Movie highlights (January 2012)

The best things about some of the movies I saw this month:

• The American:  
• George Clooney's timepiece
• runner-up: the first 10 or minutes or so

• Haywire: 
• Awesome/ridiculous hair and make-up in later acts
• Runner-up: the deer (I like to think an homage to The Long Kiss Goodnight)
• Bonus: ask Jon about his favorite part

• The Artist:  
• Jean Dujardin's smile 
• Runners-up: George and the dog at the table; Peppy and the coat on the hatstand 
• Bonus:  Old man who clapped at the end. As he left the theater, he asked other people (i.e., strangers):  "Wasn't that incredible?!" Then, to all: "That was the best movie I've seen in 40 years! It showed the human spirit!"

• Tiny Furniture
• Laurie Simmons, the actor/writer/director's mother, as Siri, her mother. 

• The Iron Lady:
  
  • (Meryl Streep was pretty amazing, but a movie should not be a pointless one-woman stage production, so she loses out to) awesome Viserys as her young husband
  • Runner-up: the Dr. Strangelove scene (which actually looks more like Star Wars, or a cartoon)
  • Bonus: ask DJ about his favorite part 

• The Descendants:  
• The preview for Coriolanus
• Bonus: it made me go home and watch Citizen Ruth again to re-appreciate Alexander Payne.

• Citizen Ruth:  
• Laura Dern's facial expressions
• The kicking. Oh my, the kicking.