You Are Part of the Rebel Alliance and a Trader! Show Me Your Wares!

New
Al Franken: God Spoke - *
All the King's Men - *1/2
Azumi - **1/2
Fearless - **1/2 '
The Last Kiss - *1/2
Three Times - **1/2 '
Zoom - 1/2 (Oh me oh my oh *sigh*)

Older
Clerks II - **1/2 '
Half Nelson - ** '
Jesus Camp - ***
You, Me and Dupree - 1/2
Trust the Man - 1/2
The Wicker Man - *1/2

Recently Viewed
Adaptation - **1/2 ' (60)
Akira - **** (93)
Almost Famous - **1/2 (50)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery - **1/2 (49)
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me - **1/2 (53) (50% repeated gags that, well, weren't so great the first time around either, 25% lazy scatological sorbet, and 25% genuine improvement. Sharper spoofing accounts for the slight increase, what with the palaverous explanations of time machine know-how or Dr. Evil's admission that Powers's blatant cheating via replication is "ri-goddam-diculous," though you wish someone would firm up the material so there's more odd mannerisms - i.e. Dr. Evil demonstrating the moon's orbit, only for it to crankily come to a halt at its apogee - and less Powers drinking, well how would you say it, "coffee?")
The Birds - **1/2 ' (58) (Lmao bird attacks - peck... peck... peck... I'll end this picture when I damn well please!)
Bulworth - *1/2 (30) (aka You Got Politically Served. And how many African-American / chicken, African-American / weapon, or gunshot jokes can you stuff in until they get old? Like 18? Oh it's okay though, they make sure to give Berry a minute long political rant. Oh, my mistake, too subtle. Let Don Cheadle, Sean Astin, oh, and pretty much everyone reiterate the same crap for 75% of the movie. Only legitimate humor perhaps the BGM... Insane in the membrane ROoOoOoOoOoOWR!!!!! Of course most of that stems from the song itself, and naturally it's played over and over, cram that white fish-outta-water down yo throat - maybe it'd be more forgiveable if the remainder of the film wasn't complete bull... worth.)
Cars - *** (61)
Chasing Amy - ** (40) (Note to guys, DON'T see this with your friends. Y'know, better yet...)
The Devil Wears Prada - *** ' (71)
Dogma - ** ' (48)
Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - ***1/2 (81)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - ***1/2 ' (88)
Heathers - *1/2 (27) (Dear diary... So many cheap shots and terrible one-liners, so little subtlety. Kind of interesting how a film can simultaneously try to empathasize with its characters - or at least use them to that extent - and smirk down upon them. Ditches endearing naivety of something like Clueless for holier-than-thou teen nihilism - i.e. I hate everything, other people should just kill themselves - and then proceeds to write everyone off as complete caricature, deciding their fates in such a way to instate teen's angsty, outdated outrage as a Big Deal and representative of collective interaction between all people. Perfectly planned, of course, or in this case, deck-stacked really, JD the aloof rebel who gets his disdain from his daddy, as well as the explosives to blow up his school. Maybe could have worked if it wasn't so ultra-serious and self-important, or if its stabs at high school cliches had any bite or accuracy, or if it wasn't ninety minutes of pure self-indulgence before a quaint turn-around that stipulates we all jus' wanna be loved and accepted etc etc. Poses as black comedy; in truth it's just black.)
Memento - **** (93)
North by Northwest - *** (65) (Northwest-pointing mise-en-scene ftw!)
Quills - ** (36) (Oh behave...)
Thank You For Smoking - **1/2 (54)
Total Recall - **1/2 ' (58) (Instant atmosphere ftw! Remember kids, wear a wet towel around your head - that way because you can't see the bad guys, they can't see you. Still some interesting bits on memory, though it's got nothing on Memento or Magnetic Rose, which astute viewers might notice has been on the rise. Dashed Hopes Department: the number two bad guy's second-in-command catches Schwarzenegger flat-footed but fails to pull the trigger - one assumes flaw in his confidence or perhaps even mercifulness, until his boss comes up and the man explains it's merely unsafe to shoot off his gun since it might depressurize the dome.)
The Wages of Fear - ***1/2 ' (87)


"Least Anticipated" section added to the Archives in a bored attempt to pre-emptively serve annoying films I will probably watch but don't really want to.