Quick review of movies I've seen in the past 7 weeks but was not able to give my thoughts on:

Outlander: It was cool. Simple, sure, but I really like how they merged the sci-fi man with Norse Viking tribe themes. It was written well enough for me to like it from not only a story (plus action) standpoint, but see its story-writing qualities.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: Very funny. All the parodies and references to movies and random occurrences really made the movie for me. It’s a fun movie.

Moon: (Ok, I didn’t watch this during Lent, but rather recently.) A “hard” sci-fi, the story kept me guessing for a while, the setting was captivating, and the overall story was great.

Enchanted: I found it really funny at how they were parodying and making fun of the other Disney Princess movies. Fun movie to watch.

Hook: It was clever and good. Nice vision of expanding the Peter Pan story.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: I just did not feel this movie. Maybe it is not to my tastes. Good story, sure. I guess this is one of those “see it once” movies.

Alice in Wonderland, 2010: I was hesitant on seeing this; The only thing I’ve done related to Alice has been seeing my high school’s drama performance (as of writing this I’m reading the books), so I was not going crazy over needing to see it. Plus there is all the 3D hype. However, I am so glad I went and watched. It was cool and fun and really well executed. And the visual effects were stunning (they looked pretty neat, the way everything went, almost as much as Avatar). I can not say enough good things about it (but I will say there were flaws, sure, but not big deal).

(And then of course there is Mia Wasikowska looking good on screen, and, while we are talking about pretty sights, that sword was perfect–handle, blade...can I hold it please?)

The score by Danny Elfman is pretty epic too. I have his Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and 9 scores and I’d say this is the best.

The Hurt Locker: This won the Oscar’s “Best Movie of the Year” and looked interesting to my roommates and me. Most of us enjoyed it, including myself. I would not, however, say it deserved the award. This is a story centering around a bomb-disarming squad in the Mid-East, so there is suspense on that fact because they are risking their lives. (This was fiction, except it was based on real stuff.) While their job is amazing for what they do, it was a slight story of just following them around as they interact and deal with the day and their life. No real plot or conflict (well, there are those bombs...) to grab me.

Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Whoa. Um...bloody, yes, but that aside it was good, sure. I enjoyed it, I’ll say that, but it was not really my type of movie, mainly for the gore (that was so fake, too).

Also, I rewatched The Prestige and, after not thinking it amazing after my first viewing, have come to find a new respect for it. (If we were to compare it to The Illusionist though, I’d still prefer watching that.)

-CF