[review] manchurian candidate and collateral

well
went to see a couple movies yesterday
manchurian candidate with denzel washington
gotta say
i really like denzel
he's a great actor
but i didn't really like his character in this movie
and i'm not sure
if it was the way he was directed
or the way the character was written
there didn't seem to be
any real personality to him
until the police station scene
now the guy who plays raymond shaw
liev schreiber
was way cooler
again
the actors didn't really seem
to get into it until the middle part of the movie
don't know if it was the editing
or the direction
but they looked confused or something ;)
i liked the last half of the movie
didn't like the mom
way too unbelievable
i guess that's what i look for in movies these days
believability
and that being said
i found harry potter believable :)
gary oldman was great!
never saw the first version of manchurian candidate
heard it was quite different
maybe i'll see it one day

tom cruise as a bad guy
was interesting
he's becoming
a better and better actor
gotta love that
and i'm glad
he took on this role
jamie foxx was really cool
and i look forward
to seeing him in "ray"
(ray charles movie)
collateral was enjoyable
a tiny bit unrealistic
with what happens to the fbi and lapd
but was ok nevertheless
because it kept the story
centered on cruise and foxx
mind you
regarding
the build-up of mark ruffalo's character
i've still not decided if it's a good thing or not
i totally didn't recognize him
in his first scene
and that was neat
when i realized who he was later on :)
gotta love that
read a couple reviews
in which tom cruise was lauded
for being portrayed in a completely different way
one thing they got totally wrong tho
he still looks cool
his character is cool
and that's ok
but would ol' tom ever play
an uncool character?
that would be really neat to see
(ok, magnolia was kind of getting there
but he was playing an uncool character trying to be cool, so...)

anyways
2 movies
both action types
made for a full sunday afternoon
both were worth watching
collateral more so than manchurian
if only because the acting seemed stilted in the later
soooo....
if you're into action
and plots that wrap up nicely
both these movies
will suit your fancy just fine ;)