Bringing Out the Dead (1999): It's always jarring for me to see Nicolas Cage in a good role, because the guy does so much garbage that it's not difficult to forget he can actually act when given the right character. This movie follows Cage as a New York City paramedic who is at the end of his rope. He lives for nights when it feels as though he does nothing but save lives, but as of late he is more like a witness to death and a comfort to people's families. Cage actually does a great job of balancing emotions -- he's never too haunted or crazy, but there's always a sense of pain behind his eyes during the quiet moments when he is just trying to be a normal guy. Good movie, although it can be sort of tough to watch at times.
Gurren Lagann: Gurren-hen (2008): This is basically a retelling from Gurren Lagann from the first episode through ep14 or so. Not recommended if you have not seen Gurren Lagann before, but it's nice if you want to relive the series without having to go through every episode again (it was nice to hear the Japanese voices again, since it has been a while).
There Will Be Blood (2007): Haha, watching this on DVD with a nice TV makes so much difference. Scenes that were creepy when I originally saw this via a crappy stream are downright frightening now. (The image of an oil-soaked Daniel Plainview staring madly at an oil derrick covered in flames is probably the creepiest thing I have seen all week.) Nice to know that the movies holds up very well, too. The first hour or so is a bit slower than I remember, but once it gets into the rivalry between Plainview and Eli Sunday, it's all great. Love this movie. :D
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009): A respectable end (?) to Futurama. Probably the only part that really irks me is the extended sequence where Leo Wong is trashing the environment. It just comes off as too over-the-top for me, and I didn't find one moment during that part funny at all. But the beginning, with the trip to Mars Vegas, is fun, and the plot aside from the Wong shenanigans is not bad at all. The ending is appropriate, too -- it's a similar sort of ending to Futurama's final episode, where there's some definite closure but things are left open just in case. Overall, I wish the quality of writing for the movies was better, but hell, I'm just happy I got to see more Futurama.
On the queue for this week: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
Total Movies: 61 (Gaslight, The Last King of Scotland, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Darjeeling Limited, This Film is Not Yet Rated, Diary of the Dead, Bullets Over Broadway, Interiors, Husbands and Wives, The Professional: Golgo 13, Lars and the Real Girl, Lolita, Quills, Hamlet, Iris, Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, The Savages, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Stranger, Love and Death, Harold and Maude, Spartacus, Scarlet Street, Sabrina, Zelig, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), Stardust Memories, Barry Lyndon, Be Kind Rewind, Radio Days, Deconstructing Harry, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Creating Rem Lazar, Undefeatable, Ninja Terminator, Ninja Dragon, Rumble Fish, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, In Bruges, The Bank Dick, Marathon Man, Clannad, Air, Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, MirrorMask, Slither, It's a Gift, Splendor in the Grass, Waitress, North by Northwest, Monkey Business, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, The Brave One, 3:10 to Yuma, Bringing Out the Dead, Gurren Lagann: Gurren-hen, There Will Be Blood, Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder)
