Saw these over the weekend:-

Donnie Darko

Generally feel this is over-rated, except for Jake Gyllenhaal's excellent performance. The mainfold discussions on predestination and time travel are cliched and not presented in an engaging manner. I think the whole basis here of using mental disorders as a pretext for the surrealism is a bit underwhelming also, given that Philip K. Dick presented much better ideas on paper. The ending is also trite and blah!, a style already overused by other films. Still the ending packs an emotional wallop, if ham-fisted. That aside, there's some pretty good cinematography and kudos for doing something different anyway. I prefer the messier "Southland Tales" anyway although nobody is gonna agree with me on this.

A Night in Casablanca

Think this is a lesser Marx Bros. joint. The jokes aren't that funny, and feels recycled. The main plot is kinda aimless. I liked the ending sequence, where the Marxies chase an escaping plane, which is a blueprint for quite a lot of action movies. After the razor wit panache of "A Night of the Opera", Groucho's verbal jabs return to the hit-and-miss. And there's not the political sarcasm as "Duck Soup", with this one being a Nazi-bashing routine. Still, there's a nice piano bit by Chico and a brilliant harp solo by Harpo to savour.

Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG : Solid State Society

I always liked Masamune Shirow's creation being brought to the anime level, but this one has just too much talking and little action. And the psycho-babble isn't even that interesting, about future social welfare and education. Unlike GITS 2 : Innocence, where I thought the bad subtitling made it into something profound, this one just meanders and meanders. Future Japan is exposited well in the Ghost in the Shell series, but it's feeling kinda drab by now. And I didn't even finish watching this, the psycho-babble was getting on my tits.

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

Generally a step down for Miyazaki. The excellent premise in the first few minutes degrades down into another run-of-the-mill fantasy romp, except that it is hardly as fantastical as his last two movies, "Spirited Away" or "Howl's Moving Castle". Generally made for a younger crowd, this is basically just a twist on the Little Mermaid fable. And my copy, though original, have shadows of people walking back and forth in the cinema. Geez!