Weekend movies

Only watched a few videos, as we were busy swimming and watching fireworks all weekend!

Please Give (2010) - more interesting than I expected (I'm not a huge fan of Nicole Holofcener) with, of course, a terrific cast and lots of great performances (Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet were especially wonderful, and Thomas Ian Nicholas, best known for American Pie is totally adorable - he should do more romantic parts!).  I related to Kate's character - always trying to do some good, but never feeling like it's enough, but I don't feel as emotionally overwhelmed by it as she does.  I really hated the ending, though - Kate only finds peace when she turns her attention to her materialistic daughter and finally concedes to buy her the incredibly overpriced jeans she's been wanting.  What the hell is the message there?  Is NH being ironic or is that really her point?  Left me feeling rather annoyed.

After.Life (2009) - weird and fascinating mediatation on living life, wrapped up in a strange mystery; a great cast (Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson, Justin Long) and some wonderful visuals; thought-provoking and worth watching, but ultimately not a completely satisfying film.  Biggest complaint was the creepy child who started out as the film's moral center, but later appears to embrace the philosophy of offing anyone not living their life with sufficient verve - ick.  And my other complaint was the completely gratuitous nudity (Christina Ricci does an entire scene in the nude) - unnecessary and distracting as hell.

Faster (2010) - Cal picked out this Dwayne Johnson vehicle; it was passably entertaining, with some interesting moments (The Rocks cries, and he's good at it!), but ultimately predictable and cliched (some of the dialogue was particularly clunky).  A bright spot for me was that DJ's character does show some mercy at one point, so the revenge genre has evolved a bit since Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson were cranking out these films in the 1970s.