Monday, January 31, 2011

My 2010 Movie Odyssey - Part XXIII

The Hurt Locker (2008)
This is a truly intense tale of three soldiers whose job is to defuse roadside bombs in Iraq. Director Kathryn Bigelow deftly conducts the disarming of each new bomb so that each one has its own brand of terror.

(500) Days of Summer (2009)
I really enjoyed this unconventional romantic comedy and I really wish more romantic comedies would end like this one as it would make them much more believable.

Point Break (1991)
Since I really enjoyed The Hurt Locker, I was interested in checking out some of the other films in the Kathryn Bigelow canon. Unfortunately, this one was a major disappointment. It starts out interestingly enough with police officer Keanu Reeves going undercover to solve a series of bank robberies, but it meanders too long in the second act with endless scenes of surfing and I hated the ending. Even though he was extremely charismatic, I disagreed with almost everything beach bum Patrick Swayze had to say; if everyone lived by his philosophy, nothing would ever get done.

Red (2010)
Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, and Helen Mirren look really cool and blow lots of stuff up. Really, what more needs to be said about this popcorn piece?

Timecrimes (2007)
The trailer had me intrigued and I’m always interested in low-budget science fiction. However, the time travel elements did not work for me with effects constantly causing the causes and the main character is almost completely unsympathetic.

Coming up next: the penultimate movie odyssey post for 2010.

4 comments:

jeric2003 said...

Well, at least having watched Point Break, Hot Fuzz will be a lot funnier!

Herch said...

Very true. Hot Fuzz is one of the main reasons I watched it.

Jessica Snell said...

I liked 500 Days too - and I read someone (I think it was on Pajiba) who said that it was the story of the typical "other guy" in your typical romantic comedy, i.e., the guy the girl was going to marry, who's nice enough to let her go when she finds her One True Love. You never hear what happens to him . . . but in 500 Days (of Summer) you do.

Herch said...

That's an awesome observation on Summer and I wish I had thought of that. With the exception of the screwball comedies of the 30s and early 40s, I almost always feel sorry for "the other guy" since he is usually a nice, well-adjusted individual, often providing a good grounding force for his flighty fiancée.