the four-some

don't feel like writing anymore. i also don't feel like doing any christmas cards. there's just no time. but there are always movies.

Babel (2006): an american family, half the world apart from each other, goes through some pretty traumatic events in 24 hours. and somehow a teenage deaf and dumb naked japanese chick has something to do with it all. the beginning scenes with the boys just build and build with suspense. there are some very realistic locations. and the acting is all very real too. the transitions between the different storylines were well done i thought. some scenes were a little drawn out though. they would just really over-do what they were trying to get across. i loved how the american kids reacted to being in mexico for a day. very real. didn't care too much for the deaf-mute japanese girl storyline. that was kind of weird to watch. sad to watch really. and the whole time i wondered how she even related to the rest of the story. in the end she barely had any tie-in with the main plot. it should have been about just the moroccan and mexican stuff. they could have easily cut down the movie about an hour by cutting the deaf-mute. it was too long and by the end i was like, "come on already." there is a lot of potential but it fell flat i thought. turned out not being what i had hoped for. don't see.
disappointing, C-

Gridiron Gang (2006): juvenile delinquents play competitive football while in detention so that they can "be somebody." real life gangsta shat. the movie doesn't start well. nothing great about the acting. nothing too memorable. nothing new to the table. good story though, but it's just a little blah. the rock did okay even though most of his dialogue is just inspirational fluff.
flawed but not terrible, C+

The Fountain (2006): cool intro that jumps right into some amazing action and other cool scenes. and then the weirdness sets in. yeah it's a little strange, but it's not that hard to figure out pretty much the entire story within the first 15 minutes. actually, i think the trailer gave away a little too much of the storyline. i hate when they do that. it's still cool though because there are still lots of small pieces that are nicely put together through the story. good acting. hugh jackman is awesome as always. for parts of the movie the film had a nice grainy look to it and then other parts the scene would be absolute digital clarity. i thought that was a nice touch to the movie. some of the imagery was really beautiful as you can see from the trailer. the stuff that goes on in space is freaking amazing. really believable. and on top of it looking so well done, nothing in the movie was done using cgi. pretty impressive. i didn't like the character of his doctor boss lady. she annoyed me. one thing they didn't explain was how he got the bubble with him and the tree into space. did the earth explode or something? the ending of the spain story was a little odd and slightly humorous. and i wasn't really clear on what was real and what wasn't. the subject matter of the film is pretty deep. i probably wouldn't recommend this to anyone but the avid movie goer. better than average flick. make sure if you do see it, that it's in a theater. television just wouldn't do justice.
memorable, B+

Brick (2006): an obsessed ex-boyfriend must uncover the mystery surrounding the death of his whore of an ex-girlfriend that doesn't want him anymore. it's a movie about high school drug lords and murder. it starts off with a nice way to open a movie. it's really mysterious. the way all the high schoolers had this highly intellectual, almost shakespearean speak to them was a little distracting and corny. it's not that it's bad dialogue, but it's just weird hearing it from drug dealing high school seniors. the film has a cool 50s film noir style to it and there is some good acting, but it never really builds to anything. and the over the top behavior of these kids is far from the believability in the movie kids or even bully. maybe see it if you are bored.
mediocre, C