Latest movies

Since I was completely incapable of sleeping on the 2 overnight flights during our trip, I took advantage of the in-flight "video on demand" programming to catch up on a bunch of movies; the following is basically in order of how much I enjoyed them:

A Dangerous Method - extremely entertaining; a very adult film about very adult issues; the cast was robbed at Oscar time

The Big Year - quietly charming comedy about competitive bird watching; Jack Black is a delight in an understated performance as an underdog who has rather a different "big year" than he originally planned; it's a shame that more people didn't see this gem

Tower Heist - not a classic, but an entertaining 90 minutes

Idea of March - yet another film that didn't quite live up to expectations; I was unpleasantly surprised by the film's second half, and felt they could have made a better, more involving film with this cast and this topic

Margin Call - surprisingly dull and desultory, I expected more from a powerhouse cast and rave reviews; instead the movie meanders along, stitching together vaguely related scenes of Masters of the Universe eating, drinking, and throwing each other under the proverbial bus; I don't think I needed to watch 2 hours of assholes being assholes to get the general message that the rich bankers behind the bank collapse were assholes

Drive - Ryan Gosling gives a bravura and nuanced performance, but I really hated this stylized and hyper violent  movie, particularly because it started out being something potentially interesting and just devolved into a pointless and almost plotless gangster movie, with more bodies littering the stage than a Shakespearean tragedy; a terrible waste of a terrific cast