superman2k38

First off I liked this movie. Can't say I loved it or plan to see it again. But it was good. But at the same time it's not worthy of the Oscar-buzz it's been receiving either. It painted a lot of pretty and pretty awful pictures, but in the end I really didn't feel emotionally attached to the two lead characters. I just felt like everything surrounding them was contrived, even the end. For me what resonated the most were the other stories, especially that of Natalie Portman's character...that was real heartbreak. Kidman was fine as usual and so was Law, but again the suffering that others around them had to endure seemed so much more that in the end I felt a bit flat about them.

A good movie, but not great.

This past weekend I had to sit through two hours of dreck in Beyond Borders. ELF more than does the job of uplifting my battered movie-going spirits! This is a great movie! Ferrell is great, the story is great, and I absolutely loved the tongue-in-cheek nods to those old Rankin/Bass Christmas specials we past-30-folks grew up on. "Leon The Snowman"?! Give me a break, what a hoot!

Like others have said, I don't think anyone but Ferrell could have brought the kind of innocent, childlike, borderline-weird quality that's perfect for the role. He's the star and everyone else is backup, well, except for the great script and visual direction, especially early on in the film.

Overall, a wonderful experience as the Christmas season draws near.