Lots of Movies

In the past couple of weeks we've seen a tonne of well-reviewed movies, due to a confluence of events:
- home pretty much every evening
- don't seem to have the brain capacity to read books any more
- don't see all the well-reviewed movies in the theatre anymore so there are finally things to rent

In order from worst to best, here's what we've seen (with Rotten Tomatoes approval rating in brackets) in the past few weeks:
- Live Free or Die Hard (80%). I know, what did I expect from a series that wore out it's welcome decades ago. But the critics thought it was great action and retro cool. They were wrong. John McLane has lost his sense of humour and turned into a crotchety, preachy old fart, disgruntled at young folks who are into newfangled technologies like computers. The co-star, Justin Long, plays the young punk with much to learn from the old tough guy. Long is the guy from all the Mac tv ads and I can't believe that Apple doesn't have something in his contract to prevent him taking a role like this. In this movie, Bruce Willis is basically the uncool, old PC guy. Except, here he has the upper hand. Very weak movie.
- Sicko (93%). Michael Moore is played out. He's so manipulative, selective, self-promoting and biased that you can't believe anything he says. Even when you agree with his conclusions. I couldn't believe it when he brags in the movie about anonymously donating money for medical expenses to one of his critics. Dude, look up "anonymously" in the dictionary.
- Rescue Dawn (91%). I'm flummoxed by any talk of Christian Bale getting Oscar recognition for this role. All the acting is wooden and unconvincing. The story does stay with you though. In an "I hope I'm never taken POW during an illegal invasion" kind of way".
- Beowulf (70%). The action was good and the style was cool. My enjoyment of this movie may have been completely out of proportion due to: (a) I actually went out to the theatre and had no twin responsibilities for this 2-3 hour period; and (b) Angelina Jolie (even a semi-animated, computer-generated version) is a spectacularly naked siren/villain.
- Ratatouille (97%). It's a shame that they've created an Oscar category for animated films because there just aren't enough good ones to justify an award. Besides Toy Story and Triplets of Belleville, have there really been any recent, GREAT, animated films? Do we really need to honour Happy Feet and The Incredibles? This is a good movie, but it's not spectacular.
- Chalk (78%). Filmed in the same kind of style as The Office, this is a really funny take on the lives of teachers, and the pathetic waste of time that high school can represent. I won't remind Kate about this one when our homeschooling debate begins full force in a few years.
- Hairspray (93%). Really good musical - like an updated Grease & Saturday Night Fever. I'm not a big musical guy, but this is worth the price of admission just to see Christopher Walken and John Travolta (as an overweight woman - but not in the Norbit way) dancing together. Now that's retro cool. Plus, a good excuse to link to the best music video of all time
- Waitress (89%). Kate liked it, primarily because it stars her hero Malcolm, from Joss Whedon's Firefly series, as a bumbling, slightly socially awkward obstetrician. It's a bit on the lightweight side, but it felt real and human and just quirky enough.

None of them are supplanting anything off the Top 50 films of all-time list, but some very rentable/downloadable movies.