Netflix, Please!

I haven't been to the movie theater in about a month, but I did recently subscribe to Netflix, so why not review some oldies but goodies!

No Country For Old Men: B-
This movie was incredibly violent. I should have known that going into it, but I wasn't ready for how truly evil it was. Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones all delivered stellar performances, though. Brolin plays a man who stumbles upon $2 million from a drug deal gone wrong. Bardem tries to hunt him down and retreive the cash. Jones is the sheriff trying to make sense of it all. I love to look for symbolism and meaning in these types of movies, but aside from the obvious "hunter and prey" theme I didn't get a lot out of it.

Cloverfield: D
Boo. I didn't even finish it. Sorry if that makes my review invalid. Apparently it's about Godzilla. Whatever.

The Kite Runner: C
I rented this because I recently listened to the audio of Khaled Hosseini's book on a road trip. The book was a great mix of light-hearted fun and distrubing drama. Unfortunately, the move wasn't able to capture the story as beautifully as I'd expected. It's about an Afghan man who immigrates to the US as a way to escape political unrest, as well as a dark secret from his childhood. He's then called back to the country to face both tragedies head-on. I don't recommend the movie for those who haven't read the book.

Run, Fatboy Run: B-
It's the story of a man who left his pregnant girlfriend at the altar and has no way of showing her he's changed other than promising to run a marathon. Catch? He hasn't really changed. While this movie did make me laugh, it was very predictable and felt long.

Michael Clayton: B+
This is one of those movies you'll want to go back and watch a second time in order to follow along better. George Clooney plays a lawyer trying to get his friend, a fellow lawyer, out of a huge mess that's set to cost a company millions of dollars. Warning: it's rated R for some pretty graphic language, including sexual language. Which is strange, because the story line isn't sexual at all.

Get Smart: B+
This movie made me want to go back and watch the television series again. I haven't seen it since I was a kid and don't remember a lot about it. I've spoken to people who loved the original Maxwell Smart and they thought the movie was great. It also has a lot of hidden nods to the series. Steve Carrell's rendition was great. It's amazing to me that he can nail both Don Adams and Paul Lynde's famous Uncle Arthur on Bewitched!

How about you? Stayed home for any good flicks lately?