Directed by Cathy Randall, Hey, Hey It’s Esther Blueburger is a wonderful coming-of-age comedy from Australia that you can’t help but love, even if the movie is far from perfect. The story isn’t all that fresh, as is the case with most coming-of-age stories, but the witty dialogue and excellent visuals help separate it from the rest of the pack and put it on a level just a rung lower than similar movies like Juno and Mean Girls, which this movie was certainly influenced by.
Category: "2008"
Movie Review: Tokyo Sonata (2008)
Tokyo Sonata, directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to the master), is a timely social drama about the disintegration of a family after the main breadwinner loses his job. This movie would probably hit home for the many people who have lost a job during the current economic turmoil and is an insightful commentary on Japanese society.
Movie Review: Wall-E (2008)
Wall-E, an animation movie produced by Pixar and directed by Andrew Stanton, is particular in the fact that the main characters do not speak. We are left relying on beeps and sounds as well as visual cues to make up the robots’ emotions. Another quirky aspect is that Wall-E is the cute, weak, and apprehensive male robot while EVE is the alpha-female robot packing massive firepower in one of her arm.
Movie Review: Twilight (2008)
Twilight is a vampire romance directed by Catherine Hardwicke which came out last year and was very well received at the box office grossing nearly $382 million worldwide on a $37 million budget. I haven’t read the ultra-popular books by Stephenie Meyer but I guess I had to see what the fuss is all about as the second Twilight movie just had the third highest grossing opening weekend ever.
Movie Review: Food, Inc. (2008)
Directed by Robert Kenner, Food, Inc. is a fascinating documentary shedding the light on how our food is produced. When you pick up your food at the grocery store, you see all those nicely and cleanly packaged food items but you don’t really think about where your food came from or how it was produced.
Movie Review: Doubt (2008)
Adapted from the highly acclaimed play of the same name, Doubt is a drama powered by four Oscar-nominated performances and directed by John Patrick Shanley.
Movie Review: Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Rachel Getting Married, directed by Johnathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia), is another dysfunctional family movie I never really intended to watch but rave reviews from a friend of mine got me to see it. And boy, what a fantastic movie! Thanks Red, you can go visit his blog here (still under construction). Best thing you could do if you are interested in seeing this movie, is not read any further. I did not know anything about the movie and it was a real surprise.
Movie Review: Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
Sunshine Cleaning, directed by Christine Jeffs, is a comedy-drama co-starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. This small indie production premiered at, you guessed it… the good old Sundance Film Festival and well, I like them indies and it has the brilliant Amy Adams so this was next on my watchlist.
