14. February 26, 2010 - Shutter Island (2010)

I don't remember why they delayed this from October to February (something to do with funding an Oscar campaign maybe) but regardless of the reason, I think this is a very solid film. Leonardo DiCaprio, though I still think he looks like he's 12 years old, gives a very good performance as the US Marshall assigned to investigate a missing patient from a high-security mental hospital. There's a twist (which, admittedly I saw coming, though I never used to even try - Lauren, that's your fault!) but it's not one that feels far-fetched. The production design is beautiful and the writing is very good. In the scheme of movies adapted from Dennis Lehane novels - not as good as Mystic River, but better than Gone Baby Gone.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

13. February 25, 2010 - Dead Snow (2009)

Though this starts out with a pretty awesome zombie attack set to "In the Hall of the Mountain King," from there it moves into a typical plot involving a group of stupid teenagers renting an isolated mountain cabin. They're the characters that everyone hates - the ones that have audiences yelling at their televisions about how you're never supposed to go anywhere alone or say, "I'll be right back" in a horror movie. The way this movie was advertised was as the Nazi zombie movie. Nazi zombies? That seems morbidly awesome. However, what it's actually about is zombies who happen to be dressed in Nazi uniforms. It's such a cool idea that sadly doesn't play out nearly as well as it could have. Also, the actors playing the zombies don't (for lack of a better phrase) "play zombie." They just seem like ordinary, albeit violent and homicidal, guys who happen to be in zombie makeup.
My Netflix rating: 2 stars

12. February 24, 2010 - Moon (2009)

This movie is creepy and totally fascinating. Sam Rockwell is an employee of an energy company that, in the near future, mines a new element from the surface of the moon. He's all alone on his moon base for three years, with no one but a Kevin Spacey-voiced robot for company. Needless to say, he starts going crazy. Or does he? It's not so much the answer that's fascinating - it's the way they go about showing you. They don't wait to pull the twist until the end - instead, it's in the middle and poor Sam Rockwell is left to figure out what the hell he's supposed to do now. I was afraid that it would be boring since it's just one actor and a robot, but it's definitely not.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

11. February 21/22, 2010 - Il Divo (2009)

This movie is probably really interesting if you know a lot about late-20th century Italian history. Or, for starters, if you at least know who Giulio Andreotti was. I went in totally ignorant and as a result, this movie made very little sense. It got nominated for a Best Makeup award, which I assume is for the lead actor's look (who looks like the real Andreotti? See, again, would be better if I knew anything about this guy). It's a confusing mess of names and political intrigue, skipping around through time and introducing characters only to kill them off moments later.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

10. February 19/20, 2010 - Paris 36 (2009)

This is a lot like Moulin Rouge, if you took out the music and the dancing and the bright colors and Ewan McGregor - you know, everything fun. Three friends try to save their theater in wartime Paris, but get embroiled in mob dealings and Communist politics. It should be fun, but it's just not. Usually I am all for subtitles - it's a hundred times better than dubbing unless you're talking about Godzilla - but this is the kind of movie that would probably have been better if I could have been doing a couple of other things while watching it.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

9. February 19, 2010 - Crazy Heart (2009)

The major problem with this movie is not that it rips practically everything off from The Wrestler (right down to an unnecessary plot about an estranged angry child) but it is that it takes about half the movie before you can sympathize with the character. He's a messed-up alcoholic who runs off stage in the middle of a show to throw up in a garbage can - oh, but look! He met a nice girl and that made him want to turn his life around. I will say that Jeff Bridges' performance was very good and T-Bone Burnett's song "The Weary Kind" is actually pretty touching and very appropriate for the movie. Colin Farrell showing up halfway through the movie was nice, but that's about all I can say.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

8. February 17, 2010 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)

I really love this series! Just as good the second time around, which surprised me a little bit, since I've reread the book since I saw this on Sunday. I really am okay with the things that got cut or changed, with that one exception of the pact not to have children made by Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. That's important! I also noticed this time around that when they're in the Underworld version of LA, the Hollywood sign spells out "Hell."

My original entry is here.

7. February 17, 2010 - Food, Inc. (2009)

This is one of those movies that, knowing myself, I knew I should never have watched. However, I do try to see everything that gets nominated for an Oscar - even documentaries and foreign films (and occasionally atrocious films that sneak in like Norbit) - so I added this to my Netflix queue and forgot about it until it came in the mail yesterday. Super Size Me was horrifying, but I already don't eat that kind of food, so the effect is different - this movie talks about all food. I know that all documentaries are biased and that that has to be taken into consideration when watching them, but this one was definitely very powerful in its message.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

6. February 16, 2010 - Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)

It's been snowing all day and last week I went on a little DVD buying spree, so today felt like a pretty good movie day. Laura Henderson was a saucy, daring woman and I can think of absolutely no one more well-suited to play her than Dame Judi Dench. Ever since she became M in GoldenEye, she's shown that she can play any and every role thrown at her. Though I could have lived without seeing Bob Hoskins naked, this true story of a theater in WWII-era London that made headlines by having its actresses naked onstage is funny and moving, especially when the Windmill Theater becomes a haven for Londoners during the Blitz. Definitely worth watching - besides, in what other movie are you going to hear the line "We must have British nipples"?
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

5. February 16, 2010 - Air Force One (1997)

Harrison Ford has shown that he can play a space pirate, an ass-kicking archeology professor, and now a seriously bad-ass President of the United States. When radical Soviet nationalists take over his airplane with his family and senior staff aboard, President Harrison doesn't run or panic - he eludes his own Secret Service trying to get him to safety and proceeds to sabotage the terrorists while hiding in the baggage compartment of the plane. Not as perfect as President Bartlett (The West Wing), not as publically heroic as President Whitmore (Independence Day), but President Harrison is up there with fictional American Presidents. Hell, I'd vote for Han Solo any day!
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

4. February 14, 2010 - Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)

A lot of people might mistakenly think that this is nothing but a rip-off of Harry Potter, but they're very wrong. There are definite similarities and Rick Riordan may have been influenced by the wizard novels when he wrote the Olympians series (but really, at this point, who isn't?), but this world has its own clear mythology (ha, see what I did there?) and epic battle to fight. The movie version is different than the first book, but for the most part, the changes did not bother me. I understand making the characters older than 12 (especially if they plan to adapt all five books - less trouble with aging actors) and though I missed the scenes at the St. Louis Arch and the mattress shop with Procrustes, the Hydra scene is fun. I didn't like that they cut the pact made by Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades not to have any more children - that is a major plot point of the series. Sean Bean and Kevin McKidd were perfect as Zeus and Poseidon, as was Steve Coogan as an 80s metal version of Hades. Poor LA, though, sentenced to serve doubly as the entrance to and the fiery pit of the Underworld.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

3. February 13, 2010 - Enigma (2001)

Jeremy Northam, as adorable as he is in Gosford Park, is utterly creepy in this movie. He plays his part of a secretive British government agent trying to find a mole in a WWII codebreaker unit perfectly - complete with his hat cocked devil-may-care to one side. Kate Winslet's performance is good, but more impressive is how the costume department managed to make her look frumpy and mousy. I don't know much about the Enigma code machine or the codebreakers, other than that if the Allies hadn't broken the code, victory would have been a lot less certain, but this is a fascinating movie. I have no idea how realistic it is, though. Also fascinating is the inclusion of the Katyn massacre in Poland - another thing that I know little about, but definitely plan to look up!
My Netflix rating: 4 stars