The Chicago Tribune gives Charlie and the Chocolate Factory four stars!

So, I just saw The Wild Bunch. And maybe it's cause I'm not really into Westerns, but I found it kind of...boring. Sure, there were a couple of the bloodiest, most violent shootouts I've ever seen, a train robbery, and a bridge blowing up, but for the most part, I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on and I couldn't tell half the characters apart. I didn't find an engaging narrative or interesting characters to care about. They must be there, obviously, since it's so well regarded, but I couldn't get into it.

I also saw An American Werewolf in London, which I liked more, what with a werewolf tearing people apart, a progressively decaying talking corpse, and a hot British chick.

what with a werewolf tearing people apart, a progressively decaying talking corpse, and a hot British chick.

*queued*

what with a werewolf tearing people apart, a progressively decaying talking corpse, and a hot British chick.

*queued*

What more do you really need?

ION, I just watched I, Robot. No matter how I try, I just cannot hear Sonny and Wash as coming from the same actor.

Heh. I found The Wild Bunch hard to sit through the first time, because it is slow, and it's kind of deliberately perverse -- every time you think you know where it's headed, it swerves. The whole movie is setting you up for a conflict that never happens. But I watched it again a week or two later, and then I dug it.

But I like it the way I like Kubrick movies. I don't think you're supposed to care about the characters -- or, at least, you're not supposed to like them.

I just saw Spartan, following in the long line of Kristen Bell fans to do so.

I... don't know if I liked it or not, honestly. The dialogue was rather strange, and I can't decide whether to describe it as "stylized" or "stilted" or some combination of both. Sometimes I really liked it, and sometimes it made me cock my head in confusion and bemusement. This was my first Mamet experience: is he always like this?

Val Kilmer was cool in it. Kristen Bell was good, too. Kilmer's bosses and associates were neat, too. And the story was pretty cool, so far as that type of simple action-drama-thriller thing go.

Put American Werewolf in Paris on the queue too. Cheese, but fun. Plus, Delpy.

I can't decide whether to describe it as "stylized" or "stilted" or some combination of both.

If Mamet has written and directed it, then yes, it's always like that. In some movies it just works for most parts, while in others it ruins pretty much´everything. As a writer he seems to be able to let go of his theatre background much easier than when he's directing.

Plus, Delpy.

Always a plus. *Bumps up Before/After sunset in the DVD queue*

I spent about 20 minutes watching Tape last night. I got it to facilitate my current Robert Sean Leonard fixation, but I found it really, really boring. Has anyone else seen it? Is it just Ethan Hawke and RSL talking in a hotel room for an hour and a half, with Uma Thurman showing up later on? Does anything actually happen? I don't need explosions or nudity--although I won't turn them down, especially if RSL is involved in the latter--but right now I don't care about any of the characters and the writing isn't compensating. I supposed I could just give up and rent Much Ado again. At least I'll get Shakespeare and leather pants.

*Bumps up Before/After sunset in the DVD queue*

I do hope you mean Before Sunrise/Sunset, because otherwise you'll be pretty surprised.