#070: G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra 4/10

I expected this film to be pretty horrible, and for the most part it was.  That doesn't mean I didn't have fun watching it.  The acting was really bad, but it never seemed to take itself too seriously.  Most of the time I felt like I was watching a live-action version of the cartoon, and I quite liked that.  Not a great film, but not a bad action flick that keeps the pace up. As an overall movie I would say it's a  4/10.  But for what it is, and what it's trying to be, it probably deserves a higher rating than that.

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#069: Precious 6/10

Precious probably does more to propagate stereotypes than crush them, but it all comes packaged in a fairly moving story.  I was engaged by the film and found it enjoyable to watch although several aspects were annoying and pulled me out of it.  It isn't great but it definitely isn't horrible, therefore I will give it a 6 out of 10.

Precious was billed as an influential, emotional piece of art that will change the world.  The actors and actresses are doing their duty as african americans by appearing in a film that is going to do so much to unite this country.  I might be overstating it a bit, but these ideas were put out there to some extent.  Going in I thought this was going to be a story of overcoming adversity to triumph in the end.  It could be described as such, but it wasn't nearly as clean and sweet as I thought it would be.  The film is more about ignorance begetting ignorance, and how that cycle ends when everything says it should continue on.

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#068: Funny People 6/10

I was pretty excited when I learned that Sandler was starring in the latest Apatow project. Two and a half hours later I can say that I enjoyed this film quite a bit. However, it didn't live up to my expectations. It's definitely worth watching, but it is long. I enjoy dick jokes just as much as the next guy, but this film might have overdone it a bit.  However, there were enough good moments for me to give it a 6 out of 10.

This film starts out with real footage from Sandler's early days of comedy. It was kinda striking because if forces you to think about the fact that he is basically playing himself in this role. It was kind of genius, and for the most part really works in the film. Sandler plays George Simmons, a famous comedian/actor who has starred in lots of films and made tons of money. George finds out he is dying. This prompts him to take young comedian Ira (Seth Rogen) under his wing. With Ira at his side, George reevaluates his life and tries to figure out how he will spend his final days.

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#067: Antichrist 2/10

A slow paced film that will make you hate life isn't always a bad thing, but in the case of Antichrist it is.  Horrible characters on a bizarre and disgusting camping trip usually won't  garner a high score.  I will give this film some credit for the level of absurdity it was able to achieve.  My queasy stomach and I award a score of  2 out of 10.

A fair amount of buzz surrounded this film after it premiered at Cannes.  Most of the stuff I heard made me want to never see it, while still piquing my curiosity.  I was intrigued to witness some of the things play out on the screen, but also somewhat scared at the same time.  I would have never rented this film, but Netflix has it available on watch instantly, so I couldn't resist.

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#066: Post Oscar Thoughts

I watch the Oscars for the spectacle of it all.  I usually don't care about any of the categories, but I am interested to see who takes best actor/actress, and of course the best picture.  This year was no exception.  Most of the predictions came true.  The only surprises were surrounding which presenter would screw up, and how many acceptance speeches would be obnoxious and/or embarrassing.

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#065: The Oscars

The entire film world is gearing up for the Oscars this coming Sunday.  If I want to pretend to be a critic, I should at least pay a little attention to this event.  I have never been big into the Oscars, but it seems this year nobody is.  I have heard some talk about the 10 nominations for best picture, but there hasn't been much other than that.  I think "the public" is still pissed that The Dark Knight got snubbed from the list of nominees last year.  I wasn't as big a fan of the film as most, but I have to admit it was a hell of a lot better than Slumdog Millionaire.  Generally speaking, most people would have to agree that the best picture winner is rarely the film of the year that they liked best.

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