Saw (500) days of summer last night. Pretty poor.

Bright Star See this one. But only if you like beautiful cinematography, great acting, lyrical and well-constructed writing and pretty people.

Watched 'I've loved you so long' last night. Good although certainly not uplifting. I'm not exactly sure why it said on the case 'the best french film since Amelie'. First I've seen plenty (better) french films since Amelie and secondly the two films have nothing in common, you can't really compare them.

Where the Wild Things Are Will write more about it tommorow, right now a bit too tired. It's awesome though. A quick collection of superlatives: it's a masterpiece that is deeply emotionally complex, astounding in countless ways, and one of the great films about childhood. I fell no hesitation in saying it will become a classic.

The Informant! I ate up every piece of ridiculous goodness served by Soderbergh and Damon in this one. The Hamlisch score was fantastic (and entirely unexpected -- where the hell has he been?).

A Serious Man This is the Coen Brothers' masterpiece. The acting is superb, particularly from lead Michael Stuhlbarg. Roger Deakins' cinematography has never been better and neither has the Coens' writing. A truly great film.

Capitalism: A Love Story Perhaps Moore's best film, both in terms of message, and form. Moore's never really gotten much praise as a filmmaker because I think what he does is deceptively simple. Sure, there are the obvious touches, the sing-songy sarcastic narration, the feigned shock, the melodramatic use of music from other films and ironic use of songs, but what's hidden between those things is a very delicately weaved film. Moore's movies are episodic by nature, but he has a keen sense of when and where and how long those episodes should be and it creates a non-fiction film in which a narrative emerges. Maybe it's not a narrative in a story sense, but in an emotional and informative sense there is an arc to the film, and this one, more than any others, leaves the audience in a state of determination and will to action. I would argue that Moore is not a documentary filmmaker in as much as he's an essayist.Like any great essayist, he has complete control of his medium, his use of image and sound in place of text on a page, in presenting a thesis (In this case, Capitalism does not work), giving context for that thesis and then leveling reason after reason why that thesis is so. Of course it's more elegant in the film than that reductive analysis, but at their essence, that is what his films do. So the measure of his films is how persuasive they are and in what ways do they make you think about the subject (or subjects) explored in the film. It's in this regard that Capitalism is so successful, and I think it's one of the best movies of the year.

Big Fan Written and Directed by Robert Siegel, who wrote The Wrestler, and like that film it explores a less glamorous part of sports culture, in this case a New York Giants fan played by Patton Oswalt. Oswalt's character lives to love the Giants, and has little else in his life. The film is very well observed in the details of how Oswalt's life is consumed by his fandom and how much he defines himself based on that fandom. There are great scenes of Oswalt writing and rehearsing the inane rants he gives on the local Sports Talk Radio Show he frequently calls into, only pausing to let customers out of the parking garage he works in, sitting in a harshly lit booth pouring over notebook pages filled with cliche analysis and insults about the last or nearest game. Oswalt is great, as is Kevin Corrigan as his Giants co-fan and only friend. Siegel allows the film to be dark and sad in place of comedy, though the film is often very funny, and lets the characters go in realistic and decidedly noncommercial directions. However great many elements of the film are though, I feel like Siegel could have pushed it even further and gone darker and explored the notion of the obsessive fan who lives for nothing else even more. As it stands now the film is very good, but there's always a feeling that it could have been great.

Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3-D. Hold up incredibly well.d

Loraxeon, I don't want to get into a big political debate, but I'm just curious: in examining the thesis that "Capitalism does not work" does Moore actually define capitalism? I'm just curious because those of us who do actually believe in capitalism are just as unhappy with the bailouts as Moore is. He just seems to be conflating "big business" with "free markets" when they're not one in the same.

The Invention of Lying Slighty dissapointing, if only because Ricky Gervais has made two the greatest TV shows of all time. There's a section in the middle that's really, really great, and much of the first half is extraordinary, but it gets a bit conventional and less inspired as it goes on. Hopefully Cemetary Junction will have a bit more punch.

