Waiting - 6.5/10
[Buy - Rent - Download - Avoid]
Not bad, by any means, but definitely not the
Citizen Kane of "angst-riddled teen-to-twenty-somethings in dead-end job" movies. I suppose if you've ever been a waiter, the anger and frustrations of the characters will indulge you a bit more, but only because you'll sit there yelling, "I'VE HAD THAT CUSTOMER!" to the screen and thinking about what you did, didn't do, or got away with at the time.
Kudos for representing real party atmospheres without succumbing to the usual device of having stoner jokes just because there is marijuana being smoked. Thumbs-down to the casting choices... a lot of the "customers" are like caricatures (but not in a good way) and some of the main supporting cast is pretty limp... fairly one-dimensional and underdeveloped.
Still though, funny/fun movie.
The Jacket - 8/10
[Buy - Rent- Download - Avoid]
Adrien Brody is, I think, officially addicted to indy films... and that's great, because independent filmmakers need someone of his high caliber to stay interested in doing the less-Hollywood, low-budget stuff. He's constantly doing indy films. Keira Knightly is also great, as always, and hot as hell. Brody and Knightly, themselves, are "worth the price of admission".
Plot-wise, I was very happy with the way things progressed. It was interesting, and had a fairly unique storyline. The interplay between Brody and Knightly was especially good, taking into account the wide degree of emotional change they both go through. My negative take on it would be the pacing might seem a bit slow at points. Generally, this does not concern me personally unless I think it's actually detrimental to the movie. For this, it seemed the pace slowed a little at times because of
good storytelling, not bad. My other point would be that the ending left me wanting a little more... not an explanation, but more climax. The story progression lends itself well to the build-up of tension to the climax, and I just don't feel it was driven to full potential, hence this movie is 8/10 instead of 9/10.
Really, though, it's still a great movie, and not disappointing in the end.