Latest movies

I haven't seen any movies in the theater lately, but I saw several on video in the last 2 weeks.

Sex and Death 101 - Much better than I expected, with the adorable Simon Baker (who was SO yummy in Something Different). The producer called it an adult sex comedy (in the Making Of video), which I would say is accurate. The sex is pretty explicit and the movie is a little odd, but it's fun and intellignet, and very much for grown-ups, and the ending is surprising and perfect. I really enjoyed it. Actually I think the title is the only thing about it that doesn't really work.  Side note - would make a great double feature with The Last Word - smart offbeat movies with Winona Ryder in a small but significant role.

The Ten - Another movie with Winona in a role, though Paul Rudd is the headliner here.  Incredibly and totally not for me.  Supposed to be a funny take on the 10 commandments, but it's SUCH a guy movie.  All the humor is rauchy and dopey, and there's nothing real about it.  Could have happily skipped this.

Diggers - Another Paul Rudd vehicle, also written by Ken Marino, who co-wrote The Ten (total coincidence that I saw both).  A semi-autobiographical story of 4 friends in a Long Island town where the clamming industry is dying.  Kind of Mystic Pizza with guys, though not nearly as compelling (Paul Rudd's character even has an affair with a rich girl, played by Lauren Ambrose from Six Feet Under).  Not bad, but not especially memorable.  Would make an interesting double feature with the Canadian movie, A Simple Curve, about a young man similarly on the cusp of changing his locale and his life, though with a somewhat different sensibility.

Gideon's Daughter - great cast: Bill Nighy, Miranda Richardson, and a very young Emily Blunt, and a promising story about a political consultant losing interest in the power games while he falls in love with a woman who lost her young son and deals with his daughter coming of age.  Sounds a lot more interesting than it really ended up being.  Not a bad movie, but not as gripping as it should have been (and not sure what the title means, since the daughter is a very secondary character).

A Single Man - gorgeous, of course, as everyone has said, but not as compelling a story as I had expected; more like some good isolated moments, but not a very satisfying film overall.  I especially didn't like the way it ended, it felt kind of like cheating.  Not sorry I saw it though.