tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113343552010-02-17T05:00:26.654-05:00Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-11706154503696091382009-04-09T09:21:00.004-04:002009-04-09T09:27:10.292-04:00

It's official! Took me awhile to get my act together, but thanks to Alicia, I've got new digs and you are invited inside!*My new, improved movie site will have reviews AND other stuff. So head on over to Susan Year Itch to hear what I have to say about In Bruges!That's susanyearitch.com. I would love for you to update your readers!*Unless you are a vampire.

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-55272566624285625452009-01-21T10:16:00.001-05:002009-01-21T10:18:48.972-05:00

4.5 starsSam Mendes doesn't direct a ton of movies. His first cinematic release was American Beauty, you know, that little film that tapped Hollywood on the shoulder, swiveled it around, and ordered it to take notice (you thought I was going to say "punched it in the face" didn't you? Well, you lose!!). Ten years and a couple of solid releases later, beautiful, agonizing Revolutionary Road

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-80902918050834379652009-01-20T13:13:00.000-05:002009-01-20T13:14:20.430-05:00

4.5 starsSo there are movies and there are movies. And there are Meryl Streep movies. Guys, can she deliver a bad performance? Negative. There are a hundred reasons why you should see Doubt, adapted from John Patrick Shanley's play of the same name (Shanley adapted it for the screen and directed it himself), but Meryl is the first reason. She plays a nun, Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the principal

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-32081060223162861132009-01-20T13:07:00.002-05:002009-01-20T13:12:06.322-05:00

2 starsI will now repeat what I have stomped around shouting in the days since I watched Gran Torino: 1. Clint Eastwood is not a good director. Maybe he was once, but he is no longer choosing good scripts, and this script was utterly awful. He was also the only good actor in the film but who can blame the other actors? You should hear the lines they were fed. 2. This movie is NOT Dirty Harry 2,

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-2779787393471353792008-12-30T13:44:00.002-05:002008-12-30T13:44:59.170-05:00

4 starsI enjoyed this film. I know! I'm just as surprised as you are. Tom Cruise, wearing an eyepatch, speaks German, and I still like this movie. Director Bryan Singer is the reason, of course. You may know him best as the brilliant (yes, I said brilliant!) director of the first two X-Men movies, not to mention that old chestnut, The Usual Suspects. Some genius snagged Singer to direct Valkyrie,

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-67332324105840865672008-12-18T10:31:00.001-05:002008-12-18T10:32:20.814-05:00

Rating - 7/10I'm still convinced that biopics win Oscars a little too blindly because people tend to confuse not only good acting with a good impression but, even more inaccurately, they mistake an important life with an important film, but in recent years I'm less grumpy about these cinematic biographies. W this year was good and Milk was even better. Innovative, good-looking, and sharp, these

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-82453805123175559432008-12-10T09:57:00.001-05:002008-12-10T09:57:37.624-05:00

There's a certain kind of movie that pulls you in with a tractor beam and rivets your corneas so that you relish every detail and miss it once it's over with the sort of ache you reserve for a recently-departed romance. Synecdoche, New York, the new screenplay and directing debut from Charlie Kaufman, the genius who gave us Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, is not that kind of

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-80359887132996343062008-12-02T12:09:00.000-05:002008-12-02T12:10:22.848-05:00

3 starsI have mixed feelings about Baz Luhrmann, the director of this Thanksgiving's big epic monster, Australia. His signature "offbeat" style began as heartwarmingly quirky in Strictly Ballroom (1992)*, progressed to teen mindblowing in Romeo + Juliet (1996), and culminating in the oversaturated, self-indulgent mess that is Moulin Rouge (2001). After that, it seems, the guy decides to tone down

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-17352697116018357512008-11-19T12:12:00.000-05:002008-12-02T12:16:50.416-05:00

3.5 stars Daniel Craig striding out of the water in those blue swim trunks in Casino Royale is this generation's Marilyn Monroe over the subway vent. That is to say, "something" about Casino Royale elevated that Bond movie out of the recession of the Pierce Brosnan years. I mean, we all know what elevated it. Completely revamped writing style (finally getting rid of those jokes that were funny in

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-72503524943546292042008-11-06T08:37:00.001-05:002008-11-06T08:38:18.425-05:00

3 starsAs I write this, I don't "know" who the next president will be. I'm trying really hard to not think about the bottle of champagne I have in the fridge and instead force myself to think about friggin' Rachel Getting Married, the new Jonathan Demme flick. This film is so much less pleasant to daydream about than a Democratic president, but regard it I shall, because my motto is "Movie review

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-92057593926130568052008-10-28T09:31:00.003-04:002008-10-28T09:34:13.263-04:00

4 starsHere are three things you should know about Oliver Stone's new film W before you go (and you should go) see it. 1. W is not a comedy!I sort of assumed this from the ads, but luckily someone warned me before I went. I mean, sometimes it's funny that he says "misunderestimated" and sometimes it's funny that Stone expects us to buy Josh Brolin (who is 40) as an 18 year old W, but for the most

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-39990664932275162782008-10-28T09:29:00.000-04:002008-10-28T09:31:07.245-04:00

It's not often that I go to ESPN.com, typing in the URL tentatively, as if it's an address someone has given me in an unfamiliar city, and I have to read it to the cab driver from the airport, not knowing how to pronounce the street name, and turning bright red with anxiety as he asks me to repeat myself. Once I'm actually on the website, I fumble around awkwardly, groping for something familiar

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-18873635402989179062008-10-28T09:24:00.004-04:002008-11-06T08:39:38.821-05:00

Guys! I am so behind. I keep writing for other places and forgetting to post here because, well, it's October and things are happening.3.5 starsI found myself in New York (for those of you who have a map on their basement wall with pins in it, following my progress around the world) this weekend, and I got pumped about seeing something different and special that we wouldn't get here until two

