**Rerun's Movie Reviews**

[Rerun]

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas (2008)        (4 stars)
When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno (Asa Butterfield) befriends Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone wears striped pajamas. Unaware of the fate of those Jewish prisoners or the role his own Nazi father plays in it, Bruno embarks on a dangerous journey inside the camp. Mark Herman directs this gripping adaptation of the novel by John Boyne.

This is not a true story, but what is disturbing is that it could have happened.  Yet another story of the awful WWII death camps. 

[Rerun]

Doubt (2008)      (3 stars)
In a Catholic elementary school in the Bronx, Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) begins to have doubts about one of the priests, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who seems to have become overly involved in the life of a young African American pupil. But Flynn isn't the only one she has doubts about. Is she overreacting to the situation or is there a truth that needs to be discovered? John Patrick Shanley's drama was nominated for five Oscars and co-stars Amy Adams and Viola Davis.

It left me feeling in "Doubt"...... 

[Chris]

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas (2008)        (4 stars)
When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno (Asa Butterfield) befriends Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone wears striped pajamas. Unaware of the fate of those Jewish prisoners or the role his own Nazi father plays in it, Bruno embarks on a dangerous journey inside the camp. Mark Herman directs this gripping adaptation of the novel by John Boyne.

This is not a true story, but what is disturbing is that it could have happened.  Yet another story of the awful WWII death camps.

This one sounds like something I would like to watch as long as it is not a sub titled movie. I can't keep up with subtitles anymore.

[Rerun]

I can't watch subtitle movies either.  I try so hard to read everything and I always miss the last 3 words.  It gives me a headache and I never see anything in the movie.  I'm just reading. 

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas is not subtitled.

                                                 

[kitkatz]

They, some of the patients, watched Doubt last night at dialysis and were discussing it afterwards.  I did not watch it. Slept most of the night last night!

[Rerun]

Zodiac (2007) Thriller      (3 stars)
In the 1960s and '70s, a cryptic killer clad in an executioner's hood stalked the streets of San Francisco and left clues about his crimes in the newspaper. In director David Fincher's chilling recount of the murders, Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal -- flanked by an impressive ensemble cast that includes Robert Downey Jr. and Chloe Sevigny -- stars as reporter Robert Graysmith, the man who went on to write the best-selling true crime book Zodiac.

It was good but they never caught the guy and that creeps me out!

[okarol]

My hubby and kids kept telling me to tivo TROPIC THUNDER because they all said it was really funny.
I wasn't sure about the premise but I finally watched it last night. I laughed a lot!! Silly humor, but a unique story too!
 

[Chris]

Meet The Spartans
A spoof off the movie 300 by some of the people who did Scarey Movie.
I t was funny at times, but nothing to go run out to get. Glad it was on HBO. A good time killer if nothing else to do.

[Rerun]

Ghost Town (2008)      (3 stars)

British funnyman Ricky Gervais ("The Office," "Extras") stars in his first feature film lead as Bertram Pincus, a hapless gent who's pronounced dead, only to be brought back to life with an unexpected gift: a newfound ability to see ghosts. When Bertram crosses paths with the recently departed Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), he gets pulled into Frank's desperate bid to break up his widowed wife's (Téa Leoni) pending marriage to another man.

Pretty funny and a cute movie.

[Rerun]

The Reader (2008)     
Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) reflects on the formative sexual relationship he had with older woman Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet, in a Golden Globe- and Oscar-winning role) as a young teenager in this poignant drama set in post-World War II Germany. The passionate affair ended when Hanna disappeared. But years later, Michael learns she's on trial for horrific Nazi war crimes. David Kross plays the teenage Michael in this film based on Bernhard Schlink's best-seller.

A lot of sex scenes but the story line was good.
Sluff would like this movie....   

[Wenchie58]

??Sluff is interested in reading??     
           

[Hanify]

Went to Bruno last night.  Laughed and laughed.  I think it's a bit more clever than Borat - but is similar in the sense that it's corny and silly.  If you like Ali G/Borat you'll love this movie.  He certainly has .... well, balls is the only way to put it.

[skyedogrocks]

The Hangover - OMG, so so so so funny! 
 

The Knowing - Pretty good Sci Fi movie.  Definitely not what I thought it was going to be, but it was good!   

