Category: Three Sentence Movie Reviews

Another film I hadn’t seen since it’s debut. It was remarkable how well it held up. Alan Rickman is too fabulous as the extraordinary criminal, and Bruce Willis is about the best Bruce Willis he can be.

I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out and remembered it as an “eh” movie. My second viewing left me with a different impression due to a fabulous cast, beautiful clothes and top-notch acting. I remembered the plot and how it would all end, but I was still tense the entire film.

I’ve seen this before, of course, and it is one of my favorite romantic comedies. Aside from the silly car driving at the end, everything is perfect about this film, especially the four seasons of long shot. I will also never forget my original viewing in the theater when the mentally challanged couple sitting next to me made out through the majority of the film.

One of those movies I didn’t love or hate, but was happy to watch because it is so often referenced. In my mind, I confused the ending of Thelma and Lousie with the ending of this movie, so I had trouble matching what was going on on the screen vs. what I thought would happen. Also, this thought occurred: George Clooney and Brad Pitt are the Paul Newman and Robert Redford of the 2000’s.

Before watching this movie, I thought the exclamation point in the title was really a little bit much. Having seen the movie I know that the exclamation point is just right. Theoretically an incredibly boring subject (price fixing in the lysine industry) this was one of the most interesting and funny movies I’ve seen all year, with excellent performances by Matt Damon, Melanie Lynskey–an incredibly underrated actress–and the soundtrack, yes the soundtrack was a star in of itself!

The long-setup-for-big-swindle is a favorite movie sub-genre of mine (see: Oceans 11, 12, 13, The Italian Job, etc.). This was fun and engrossing with just the right amount of tension. The stars are easy on the eyes, too.

I watched this movie with my mother when I was quite small and have had the “A-men” song in my head ever since. Re-viewing it, I was happy to find that it is an amusing movie that is amazingly free of racist content (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I’m talking to you.) It might be a little slow for children today, but would be a good choice for a multi-generational family gathering.

Unlike some TV shows with full length feature films *cough* X-Files *cough,* this translated nicely to the movie screen, though I was watching it at home for free, so it wasn’t that much different from television. The Simpson’s team has honed their game to an art form and there were many delightful moments including Lisa’s cute boy interest explaining that though he was from Ireland and his dad is a musician, he wasn’t Bono. I laughed out loud several times, which is a rarity for me when watching comedies alone at home.

Like the goldfish in the bowl, one thought kept reoccurring as I watched this movie: “Why can’t they make more movies like this?” How often do we get to see a smart, articulate young woman work very hard for something she loves who is not a boy? Even Juliette Lewis didn’t bug me, and I can’t recommend this enough.

Bechdel score: two women: yes. Who talk to each other: yes! About something besides a man: YES!

I wanted to like this movie much more than I did. I think Spike Jones and Dave Eggers did a good job of making a perfect book into a movie, but I couldn’t really get absorbed in the story. It was a very visually stunning movie, yet not engaging.