Salt - 3/10: Pretty damn weak. The scenario, while I suppose plausible, did not really work for me. The action was pretty boring and the entire motivation for Salt was never convincing and all of that stuff can be fine in a mindless action flick, except for the fact I was bored; plot holes and character issues are fine if the action is fun and exciting, but that was not the case here.
Sugar - 6.5/10: The story of an up and coming pitcher from the Dominican Republic as he goes through a pitchers camp in the Dominican and on the way up through Spring training, on the way to the minor leagues. It's pretty well done and I sympathized with Sugar and what he was going through, even though I could not really relate. I found some of the motivations and decisions later on a little odd and I was not fully on board with them, but overall a nice little film.
Away We Go - 6/10: I liked this a bit more than I expected and had a coupld of good chuckles along the way as the couple try to figure where it is they want to live in America; the interactions with certain family member and friends along the way were quite fun and I thought Maya Rudolph did a nice job, though Jim was, well, Jim (not necessarily a bad thing). It got a little baggy in parts, particularly near the end, and it did not feel all that convincing with its emotional punches, but the rest of the film made it relatively enjoyable.
Hard Eight - 7.5/10: P.T. Anderson's first major film, which I have been wanting to see for ages. I really liked this, even though it's a bit slow in parts. The acting is awesome, with Philip Baker Hall as the father figure for John C. Reilly as he show Reilly how to survive in Vegas. There are also great parts from Samuel L. Jackson and Gwyneth Paltrow. As I said, it does lag a bit in a few parts and the motivations of the characters are not clear for quite a long time in this film (I'm also unsure whether I believe one of the major plot points) but I liked going along for the ride with these characters.
La Haine (Hate or Hatred) - 8/10: A French film that begins after a young man from the ghetto is killed by police, then follows three friends as they deal with the ongoing violence and what they feel toward police and the lives they lead in general as a result. A very well shot film, in black and white, and the writing/acting does a great job of conveying the feeling of confusion and hatred overwhelming the characters; it really runs the gamut of emotions and does so convincingly. Very well done film.
KT