Confessions of a Shopoholic - So so movie, the book was just sooooo much better (as they usually are) - 

[marti824]

Don't get to see many "gown up" movies.  I'm usually taking my son, but  UP was really great  and Transformers was pretty good too.

Up is a cartoon movie about an old man who instead of being put in a nursing home attaches a few hundred balloons to his house and floats away to South America.  He's stuck with a little boy and of course, they get very attached.

Transformers was more of the same, like the first movie

[paul.karen]

PUSH
Was pretty good if you like action.  Ended kinda weird but im sure there thinking part two.

FIVE FINGERS
Is an up to date movie that will if nothing else make you think about the threats we face on a daily basis.

[Rerun]

An American Carol (2008)       

David Zucker directs a star-studded cast in this topical comedy about an unpatriotic documentary filmmaker who wants to abolish the Fourth of July holiday -- until he's visited by three ghosts who beg him to reconsider. Can the spirits of America's past, present and future spark a change of heart? Kelsey Grammer, Jon Voight and Dennis Hopper star in this Charles Dickens–inspired fable that skewers the well-known work of director Michael Moore.

I thought this movie was hilarious!  Recommended for Big Sky and Paul!!

[Chris]

I don't remember that one being advertised. I do like comedies though.

[twirl]

Country for Old Men
I could not watch much of it --- too violent
was that movie a dream at the end ?

[Rerun]

Seven Pounds (2008) I think TynyWonder recommended it.  VERY GOOD especially for people on this site.  Five Stars         

Distraught over his wife's death -- and convinced that his own actions had something to do with it -- a depressed IRS agent (Will Smith) begins plotting his suicide, vowing to improve the lives of seven strangers in the process. But a chance meeting with a woman who has a life-threatening heart defect (Rosario Dawson) makes him think twice when their budding relationship suddenly feels a lot like love.

[cariad]

My husband got Brazil out of the library because he had never seen it. I saw it as a kid, but did not really follow it all that well. I was amazed at how much I enjoyed it this last viewing! It seemed eerily prophetic the way the government would fall back on a vague threat of 'terrorists' to justify everything. The plot basically follows a British government worker navigating through a bureacratic mess in an Orwellian world. It is a Terry Gilliam film, visually stunning, and humorous in the dry, absurd, Monty Python-esque way. The Robert DeNiro role is certainly not to be missed. I highly recommend watching this film from a 2009 perspective, and see for yourself how well the story holds up today.

[dwcrawford]

The Soloist... first movie I've watched all the way through or recommended in ages.  Jamie Fox and Robery Downy both gave oscar worthy perfomances.  What's it about?  Not really sure but maybe god or grace through art, maybe homelessness or mental illness, could be just plain friendship between unlikely souls.  Anyway it was good.  Made me cry  --=  but again I watched it while on  dialysis so it might have been the needles that were making me cry.

[monrein]

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-true-story-behind-the-soloist-video-2009-3

And did you know that the book and then the movie are based on a true story.  Gives a lot of insight into mental illness.

[dwcrawford]

Yes, I knew that...  and it is a rare case where the movie met the expectations of the author, I'm sure.  Interesting book.   Beautiful movie.

[cariad]

My husband and I finished watching the 2005 BBC miniseries Bleak House, based on my favorite Charles Dickens book. It is nearly 8 hours long. I enjoyed it, but was disappointed that some of the unforgettable moments from the book were not represented at all. (significantly, illiterate Mr. Krook writing words letter by letter on the wall in chalk). I hardly think the plot matters - most people already know if they are going to enjoy a Dickens tale or not. It is really complicated, dozens of characters, lives intertwining every which way, so it helps to watch it with someone to decipher as a team. The same screenwriter adapted Little Dorrit, which I enjoyed slightly more than Bleak House, probably because I have never read that book and could not be at all disappointed.

[okarol]

Julie and Julia - we went to see this because Jenna is going to France and many people recommended this movie. Julia Child wrote a cookbook that changed American culinary history and Julie Powell cooked her way through 524 recipes in 365 days. Meryl Streep is great as Julia Child - it's a sweet movie - "maybe a little too sweet," says Jenna, but we both liked it anyway.