Mr. Nobody - 9.5/10: Wow, this was pretty damn amazing. Jared Leto stars as Nemo Nobody, the last mortal man, about to die at 118 years old, in a future of semi-immortals. However the story is about choice and the paths that come about as the result of choosing, or of not choosing. It jumps around a lot and I imagine you have to be careful to pay close attention so you do not get lost, though I did not really have many issues there because I was quite riveted by it all. I'm very happy I saw this in the theatre as it is beautifully cinematic, with some great sequences. Hopefully I will have time to see it again before it leaves theatres.
The Girl Who Played With Fire - 6.5/10: The sequel to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and this centres more around Lisbeth's story. Unfortunately this is nowhere near as good as the first one and I think a lot of that may have to do with the fact Lisbeth and Blomkqvist are almost never together on screen; their relationship in the first film was one of the things I loved. I enjoy Lisbeth as a character, she's pretty awesome, but I just could not get into this one as much as the first. I'm still looking forward to the final film to see what happens with to the characters, particularly since this one ended on more of a cliffhanger than the first movie.
The Man From Earth - 7.5/10: A very simple (it all takes place in pretty much in one room), low-budget film, about a guy who claims to be around 14,000 years old. He confesses this to his friends, a group of professors, at his home and the story revolves around them trying to deal with this and his explanation of everything. The acting is pretty dodgy and terrible in some parts, but the premise and the way they handle it is interesting enough to make up for that. The 90 minutes flew by and it brings up some interesting ideas; pretty darn enjoyable. Easily one of the ugliest Blu-rays I have ever seen though, there is really no point in seeing it on Blu-ray.
Adaptation - 8/10: No idea why it took me so long to see this. Anyway, I really liked it and in a way this kind of felt like Kauffman's 8 1/2. I really enjoyed Cage, as Kauffman, dealing with his personal demons and insecurities as he tries to adapt The Orchid Thief into a movie. I was a kind of turned off by the ending at first, but the more I thought about it afterward I decided maybe it was a play on something that was said a little earlier in the film (probably pretty obvious, but I did not catch it at first). This is a perfect Nic Cage type of role too; good stuff.
THX1138 - 6.5/10: I was actually kind of bored, but I did like some of the things being done (I particularly enjoyed the end). The plodding beginning of the film did very little to engage me, so when things start happening I was not all that captivated, but I was quite impressed by how decent the effects still looked, unless Lucas did something with the director's cut to bump up the effects later. Anyway, I may have been hindered a bit because I watched this right after seeing Mr. Nobody which totally blew me away, so I may need to re-visit this again.
Paris, Je T'Aime - 6/10: One of those compilation type films where a whole bunch of directors do vignettes based around a particular subject, in this case the city of Paris. I have a tough time with these films sometimes and this one was no different. I enjoyed some of the shorts, but some of them were not good and were almost sort of pointless. I think with these kind of things, since the segments are so short, it is better (for me anyway) to do something a little more odd and off-key (for example the story about the Mime, or the Coen Brothers' short with Steve Buscemi). Trying to do something emotionally engaging just does not work since you have no time to get to know anybody or care about anything. Anyway, really hit and miss, but worth watching for some of the bits.
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia - 5.5/10: A 70's film centered around a $1.0 million bounty on the head of a guy that knocked up a powerful man's daughter. It actually focuses on one guy as he searches for Alfredo Garcia, which to me detracts from the film. I was almost hoping for something similar to It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, with all kinds of people running around trying to collect this bounty, but it turns into more of a personal story about the one guy. It had some good moments, but I was bored in parts. The final climaxes are pretty great, but good chunks of the middle was where it fell flat to me.
KT