Zombieland Enjoyed it quite a bit, and was not expecting to. There's an incredible cameo that is a very poorly guarded secret, but I'll only say that it's someone who's been in all but one of Wes' movies. I like Jesse Eisenberg quite a bit, and Woody Harrelson and the rest of the small cast are quite nice as well. Zombie kills good, jokes mostly great, rather entertaining.

Whip It Future Man is great, Yeoman's cinematography is great, evertything production-wise is perfect. Cast is very enjoyable, script is predictable but fun. I also enjoyed this more than I expected to.

The Girlfriend Experience Still great, claims that it's cultural commentary would be dated almost instantly are misguided. The specificity of the time period (right before the 2008 election) makes it better and more interesting. Sasha Grey is a real actress, and I hope she works with more mainstreem directors who can tap her potential. She has such an ease during the very few scenes with any kind of nudity or sexuality, which her character would absolutely have in those situations, and I don't think I've ever really seen that on film (video) before. Soderbergh is a master.

Man on Wire Also still great but it fills me with such anxiety and dread and makes me think about life in very frightening terms. I can't really fault the film for this which is impeccably made, I think there's something about Petit's act that brings that out in me. Still though, astounding

The Brothers Bloom Much more enjoyable on second viewing. I still have misgivings about the film, but it looks decidely less "fake" on DVD for some reason but I appreciate the breezyness and the fun in the film.

Away We Go Such a tender film, perhaps it's easy-goingness can be confused for being slight, but it has a depth to it that must come from Eggers and Vida's script and Krasinski and Rudolph's performances. It's tender and heartfelt but awful melancholy. I love it though.

Antichrist A bold, bold masterpiece. Horrifying in completely unexpected ways, more so pyschologically than physically. It certainly gets violent, but that's not as affecting as the mental trauma the characters endure. There's not really anything I need to write about it. As with all of von Trier's films I've seen I find it difficult to talk about afterwards. It's harrowing and affecting, terrifying, and brilliant.

Away We Go - Amazing film, Awesome soundtrack and a spectacular performance from both Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski.

Being There - Finally saw this. It's the second Ashby film I've seen (first being Shampoo) and I love it just as much. I had to buy it but i'm glad I did. I regret that his films are so hard to find around here that I have resorted to buying them off amazon wich I rarely even use.

Couples Retreat - Complete rubbish if you're looking for a good film but it's definitely a great date movie.

Trick 'r Treat - So many reviews online and alot of forums giving this film a lot of great reviews confound me. I appreciate it, but I do not like it in the least.

A Prairie Home Companion - A great film for being mostly improvised. Great cast and a surprisingly hilarious performance by Kevin Kline. I think the guy might have a thing for improv or at least this type of comedy. He definitely needs to do some more.

Police, Adjective A sign of progress in the New Romanian Cinema "movement." 12:08 East of Bucharest director Corneliu Porumboiu strips his film, a detective story, of nearly all filmic-artifice. The camera sits at one position, still on a tripod, for entire scenes, there is no score, no voice over, no compelling development of action. Instead, we sit and stare at an undercover policeman following a couple of kids who smoke hashish outside school every day. The policeman doesn't want to arrest the kids, ruin their lives for a small amount of drugs, he says the law will change in a few years, but his boss insists it is their job to enforce the law. There's a scene late in the film that will remind anyone who's seen it of Porumboiu's previous film, a centerpiece dialectical discussion between the detective and his boss. It is fascinating and funny and once you grasp the moral struggle that's going on within the detective, gripping.

Away we go - Did very little for me. I didn't really feel anything for the characters.

Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee - Definately had it's moments although all in all - nothing fancy. The Le Donk character was a little overly Steve Coogan esque. Scor zay zee stole the show; hard to believe he's for real.

