January

1 - Sweeney Todd (1/1) - My aversion to musicals is overcome by my attraction to Tim Burton. And I ended up enjoying it, although I didn't buy the soundtrack or anything.

2 - Juno (1/4) - Kids, don't try this at home. Definitely not the typical teenage pregnancy experience, but I enjoyed it.

3 - Atonement (1/5) - Loved the use of diegetic sound in the score (Briony's typewriter, for example), but wasn't super-crazy about the movie as a whole.

4 - Persepolis (1/6) - This was a Sunday Cinema Club selection I saw with my friend Sandy, whose one hope as we stood in line waiting to get in was that that day's movie would be in English. Alas, it was a French film. About Iran. An animated French movie about Iran, entirely in black and white. Not really a big hit with the Cinema Club crowd, who were mostly put off by the fact that it was animated. They're generally an older bunch who will happily deal with the subtitles and the black and white, but not the animation. I totally dug it, though.

5 - In the Name of the King (1/11) - Having had enough of the Oscar-fodder "films" I'd seen so far this year, this movie was like a breath of fresh air, if fresh air smelled like funky cheese. In the Name of the King combined two of my favorite things in the world - director Uwe Boll (whose oeuvre consists almost entirely of movies based on video games) and action-star Jason Statham. They had me at hello with those two, but then there was the added bonus of Burt Reynolds as a medieval king and Ray Liotta as the bad guy. Was it awesomely terrible? Of course it was. I loved it.

6 - The Orphanage (1/13) - A Spanish horror film I don't remember much about except I was a little disappointed in the outcome.

7 - There Will Be Blood (1/18) - More Oscar fodder. I won't be bowling with Daniel Day-Lewis or Paul Dano, not even on the Wii.

8 - Cloverfield (1/20) - Certainly not for everyone, but I liked it. I thought it worked really well within the framework they'd set up, including the helicopter shot and the money shot of the monster. I loved the show Carpoolers so I would've liked to have seen more of the guy who plays Marmaduke on that show (T.J. Miller), but other than that I thought it really worked.

9 - Max Minsky & Me (1/21) - Really sweet coming-of-age German film I saw at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. I'm glad I bothered to get out and go since you can't even get this one on Netflix.

10 - Michael Clayton (1/25) - Yet another potential Oscar nominee. (I try to stay ahead of the curve on these.) Loved Tom Wilkinson, and Tilda Swinton is one of my faves as well. And in case you hadn't noticed, George Clooney's easy on the eyes. No complaints on this one.

11 - No Country for Old Men (1/27) - I love the Coen brothers so you'd think I'd have run out to see this one, but it took me a while to go since I really didn't enjoy the book. Didn't even finish the book. Javier Bardem was incredibly creepy. Not too surprised that hairdo didn't take off though.