First day of nine days off from work. I'm pretty tired of working with a certain newspaper right now, so hooray!
The Hangover (2009): The latest example in the "Shinmaru is late in catching up to current movies" trend. Definitely lives up to the hype for me, though; it's hilarious the whole way through, even though a few of the funniest parts had been spoiled for me beforehand. There isn't a moment in the movie that doesn't work for me. Not much else for me to say other than I love it when a comedy comes in and just delivers from start to finish.
Welcome to the Space Show (2010): I have mixed feelings on this movie. On the one hand, it is friggin' gorgeous. I mean, holy shit. The backgrounds are amazingly detailed and imaginatively conceived, and the animation is crazy good. Seriously, this is Ghibli-level work right here; hell, it's Disney-level work. And the story and characters keep up for the first hour -- it's a hell of a lot of fun. But holy crap does everything fall apart at the end: It's an insane mishmash of battles, plot twists and Gundam battle philosophizing and it's bizarre and confusing to watch. Really, I have no idea what the hell is going on in the final half hour. And the movie is way too long -- 136 minutes, and you could cut a half hour of that at least.
But, at least, I have to admire A-1 Pictures for actually making this. In such an uncertain climate for animation, it's nice to see companies still taking chances on it and at least coming up with movies of such amazing technical power. 136 minutes on an animated movie that's not part of a franchise (like Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya) by a non-Ghibli company in 2010 is insane, but A-1 did it anyway. Can't find out how much it made, but I hope it did well for A-1.
Broken Blade 4 (2010): Hm, bit of a step down from the previous movie. Mecha action is still good, but the main battle isn't quite as good as in the last one. And I still don't care about the story or characters. At least every movie is short.
The Social Network (2010): Just finished watching it -- great movie, and definitely as interesting as everyone says it is. What makes it work is that it is impeccably crafted: Every piece of dialogue and every scene is crystal clear and intelligent. The movie takes subjects that could be complicated and/or boring (computer programming, starting up an Internet company, etc.) and infuses them with tremendous energy and wit. The Social Network doesn't dumb down its story but at the same time makes it clear to everyone who watches. We need more movies that treat their audiences like intelligent adults.
As far as how it compares to the other Best Picture nominees, Black Swan is more my type of movie, but Social Network would have made a worthy winner. For me, my preference goes: Black Swan > The Social Network > True Grit > Toy Story 3 > Inception. (By the way, I think they're all great movies.)
(P.S. All the actors who play humongous douchebags are hilarious.)
On the queue for this week: Red (2010), Winter's Bone (2010) (maybe)
Total Movies: 36 (Blazing Saddles, The Descent, Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer, Village of the Damned, Children of the Damned, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, The Night of the Hunter, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 1st, Dawn of the Dead, Black Swan, Clue, Scarface, Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned, True Grit, Perfect Blue, The Quick and the Dead, High Sierra, Shutter Island, A Serious Man, Kite, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Broken Blade 3, Kite Liberator, Machete, The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Heathers, The Prince of Tennis: The Two Samurai, The First Game, Notes on a Scandal, The American, King of Thorn), The Expendables, Sword of the Stranger, The Hangover, Welcome to the Space Show, Broken Blade 4, The Social Network)
