What have I seen recently?

Since I've been away for a while I thought I would give you a short recap of what films I've seen recently.

In Theatres:

The Invention of Lying: Not a great a movie at all, though there are some laugh inducing parts and the relation with religion was clever. All in all the clever story line is wasted by badly written dialogue and several wasted cameo's. C

A Serious Man: A well acted, incredibly written and flat out hilarious film. The Coen brothers created one of their funniest films that should definitely show up at this years Oscar race. If your a jew or a fan of the Coen brothers you should really enjoy this film, If you're both like me there's a good chance you'll love it. A-/B+

An Education: This is a great f

ilm. The acting is amazing, both Carey Mulligan and Alfred Molina are oscar worthy and Rosamund Pike and Peter Sarsgaard deserve nominations. The second half of the film isn't nearly as good as the first but all in all it's still an amazing film. A-/B+

The Men who Stare at Goats: This film is okay, it has a great last third but the first two thirds are boring at times and just plain weird at others. The cast is great but modern day parts are annoying and the parts in the past are funny but just not enough to make up for the rest of this lacklustre effort. C+

Precious: I don't understand the backlash towards this film, It's one of the most powerful and hard to watch film's I've seen in a long time. The acting performances from Gabby Sidibe and Monique are some of the best performances of the year. I believe that the film goes over the top a lot and never gives you a break from the drama. A-

The Road: After Precious I saw this film, and trust me it was

one of the most depressing afternoons I've ever had. This film is bleaker then imaginable yet at the same time feels as if your witnessing a very possible unliveable near future. Viggo Mortensen is amazing in this film and Robert Duvall has a great cameo in this film. B+/B

Up in the Air: Well acted, funny at times, depressing at others, great

characters, beyond great film. Jason Reitman has crafted one of the finest scripts I've seen in a long time and put together one of the best films of the year. George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick all give amazing performances and should all get nominated this February. This film refuses to end as expected and provides both great comedy and drama. A-

Invictus: Morgan Freeman is incredible as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon does what he can with the little he's given but besides some good one liners and some enjoyable rugby games the film is pretty boring and overly cheesy. Clint Eastwood overdoes the slow motion in the final rugby match and so much attention is put towards the security that when it leads you nowhere it seem's like he's wasted your time. One of Clint's weakest efforts. C

Broken Embraces: Not one of Almodovar's best efforts, but whenever Penelope Cruz is on the screen the film works wonderfully but whenever we're in the present with only her pictures to remind us of her the film crumbles. B-