Paul

Funny but language and druggage will keep this from being a family movie.  The comedy team of Pegg and Frost cross with Rogen and one of his group Bill Hader: together in Superbad (2007), Knocked Up (2007) and  others.  I liked it because it was bizarre, unexpected, and pretty funny. 

Seth Rogen's voice and hessian character are put in a 3.5 foot tall alien.  Through the movie, references to previous movies dealing with extra terrestrials abound: ET, Close Encounters, Starman, etc.  Script was hilarious and the acting was perfect for the roles.  Cinematography was awesome as was directing.  Biggest recurring surprise for me is Jason Bateman.  In each movie I see him in, he puts on a solid performance.  Good movie for adults!

In the Arms of my Enemy

BaLeak!  Man this was something.  I can't really decide if I liked it or not.  I guess the way to look at it is that there are a ton of movies out there so this is one you could pass on.  On the other hand, I did watch "Hall Pass," and this beat the crap out of that.  Two sets of brothers are surviving by their wits in mid 19th century Eastern Europe.  In each pair there is the dominant older brother who looks out for and protects his younger (somewhat challenged) brother.  One set joins the Cosacks and the other set makes a living from stealing and selling horses.  The paths cross and a set survives.

This was a gritty amazingly well acted, directed, scripted, and filmed work, but God!  It was nasty in places and awful in places and depressing at almost all times.  Ahhh, what to say, a great work of art but kind of like Edvard Munch's "The Scream."  Well done but disturbing. 

The Man from Nowhere

2 Words....SEE IT.  There are the familiar story lines of "the odd ball who triumphs (or the ugly duckling kinda deal)," "the ex-secret agent who qiuts the game only to have to resurrect the skills to save the innocent (kind of like the Incredible Hulk)," etc.

If asked what this was about, I would not be able to do so decently within the time a tall (bloat causing) egg nog latte would afford.   It has gangsters, secret agents, saving kids (which I totally appreciate), revenge, drugs (which...nevermind), killer fight scenes, etc.  Just trust me, see it.  It has awesome action, emotional pull, great acting, cinematography, directing, and writing.  This is an all around KICK A#^ film!

Only after a hook of vague recognition was plunged in my grey matter did I check a bit more.  The lead actor Bin Won has been in 2 other awesome films that I have seen: "Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)" which has to be one of the best that I have seen in years and "Mother (2009)."  This dude can act as evidenced by the contrast of his role in "Mother" and this role.  In "Mother," he plays a retarded man superbly.  Then to see him in "The Man from Nowhere!" wow, this dude can act and has a great range!

See it

Sucker Punch

I felt uncomfortable watching this.   I have no idea how old the girls in this are, but they seemed really young...too young for what they were saying and wearing.  The whole movie was like watching the first five minutes of a porn film starring underage girls..."Traci Lords, is that you, are you in here?"

The dreamworlds were pretty cool, but each got old after a bit.  It seemed the director felt that too, so in an attempt to keep the audience in, he made sure the girls dressed like prostitutes in some Southeast Asian brothel.

What also was grating was the soundtrack which was the remakes of classic (and newer) tunes with a crack influenced, techo-rave style.  No, I guess I have to face that I am either right about this or that I am too old a dude for this stuff.

Bail.

Hall Pass

Bail.  Lame, predictable, bad.  If you are a die hard Owen Wilson fan, okay, he does his usual sarcastic and "carry the joke just to the edge of uncomfortable," stuff, but it isn't enough.

The Company Men

Wow.  Very sobering.  Okay, the dealio on this blog is to find movies you might not otherwise hear of due to independent fillm makers, unknown actors, foreign, etc.  Occassionally I have to get one that features US hitters like Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner, etc.  I took a chance on this and wow.

It was good from a variety of perspectives but it is not an upliftng film.  It was sobering.  Affleck, Jones, and others are let go from a company that is losing business and looking to make itself attractive enough for a buyout.  In the effort, Craig T. Nelson's character (the CEO) needs to keep the revenue stream while cutting expenses so that stock value rises.  To do this, he cuts the payroll.

Suddenly men who had been with the company 10-30 years are out of work.  Hit hard are the 50 year old plus dudes who are pretty much unemployable at this stage.  What I appreciated most was the character changes that Affleck goes through as evidenced by his interaction with his brother-in-law Costner.  What I also really appreciated was that this film stayed true to following the characters: IT DID NOT OVER VILLIFY "CORPORATE AMERICA."  I so appreciated that.

