Like Morvern Callar and The War Zone, The Machinist got nearly nothing going on as regards plot (the meditative sort that never aids the movie to be a blockbuster) as well as skillful direction and acting; The two relationships formed by our lead in The Machinist are really touching, and our lead, Christopher Bale, deserves great respect for losing all that weight for the role.
I remember Katie Holmes being the worst thing in Batman Begins, but I got pleasantly surprised by her enjoyable performance in Mad Money, a very enjoyable and light-hearted comedy, with a good story.
I did not expect much from Chris Rock's I Think I Love My Wife but got surprised since it truly is fun with a real decent cast and the best-of-career performance by the Kerry Washington's slutty, yet beloved character. Sadly, there's the usual formula, the movie seems real pointless, and the ending exposes a hole (or two).
Pulse got David Fincher's atmospherics but lacks his near-perfect execution. I liked the counterfeiter's portrayal.
The Mummy 3 is easily the worst of the series despite me having vague memories of those other forgettable movies. Anything that's ancient China truly excites me and we here see wasted opportunities, and the movie is treated like children's stuff. Two things however deserve acknowledgement - the hyper-realistic mountain creatures and the end-credits sequence (obviously inspired and superior to 300's). I like the scar-faced lady too, all angry, unflinching, and gorgeous, but is wasted too. And I don't recall Jet Li being so evil since Lethal Weapon 4, and he don't fit too well. It's a bad movie.
Arthur & the Invisibles is a silly, childish story that does not do justice to some nice and powerful concepts (the villain - who got quite a presence and is a display of genius character design - is the movie's most interesting thing but is only hinted at; the legend of the 7 kingdoms is also merely mentioned and left largely unexplained).
A revisit of Braveheart left me less than impressed, which is unfortunate considering that this was my personal best for a number of years, until it was of course toppled by the still-unbeaten Fight Club.