Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

I meant to post about this movie awhile ago, but at least it’s still out in a few theaters. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day boasts a great cast (Frances McDormand, current it-girl Amy Adams, Lee Pace [yummy!] and the always-excellent Ciaran Hinds) and is a thoroughly enjoyable way to kill a couple of hours. It’s fluff, but it’s well-executed fluff. It’s a madcap, zany period comedy, but the main actors give it a depth that it would not otherwise have. Lots of fun.

Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz is a rarity – a spoof movie that could stand on its own. It’s got a fantastic cast, and the writing (by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead fame) is clever and fun. It’s a great parody of the cop/action movie genre and you’ll get more out of it if you’ve actually seen some or all of the movies referenced, but the conventions of the genre are such that you can pick up on a lot of the humor even if you don’t watch the source material. It gets better and better throughout the movie, and by the denouement I was laughing uncontrollably. It’s just 2 hours of pure fun.

Juno and Superbad

Another two-fer recommendation – figured I’d combine these movies since they both star Michael Cera. I gotta say, he’s either really wise for his age or he has some great people working with him, because he’s making some excellent choices in his recent work. Juno was fantastic – deserving of all the awards-season buzz, in my opinion. Really great acting; loved the main characters (Ellen Page was fantastic) and all the supporting characters; funny, heartbreaking, wonderful; excellent soundtrack. Superbad just cracked my shit up! It’s really, really vulgar, but also surprisingly sweet, and completely hilarious.

Stranger Than Fiction

Stranger Than Fiction was one of my favorite movies last year. Smart, funny, visually interesting, utterly engaging and sweetly romantic, it’s a date-night movie that both men and women can appreciate. If you don’t usually like Will Ferrell, give this movie a look anyway – he gives a restrained performance that is very different from his usual, over-the-top exuberance.

No Country For Old Men

It’s sort-of strange that I would recommend No Country for Old Men, because I can’t say that I enjoyed it, exactly. I don’t do very well in movies with a lot of violence or in movies where you are just waiting for another person to be killed or wounded. I can’t handle the tension or the blood. I watched about a third of this movie through my fingers and I was relieved when it was over.

However, this movie is really sticking with me; I can’t stop thinking about it. It was very well-made by the Coen brothers. I love them – even when they miss their target they are really interesting, and this movie was definitely not a miss. The acting was wonderful – several really amazing performances. Tommy Lee Jones was very good, but this was a familiar type for him. Josh Brolin was excellent, as was Kelly MacDonald. Good writing, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel. I can’t speak to the faithfulness of the adaptation since I haven’t read the book, but the movie is oddly beautiful and haunting in spite of the violence. Worth a look.