One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to watch more movies.  I absolutely love movies, but never seem to get around to watching all of the classic or even fun & cheesy movies out there.  I enjoy most genres equally and am just as happy watching a horror movie as a romance.  For sake of perspective, it may interest you to know that I currently have 123 movies in my Netflix Queue (and that was without even trying very hard.)  

Now, watching movies may seem an odd resolution to some, but let me be clear.  I’m not  saying that I want to watch movies  at the expense of interacting with other human beings or instead of spending time in the research lab working on my cure for cancer.  I just thought that (like everyone else in the world) I spend a lot of time doing absolutely nothing of value.  Rather than put myself in a coma watching an Ace of Cakes marathon on the Food Network (not that Duff & the gang don’t have their place…) I thought my time would be better suited dusting off a DVD. 

So… One month of my resolution down and I am proud to say I watched 14 movies I hadn’t seen before.  Here’s the big list with a very brief review of each.

• It’s Complicated (Meryl Streep; Alec Baldwin) –  Very funny.  John Krasinski was worth the price of admission as the son-in-law.  
• The Brothers Bloom (Adrian Brody; Mark Ruffalo) – Very interesting and worth watching.  I couldn’t classify it as drama, comedy or adventure but it touches on all three.
• Funny Lady (Barbara Streisand; James Caan) – Skip it.  Rent Funny Girl and pretend the story stopped there.
• State of Play (Russell Crowe; Ben Affleck) – Great movie.  Very suspenseful and I don’t know why it tanked at the box office.  I had no idea what was going to happen moment by moment.
• Up In the Air (George Clooney; Anna Kendrick)  Best movie of the month.  Of course, I’d pay $8 to watch George Clooney read the phone book, so I might be a tad biased.
• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Frances McDormant; Amy Adams) Cute.  Fluffy.  Predictable.  Of course, after watching both seasons of Rome recently, it was great to see Ciara’n Hinds as someone other than Julius Ceasar.
• Eragon (Jeremy Irons; a dragon) Yawn.  Bad, bad Lord of the Rings knock-off.
• A Single Man (Colin Firth) A gorgeous, beautiful love story.  Tom Ford deserves a ton of kudos for the authentic sets and interesting choices in lighting.  One complaint – Julianne Moore.  I’ll take “Boozy Hag with a Bad Accent” for $400, Alex.
• Lost Boys II (Corey Feldman)  Shut up.  Lost Boys is one of my favorite horror movies ever and I really hoped this movie wouldn’t be as bad as I somehow knew it would be.  But it was.
• Notes on a Scandal (Cate Blanchett; Judy Dench) The performances in this movie were terrific, but I struggle with any movie where the “victim” is the teacher sleeping with her 15 year old student.
• For your Consideration (Standard Christopher Guest cast) I wanted to love this movie.  I’ll leave it at that.  Go rent Best in Show or Spinal Tap instead.
• Frost/Nixon (Frank Langella; Michael Sheen)  The performances were spot-on; especially Langella.  I couldn’t help but thinking, though, that this must have been a much better play.  It was too small for a movie.
• The Accidental Husband (Uma Thurman; Jeffrey Dean Morgan; Colin Firth)  I used to think I’d pay $8 just to watch Jeffrey Dean Morgan read the phone book.  After watching this movie, I feel like I did.  And it wasn’t worth it.  Bad movie.  Pretty, pretty men.
• Edge of Darkness (Mel Gibson) It was a good movie and I’m glad I saw it, but a couple of things bothered me all the way through.  First of all, I couldn’t help thinking how short Mel Gibson is.  How did I not know this?  Second, the guy who played the British shadow/conspiracy guy talked like he had marbles in his mouth.  I understood about every third word.

I hope you enjoyed my little synopsis.  I’ll see you back here at the end of February for my next movie round-up.