The Taste of Others (Le Goût Des Autres)

This French comedy was a nice film about an industrialist who falls in love with a stage actress/English teacher and sets about entering into her world. Simultaneously, the stories of people adjunct to the primary protagonist and their respective romantic pursuits.
Overall, a touching and funny film, but because it was made by the French, I am taking off half a point- Just kidding.
Actually, it was slow at times and sometimes depressing, which detracted from what is otherwise an excellent film worth seeing.

My Rating:

4 1/2 Arbitrary Shapes

The Assassination Bureau

A charming and delightful picture in which a female, feminist, aspiring reporter hires a company that assassinates people to kill their own leader. What follows is a series of escapades in which many people die in the most amusing of fashions during the period preceding WW1.

See it or get assassinated.

My rating:

4 1/2 Arbitrary Shapes

All Night Long

This film is something odd. In some respects, this is a satire on suburbia and the job of a night manager at a Walmart type store. In other respects, it's a strange sort of love story between Barbra Streisand and some guy. In still other respects, this is the story of Gene Hackman being angry. A lot.

That's why I'm hesitant to recommend this movie- it is a good movie, but it's really multiple movies put into one, where each is only dealt upon with insufficient depth and time.

Highlight: Since this movie was made in 1981, Gene Hackman drives by a vintage KFC that looked a lot like this:


My rating:

3 1/2 Arbitrary Shapes

The Invention of Lying

The Invention of Lying is a Ricky Gervais movie with Jennifer Garner set in an alternate universe where the human race has never evolved the ability to lie. Then a local loser spontaneously evolves the ability to lie and uses this to amass personal gain and become Jesus.

Ignoring the obvious scientific inaccuracies and the fact that the inability to lie makes a world with no religion and no normative statements, the movie was on a whole a disappointment. I've never been a fan of Ricky Gervais's work, and now that I've actually seen one of his movies, my dislike has been justified. Even the idea behind the movie is childish and its execution left me feeling that the more interesting aspects were covered only briefly while I had to sit through watching Gervais act like a loser.
Still, it was mildly entertaining at points.

My Rating:

2 1/2 Arbitrary Shapes

Theme- The Romantic Comedy Formula #1

The protagonist is romantically interested in the super popular (and likewise super attractive) member of the opposite sex, usually in a longing, sort of "(s)he'll never notice me" sort of way. At the same time, the protagonist has a close friend of the opposite sex who is romantically interested in the protagonist, but for some reason that is never fully explained, never deigns to express those feelings until immediately before or after the protagonist has managed to go on a date with his or her super popular crush. Eventually, the protagonist figures out that the popular crush is actually a jerk and realizes that he or she actually loves the friend who has been there all along.

Examples: The Princess Diaries, Starter for 10, Observe and Report
Notable Exception: My Best Friend's Wedding
Parody: Not Another Teen Movie (Please note: This is neither an endorsement nor suggestion that you actually watch this movie.)

Starter For 10

Starter For 10 is a romantic comedy/coming-of-age film that looks into the life of a new college student from a nowhere town in Britain's first year in college and centers around a competition he is a part of, called the "Challenge", basically a televised equivalent of Quiz Bowl.

When I picked this movie out, I didn't expect anything like what I got, and it was truly an emotionally true and funny story with competent acting on all parts. For a large part in the beginning, I expected it to fall into the Rom Com formula, and for a while, it looked like it was going to avoid that, but then it fell right back into it. Still, even with the predictable romance ending, the movie still had plot fluctuations and a satisfying ending.

My Rating:


4 1/2 Arbitrary Shapes