtlety and originality. And whatever has happened to lovely Madeleine Stowe, she sort of looks like a Michael Jackson-wannabe... Or perhaps it's just the natural ageing-process for people born in August 1958... Movie: less than 1/5 = worthless

* Ocean's Thirteen - I do like gentlementhieves and a good plot. This movie is stylish, swishy, witty - and houses eyecandy extraordinaire George Clooney - still the namedropping gets a bit much and the plot feels sort of strained. But yes, I want to be as cool as Ellen Barkin. 3/5 perhaps with a slight minus

Over and out.