Face (Visage) An elegy to cinema, particularly that of France. Like Tsai-Ming Lang's other films, it's filled with long stationary shots, seemingly disconnected scenes and no apperance of plot. The film features french stars of all generations, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Fanny Ardant, Jeanne Moreau, and Matheiu Amalric, among a host of others. Taking place almost entirely in Tuliers and the basements and boiler rooms of the Louvre, it roughly sketches a portrait of a film director who interupts production when his mother dies. There are songs, discussion on film and images, many a mention of Truffaut, and there is great beauty in the film. I counted about 30 or so walk-outs, but I can say honestly that I loved it.

Mother A character study about a mother who's son is convicted of murdering a neighborhood girl. It's rather crazy and as the film unfolds we learn more about the son, more about the mother, more about their relationship, about the mental lengths people will go for loved ones and the film is genuienly surprising and not at all formulaic or conventional. Oddly enough it's directed by the same director of The Host.

Nymph Thai film covering some of the same ground as Antichrist. Very strange and very slow, relying on Thai myth, and lots of very slow steadicam shots. It's beautiful and satisfying emotionally, even if I have no idea what happened. Same director as Last Life in the Universe.

Where the Wild Things Are I saw it a second time and it's only cemented my opinion. The best film I've seen so far this year and I think it'll become a classic. That supposition is made more possible by the fact that it's doing well financially and people are enjoying it. It's a shame Ebert missed the boat, but do yourself a favor and see it in a theater on a big screen, it's worth it.

Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3-D are very much as they are in 2-D. The 3-D didn't distract but it's not essential. I brought my 3 year old nephew and he refused to wear the glasses for the first film so he saw a blurry movie, but I got him to wear it in the second film and he seemed to forget them and enjoy the film. Not essential to rush out and see them in 3-D if you've seen them already, but not a bad way to spend 3 hours.

Air Doll A film by Hirozaku Kore-Eda who made the great Nobody Knows and Still Walking among other things. It takes a rather fantastical premise and uses it as an entree to a metaphysical awakening and rumination on age, life, death, sex, human relationships and the transitory nature of all things. The titular air doll is a blow up sex doll owned by a lonely waiter, who comes home every day, has dinner with the doll and then has sex with it, washes it, and wishes it a good night. One day, after the man leaves for work, the doll breathes. Pretty soon she stands, and walks naked over to the window. She says she has somehow "found a heart." She walks the streets in a kinky maid's outfit, and stumbles into a job a DVD rental store. The film is gorgeous and the actress playing the doll is able to create this wonder filled character, learning about everything from flowers to life to aging to death, more than anything she wants to be human, but she is not and it gets somewhat tragic from there. Still though it is a film about the wonder of life and its decay, I was amazed by the depth Kore-Eda was able to wring from the premise

A Single Man Besides the big American films, this is the one most people here will likely actually hear of and have a chance to see. It's the directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford and it stars Colin Firth (who can really fill out a sweater), Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode and Nicolas Hoult (the boy in About a Boy). It's based on the novel of the same name about an aging professor in 1962 California mourning the loss of long-time lover. It's rather precisely styled, as you'd imagine, but I'm not entirely sure it's much of a film. There are some excellent moments of Firth's inner-monologue, and some acute observations about loss and greiving, but the style of the film is somewhat of a hinderance. Ford modulates the colour timing of the film based on the eroticism or the passion or the mood, so you'll be watching a faded scene with Firth, and suddenly he'll feel happier or less moody and the film will become more saturated. It's a somewhat annoying effect. Having said that, it treats its eroticism intelligently, evoking it through dialogue and looks rather than nude bodies, and it certainly contains the feeling of a novel. Firth is pretty great, as is the grown up Hoult and British accent sporting Moore, but it's the worst of the films I saw at the Chicago International Film Festival.

Where the Wild Things Are - as someone raised with this book i could not have been happier.by far the best film of the year. one of my all time faovrites already.