The Girl in the Cafe & Monster

The Girl in the Cafe (with the little accent that I won't bother recreating) was a heartwarming romantic comedy about the starvation of thousands of innocent African children. Plus it had both Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald, who looks just as good naked as she did ten years ago. And written by Richard Curtis, who seems to think that one person can guilt the G8 into actually caring for the poor. I thought that other than that little bit of liberal fantasy, it was funny and honest. Not so sure about the cards at the end though. Then again, I am a liberal and I do want the G8 to do something for starvation, so I hope this does help guilt them a little. I love that HBO would make a film like this. And you can't hate a movie that knows how to use a great Sigur Rós song.

Monster was bleh. Woo! Charlize Theron made herself ugly! She's a great actress! Woo! Now, I'll take my head out of my ass, unlike those damn Oscar voters. She was ok, but it was not exactly a great performance. I would have given it to Naomi Watts (and her pointy nipples, which were commented upon loudly by the old guy sitting in front of me at the theater when I saw 21 Grams, a great movie). Hell, I would have given it to Keisha Castle-Hughes who was amazing in Whale Rider. Or maybe I would have frickin' nominated and given the Oscar to Scarlett Johansson. Monster is just another "misunderstood serial-killer" movie where a "pretty" actress made herself ugly (note no quotes, because she was really ugly in the movie). I do think it's weird that Bruce Dern was in the movie after seeing him much younger in Family Plot. Didn't recognize him.