This is a good movie and I recommend it.  Good acting, directing, script, and cinematography.

The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

Woe is meeee!!  I am so bummed!!  The trilogy is over.  Man, what a series of films; "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl who Played with Fire," and this, "The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest."  All of them can be seen on their own but seen in order, man, what a great series.  Yes, there are some knarly disturbing images and scenes, but they are not gratuitous....nothing in this film is and it ain't over till the thin lady KICKS ASS!

Man, cinematography, directing, acting, and writing are all just awesome.  The cast is the same throughout (which is one thing that nailed the Hannibal series: Jodie Foster to Julianne Moore...no, no good) and their roles/characters are true and unchanging throughout.  The tension is great and yadda yadda yadda...just get it and see it!!!

Okay, Mr. Killjoy here, they are remaking this in an English version from what I hear...crimony, leave it alone.

The Girl Who Played with Fire

Thank goodness I finished the Mesrine duo of flicks and was able to get back to this series.  "The Girl Who Played With Fire," is the second in a trio of films from the books of Stieg Larsson.  The first is/was "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (2009).  This series is so in line with the books by Thomas Harris on Hannibal Lecter which deal in crime, bizarre, and just evil.

SEE IT and the others that are in this series.  All are superbly acted, directed, written and the cinematagrophy is great.  The lighting and angles suit the plot beautifully.  The only bummer to juke in here is that while locating the date of release for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," I see that there is going to be a 2011 re-release starring Daniel Craig and of course in English...seriously?  C'mon, if this remake is going to be anything like the 1993 remake of "La Femme Nikita" staring Bridgett Fonda and cater to those who can't read/handle subtitles, you have to be freakin' kidding me.  What an insult to the original.

Mesrine: Public Enemy #1

Mesrine is a punk and finally he is killed.  The end.  I watched the first part of this and also watched this the second part.  I am like your film style deity and I killed a few nights for your sins.  Bail.  There is no reason to glorify this dude and pay homage to him by watching this.   Ever been on the fence about the death penalty?  Watch this and come to the darkside.

I did not know that it was based on a real dude and instead thought (because of the cover of the first film) that I was in for something fictional along the lines of the evil portrayed by Javier Bardim in "No Country for Old Men" (2007).  I was wrong.

Mesrine: Killer Instinct

Eh, the only hook that this has is that this is based on a real character.  It lacks the flash and polish of "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) and a lot of it is close to 1994's "Natural Born Killers" but here it lacks the over the top nastiness.  The dude is a punk.  This is part 1 of a 2 parter and I have the red envelope with Part 2 and will watch it...sadly I have this "finish what you started" curse.

The acting by Vincent Cassel is great as is the acting by Gerard Depardieu- he is big in France!  The writing is fine, and the cinematography is good too.  But there is no real reason to watch this one.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

From those happy folks in Sweden comes this charmer!  Okay, this sure ain't no charmer and really, it comes from a country that ranks 18th in suicide rates.  Now that is a happy country.  Every once in awhile, I am into seeing something along the lines of "Silence of the Lambs" (1991) or its prequel 1986's "Manhunter" and though I didn't expect it, this movie is right in there.  Creepy and (though fiction is) so possible. 

A Swedish journalist accused of slander will be going to prison for an expose on an arms dealing Swedish tycoon.  He has about 6 months before that sentence and during that time, he is hired by another Swedish tycoon to find a girl who fell off the face of the earth 40 years ago.  In that process, he hooks up (as in family friendly sense, not college frat sense) with a girl named Lisbeth who is an accomplished hacker and researcher.  What they find and barely escape from is just knarly and so, this is definitely not something that the kids would want to see or something you might use as a first date movie.  Incidentally, the arms dealing tycoon is found out and commits suicide...NUMBER 18 BABY!!!!

It took a bit to get into the movie, but I am glad that I did and have lined myself up for the other 2 films in this trilogy.  In essence, Stieg Larsson (who wrote the 3 books that these films are based on) is the Swedish version of  Thomas Harris who authored the Hannibal Lecter series.  The acting is good, the directing is good, the cinematography is good, and the script is good as well.  See it.

