Mini Movie Reviews: The Rest of 2008

I still had a long list of movies I had seen in 2008, but for which I hadn’t taken the time to write a review yet, thus this blog post. Now if I keep to my New Year’s resolution of reviewing every movie I see I won’t have to do these type of posts any more.

Kung Fu Panda

Funny animation about a panda with dreams of becoming a Kung Fu master. What I especially like of this film was how it wasn’t too predictable; I never had a feeling “oh, it’s gonna end like this and this”. My one quibble with it: there are so many famous actors cast in this (Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan) and some of them only have a couple lines. Don’t promote the movie as if they’ve got big roles then!

The Strangers

One of the worst “horror” movies I’ve ever seen. Almost no plot, no real frights or scares. It just felt like a complete waste of time after watching it.

Newsies 

Sigh. Christian Bale in a musical! And he’s singing and dancing. Even though he might be a bit ashamed of that movie nowadays, it’s still a great little gem. The singing is a bit cheesy and not always in tune, but, hey, it’s a kids movie and it’s perfect for those stay-inside-cause-you’re-sick-or-it’s-cold-outside days. 

Shoot ‘Em Up

I know a lot of people loved this movie, but it just didn’t work for me. It was too ridiculous and absurd, I just couldn’t get into it. Now I love old B action movies, but this didn’t even have the charm of those movies. It just felt awkward.

The House Bunny

Cute movie about a Playboy bunny that gets kicked out of the Playboy mansion and then becomes a house mother for a geeky sorority. Pretty obvious plot, but still quite funny and sweet.

Taken

I saw the trailer some time last year, and definitely wanted to see this movie. Liam Neeson as an ex-spy/special agent whose daughter gets kidnapped? Sounds good, right? And the movie is actually quite good, although a whole lot grittier and realistic then the trailer leads you to believe. I don’t mean in “blood and guts” gritty, but more in the plot and ambience.

Quantum of Solace

Greatest disappointment of the year. The action sequences are superb; there’s no problem with that. But the plot? it felt like they first came up with the main action shots and then decided to write a story to connect them all together. For me, it didn’t work. I was expecting much more emotional turmoil from Bond and at least a slightly less convenient Bad Guy.

Tropic Thunder

Not as brilliant as I expected, but still a great movie. I think it would have made more impact, if I hadn’t heard anything about it at all, but how can you ignore so many ads and marketing? You’re bound to hear something. 

Burn Without Reading

I’m not a fan of the Coen brothers, but Burn After Reading was quite funny. I’m not sure though if it deserves the nominations it’s getting. Still, Brad Pitt and George Clooney are both just so different and weird in this movie, it’s worth seeing for that alone.

Mamma Mia!

Abba songs are catchy; there’s no doubt about it. But an entire movie based on that? To be honest, it actually could have worked, but this movie suffers from one main problem: Meryl Streep. She doesn’t have the voice to pull this off. And while she may be a great actress, I never truly believed her character.