Movie Fest Review

So two of the films I watched yesterday were based on Novels, one of which I read.
The last film was based on a few autobiographies and thus truly a bio-pic.

The Davinci Code - I disagree with the statement that Tom Hanks was too stiff. I thought he played the brilliant but bewildered professor as well as I could have hoped. He and Ian McKelllan were great, I thought they played their characters to a "T". Actually all the actors were akin to their characters. What annoyed me was the fact that they deviated from the book so vastly.

Thumbsucker - an interesting film that delves into the angst of teenage years. The boy playing the title role was excellent. The film is very independent. The boy evolves and by the end of the film is somewhat "all right." He ends up in New York. The only problematic fault I find with the movie is the fact that the mother is supposed to be so beautiful. The actress is not unattractive, she is just not who I would picture as being of such beauty that her son would fear that she would run off with a movie star. I am too lazy to look up the actress' name but she played an angel in Constatine. She is rather androginous, not hyper feminine. I watched some of the behind the scenes stuff and that is how I discovered this film was based on a book. Apparently, a semi-autobiography, the movie did make me want to read the book.

American Dreamz - while I wanted to enjoy this film a lot. I wanted to think this funnier than it was. I was amused but it was not a quality quality film. I liked the character of the President of the US and Hugh Grant was funny in a sleazy sort of way. Additionally, Mandy Moore was great. Playing slightly against character but probably akin to what people are probably actually like on American Idol. There are some excellent hilarious scenes. This is a movie I wanted to love, but to be honest I think that this would be a movie to catch on tv rather than spend money to rent.

walk the line - this movie I really really enjoyed. I thought everyone was great. It was such an honest portrayal of Johnny Cash. He spared himself nothing. It was interesting, funny, and delightful. I really thought this was a worthwhile look. It also makes me want to read more about his life and listen to more of his music. The only drawback was the portrayal of Johnny Cash's first wife, maybe she was as seen in the movie, maybe not, but unless she writes a biography all we have is this view of her. Of course you can only have one person's perspective on an event, especially when it is based on truth.