Alex Proyas’ GARAGE DAYS is light years distant from DARK CITY. First of all, it’s a comedy. Second, it’s also a melodrama that concentrates on characters, sort of a “tale of death of youthful optimism” crossed with “sex drugs and rock ‘n roll.”
All in Comedy
This is a sweet comedy that doesn’t, for the most part, descend into mawkishness or treacle.
Kevin Lima's ENCHANTED
If you need something pleasant and friendly, you need look no further than Enchanted.
Brad Bird's RATATOUILLE
Number One Daughter was home for the weekend from college. We packed ourself into the family chariot and located the one theater in the Northern Virginia area that was still showing Ratatouille ($3 per ticket - cash only).
Edgar Wright's HOT FUZZ
This demonically funny comedy follows a super-competetent London cop banished to a small English town because he’s so good he’s showing up the rest of his colleagues.
Robert Rodriguez' “PLANET TERROR”
I’m usually not partial to zombie movies but I really loved this one.
Bong Joon Ho's “THE HOST”
I’s fun to see a decent monster movie again.
Satoshi Kon’s "TOKYO GODFATHERS"
Satoshi Kon’s TOKYO GODFATHERS, like his MILLENIUM ACTRESS, proves again animation’s spectacular dramatic and artistic potential. From an unlikely story Satoshi weaves a dramatic and humorous tale that soars above cliché and treacly melodrama.
A great and gross little horror film.
John Lasseter & Joe Ranft's CARS
I’m not a big fan of automobiles as an art form and I don’t have a nostalgia for their cultural significance (though I can’t argue with their importance) but this movie is a real winner.
This is the best "road picture" I've seen in years. What starts out as quirky and off-center ends up as thoughtful, almost elegiac.
Marius Penczner's “I WAS A ZOMBIE FOR THE F.B.I.”
What possessed me to rent this movie? No matter. I enjoyed it.
Robots
I especially liked the battle sequence at the end with its darkness, its massed robotic antagonists, and the feeling I was seeing some real cartoon malevolence the likes of which I haven’t seen since Oogie Boogie in Nightmare Before Christmas.
Yasujiro Ozu's GOOD MORNING
It’s the late 1950’s in a new cookie-cutter Tokyo suburb. Two young brothers are eager to get a television. A young couple nearby has one which they let the kids watch (they love sumo wrestling) but the kids’ parents are concerned that the young couple’s laid-back attitude will rub off on the kids.
Richard Curtis' LOVE ACTUALLY
Back in the Day, the phrase “English ensemble actor film” brought to mind names like John Gielgud, John Mills, Alec Guiness, and Trevor Howard. Love Actually shows how far we’ve come when we can watch a blank-faced actor like Martin Freeman ( Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) nonchalantly chatting away while feigning naked sex with his soon-to-be-girlfriend.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I can take 5 or ten minutes of tongue-in-cheek, but a whole movie, plus annoying characters?