Crossing Over

Most of the movies I've seen come out of Hollywood that address the issue of immigration are, well, exaggerated. Some sort of straw man (usually some evil ICE agent and-or hick) is set up and then easily knocked down to show that every immigrant is treated unfairly and that in the end only good hard-working people are deported.

This movie takes a much more realistic approach, showing the various stories of immigration from the perspectives of several different people from several different countries. In the end, some are deported, some become citizens, and some end up leaving the U.S. because they cannot get green cards. Overall, though, the movie is VERY good at showing some of the problems with immigration, from both sides of the fence, without ever becoming a preachy "all immigrants are wonderful" diatribe.

Sympathetic characters and a somewhat compelling storyline make for a good watch.

7.5/10

IMDB Link

Notorious

Before I watched this movie about some "gangsta" rapper who got killed, I had very very very very very little respect for the rap/urban/"hip-hop" culture in America.  After seeing it, the seemingly impossible happened: I have even less respect for it. When someone's world is so small, so very very insignificant that their life is consumed worrying about "East coast versus West coast" rappers, then they really should just off themselves. Of course, they never do. Too much gangsta pride for that. However, they do a great job offing each other. Was the East-coast-West-coast "War" nature's way of throwing out the stubby dull pencils? I have to give that proposition a great big "Hrmmmm.... that just may be."

1/10

IMDB Link

NOTE: this movie should not be confused with the well-made 1946 Alfred Hitchcock film, "Notorious", which was actually a movie worth watching.

Action films*

It's no secret that 90% of action movies suck (or they're clearly below average). However, when trying to review and grade an action film, the first things people begin discussing are the special effects, sound effects, and believability and excitement from the various action scenes.

I hate this.

I also often find myself giving action movies a "pass" when it comes to reviewing them because of the above criteria, as if these films and these criteria affect my objective judgment in different ways than other films, and thus the focus of my review or my initial feelings and reactions to said films is just naturally different.

This is b.s. pure and simple. I am not a worthwhile human being if I allow my judgments about things I see/hear/absorb to shift. Obviously there is no perfect objective measurement for "art" like cinema, but everyone has their own standards and beliefs, and I would be remiss to ever compromise those standards by subjectively saying a piece of crap film is actually "okay" because it was an action film and I shouldn't have expected so much from it. Movie critics of the world, STAND YOUR GROUND and call crap out for what it truly is.

*This post inspired by:
-Roger Ebert's summary of "G.I. Joe" - "It is sure to be enjoyed by those whose movie appreciation is defined by the ability to discern that moving pictures and sound are being employed to depict violence."
-A.O. Scott's editorial in the NY Times about the dumbing down of American cinema

The International

The International is a movie about Interpol and other people trying to bring down an Evil Big Bank. The movie doesn't bother with making you care about this or about the characters. I fell asleep about an hour into the movie. Boring, confusing, and a big "who cares" film. Decent cinematography, though.

4/10

IMDB Link

Terminator: Salvation

Terminator: Salvation

So I finally saw this movie in the theatres, and I admit: it was a loud theatre movie with no plotline that you need to see in the theatres. Christian Bale was, as always, an amazing actor, but perhaps I should see the other Terminator movies before passing Judgment.

7/10

IMDB Link

I'll be back.

Gran Torino

Racial slurs aside, Gran Torino was an enjoyable experience. I can tolerate the poor acting on the part of the Asian actors. The whole point though, was that violence witnessed by the masses was what it took to "clean up" the neighborhood. Why were there so many gangs there to begin with?

7.5/10

IMDB Link

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The film will give viewers headaches. On one hand, the action sequences have amazing visual effects and sound effects which almost make one believe that giant freaking robots are bashing the hell out of each other, while on the other hand the schizophrenic nature of the action sequences are sure to give viewers seizures. But in the end, the minimal robot-on-robot destruction in comparison to all of the terrible story development, terrible acting by all of the "human" leads, and the abundance of irrelevant robot characters standing around making "jokes" or interacting with the awful "human" characters over the course of 2 hours and 20 minutes will cause you to say to yourself as you leave the theater "I WISH I WERE AN ALIEN-ROBOT FROM SPACE WHO COULD TRANSFORM FROM A PLANE INTO A DESTRUCTIVE MECHANICAL MONSTROSITY SO I COULD FLY TO CALIFORNIA, BLOW UP MICHAEL BAY'S HOME, AND THEN RIP MICHAEL BAY TO PIECES, WHILE GUARANTEEING THAT HIS FATE IN HELL WOULD BE HIM STRAPPED TO A CHAIR WATCHING ALL OF HIS FILMS ON A CONTINUOUS LOOP FOR ETERNITY!"