The movies that I've seen within the month of September include Wicker Park, Dogville, Elephant, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and Don't Tempt Me.

Wicker Park -

Matthew (Josh Hartnett) puts his life on hold to search for his old girlfriend, Lisa (Diane Kruger) who disappeared years ago, after catching a glimpse of someone he thinks to be her in a restaraunt.

Alright, the trailers for this deceive you. I went in expecting a "romantic thriller", somewhere along the lines of Vanilla Sky, where you are constantly asking yourself, "Whats going on?" However, in about thirty minutes of watching Wicker Park, you basically find out that its all okay and its all based on a misunderstanding, and suddenly there is no mystery or suspense in the movie. The suspense never picks up, even at the end when the "villain" (Rose Byrne) is confronted. The largest conflict is honestly just a bit of indirect name calling. You leave the theatre feeling slightly gypped.

Well, the whole movie wasn't terrible or anything, just mediocre. If you go in expecting something mellow that won't get you worked up or nervous, this is right for you. Sometimes I have a hard time handling suspense, so this is a relief in that sense. Josh Hartnett's portrayal of Matthew was not outstanding, his character cried too much for my taste. Diane Kruger was decent, its obvious that they wanted someone with an obvious in-your-face type of beauty (also why she was picked for Helen of Troy), but I think if they were basing it on looks alone they could have chosen someone with more distinct feature. She's beautiful, but there isn't anything that really marks her as unique. We get that Matthew is obsessed with her, but why? Rose Byrne, on the other hand, was very convincing in her role. She is a talented actor, and was able to take a poorly written character and make her come alive.

This movie receives a NO

Dogville -

Grace (Nicole Kidman), a young woman running from the mob, hides out in a small mining village. At first accepted, the locals eventually end up abusing her.

First, if you are unfamiliar with the film, you should know that it was shot quite differently than any other movie. There was no actual set, the movie took place within a tiny village on one stage. The buildings were simply outlines on the ground. It didn't take all that long to adjust too, though. The story is quite intriguing and after a while you don't notice that there are no walls and you can see "inside" all of the houses. I think there were parts where this particular set up was really more affective than an actual movie set would be, one moment in particular was when Grace was being raped by one of the men inside his house. The audience can see all of the other cast members on stage doing there own thing, not even looking over or noticing the attack. Then you remember, "Oh, they can't see her, there are supposed to be walls there." It then reminds you that the same thing can occur in reality, someone could be suffering only feet away from you, but you do nothing because you can't see them or know whats happening.

I must admit, I initially fell in love with Paul Bettany's character, Tom Edison. He was a thinker, and the way he acted around Grace was adorable. As the people of the village change, its natural for a viewer to expect the romantic interest to be the hero of the story, and thats the way it seems to occur for awhile. However, the ending of this movie is really not possible to predict, its quite shocking. At first, I couldn't tell if it was an effective ending or not, I wasn't sure that I liked it or hated it. At this point, I do believe it was effective because I was still thinking about it days later, not just for the shock value, but the way people's minds work and just how possible it was.

I give this movie a YES

Elephant -

The lives of students, on the day of tragedy in their school, is focused on.

Well, in my point of view, the cons outweighed the pros of this film. I wasn't sure what to expect after hearing polarized mixed reviews. First of all, I think it was not the best subject for a movie. Elephant seemed almost like it was attempting to exploit real life tragedies, almost like making a tv movie about Jessica Lynch or 9/11. Thats what it felt like, at least. The film could have combated that view by presenting the event or characters in a unique way, but it did not and the characters fell short. The two "shooters" were quite stereotypical, I think it was the scene with the spitballs that really turned me off. He's not popular at school, we get it. It didn't have to be shoved in our face. As for the rest of the characters, they all had potential in some form to really develop, but they never did. I was left waiting for a conclusion, waiting for more. There was no development, and that made it difficult for me to reall give myself to this film. How much can I believe when I can't even believe the characters? The teen girls throwing up in the bathroom was another factor that I did not like. I understand (better than some) that eating disorders are a problem among high school girls, but it almost seemed like that was only put in there to hype the fact that popular girls have image problems. Another fact that was not necessary. But it might have been added as some sort of comic relief, and in that case it most definitely did not fit in. It seems like he was trying to create a realistic image of high school life, in which case the audience shouldn't really be handed comic relief. I also really did not like the extended scenes of following the students around. I think maybe they were directed like that to give the viewer a sense of familiarity with the character, but it just bored my and did not make me feel any more attachment than I had before. I seriously wanted to fast forward some of the walking scenes.

Okay, so I'm not going to just bash this film. There were parts that I really liked. I, personally, liked the dialogue among the students. Parts that may have come off to other viewers as actors messing up there lines, I saw as the characters fumbling their words, shit like that happens in real life. I thought that the conversations were incredibly similar to real conversations I heard in high school, and very much what real people would have said. Some of the conversations (among the three girls) may have seemed superficial, but I can tell you for a fact that I heard that very conversation among so many girls when I was back in school. I also did like the part with Benny. I know many people thought that it was stupid and his character's 5 minutes were pointless, but I really think they added dimension. People have odd definitions of what a hero is, and I think this opened my eyes to the fact that its not necessary to actually accomplish your goal to be a hero. When they initial started following Benny, it was set up that he was going to be a hero, to help save the school, therefore I was surprised when he was killed. I then realized that his character actual was a hero, even though he didn't really do anything, but he had heroic intentions that no one else did. I thought that was cool.

Altogether, I give this movie a NO