Towelhead
The Good Student
Battle For Haditha
The trip to Kansas made me a bit less prolific for DVD Talk; I basically took a two-week vacation, since I was away from my required fancy TV and surround sound receiver. God forbid we watch a movie on just, you know, a regular TV.

Cadillac Records
My expectations weren't all that high for this one, since I hadn't read that many great reviews and didn't know much about it, except that it starred Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters (and that's about all I need to know). But this one was a pleasant surprise; a little on the melodramatic side, sure, and it probably oversimplifies the complex history of Chess Records, but the music is terrific and the performances are outstanding-- particularly Mos Def as Chuck Berry and the aformentioned Wright, who is just goddamned phenomenal.

Gran Torino
On the other hand, I was a little disappointed by Clint Eastwood's latest. I've been a big fan on his late-career renaissance (I haven't made a best of '08 list yet, but I'm pretty sure Changeling will be on it), but this is the weakest film he's made in quite some time. It's no fault of his, really-- his direction is low-key and surehanded, and his performance is quite enjoyable. The trouble is with Nick Schenk's screenplay, which is more than a little clunky and occasionally too simple-minded for my taste. It's good, but not a must-see.

Seven Pounds
Here's the big surprise-- in spite of its horrifying reviews, I'm actually quite a fan of Will Smith's weirdo drama. I maintain that it's somehow a victim of its studio pedigree and big-budget roots; if it were put out by Fox Searchlight and starred one of the guys from The Wire, critics would be applauding its and experimental tendencies and peculiar story structure instead of razzing it. But I found it fascinating and strangely moving, with fine work by Smith and the always-watchable Rosario Dawson.

Quantum of Solace
I'm also puzzled by the indifference towards the latest James Bond picture. All of the mediocre reviews I've read have slammed it for adopting the same stripped-down approach that they applauded in Casino Royale-- no gadgets, no snarky one-liners, no bullshit. So what, that film was supposed to be a fluke? It's puzzling. At any rate, Daniel Craig is terrific (again), the set-pieces slam, and it's a fairly efficient action movie.

Four Christmases
I guess the theme here is that I've liked a lot of movies recently that most critics haven't. Maybe the holidays just had me in a more forgiving mood; maybe it's that the wife and I saw Four Christmases during our fourth Christmas. But I thought Seth Gordon's holiday comedy was charming and funny--Vince Vaughn can sell about any punchine, Reese Witherspoon is spunky and a good match, and there's plenty of enjoyable supporting players (particularly Jon Favreau and Robert Duvall). Maybe I wasn't asking for much, but I had a good time.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I'm still getting my head around David Fincher's strange and puzzling film. In the hands of a more conventional director, it would have undoubtedly been the kind of saccharine, maudlin holiday tearjerker that I was dreading, so I appreciated Fincher's more observational approach. But his detachment, in some ways, keeps the film from its full impact; there's always the sense that he views Benjamin as a butterfly sample, under glass, and not as a fully engaged character. But the movie misted me up anyway, almost in spite of itself, and for all I know, that was Fincher's strategy all along.

In Bruges
Not much to say here, since this was my second time watching Martin McDonagh's film (this time on DVD), except that I think this is a film that gets better with repeat viewings. I enjoyed it the first time around, but I really think this is one of the year's best.

Casino
GoodFellas
Italianamerican
American Boy
Mean Streets
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Lincoln Center did a big Martin Scorsese retrospective, so I got to see some great Scorsese pictures on the big screen. It was especially cool to see Italianamerican and American Boy, two short-ish (under an hour each) documentaries that he made in the late 70s which have inexplicably never been released on DVD (officially, anyway. Thanks, Kim's Video!).

Christmas In July
Sullivan's Travels
Hail The Conquering Hero
The Lady Eve
Meanwhile, downtown (eek, I just sounded like a Sex In The City voice-over), Film Forum was presenting a Preston Sturges retrospective; I was only able to catch the first three of the above films there, and watched The Lady Eve on DVD while on vacation. I'm really getting into Sturges, who was a genuinely smart and funny writer, great with actors and good with the camera; however, contrary to everyone else's opinion, my favorite of his films that I've seen (and this includes not only the titles above but Miracle of Morgan's Creek, which I watched last summer) is probably the least-known. Christmas In July is just delightful, warm and funny and sweet and refreshingly brisk.

I also watched the new-to-DVD performance video of the Broadway revival of Cyrano de Bergerac (starring a wonderful Kevin Kline and less-wonderful Jennifer Garner), but I just filed it to DVD Talk tonight so it hasn't posted yet. I'll put that in my next movie journal, along with the six (!) discs I'll be watching and reviewing over the next two days. Got a little backed up over the break.

The End.