I'm like a bird

As part of my cityside vacay, Roommate J, Beetle and I went to see a matinee of "Black Swan." And since, I've had images of glass shards and cracking bones dancing in my head. No sugarplum fairies in this ballet!

Basically, I spent the entire movie clenched up in my seat, peeking through my fingers and making variations on pursed lips. And after the movie, I think I spent 45 minutes just breathing. Before pulling myself together to get a drink!

Movie note: Letters to Juliet

THREE STARS

This movie is one cliche after another, but somehow I ended up liking it by the end. Probably because the old lady was a good actress.

Movie note: Hellboy

TWO STARS

This movie was very pretty, but pretty boring.

Movie note: Death at a Funeral

TWO STARS

SO much worse than the original British version from only a few years earlier.

Celeb sighting: Back to the Future Part III

Oh yeah, also spotted at last night at Ted Danson's table was his wife, Mary Steenburgen. Despite everything she's appeared in, I could only think of her role in Back to the Future Part III.

Movie note: Philadelphia

FOUR STARS

Jonathan Demme sure does like shots of actors where they look directly at the camera, huh? If I had a heart, this movie might have made me tear up.

Movie note: Phone Booth

THREE STARS

I guess I have two main problems with this otherwise engaging movie:

1. If this is a story about vigilante justice and redemption, I just didn't buy Colin Farrell's character as that bad. He seemed like an ordinary New York business-type to me.

2. Casting Katie Holmes.

Movie note: The Happening

ONE STAR

I don't know what I liked least: the writing, the acting or the overall premise of the movie.

Movie note: Atonement

FOUR STARS

Even despite Keira Knightley's unintelligible mumbling, I enjoyed this movie about a lying little girl.

Movie note: A Home at the End of the World

THREE STARS

Improbably cute movie about three kind people for whom normal emotions like jealousy, rage and anger do not appear to apply.

Movie note: Big Eden

TWO STARS

I thought it was pretty boring and I certainly didn't believe the "love" story.

Movie note: Serial Mom

FOUR STARS

Kathleen Turner is a wonder. I kept thinking that the word "Daybreak" in the song she kept listening to was "date rape."

Movie note: Panic Room

FOUR STARS

Well, Kristen Stewart's "acting" skills seem to have deteriorated over time. And it wasn't a very high bar to begin with.

Movie note: Tron

THREE STARS

Wow. Special effects sure have come a long way in the past three decades! Was there a plot? A point? Why did I love this movie so much as a cub?

Movie note: Hard Candy

THREE STARS

I daresay the director of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse made a pretty-looking film, even if it was pretty disturbing. Little Ellen Page did a good job of looking like a baby lesbian.

Movie note: The Hangover

THREE STARS

Another movie that further reinforces my dislike of Vegas. More Wayne Newton would have been nice.

Movie note: Blade Runner

FOUR STARS

I can see how this movie has influenced many things in my pop-culture lexicon from Battlestar Galactica to Britney Spears's video for "I'm a Slave 4 U."

Movie note: Ponyo

TWO STARS

The people who dreamed up this film must have been on some strong drugs!

Movie note: A Single Man

FIVE STARS

What a pretty film! Sad and happy.

Movie note: Invictus

FOUR STARS

Rugby and race relations!