I've been on a movie binge lately, trying to see a bunch of movies before the Oscars.

The Departed -great movie! I loved the dialogue. It was so realistic and I thought the writer was on par with Quentin Tarantino or David Mamet. I was so jealous of the writing and the story, until I found out that the story was taken from a Hong Kong movie called "Internal Affairs". I'm getting the movie from Netflix so I can what the differences are. Jack Nicholson was over the top. Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin were total scene stealers. I saw the movie in a half full SF theatre and people laughed at all the "homo" jokes. It's interesting how you can have those kind of jokes in a Scorcese movie and nobody says anything. Whatever. This movie is going on my top movie list. Somehow this movie reminded me of "LA Confidential", which is a huge fave of mine, and I wish I could figure out why.

Letters from Iwo Jima - loved this movie alot, but thought it was way too long. I looked at my watch a couple of times, which is not good. Other than the length it was quite good. It made me want to read the book the movie was based on because I think the book will be quite interesting.

Pan's Labrynth - After all the hype that this movie got, I think I was a little let down when I finally saw it. I really wanted to see more of the weird fairy tale stuff. My friend really loved it, but I'm thinking maybe I didn't really understand it. I don't know. My friend is sure I didn't get the movie. She's probably right.

The Queen - loved it because it was about an event I esperienced. Di's death was such a world event. I thought Helen Mirren was fab! She really did an amazing job of turning herself into a living famous figure.

Dream Girls - I wish I'd seen the original broadway play, so I could compare the movie to the stageplay. After Jennifer Husdon's solo, people clapped. She really did outclass Beyonce in the movie, but I don't know if that's because that part wasn't very well-written. I also saw the other woman who played Eddie Murphy's girlfriend in a bunch of plays at ACT, so it was nice to see her in a big movie.

Charlotte's Web - I had to see it, but I wasn't sure about Julia Roberts as the voice of Charlotte. All the other voices were just right. Not much else to say about the movie other than I loved seeing the story in movie form.

Notes on a Scandal - Brilliant and riveting with two amazing actors in Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. I'd love to read the book because I think they are probably more juicy comments in print. I'm not sure I got all the comments because they were so Brit and alot about class, but I think I got most of the them. I loved how Judi Dench just so looked so god awfully wrinkled, because it made her character so realistic. But honestly seeing wrinkles on a woman on a huge big screen is just really, really frightening. THe boy was really cute, but I guess I don't see the attraction of illegal age boys.