Saint John of Las Vegas

Oh my gosh!  Funny, bizarre, and one to watch!  Not since Fargo (1996) has Buscemi been this good.  I mean he has been good in other movies, but this was a great vehicle for him and just the odd person he plays serves as a lightening rod for the other oddities in the cast.  Buscemi plays John, a compulsive gambler, who now has a stable job in an insurance company and is given his first fraud investigation case with the potential for advancement and a raise...provided he does well on this case. 

He is paired with Romany Malco who plays Virgil (an experienced investigator who has no time for John) and is just a killer mix of Samuel L. Jackson's portrayal of Shaft (2000) and Chris Tucker's portrayal of Carter in "Rush Hour" (1998).  The conflicts John runs into are not only with his partner but also within himself as the investigation takes them to Las Vegas where temptation becomes too great to resist.  Fortunately, this is not one of those movies in which an "on the wagon personality" falls off into a grave.

The script is just awesome, the directing is good, the cinematography is good, and the acting is consistent and done well.  A good one!

Farewell

Well written, well acted, well directed, well scripted but 'Oh well.'  With all the pluses, I find another film that was good while in it, but not one that I can emphatically say "you have to see this!"  Movies like this kick in places like the Sundance Film Festival and all of that, but I guess that I have to accept that I am not an artsty pootsy kind of guy.  Things that would be described as "Emotionally charged, delicious tension, beautifully portrayed, a gem, etc" scream to me, "boring, chick flick, oh God, run away!" Another thing, there has to be another category for actors that isn't A list or B list, but maybe AB.  Willem Dafoe and Fred Ward are good actors but will forever be known as "that Platoon (1986) guy" and "that Tremors (1990) guy."  They are talented so they can't be placed in a category with the campy crap acting B movie crowd, but after those two movies, neither of them has really had a starring role in any A movie block buster.

Okay, on to the movie.  A French engineer stationed in Russia and becomes the reluctant pipeline of info fed to him by a KGB agent who sees communism as a bad systesm and wants to speed it on its way out.  Now, I am not sure of whether this was based on actual events or not, but Ward's Reagan portrayal is pretty funny.  Sad, but funny.  So things go well with the info making its way to the West, yet as things go on, the engineer and his family starting getting uncomfortably deep.  This bugs me because he has kids and they are put in jeopardy...punk.  The Russian dude is screwed and comes across as a someone who is slowly committing suicide, but who doesn't have the courage to pull the trigger himself.  He is never there for his son, he is going to town on women other than his wife, he drinks too much, and he takes vaguely concealed risks which could get him caught at a moment's notice.  A moment does come up.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Hory Mory!  Awesome!  It has been a long time since I have been just stoked on a film and this is the one that did it.  In short, see it!  Now it ain't no family film as there is a lot of gun play, blood, but not to the level of a movie like "Saw" or something where you actually see blades and things slicing through people and their parts.  Nah, not that but a ton of action, comedy, and tension.  Awesome!

Self proclaimed as an Asian Western, it is.  As far as I can tell, the timeline is right before the beginning of World War II and somewhere along the border of China, Mongolia, and/or Korea.  Unbeknownst to each to each other, 3 men descend upon a train.  One (a Buster Keaton type funny dude thief) is after whatever, one (a sinister cross between Prince in "Purple Rain" and Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow) is after a treasure map, and the third is a bounty hunter (decked out in full on cowboy gear with a knarly Winchester Rifle) atop a horse and just loaded with riding and shooting skills who is after the first...initially.

Buster Keaton gets the map first, realizes what it is and goes after the treasure.  The only issue is that the other two are hot on his trail.  However, not only does he have those two to worry about, he also has to worry about the Mongol nomads who have caught wind of the map and want it, and he also has to worry about a contingent of the Japanese Army who see the treasure as being able to determine whether their conquest for world domination will succeed or fail.  Pretty soon everyone is chasing everyone and everyone is running from everyone.  Awesome.

Directing was great, the dialogue a funny mix of surfer and something, the acting was awesome, and cinematography rocked.  SEE THIS!

Holy Rollers

I am stuck in a bind here.  The dilemma is that movies like "Holly Rollers" are well directed, acted, scripted, shot, etc., but they are stories/subjects that are not that intriguing.   Where they really get hammered is that there are no special effects, crazy scenes, or whatever to help them get out of the shadow cast by poorly acted, terribly written movies that have huge budgets splorted on special effects, explosions, gory fights, action, T & A, etc.  Crimony, I bet more people saw 2005's "The Dukes of Hazard" than saw "Holy Rollers."  Now that is a shame.

As mentioned, the cinematography is great, the acting is great, the writing is great, and the directing was great, but it is like those stinking F-15 models I used to build as a kid: I spent hours and pushing my abilities into beautifully crafting and painting the jet engines, landing gear, etc. only to have encase and hide them in the fuselage never to be seen again.  There are too many other movie choices out there to select and watch.  I have to say, "pass on this one."

Ip Man

Hmm.  The salvation for this movie was that I had no little red envelopes sitting on the night stand awaiting my popping them open.  "Ip Man" was all I had.  Thank goodness.  The first 20 minutes of English voice over almost made this unbearable.  Cheese of the grandest scale was what I witnessed, but as I had no other discs to toss in the player, I soldiered on and am glad that I did.  This got better, much better. 

It is weird in how things attract other things.  WW II had just been finished with my watching "The Pacific" HBO series and then bam, this movie.  "Ip Man" follows (from what I read the following day) not too closely the life of Ip (Yip) Man.  At first I thought 'Ip' was an adjective of some sort and was thinking that like "Repo Man," which starred Emilio Estevez as an extraordinary repo man, the movie was going to follow the story of some dude who was really good at ipping...whatever ipping might be.  I digress.  So in following the life of Ip Man, we see the peaceful warrior hanging out in China through the invasion of the Japanese in WW II.  So there you go, another WW II movie and the law of attraction.

Ip Man is living the good life in China and is the dude in the village that no one can beat, but also a dude that does not go looking for fights.  No matter how much he works to avoid them, fights find him.  All good.  The Japanese come, hardship befalls, etc.

The directing is good, the story is good, the acting is good, and the cinematography is good as well.  The only goofer is that towards the beginning and end, there is Kanji (I think) that was not translated.  All good.  The visual and all makes it pretty easy to grasp what is going on.  As for a thumbs up or down, well, who knows, it was better than ok.

The Pacific: Discs 1-5 and Bonus Disc 6

Okay, I feel horrid here, but I have to be honest.  Stick with HBO's other series, "Band of Brothers."  This was a good series, but as soon as it started with the HBO choral of guys going "Ahhhhh" (for the HBO audio signature) my expectations rose and immediately and I was ready for a "Band of Brothers"-esque experience.  I did not get it.

There were key differences that kept me from getting as involved with this series as I did with "Band of Brothers."  It took a bit of reflection, but key was that "The Pacific" followed three story lines and the offshoots of each.  "Band" followed the 82nd Airborne and that was it.  The acting in "Band of Brothers" was better too and therefore made it easier to get emotionally into it and the characters.  In "The Pacific," no, I did not become attached to any of the characters. 

Okay, characters is perhaps the wrong term as the people followed in the series were real, but the series overall was just such a let down.  It is sad that this came after "Band of Brothers" which was an incredible series.  Perhaps, had this come before "Band of Brothers," I might have been more into it, but timing was against it.

The directing and cinematography were great, the story was, is, and always will be awesome, the plot, well, the plot is what is was: the invasion of the Pacific Islands and death crawl by the U.S. Marines toward Japan until its surrender.  The acting, well, it was not that good and that just might have been the real key as to why it was so hard to get as involved here as I did with "Band of Brothers."

I have to pan the movie for entertainment but recommend it on an historical level.  It can serve well as a companion to chapters you might read in a history book covering the Pacific Theater in WW II.  By itself, a history book with a handful of pictures is too sterile.  This series will force you to slow down and actually see/realize what the men of the U.S. Marine Corps endured and sacrificed so that we could have what we have today as Americans.

Frozen

Ahh, I don't know what to do with this one.  The thing that sticks with me the most is that this seemed like a film that straddled the "Made for TV" or "Theater" line.  After the first night of watching it, I almost thought of just packing in its little red sleeping bag and senidng it off to never never land. 

The reason I almost sent it back is because the storyline is a familiar one: A group of people is trapped with certain death awaiting should they do nothing.  So, one person at a time risks life and limb to escape, get help, and return for the rest.  The drama, tension, etc. is delivered through the viewer of the movie sticking with the remainder of the trapped group and (with them) wrestling with the conflict of, "Do we hang and keep faith that Johnny made it to safety and is coming back, or do we accept that he did not make it and risk another one of us trying to get out of this trap and going for safety?"  With this in store for me, I figured that I would not have the patience to sit through this line with the only twist being which of the victims would make it.  BUT!  I perservered and was not let down.

3 punks con their way onto a chair lift for free.  At the day's end, they finally move to the mahco slopes only to find the chair lift, because of heavy incoming weather, is shut down right as they get there.  They (for the second time) sleazily manipulate their way for one last run.  As they are the last trio, they are on their way to the top until, due to a change in chair operators, the lift stops and the entire mountain is shut down for the next 5 days until it opens the following Saturday.  Great, elevated 50 feet above ground in subzero weather for 5 days.  Hmm, will they make it?

The acting was okay, the script actually was not bad, the directing was okay, but the cinematography and score was cheese.  This is a movie that could/should be remade with a clear intent to be either an rated R film or puffy little Halmark Channel film.  For you my faithful readers, I would pass on this.

Ondine

I don't know how this landed in the queue but I suspect sabotage.  Chick flicks are not my bag...though I did like Mystery, Alaska 1999...for the HOCKEY!!!  Okay, the dialogue in that was okay too.  So, Ondine is a chick flick and my stash of red envelopes was a bit thin, so I watched it.  Not bad, although for each day it took to finish this film, I had to make sure I watched at least 45 minutes of The NFL Network and check the mirror to make sure I still had a hairy chest and legs.

In short, an Irish fisherman finds a beautiful girl in his net.  His daughter who is suffering from kidney failure and who needs a miracle believes the girl is a mermaid, or selkie.  Your standard "boy gets girl, boy loses girl, and boy gets girl back" storyline is here as is the other storyline of "the character who is at first perceived as an oddball by the rest of the cast ends up being the miracle/savior the rest need."  No problem.

The acting was good but the cinematography was dark.  I don't mean it was dark like moody, but it was dark.  I couldn't see a lot of what was going on when shots were done at night or in shadow.  The directing was fine and the script, well, even if it were bad, accents have a way of covering that.  All said, I would not place this at the top of my list, but if it is date night and (guys) you want to feign giving a rip about possibly possessing a feminine side, go ahead and watch it.  There are, however, a ton of other movies that might take cuts in front of this one.

Let Me In

All the parts were done well, but still, I can't enthusiastically recommend it.  The acting was good, the directing was good, the script was good, and the cinematography really fit/made the mood of the film.  For those reasons I would recommend it, but because I also evaluate films on how I feel after watching them and what will be in store for the characters beyond the running of the credits at the film's end, I have reservations. 

Kodi Smit-McPhee is this amazingly white, scrawny 12 year old kid who, becuase of his unique looks and physique, is the target of your run of the mill school hooligans.  He reminds me of Lukas Haas from Witness (1985) in that the looks got him the role, but like Haas, you will probably not see him in too much more.  Life is hell  for him until Chloe Moretz moves in next door and as a vampire with crazy strength and appetites, she befriends him and acts out revenge.  Now that was satisfying.

So, I can't really recommend it as something to run out and see, but if you do get it and have kids, be sure they don't see it.  If they do, they'll never trust new kids in the neighborhood.

Hereafter

I am stuck on a gloomy vein of films and this is one of them.  I need some flowers, sunshine, puppies, and...and a pint of coconut chocolate chip ice cream.  Okay, the lives of 3 people in different parts of the world are followed: there is one who can reach the dead, one who was and came back, and finally one who wants to reach the dead.

A few classic lines are:
1.  One character has a gift that brings enlightenment and benefit to others, but when it is used, it results in pain to him.
2.  One character is willing to give it all up in order to pursue a path less travelled.
3.  One character suddenly loses the buffer he was able to hide behind and now must suddenly man up and fend for himself and can he do it.

This is Close Encounters of a Third Kind (1977), meets Rainman (1988) meets My Bodygaurd (1980).  As soon as the movie started and I met the players, I knew their lines would cross and that I was in for one of those "will they meet, won't they meet, ah come on Ron, you know they will so stop wondering" deals.  That was okay, the acting made up for it as did the cinematography.  The cinematography was awesome by the way as it really kept the mood and feel of the movie intact.  The directing was good as was the acting.  The script was good too.

