Movie Review: "An Inconvenient Truth"

This documentary was an excellent movie and something I'd rate 8 out of 10 stars. I didn't want to see the movie when it came out for two reasons: I didn't have the time and I didn't want to get caught up in the "hoopla". Now that it's been months since the movie came out, I decided it needed to jump to the top of my Netflix queue.

The movie starts off with a bit of over-the-top drama from Al Gore but then segways nicely into a lecture he's giving on a variety of global warming topics: historical facts about the world, graphs and charts on global warming in the present day, the effects we're having on the earth, etc. I think he does a pretty good job overall of raising awareness about the topic... but even though he starts to get into solutions, I think he could have done more in this department. Granted I had high expectations going into this movie because of all the awards and praise he's won thanks to the film.

So what's the final verdict? It's definitely a movie worth checking out, particularly if you like documentaries. I can certainly see why it won 2 academy awards. Overall, the movie does a good job of blending his lectures with some personal stories and though the political jokes get a bit cheesy, it's a quality film.

Movie Review: "March of the Penguins", "Little Miss Sunshine", "The Departed", "Thank You For Smoking"

I find movies interesting because they cause varying reactions in people I (used) to think I understood. The first movie I saw recently was "March of the Penguins" and it was quite riveting. Though I tuned out halfway through the first time I saw it, the second time I was able to stay awake and give the movie the attention it deserves. I now see why it was so critically acclaimed, though Morgan Freeman's voice over didn't have quite the impact on the documentary that I thought it would. Regardless, the cinematography was wonderful and you could see the efforts taken to film the documentary.

The second movie I saw recently was "Little Miss Sunshine" and this movie had come highly recommended from peers and elders alike. To me it was not quite the funny movie I was expecting (and told it was) but rather an often time sad story that wasn't uplifting or even consistently entertaining. You'd have to see the movie for yourself, but it certainly didn't appeal to me in any way save for the occasional funny moment.

The third movie I saw recently is The Departed. Talk about an allstar cast! Now I don't want to spoil the movie by talking about the plot, but I enjoyed the film (though there are some strong scenes) except for the ending, which to me was disappointing. However, I can see why it won Best Picture in 2006.

The fourth movie is Thank You For Smoking, which I thought was a great satire. I had no expectations going into the movie, and didn't know about the plot beforehand, which made the movie even better. It's a (fictional) story about a national smoking spokesman and how he convinces people that smoking is not bad for you.

You'll be seeing more movie reviews in the blog, thanks to my new Netflix subscription. (Why did I chose Netflix? Because the plan I selected was a dollar cheaper than Blockbuster and there are no Blockbusters near my house).

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