Was really into it until it spun out of control toward the end. (Yes, I’m aware of the logic leaps and pratfalls along the way, but my suspend-disbelief fu is very strong.) I’m a sucker for conspiracies and Arcane Knowledge and all that. (Most of the FFing was toward the end.)

FF=2

A fact-based story of 2 Orthodox Jewish teens (one of them played by Jesse Eisenberg) in the late 90s who become Ecstasy mules for the Israeli mob. (Really, who’s going to hassle a Hasid returning from the Holy Land?) A fascinating peek inside the bizarre Hasidic culture (glad I wasn’t born into that) and the Israeli drug trade.

FF=1

Another fascinating look into yet another culture, this time Japanese. A sort of slice-of-Yokusuka (a small town at the lower end of Tokyo Bay) family life, skewed by a fifteen-year-old tragedy that still haunts the parents. If this leisurely paced (I’m being generous – it’s plodding) film had been about an American family, the FF would have been 8, but the Japanese…with their different architecture, food, furniture, and customs, it’s like peeking at life on another planet.

FF=1

All Jesse Eisenberg all the time (see Holy Rollers plus he’s starring in Social Network as well). Twitter would trend this as #comingofageinsummermovie.  It has its charms but not very compelling.  I got bored.

FF=3

Am I missing something? Is there some Hollywood good-ol’-boy thing going on that ignited all the praise? Because I watched without FF-ing once, and after the film I don’t feel I know one more thing about Mark Zuckerberg than I did before. A cast of completely undeveloped characters. This is the great screenplay the reviewers are crowing about? Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t hate it. But I didn’t find any reason to call it best film of the year.  The low FF is because it’s a talking heads film and I didn’t want to miss any revelations. Unfortunately, there were none.

FF=0

Not sure how I feel about this one. Casey Affleck is chilling as an affectless (no pun intended) homicidal psychopath but the beat-downs of Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson are look-aways. Alba’s went on far too long and the director seemed to be a little too much into it. Left a bad taste. Even without that, it’s still 2nd-rate noir.

FF=3

Being an old-school Harryhausen fan, and aware of the terrible reviews, I expected to hate it, yet found myself oddly engaged. A different story (though not without its fair share of plot holes and sword-and-sandal cliches), centered around men rebelling against the gods. I really liked the design of the witches. No surprises, although I missed the clockwork owl. Gotta hand it to those ancient Greeks – they came up with the wackiest pantheon ever.

FF=1

“Salt” is a film for watching, and watching only. You don’t need to know much about the story beyond Salt wants to go here, Salt needs to go there. If you pay close attention, as I did, you are inviting confusion. Great stunts (especially her last kill – wow), and there’s Jolie if you’re into her (I’m not).

FF=2

Sort of saw this. I put it that way because I fell asleep halfway through. Maybe it got more interesting but I was not engaged enough by what I’d seen to go back and check out what I’d missed.

FF=5