Summer Wars (2009)

IMDb plot summary: A student tries to fix a problem he accidentally caused in OZ, a digital world, while pretending to be the fiancé of his friend in her grandmother's 90th birthday.
Directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Starring Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Nanami Sakuraba, Mitsuki Tanimura, and Takahiro Yokokawa.

(Major spoilers ahead for the ending of the movie.)

Well, this is certainly not what I expected this movie to be, but I liked it a lot. Like a lot of anime, the characters are a little awkward to connect to sometimes because the reactions are so different from what I would do in real life. ("Granddaughter lies about having a boyfriend" is outrageous and insane, while "We have to play a card game to keep a crazed A.I. from crashing a satellite into a nuclear reactor" is accepted as inevitable news.)

That aside, though, I found this to be an engaging and interesting flick. The score is incredible -- if it's for sale anywhere, I definitely want it. The story is also a very interesting one, with a satisfying conclusion. Pretty fun!

4 stars.

Flickchart: #652 out of 2187, below The Mummy (1932) and above It's Kind of a Funny Story.

Snatch. (2000)

IMDb plot summary: Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.
Directed by Guy Ritchie. Starring Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina, Alan Ford, and Robbie Gee.

I don't quite know what to do with this movie. It's one of those flicks where I can definitely see why people like it. It's smart, it's fun, it's got an interesting plot to follow along with (even if I kept forgetting who characters were if I didn't recognize the actor)... but it just didn't connect with me at all. I'm not sure I can pinpoint anything in particular that didn't work for me, I just... didn't get into it.

I always feel a little frustrated with myself when I have to write about movies like this, because I don't really have useful or helpful observations to offer about it. But then again, that's why I'm not a professional movie critic.

2 stars.

Flickchart: #1520 out of 2186, below Madagascar 3 and above In Cold Blood.

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

IMDb plot summary: A discovery made by a kung fu obsessed American teen sends him on an adventure to China, where he joins up with a band of martial arts warriors in order to free the imprisoned Monkey King.
Directed by Rob Minkoff. Starring Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michael Angarano, and Yifei Liu.

This is moderately entertaining. I'm not a huge fan of martial arts movies, but there were some good fight scene here, likable characters, and a nice straightforward plot. The visuals were also gorgeous -- the scenery surrounding the fight scenes was often really beautiful. I'm not sure this movie is going to stick with me, but it was a fun afternoon watch, and anyone who enjoys fantasy martial arts movies should definitely check this one out.

3.5 stars.

Flickchart: #908 out of 2185, below City Lights and above V/H/S/2.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)

IMDb plot summary: Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman are still fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple. Their journey takes them through Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvent - Madagascar style.
Directed by Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, and Conrad Vernon. Starring Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett Smith.

(Spoilers about the overall story arc.)

I watched this without having seen the middle one and having seen the first one a LONG time ago, and so I was a little disoriented at the beginning. While the plot is very straightforward, the movie doesn't spend much time recapping its characters (probably fair, assuming its core audience is families who have seen the first two multiple times) and having to keep track of the MANY characters involved left me a bit lost. Took me 2/3 of the movie to realize the hippo and the giraffe are romantically involved.

That little hiccup aside, I felt really... neutral about this movie. It wasn't annoying like some of DreamWorks' movies have been (Shark Tale UGGGH) but nor did it really strive for anything new or interesting. It invokes the tired trope of "main character lies to people, makes friends with them, and then everybody is all hurt and betrayed when they find out he lied to them," which seems to be one of the most common kids' movie plots, and, frankly, I'm just sick of it.

There are no surprises in this movie whatsoever, the jokes don't really work for me (although, again, I wasn't bothered by them). I will say the circus performance scenes were really visually engaging -- very captivating animation there.

As a whole, though, I feel about this one the same way I did about the first. There's nothing that really hits me about this movie, and I'm sure I'll have forgotten it in a year, just like I forgot the first one.

2 stars.

Flickchart: #1518 out of 2184, below The Hiding Place and above In Cold Blood.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

IMDb plot summary: An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychedelic escapades.
Directed by Terry Gilliam. Starring Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro.

There's a quote about a third of the way through the movie that says: "What was I doing here? What was the meaning of this trip? Was I just roaming around in a drug frenzy of some kind? Or had I really come out here to Las Vegas to work on a story?"

And I'm tempted to just leave the quote there as the entire review, because that's pretty much how I felt about the movie. I've never been much for, like... trippy stoner movies, and I felt like this was always JUST on the verge of having an actual story and an actual point, only to then... not have one. The characters are pretty loathsome and icky, and the trippiness is clearly the *point* of the movie, rather than the means to something else.

I LOVE some of Terry Gilliam's stuff (The Fisher King in particular), but admittedly, the more surreal he gets, the less I like him. I'm glad I finally saw this -- it's been on my "list of shame" for quite awhile -- but I was definitely not a fan.

1 star.

Flickchart: #1784 out of 2183, below Life With Father and above The Waiting Game.

Willow (1988)

IMDb plot summary: A reluctant dwarf must play a critical role in protecting a special baby from an evil queen.
Directed by Ron Howard. Starring Warwick Davis, Val Kilmer, Jean Marsh, and Joanne Whalley.

Well, this was silly. But it was kind of enjoyable. It's hard for me to judge fantasy movies, because as a whole I feel like they're depressingly (and weirdly) unimaginative, falling back on the same tropes and mythical creatures over and over again. (If you have an opportunity to make up a world all your own, why wouldn't you take advantage of that more?) And this does have a lot of that. The characters are familiar, the plot is familiar, and while there are one or two new creatures, a lot of them are pretty standard.

That being said, though, the execution is pretty fun. The characters may be stereotypes, but they're fairly likable stereotypes, and there's a tongue-in-cheek meta-awareness to the whole thing that is fun to watch. It's like a romantic comedy that has attractive actors but not an original thought in its entire film. I don't really know what to do with it. So... I didn't hate this, but I didn't love it either. Fans of fantasy movies will probably enjoy it a lot, so I have no problem recommending it.

2.5 stars.

Flickchart: #1156 out of 2182, below Swing Kids and above Cropsey.

Her (2013)

IMDb plot summary: A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly purchased operating system that's designed to meet his every need.
Directed by Spike Jonze. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, and Rooney Mara.

Right from the opening scene, I knew I was going to fall in love with this movie. It sets up a compelling sci-fi near future, a sympathetic cast of characters, and a quirky but fascinating love story. It's one of those movies that I have a lot of trouble talking about because I liked it so much on a very instinctive level. There were several moments where I found myself tearing up because I connected so deeply to the characters and the things they were struggling with. This is definitely my favorite of the 2013 Best Picture nominees thus far (though I have yet to see Dallas Buyers Club), and I'm glad I finally sat down and watched it.

4.5 stars.

Flickchart: #269 out of 2181, below The Wizard of Oz and above Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway.