Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

How do I describe this movie? It's really hard. It was a really good movie, especially Sally Hawkins' performance, but describing what this movie is about is a toughie.

Hawkins plays Poppy, a perpetually happy-go-lucky (get it) school teacher who doesn't have a care in the world and is content with how she lives her life. She decides to take driving lessons from Scott, a complete hard-ass, and she just gets under his skin. The movie is not all happiness, but it is Poppy trying to find the silver lining in all that happens.

This movie isn't so much about acting happy, but it's about how other people see you and perceive your happiness to mean other things. The scenes during the lessons are the best and Hawkins probably should have gotten an Oscar nod for this.

Bolt (2008)

This completes the great year for animation that was 2008. Wall-E, Kung Fu Panda, and now Bolt. It had all the elements of a animated movie, with the heart of a live action flick.

Bolt is a dog who thinks the television show he works on with his owner/co-star Penny is completely real. Through one circumstance, Bolt thinks Penny's kidnapping is real and escapes to go rescue her. This leads him across the country, needing him to find his way back to LA. He takes in two new allies, the best being Rhino, the hamster who also thinks his show is true life. He faces some hard truths and lessons about life.

It was not better than the two animated movies mentioned earlier, but it was definitely worthy of the three spot it got at the Oscars. Whoever plays Rhino needs to get more voiceover work because he was fantastic.

Quantum of Solace (2008)

Here's the thing, this movie was great as an action flick. Lots of intense fight sequences and explosions that are great to look at. But as a James Bond movie, this fell kind of flat.

Bond is on a quasi-revenge jag since the girl he fell in love with in Casino Royale died. Also, he is trying to find Dominic Greene, an environmentalist (TERRIFYING) who is using the Bolivian military general to get what he wants. You know, that old yarn. But, can Bond put his anger on his side and go about the mission at hand? No, but then again, he never has been able to.

Craig is a great James Bond, but this movie just needed some more story work. It had the right amount of action, but there wasn't enough back story to compliment that. I do recommend this movie though, but savor it as more of an action movie.

Battle in Seattle (2008)

I really liked this movie. Probably more than a lot of people might, but I really liked it. Very well made and they definitely got the scenery and the setting right for 1999 Seattle. I did not know that much about the WTO (I did some research), but this movie without question put a big light on the whole situation.

Now, everyone character and story (according to the opening titles) are fictional in this, but the story as a whole is real. It differentiated between the protesters, the cops, the politicians, the lobbyists, and the media, all intertwining at some point in time. The best storyline was with Woody Harrelson (a cop) and Charlize Theron (pregnant, corporate employee) as a married couple. The actor who surprised me the most was Michelle Rodriguez because I am not a fan and she did a really good job in this. This movie also proves that Channing Tatum is a terrific actor on the rise.

While I wished the stories of the characters were more based on real stories, I still liked this movie. Anyone can watch it and choose to be on.

Role Models (2008)

This movie was great. I just had so much fun watching this. Anything with Paul Rudd nowadays makes me laugh, but the whole movie was just flat out funny. Seann William Scott had the best line of the movie though: "Honky? That's racist."

As two guys who need to be Big Brothers to two loners, they really did a terrifically funny job. These are the movies Scott needs to stick to because he gave it just as good as Rudd did in this. It's a David Wain movie, so I got what I expected out of this, but it also was a basic comedy that all (adult) audiences could enjoy. (PS - for all Wain fans, watch the bloopers for an awesome Wet Hot American Summer reference.)

This movie was a close #2 behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall for the funniest movie of 2008, but what did they both have in common? Paul Rudd.

Body of Lies (2008)

I might have been a little bit generous in rating this movie, but I found it a pretty good watch. It's your basic Ridley Scott movie, in that it's a thriller with political overtones with a Hollywood type storyline. Still, it was fun.

DiCaprio plays undercover agent Ferris who patrols the Middle East under the terrorists' radar while trying to root them out. Crowe plays Ed Hoffman, the suit in DC who runs the operation without having total direct knowledge of what is going on, and that pisses off Ferris. The story is a bit convoluted as a whole, with a lot of things going on, but it still manages to dumb it down a bit for the layperson.

If you like suspense/thriller/action movies, then this is for you. Be warned, if you are squemish at all, the are a couple of scenes of torture, one is particularly cringe-inducing. I liked it, but it's not for all.

What Just Happened (2008)

This movie tried to skewer the Hollywood process of making movies as opposed to making films. The Hollywood parts of this movie were good, not great, but the rest of the movie fell short and hard.

De Niro plays Ben, a Hollywood producer who is on the verge of falling down the movie ladder with a film by a turbulent director who doesn't want to give up his integrity, even after a test audience hated the movie. Ben needs to play every side to get everyone happy before the movie premieres in Cannes two weeks later. Some of this was fun, most was not.

I love Robert De Niro, I do, but I just did not believe him at all in this role. At the other end, I did like Bruce Willis as the hard-to-work-with movie star. But nothing in the middle seemed to work.