Movies I've seen Recently

It's been kinda slim pickins here as of late but I was able to see some nice if not all that memorable films as of late at my local movie house.

The Class:: The best movie I've seen so far this year, actually came out late 2008, but ended up winning the Palm D'Or at Cannes along with a Best foreign film nomination. Forget all you learned from watching those inspirational classroom movies about teachers who make a difference, this is about a classroom of kids who don't always pay attention, and a teacher who does the best he can while trying to keep his sanity. From what I know about the film, the teacher and kids are basically playing themselves as they all have the same names in real life, which makes it all the more harrowing. This film never seems to hit a wrong note, and the sub plots with each student range from heartbreaking, to humourous, to uplifting. This film earns inspiration by not being sentimental. 4 stars out of 4

The International:This film had everything going for it, a strong cast, a talented director, and an intriguing plot about banks financing foreign weapons. However somewhere down the line, and I'm not sure when, the film fell off the rails. For me it held together enough to keep me interested with wonderful Hitchcockian set pieces, but I felt this could really have been a great thriller had it gone through a couple more revisions. 3 stars out of 4

17 Again: I don't know how I keep ending up in Zach Efron movies, I guess it's my friends who drag me out to see him, had it not been for them, I probably would've skipped this film completely especially after the horror of "High School Musical 3". The premise of a young man becoming an older version of himself or vise versa should be put to sleep, however this film is better than most, and I must admit I was not expecting Disney's golden boy caught in some not so G-rated material. However because it is Zach, the film does play it safe, but it's luckily helped by a terrific supporting cast, and Zach's own boyish charm (I'll admit he's got something). 3 stars out of 4