The Departed leads the way: quick comments on recently released movies

So far this year's post-summer movie rush has been very good – almost shockingly good. Though I haven't seen every movie I've intended to, I've been satisfied with almost every movie I've seen so far since the end of summer.

The Prestige: Christopher Nolan is near his top form again in the shadows of another dark looking film. Christian Bale is quickly becoming a force and the movie was good before Scarlett Johansson even stepped in front of the camera; and we all know she usually doesn't detract from the viewing of a movie and certainly doesn't here either.

Flags of our Fathers: May not be able to be judged until Eastwood's
Letters from Iwo Jima is released next year, but Flags was good on its
own right. Eastwood continues to be a creative force in Hollywood in
the field of directing – how many people saw that coming 40 years ago?

The Departed: So far, the most entertaining and personal favorite of
the movies I've seen this year. While not my favorite Martin Scorsese
movie, or even on my top five, it was as intense and thrilling as any
movie I've seen in a while. And I can now forgive Leonardo DiCaprio
for the line "I'm the king of the world." Well, almost.

Marie Antoinette: The most dissapointing of the movies I've seen so
far this year, but only because of the lofty expectations I had on it.
Still a pretty good movie worth seeing, even if it did fall quite a
bit short of what I hoped for out of Sofia Coppola. While I didn't
think it worked all the way through, I still admired the way Coppola
seduces people into looking at life from a new point of view and
refuses to make a conventional film.

Borat: I've followed the character for years, there was more hype from
the public and critic's circles than I've seen from a movie in recent
years, and it still managed to live up to the hype. Funniest movie
I've seen in a long time. It's a niiiiiice.

The Last Kiss: Worth seeing just because of screenwriter Paul Haggis.
It worked pretty well insofar as showing how tough commitment can be
for some people. Having said that, it seemed to run out of steam well
before the final credits and the ending was more conventional than the
ideas displayed earlier in the movie.

Casino Royale: Wow. The Bond series had been stale for a while, blah,
blah, blah. I agree that it was time for a change and applauded the
idea of starting over with a rougher and more badass Bond from the
very beginning. I equally admired bringing a versatile actor like
Daniel Craig to play a role not known for versatility. What I wasn't
prepared for was how well they were able to pull off the new look
Bond. Eva Green, who was criticized by many who never saw her in The
Dreamers as a poor casting move, turned out perhaps the best Bond girl
this side of Honey Ryder. What was even more impressive than I hoped
was the dialogue, which has almost never made a dent on me in any Bond
movie. The patience exhibited in holding the famous "Bond, James Bond"
line for the right moment created one of the best endings of a Bond
movie I've ever seen. And the way it rebounded from the too lengthy
poker game and pulled off the perfect ending provided enough character
fuel for Bond to go for another 20 films.


Must sees before the end of the year: Conversations With Other Women,
Little Children, The Good German, The Good Shepard, Rocky Balboa (ok,
just kidding), Babel, The Fountain, Last King of Scotland, Blood
Diamond, and many more that I've forgotten to name.