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-86832814614105533152008-09-24T10:50:00.002-04:002008-09-24T10:51:00.147-04:00

2.5 starsLadies and gentlemen, Transsiberian finally made its way transamerica (whoa, another movie) to Richmond, VA amid accolades and fanfare and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of like 5000. And I could not be more excited about it!* Yes, this whimsical romp is about two American tourists, Jessie (Emily Mortimer) and Roy (Woody Harrelson),** merrily chugging their away across the cheerful wasteland

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-1372888669041826012008-09-23T23:38:00.002-04:002008-09-23T23:39:01.674-04:00

Also from RVAnews!4.5 starsSo I think I have a real problem with expressing emotion. If my mother is reading this right now she is spitting out her warm spiced milk, or whatever moms drink, and smacking her head in disbelief that I JUST NOW realized this. Well, I didn’t JUST NOW realize it, MOM. OK? I’m just saying, the amount of tears that I shed during the new French “thriller” Tell No One was

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-73357522073925169832008-09-23T23:34:00.002-04:002008-09-23T23:37:18.935-04:00

I've been behind on posting things lately! Writing them but not posting! This is from like a month ago on RVAnews. But it is still filled with passion.4 starsI read a folk story once about this guy who was lost in the woods for some weeks and found some old crone who gave him what he thought was the most delicious dish in the world but what turned out later to be something akin to Dirt Soup.

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-28431319546550904002008-08-13T11:37:00.005-04:002008-11-06T08:39:55.802-05:00

2 starsI don't feel like I oscillate too much in my opinion of movies. The five star (with half stars!) rating system works pretty well for me. I find that it offers enough shades of grey to differentiate a movie I might like due to fond nostalgia but upon an adult viewing I realize that it maybe kind of blows (Dirty Dancing ) from a movie that I might like due to fond nostalgia but upon an adult

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-24997783871996737332008-07-23T10:44:00.003-04:002008-11-06T08:40:14.340-05:00

4.5 starsGuys, I want to cry when I think about how much Christopher Nolan is giving me hope for the future of filmmaking. No, seriously. The Dark Knight is a real movie! With real editing and acting and a neat score and everything! It's like Michael Clayton if George Clooney were replaced by Batman!* Yeah, THAT real! Michael Clayton real! I think I'm not exaggerating when I say that this film

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-47968500406397149722008-07-17T10:48:00.001-04:002008-11-06T08:40:29.979-05:00

2.5 starsYou have to admit that it's almost not worth me writing a review of anything like Hellboy, a comic book character that I happen to know nothing about but you happen to know everything about. If I say it's phenomenal, purists will turn up their noses and insist that a filmic version can only sully the glory of the original blah-de-blah. If I say it's not phenomenal, I'll be told that I

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-5822835983365449202008-07-10T09:57:00.001-04:002008-07-10T09:57:40.823-04:00

I honestly wrote an uppity sentence about how sometimes I have "things to do", "people," and I can't "flit off to the movies every five seconds" just to "compete with Daniel Neman," who gets to do this as a full-time job, I might add. But since the meat of my piece this week is how I've watched like fifty DVDs lately, I deleted said sentence, realizing I had no leg to stand on. I don't have

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-67424307780837595262008-07-02T09:35:00.001-04:002008-11-06T08:41:03.486-05:00

4.5 starsWell, I saw Wall-E last night, and I've had 24 hours to mull it over. 24 hours that I've been spending pulling gravel out of my hair from the Virginia Center Commons parking lot, upon which I crumbled, overcome with emotion, after some animated robots ripped my heart to shreds. There is 100% chance that I have just viewed the film that will win the 2009 Best Animated Film Oscar. I know,

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-21425937555533635422008-06-18T13:15:00.002-04:002008-11-06T08:41:20.459-05:00

1 starWhile this review does contain more plot than I normally like to reveal, i.e. greater than 5%, I wouldn't exactly call it a "spoiler." I figure if you go to see The Happening, it'll be purely to experience the magic that is M. Night Shamyalan and the pitiful rat king he makes of filmmaking. And that's not the kind of spectacle I can easily capture with words.SHALL WE BEGIN?M. Night

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-65418454721437508992008-06-11T12:25:00.002-04:002008-11-06T08:41:39.820-05:00

Thomas McCarthy, 20082 stars I don't know about you, but I started the summer off with a bang. Typically skeptical of summer blockbusters, I was surprised to notice how many of them this year seemed to actually interest me. It's early June, and I've already seen three huge-budget films. I can't say I'm not excited about Get Smart. The cuteness of a Steve Carell /Anne Hathaway team is only

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-14788681554214409122008-06-04T10:29:00.002-04:002008-11-06T08:41:55.014-05:00

4 stars (yes! FOUR stars!)So the other night I put my brand new marriage* in jeopardy during what began as a pleasant post-honeymoon dinner with my sister and her husband. I'd masterfully steered the conversation towards movies, a skill I've acquired to mask the fact that I'm generally oblivious to most other topics, and we touched on the early summer blockbusters. We cruised past Iron Man with a

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11334355.post-12287967179831668712008-04-24T07:47:00.002-04:002008-11-06T08:42:10.733-05:00

3.5 starsSometimes it's tough to like Judd Apatow. I liked The 40 Year Old Virgin, loved Knocked Up, and tolerated Superbad -- it's not really the movies themselves that provoke these qualms. It's the fact that the guy puts out a few good movies and all of a sudden he's arrogant enough to have his own BRAND of film? Now a "Judd Apatow" film doesn't mean that Apatow himself had anything to do with

Susan Howsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055454668954770685noreply@blogger.com0