Koala bears are the eights

I need to see something that sucks or nobody will take me seriously anymore. Lately I've liked everything I've gone to see.

And last night was no exception. I saw The Nines, the first movie directed by Tim Burton's favorite screenwriter, John August.

The film is about... Ok, it's impossible to tell you exactly what the film is about without giving away the twist, but I'll try. It's a romantic suspense drama. I think. Ryan Reynolds (who made me drool even back in his days as Berg on Two Guys and a Girl before he had all those muscles) plays a man who keeps experiencing odd shifts and coincidences in his life and has to figure out why. There. That's as much as I can say.

There's a lot of LA movie industry reference in this film that I'm not sure the world outside this town will get and there may be a little to much exposition at the end. And there is a character who seems to know what's going on but then doesn't know what's going on and I'm not entirely sure why, but other than that the film was beautiful and those are all things that don't matter so much in the face of what is, essentially, a good story.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

The cinematography was neatly done to minimize cost and maximize effect. There were some cool shots that really gave this film a surreal feeling during the surreal moments. At the beginning of the film Gary (Reynolds) is on crack and trying to drive and he crashes the car. Instead of showing us an expensive car crash, August gave us a crazy world view of someone on crack with upside down camera shots until Gary ended up upside down in the car without realizing what happened. So we got to pull ourselves into his body for the drug experience.

One thing I find terrific about this film is that the romantic lead is a fat girl. She's beautiful, but she ain't the skinny girl we've all come to expect from Hollywood, and by the end of the film you'll kind of love her too.

I cried at the end. I was glad they kept the lights down for the credits because it gave me time to clear up my face and look macho for the walk out.