Some recent sightings

Well, while I pause in the midst of more graphic creations, I’ve been seeing some pretty good films lately, what with all this spare time. As a super-special ultra mega bonus, all of the movies I’ve seen in the past two days were good ones!

Coraline I thought was very well done, nicely imaginative, though to be honest stuff by Neil Gaiman seems to be awfully one-note. It gets fairly close to the level of Henry Selick’s best known film, The Nightmare Before Christmas, though there seem to be quite a bit of bravura technically excellent stuff for its own sake.

I think Donnie Darko is one of those films that’s going to affect you based on your own identification with the title character, and I think further that folks will either love it or hate it. I loved it. I finally saw the “director’s cut” and, while almost all director’s cuts leave me cold, this one seemed to add to the story without making it overstay its welcome.

I’d never seen Groundhog Day before recently, and it lives up to its reputation. It’s rare when a comedy is both this funny and this profound. And I’ve never seen Bill Murray as good as this.

About midway through Let The Right One In, I was thinking this was the best vampire movie since Fright Night. When it was over, I thought that judgment way too limited. This is just a great film all around. Highly recommended, though if you’re squeamish it does get gruesome at times.

I first saw The Princess Bride in the theatre way back when. There’s nothing profound about this one, but it’s so well constructed and damned funny. Still holds up today.

So, what have you guys seen recently that looked, sounded and thought good?