Resurrecting the Movies thread...

[serious crayons]

Happy birthday, Del! Good to see you back. How was Paris?

[delalluvia]

Happy birthday, Del! Good to see you back. How was Paris?

Thanks!  Paris was nice.  I'll be updating my 'American Girl in Paris' thread shortly.  Stay tuned.

[oilgun]

I just received my copy of Gus Van Sant's first film, Mala Noche, which Criterion recently released on DVD for the first time.  I'm pretty excited and hope to watch it on the weekend.  It's supposed to be pretty good, has anyone here seen it?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089537/

[serious crayons]

Anyone seen "Michael Clayton"? I've heard generally good things about it, but nothing very specific. It's on at my local cinema this weekend.

[delalluvia]

Anyone seen "Michael Clayton"? I've heard generally good things about it, but nothing very specific. It's on at my local cinema this weekend.

I've not seen it, but 3 friends of mine have, and none were impressed by it.

[moremojo]

Los Angeles-based film critic David Ehrenstein, who loathes Brokeback Mountain, has nothing but the highest praise for the new film I'm Not There, which features Heath Ledger as Bob Dylan:

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/a_film_by/message/46589

[ednbarby]

Anyone seen "Michael Clayton"? I've heard generally good things about it, but nothing very specific. It's on at my local cinema this weekend.

I saw it a couple weeks ago and really liked it, myself.  And I am not a George Clooney fan.  So, for what it's worth...

[shortfiction]

I just saw Into the Wild and found it quite well done, with great performances from Emile Hirsch, Hal Holbrook, and Catherine Keener in particular.   Sean Penn did a great job of directing.   You might have read the book of the same name by Jon Krakauer. 

[Lynne]

I saw it a couple weeks ago and really liked it, myself.  And I am not a George Clooney fan.  So, for what it's worth...

I liked Michael Clayton too.  I give it 3.5/5 stars.  I've seen quite a few movies the past couple of weeks.  I had high expectations for We Own the Night - but 3/5 I guess - it was good, but when you've seen Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg at their best (say Walk the Line, The Departed), it seemed like they were phoning it in.

The best by far I thought was Gone Baby Gone, directed by Ben Affleck and starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, and Morgan Freeman.  It's based on a novel by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) and set in Boston.  I loved the book, so I went into it with a great deal of trepidation.  The adaptation was extremely well-done and Casey becomes Patrick Kenzie.  The rough character of the Dorchester neighborhood was completely convincing for me.  5/5 for me.

30 Days of Night 2/5 - could have been good (Josh Hartnett was) but the villains were one-dimensional and not very scary.

[serious crayons]

I'm going to a movie in about an hour: either Michael Clayton or Dan in Real Life. Those are the two best choices at my local theater. I'm leaning toward the latter, simply because it seems light and I could really use some lightness right now.

This is similar to a dilemma I had about a year and a half ago: Brokeback Mountain or Munich or The New World? I chose BBM almost by chance. The rest is history.

Whatever I pick, I'll report back here afterward. That is, unless I have become an obsessive devotee of the Michael Clayton or Dan in Real Life message boards  (highly doubtful)!