THE DARJEELING LIMITED.  Liked this much better than expected. It's still hard to care about his emotionally-aloof characters, but it's such a wild ride I didn't care. The wide-angle claustrophobia they created was very effective. And of course the colors and production design are the stars once again.
THE DARK KNIGHT.  You've already seen this, so me reminding you how awesome it is is of course redundant. This succeeds on every level from the cinematography to the set design to the acting, and maintains a montage-like pace from the very beginning. Where the previous origin story focused on character, now that character is tested. To me, it surpasses the previous one the way Empire did for Star Wars, with respect. Most of all, having "followed" (heh) Christopher Nolan's career from its beginning, it gives me hope seeing his filmmaking sensibilites uncompromised.
THE DA VINCI CODE.  I'm late to the party on this one, but Netflix allows me to watch stuff I normally wouldn't without feeling quite so cheated/guilty. I thought it was interesting, certainly worth a watch, if full of holes and not the greatest acting. Tautou was totally miscast. McKellan did well playing himself. It of course reminded me of A Beautiful Mind, which I did not like. I have not read the book, nor will I, but I don't get why everyone thought the religious basis for some of the story was such a new premise. I remember reading about 70% of these tenets in The Gnostic Gospels a long time ago (and again a couple of years ago), which was a compilation of so-called "heretical" books left out of the Bible and some scrolls found at Nag Hammadi or however you spell it. It paints a more Eastern picture of Jesus, mortal and relatable.
DEAD AND BREAKFAST.  Just bad. I was hoping it would be good-bad, but no.
DEFINITELY, MAYBE. Another in the new wave of chick flicks with dudes as leads, many of which have been surprisingly tolerable, and this one is a couple notches better than most. Thankfully Ryan Reynolds does not play the schlub male stereotype. Until recently, I never thought this guy would be able to carry a movie. It also features three ladies from my fantasy casting couch: Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, and Elizabeth Banks, snooty undergrad-banging author Kevin Kline, and of course, Abigail Breslin, who is even more charming than in Little Miss Sunshine. There are a few clichés, and it's not particularly funny, but it's got good heart and is not edited short for a change.
DÉJÀ VU. I usually hate these formulaic studio pictures, but this one was better than most. Tony Scott’s hyper-stylized visuals are way over the top as usual, but the twists and turns are pretty exciting here, and Denzel brings it as always.
THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON.  One of the best docs I've ever seen. Beautiful, funny, and heartbreaking in his descent into madness. Some well-done storytelling and visuals. In one sense, he's one of those artists whose music is more palatable when interpreted by others, kind of like Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen. Some would say his own performances of them are integral to their meaning, other would assume he was gigging at the Special Olympics. Either way, he might be considered one of the greats if he had some stability or traditional musical technique, which is what separates him from people like Brian Wilson, a similar story. Great film.
DIARY OF THE DEAD. This is the Cloverfield of zombie movies, and might be higher rated if there weren't so many other self-referential metafictional tales out there right now. In what I assume is genre tradition, they never actually refer to the undead as zombies. I do appreciate the "film"'s (shot on HD video) commentary on our YouTube/MySpace culture of those who'd rather document life than participate in it. As one character sums up, "Who's gonna be around to watch it?"
DIGGERS. Starring our neighborhood boy Paul Rudd (he's required by law to be in every new movie, I think). It was okay. Written by one of the guys from The State about '70s Long Island clam diggers struggling through life changes. Some funny moments, and good honest acting. Nothing remarkable. Worth a rental if you like these sleepy indie types.
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY. A concept many of us filmmakers have wanted to attempt but couldn’t pull the trigger: the ultimate first-person experience. After a seizure, a French man is completely paralyzed with movement only in one eye, through which we experience the majority of the film with him. He learns to communicate through a system of blinks, and writes the very novel of this screen adaptation. It’s painfully slow, frustrating, and peppered with black humor. Incredibly inventive cinematography.
DOGMA. Kevin Smith's "message movie." It's a message clouded in dick-and-fart jokes, and ham-fisted at times, but the comedy is worth the admission price for this guilty pleasure. Amazing how a flick can roast Catholicism while ultimately endorsing it. Linda Fiorentino gives a Razzie-worthy performance, while Ethan Suplee reaches his career pinnacle as a shit demon. Alan Rickman is the best part of this movie, and his jaded voice-of-god character seems to mirror his own real-life actor slumming here (much like his Galaxy Quest role). Matt Damon's archangel gets some of the best lines, and the dialogue throughout is both incredibly sharp and overwrought at the same time, like Tarantino channeling Mamet.
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