28 Weeks Later (Opens this Friday). This movie makes my list as a nod to Rocket Jones; simply because we both enjoy classic Zombie movies, he more than I. I just love to make fun of them. Plot: The U.S. military has occupied Britain to make it habitable again and stamp out the last vestiges of the "rage" virus that decimated the land. Now it's "28 Weeks Later," and the troops are allowing refugees to repopulate the realm. Strengths: The zombie event of the year. Another reminder the undead gravitate to brains (i.e. quality filmmaking). Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, six years after his Sundance breakthrough, Intacto, continues to show style and guts. Six months after London is declared zombie-free, zombies ransack it again — then the U.S. military fly in to firebomb South Kensington — we get the sobering, hopeless finale 28 Days Later needed. Weaknesses: On the other hand — as fraudulent as that cheerful ending felt, it’s the kind of left-field risk you accept from an iconoclastic filmmaker like Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Millions). And guess what? No Danny Boyle this time (though he is producing). Oh, and the U.S. government is brought in to restore order when chaos sweeps a foreign land? The zombie genre always did like a touch of satire. A NYT reviewer wrote: "The Satire Is Biting, and So Are the Zombies"

Home Of The Brave (Opens this Friday). This movie follows four returning soldiers as they survive the ravages of war in a distant land and then try to come home to continue their lives. It was Robert Browning who said: "He who did well in war, earns the right to begin doing well in Peace." Many find that a difficult task. Strengths: The exceptional cast does a great job in portraying their respective roles. Weaknesses: ItÂ’s a little obvious, and ham-handed in places. But its opening a window onto a scene that we shouldnÂ’t be ignoring. What it wants to do, storywise, and succeeds in doing more at times, compensates for the forgivable gaffes it stumbles into along the way. But thatÂ’s a civilianÂ’s point of view anyway.

Away From Her (May 1 . This is beautifully moving love story that deals with memory and the circuitous, unnamable paths of a long marriage. Married for almost 50 years, Grant (Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona's (Julie Christie) commitment to each other appears unwavering, and their everyday life is full of tenderness and humor until their relationship is challenged. Strengths: Summer’s unlikely art-house hit: A young Canadian actress (Sarah Polley, 2 adapts an emotionally nuanced story by Alice Munro about an elderly couple, Alzheimer’s, and nursing homes. The plot is human-interest material with substance: A husband checks his wife (Julie Christie) into a nursing home and 30 days later finds she has no memory of him. Christie stages a comeback Oscar won’t ignore. Weaknesses: If Evening doesn’t depress you, this definitely will. Classic autumn fare. As assured as the film is, Polley is no virtuoso — so far she strikes a couple of notes well. The strong performances and uncompromising tone risk pumping up its reputation way beyond reason.

Posted by: Michele at 11:43 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 536 words, total size 3 kb.

Update: Next Weekend I will ask you, dear readers, to submit the best Guy flicks that Chicks Dig! Lets see what kind of a list we'll come up with.

Yes, I'm sure that grabbed everyone's attention, but if you read my previous post, in which I shared that I had no heat or power, you'd immediately know what I meant. Still, I couldn't resist the provacative title. In any case, my neighbor finally called me to tell me there's heat in the buildiing. Yay! The power came back late last night, but no heat as they needed an oil delivery, which arrived early this morning. YAY! So I'll be going home later today.

Since some of you are snowed in, I figured I might help us both out by posting some movie reviews and titles, so you can skip what's on tv for some real good entertainment.

What got me thinking of this, was a conversation I had with Tammi at the Empire State Bldg. and then coming across a post about "12 Most Technologically Advanced Movies of its Time" of course the list focuses on CGI's, Animation, etc. Let me tell you, that list's chock full of testosterone driven images. That list will be perfect for me when something happens at work that makes me feel like I want to knock somebody's head off. Well, except for the Star Wars movie. But I must give credit to my blog-sis Tammi for the idea, because it was our trip to the Empire State Building that I shared about some of my favorite movies, which made me realize that some of them had been filmed in NYC.

So, to counter all the wonderful maleness on the previous list, I'll offer a list of my own - Michele's Top 25 Chick Flicks of All Time. I hope you consider sharing one of these classics with a younger generation this winter, so they don't fade away from our collective memory. I list them here in chronological order. I'll update with links later on.

Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Women (1939)
Rebecca (1940)
Sabrina (1954)
Enchanted April (1982)
A Room With A View (1982)
Terms of Endearment (1983)
Beaches (198
Steel Magnolias (1989)
When Harry When Met Sally (1989)
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Little Women (1994)
Sense & Sensibility (1995)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
The English Patient (1996)
You've Got Mail (199
A Walk on the Moon (1999)
Practical Magic (1999]
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
Lara Croft Tomb Raider (2001)
A Walk To Remember (2002)
Cold Mountain (2003)
The Notebook (2004)
Pride & Predjudice (w/Colin Firth - 1995)
Pride & Predjudice (w/Keira Knightley - 2005)

Please feel free to add your favorite chick flick in the comments, if you don't see it listed here.

Posted by: Michele at 01:59 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 470 words, total size 4 kb.