13-word movie review: Whip It

Chick flick with a little attitude, fun but doesn't live up to potential.

13-word movie review: Inglourious Basterds

Classic Tarantino - Graphic violence, humor, plus a historical rewrite you'll wish were true.

13-word movie review: Saw V

You'll lose your head! Plot was explosive, shocking, draining, with a crushing ending.
(from 4/13/10)

13-word movie review: Coraline

Gorgeous stop-motion animation contrasts with a story that goes to very dark places.
(from 4/11/10)

13-word movie review: Watchmen

Interesting premise with great special effects, but a somewhat convoluted timeline. Worth watching.
(from 4/4/10)

13-word movie review: New Moon

Faithful adaptation that series fans will enjoy; a better overall movie than Twilight.
(from 3/22/10)

13-word movie review: Public Enemies

How do Depp, Bale, and 1930's gangsters make for a mostly boring movie?
(from 3/20/10)

13-word movie review: Observe and Report

Unfunny, unrelatable characters in an uneven story. Watch Paul Blart: Mall Cop instead.
(from 3/17/10)

13-word movie review: The Invention of Lying

Interesting premise with great set-up that turns into "Bruce Almighty", then falls flat.
(from 3/13/10)

13-word movie review: The Hurt Locker

Often suspenseful, also surprising, horrifying, and even funny at times. Overall pretty good.
(from 3/6/10)

13-word movie review: The Devil's Backbone

Wonderful - mounting suspense, good story and characters, with a satisfying ending. Beautifully shot.
(from 3/6/10)

13-word movie review: The Hangover

A mix of sophomoric humor, laugh out loud moments, and some genuine surprises.
(from 2/27/10)

13-word movie review: Zombieland

Fun movie! Definitely gory in parts, but mostly hilarious with warm moments too.
(from 2/27/10)

13-word movie review: Julie & Julia

Meryl great as Julia in more entertaining half of movie, definitely worth seeing.
(from 2/13/10)

Triskaidekaphobics, beware!

As sort of a creative-writing exercise, I have been writing a brief synopsis/review of all the movies I watch. I tend to be rather long-winded - especially when writing - so I decided to limited the word count on each. So far I've been posting them to my personal blog, but I decided it was time to spin them off into their own online home. The first reviews I wrote (fittingly, thirteen of them) will kick off this blog.

The rules: Simple - all posts, not including the title, must be exactly thirteen words. Hyphenated words will count as one word if it's a natural use of that word. It's sort of a gray area, so I'll try to keep them to a minimum and not use the device as a cheat.

The criteria for choosing what movies to review is also simple - I'll try to cover every movie I watch for the first time, as I see it. Most will be as I get them from Netflix, or as I finally get around to watching an older movie I'd never seen before.

That's it - please post in the comments section if you want to chime in. Enjoy, and pass the popcorn!