Movies, movies, and more movies! I'm up to 12 so far this month, so here are the first batch of 7.

79. (616.) All About Steve (2009)
This movie has a terrible reputation, and it's well deserved. Someone should have explained to the director and star Sandra Bullock that the audience needs to associate with the central character, not find her to be the kind of office mate you fear being trapped in an elevator with. Making all the other characters real assholes is not a substitute for a failure to create an interesting protagonist.

80. (617.) Laura (1944)
Fantastic film noir with a warped mid-movie twist. Recommended.

81. (618.) Doomsday (2008)
Less recommended is this reworking of Escape from New York. A highly contagious, completely fatal plague is threatening the world, so one badass government operative has to... oh, you know the rest. There's no logic or moral here here, just bad science fiction.

82. (619.) The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
This journalist-coming-of-age-in-a-warzone trope really isn't the kind of movie I typically enjoy. I didn't really enjoy this one, either. It was well made (Linda Hunt was fantastic), but just not my thing.

83. (620.) Baby Mama (2008)
Tina Fey wrote some very clever comedy for SNL and 30 Rock, but the movies she's in tend to be very bland. (To be fair, she didn't write this.) Mildly funny, but not very memorable.
[UPDATE 2018-10-04: This just came up as a possibility in my TV guide, and I thought to myself, "Huh. I haven't seen that." So maybe "not very memorable" was an understatement.]

84. (621.) Lockout (2012)
Now this is how Escape from New York should be remade. Guy Pierce is perfect channeling Bruce Willis of the 80s. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

For the record, at this point, I started to watch the movie version of the Broadway musical Rent next, and I hated it. I didn't care for the music or characters, and didn't make it more than 30 minutes in before bailing. By my own rules, I can't say I've watched it, but no second attempt will be made. Ever.

85. (622.) Wanderlust (2012)
I know Apatow has to make the point-of-view of the "normals" in the film be the "truth" &mash; after all, hippies don't really drive box office sales — but Alan Alda's "maybe I missed out on something important" confession feels a little like a sell-out even to me. (Alda otherwise steals ever scene he's in with some great punchlines.)

More movies to come.

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