Saturday, March 28, 2009

Tony Gilroy's last movie Michael Clayton was nominated for seven Academy Awards, this time he's back with a knotty, double cross, spy tale with a catch phrase lifted from CBS' "Survivor." Roberts and Owen play ex-spies hired by two rival corporate chief officers (both brilliantly played by Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson) after an unpatented trade secret. The script may be a touch long, but thankfully there's not a ton of love story here, once you think a scene may be getting to mushy, Gilroy has Clive Owen say something absurd and break the seriousness. Owen is probably one of the ten best actors working today, but I just don't think Julia has it anymore. Someone else could have played the role better, I think Gwyenth Paltrow could have done it, or maybe if Anne Hathaway were a bit older, she would have been perfect. So far the most enjoyable movie of 2009....3 1/2 stars (of four).

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Eight shows in; still lame


You would have thought by now Jimmy Fallon's nerves would have calmed a bit. He's still uncomfortable as ever giving an interview. At this point, maybe he's made a style decision and he's going to run with the "I'm not a stuffy professional-I'm a just a endearing old friend from college" type of approach, but either way, it's brutal watching him stumble through a sit down, chat style interview. The bits have been just as bad as his interview questions. That includes "lick it for ten," which seems like a promotional deal for whatever product the studio audience members are licking. Same goes for the guy from engadget.com who came on the show, basically on behalf of PALM to showcase the new PALM PRE....lame.