Quick Unprofessional Movie Reviews

Since my movie IQ is not nearly close to the geniuses called movie critics, I'll give the average guy's review of some movies, not all of them new, that I've seen recently (plenty of time to kill these days). No spoilers.

1- The Curious Case of Benjamen Button: The kind of good movie that you may not like. I can understand why some people LOVED it, but you can very much feel that you have wasted 3 hours of your life watching it. A little bit Forrest-Gumpy at times. One Oscar it will definitely win: best makeup. It also gives a great message of hope for old people: one day you may look like Brad Pitt. B

2- The Wrestler: The big blond guy who plays the wrestler (Mickey Roruke) had to put in 30 pounds of muscle to play this role and he does a fantastic job. The director makes a wonderful touch at least in one scene that will stay in my mind for a long time (One Tiny Spolier: It was on Robin's first day at his new job the Deli, with him walking in the empty hallway of the store). A-

3- My Bloody Valentine in 3D: This film is the inspiration for Newton's Fourth Law: A bad film is a bad film regardless of its dimensions. D

4- Gone Baby Gone: Seemed to me like a trashy film until its second hour started. It has one of the best endings any movie can have which leaves you with one ethical dilemma that you may never recover from. B+

5- Tropic Thunder: A very good often shocking comedy. B

6- You don't mess with the Zohan (SPOILER): Yeah Yeah the nice Israeli guy who wins the hearts of Arabs and converts them from bloody terrorists to peaceful companions. C

7- Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Great comedy, but with suboptimal acting from the major actor (Peter-Jason Segel), I didn't think he was very convincing. Everyone else did a wonderful job. Still not as good as Knocked up or Borat. B

8- Four Christmases: Short laughs. Easily forgettable. C

9- Religulous (Documentary): Bill Maher does a good job in challenging ordinary people about their belief, asking very good questions, but apparently he searches for laughs more than intelligent conversations. Yet it's another comedy that makes you think. B

10- Slumdog Millionaire: This movie is like a very well written and directed Egyptian movie. One of the best movies I've seen in my life. A

11-Born on the Fourth of July (1988). Although the movie tells one real story of one veteran returning from Vietnam, it's the story of many soldiers around the world coming back from wars. The biggest loss they have is not a physcial but psychological one. It's dark. It's sad, and it's very real. War sucks. B+

12- Twelve Angry Men (1957). If you ever thought about watching a black-and-white movie, this is the one. With its well-written script and out-of-the-world acting it proved that you can make a pheonmeonal movie with a low budget. If you like watching a colored version they have re-made it in 1997 and that one is good too. A

13- Reign Over Me: Adam Sandler proving he can be a great actor, with some emotional scenes from this better-than-average film. Someone other than Liv Tyler should have played the psychologist. B

14- Burn After Reading: If there's one great thing about this movie, it's the final 5 minutes. The comedy was genius and not very funny! B

15- Body of Lies: I reviewed that before given its Jordanian connection. This movie is terrible. Moreover, Not a single scene was shot in Jordan, and there is nothing special about the story or the acting. It doesn't even qualify to be pirated and sold in one of those shops that appear in the movie. F