LOTS of movies!

"A Good Year" was a pretty good movie. Not too much happens. But, it is really pretty. And Marion Cotillard is in it. And she is good. Russell Crowe's glasses are nice. And him and his uncle's relationship was really fabulous. Not a major recommendation, but not a waste either. I liked it. My sister had to give up, though, so if you need lots of action or plot, you might not want to watch it.

I have been watching "The Darjeeling Limited" a lot lately. It makes me serenely happy for some reason. The music is amazing, the story is sad and good, and my hollywood crush Adrien Brody is very, very beautiful in it. I need you to watch it. It ranks among the highly esteemed "Maigen's Best Movies of 2007:" "Lars and the Real Girl," "Once," "In Bruges," "Dan in Real Life," "Juno,"and "Charlie Bartlett." This is seriously good.

"Smart People" was pretty much fabulous. Thomas Hayden Church's character was AWESOME in particular. His line "you're a monster" will become a part of my regular rotation. Also, the "you don't appear to be boring. You showed up uninvited and unannounced for Christmas dinner, and that is not boring," ruled. It is funny and interesting, and pretty much exactly what you'd expect. Juno is still Juno, and Dennis Quaid is great and just a total a-hole. SJP was not too important, and that was refreshing (not that I don't love SJP, but, you know, sometimes she just takes everything over.) Overall, I recommend it.

"Get Smart" was actually pretty cute. I love Steve Carrell, and Anne Hathaway was not annoying, which is a step up. I kind of liked her in it, even. And, she wore some awesome coats. What I really liked, though (and I mean re-he-heally liked) was The Rock, in a suit and hot sunglasses. He was gorgeous, and I don't usually like just really, really bumpy muscle men, but I will make an exception for this yummy tatooed 00. Hello! (And, the man-kiss at the end is super-hilarious! "Unh-uh...")

"Hancock..." I expected this to be slightly funny. Figured I had seen all the best parts in the preview. I was really very pleasantly surprised. WS looked totally babealicious, gotta love Jason Bateman, Charlize was gorgeous as usual. But, what I liked the most was that the story actually had some depth to it. I liked the ending, and was just shocked at how good it was in general. Go see it. For sure.

Ben Kingsley has quickly become one of my favorite actors (you must see "You Kill Me!") "Elegy" was awesome. Penelope Cruz was also really good. And Patricia Clarkson (also a fave) is in it as well. Just overall amazing. And slightly depressing. Sorry, there may be too much sex, but really, I recommend this film. Gosh the ending is sad. It is delightful and poignant.

I know I have already talked about this, but the subject needs to be revisited. "Charlie Bartlett" is one of my top movies of 2007. It is soooooooooo good. You will laugh your butt off. Seriously. And, Robert Downey, Gorgeous is in it, and is comically brilliant. The rittelin scene alone is well worth it if you watch it for no other reason.

The Lifetime "Coco Chanel" movie, which I may have mentioned before briefly, is shockingly good. The love story will break your heart, the clothes are beautiful, and it is fun to learn about this amazing fashion icon. If you can catch it, I highly recommend it. I think the production is pretty great, too. It didn't seem too Lifetime-y, and some scenes are downright sexy (dance scenes in particular.) Plus, you know I love "Boy," pictured here. What a delicious man!

Okay, I know this is old. But HOW CUTE is Jude Law at the end when his hair is all messed up from crying in "The Holiday?" And, Kate Winslet's relationship with the old guy is fabulous. The old guy's tribute at the end, Cameron Diaz's clothes, the song Jack Black plays for KW, the scene with the little girls in the tent "we never have grown-ups around who are girls," "Yes. I like it." (with little British accents.) What's not to love? I just saw it again last night. Now I remember why I loved it the first time around!

"Burn After Reading" was slightly depressing because of the Coen Brothers' obligatory meaningless carnage. However, Brad Pitt was so funny. Really, many, many funny moments throughout, both with BP and without. And, of course, GEC was gorgeous eye-candy. However, I was stunned into silence at the end, and still may not have recovered entirely. I am still unsure about my recommendation. Just go into it knowing it may shock you. And maybe hurt your feelings, depending on how sensitive you are about the precious nature of human life. If your thing is dark, dark comedy, totally go see it! Plus, the cast is actually all-star. I mean... yeah, I still don't know.
"Be Kind, Rewind" was cute. Not all that, though. I though I was going to really love it, and so perhaps my review is because of having my hopes way up before seeing it. I hate when I do that.

I saw "The Dark Knight" a while ago. It was pretty good. Not really my bag, baby. I am not usually into comic-book, super-hero stuff, AT ALL. (That being said, I still totally recommend "Hancock" and "Iron Man," and maybe knowing that makes their endorsement even stronger.) But, "DK" was decent. I do love Christian, Aaron Eckhart (see "Thank You for Smoking" if you haven't already) and Maggie G. Heath L was pretty good, although the lip-smacking grossed me out to the extreme. I liked that the Maggie G character died. I was sad about poor cute Aaron E's face. Overall, I guess it wasn't a total waste of my two hours, which is saying a lot. That's like a shining endorsement coming from me regarding a super-hero movie.