The last movies of 2007…

I’ve been over a month since I last reviewed any movies, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t watched any since.

America’s Sweethearts
A romantic comedy about two self-absorbed actors who’ve been an item for several years. Has some parodical elements which are worth watching — especially the ones involving Billy Crystal’s calculated PR man — but the rest pretty standard and dull.
4.0/10.

The Holiday
Yet another romantic comedy. This one is about two women, one English and one American, who both needs to get away for a while. So they decide to swap houses for a few weeks, and subsequently fall in love with each others’ brothers. It’s quite predictable and girly, not to mention half-heartedly executed. Still, it can be both cute and funny, and it was a real feel.good movie.
4.5/10.

The Runaway Bride
A journalist writes a column about a girl who runs away from her weddings, she complains about the factual errors, and he’s fired by his newspaper, which wants to avoid being sued. He seeks vengenace and so travels to this girl’s hometown, where he does what he can to get into her life, with the goal of writing an article that will reveal what she’s really like, and that he wasn’t really wrong. Naturally, they fall in love, and yadda, yadda, yadda. Didn’t really do it for me; all the reactions it provoked were embarrasment and the occasional slovenly smile.
4.0/10.

The Breakfast Club
Five very different kids have detention one fine autumn Saturday, in a small Illinois town. When they first meet they pretty much hate each other, but as time passes, they become friends. Doesn’t really sound like much, I know, but if you have a soft spot for American high school movies you should watch this one, for this is the mother of the genre. It’s stuffed with what we would call clichés today, but they aren’t really, as John Hughes bloody invented them for this movie. And to top it all, the thing’s dialogue driven!
8.5/10.

The Departed
A gangster befriends a young boy, and when this boy later becomes a policeman, he acts like the gangster’s mole. At the same time, another cop — who’s the only decent member of a criminally-minded family — is recruited to go undercover in the gang of said gangster. Of course, it doesn’t take long before both parts become aware that they’re infiltrated, and a nerve-wrenching “who-catches-who” race begins. The movie’s like a torture rack all the way through. It’s intense, exciting, and well-made in every way imagineable. Also, it’s extremely brutal, and very cool, without ever tipping over into the involuntary parodical coolness that can be seen in for example Tarantino’s movies.
10/10.

Thank You for Smoking
A movie about a tobacco lobbyist. This was the third time I watched it, and it hasn’t really stood the test of time, so to say. It was still funny and original, but obviously not quite as much as the first time.
7.5/10.

That’s it. Gonna be posting a summary of the year soon.