The tough thing is really recommending this as a must see.  I can't.  If it is there in the house, see it.  If you have to make too much effort to get it, don't.

The Next Three Days

Bail on it.  It took far too long for me to get through this thing and yes, there is tension, there is drama, there is good acting and all, but it was missing something.  It was like Egg Nog at Christmas missing the bourbon.  It was good, but it was missing that kick and eventual warm feeling you get in your stomach after a good experience.

Crowe's wife is sent to prison for a crime that only she, the real murderer and the victim know she didn't commit.  She is sentenced, goes to jail, and exhausts all possible appeals etc.  She gets busted out of jail and the last 15 minutes of tension don't outweigh the previous 118 minutes. 

I was into the knowledge that this was a prison escape moive and was looking forward to it, but in retrospect, 1979's 'Escape from Alcatraz,' 1994's 'Shawshank Redemption,' and 1996's 'The Rock' are far better uses of time that you might want to spend on prison break out/in movies.

Layer Cake

See it!  Awesome!  The cover posted here is a sham as to the character played by Craig, unless this was a DVD box cover test for his upcoming roles as James Bond.  This is so like Guy Ritchie films with respect to its UK gangster stuff, but the class of gangster (for the most part) is like comparing the Godfather series to the Soporano series. 

Daniel Craig has a plan to make his cash as a drug dealer and then get out.  As usual, there is one favor that he is asked/forced to do for one of the top dogs in the business.  Twists, turns, and more twists come in to play and, wow, it was good.  The film is tied together well and through all the twists and double crosses, there are no loose ends when it ends.  Awesome.

The writing was good, the script was good, the directing was good and the acting was awesome.  In the acting, you get a few surprises.  If you have seen the Band of Brothers series, Dexter Fletcher was a surprise.  I swear I thought he was a Yank.  Sienna Miller was amazing.  At first I thought she was Jessica Simpson until she started acting.  Based on her skills as an actress, no, she was definitely not Jessica Simpson.  In fact, if Jessica Simpson needs an acting double for her roles, she should call Sienna.

True Grit

Remember how I said that actors and directors sometimes travel in packs?  Here it is again...Matt Damon, Barry Pepper, and Steven Spielberg.  Together in Saving Private Ryan and back again here.  All good.

True Grit is a 2010 remake by the Coen brothers of the 1969 original.  They can be credited with doing a ton of quality stuff and really kind of skewing things in intriquing ways.  This is a watchable film, but man, it takes so long to get going to the last 30 minutes or so and then, it becomes bleak and depressing in the end and really makes you question why you suffered through the first 70%. 

Okay, maybe not suffer.  The acting is great and Jeff Bridges has and always will be one of my favorite actors.   Matt Damon does well, but for the most part, the script was really kind of interesting.  Just about every character seemed to be some sort of mix between Ted Levine's Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lamb's and John Malkovich's Lenny in Of Mice and Men: just on odd but deliberate speech tempo spoken by people with a low IQ.  That is of course except for Hailee Steinfeld who played Mattie Ross.  She had it down and was smart as a whip.  She reminded me of the know it all type of girls I despised in junior high school.

So a girl's father is killed and she sets off to enlist a Marshall to hunt down the killer and kill him.  They do, the end.

The directing was good, the acting and script were great, and the cinematography was really good too.  However, there was something so lacking that I can't really recommend it.  The four key components that either add or detract from a movie were all there, but they were like a really nice paint job, sweet rims, Ricaro racing seats and a killer stereo all placed within and on a '71 Pinto.

Unstoppable

WATCH IT!  Within 2 minutes I was in.  Of course, I am a dude and I love trains.  I guess it is the power and the predictability of them that I like so much.  Whatever.  A train that is at full throttle and loaded with enough nasty chemical stuff to level an entire Pennsylvania town is powering through the state without a driver. 

Many movies work this theme and that is, there is something out of control that is on its way to a final massive destructive crescendo and the entire 90-120 minutes of the movie shows the preparation of those involved working to avert that disaster.  They either avert it or they don't and we 'the loser audience' will endure the duration just to see the explosive effects presented by the special effects crew.  Not this movie: throughout, it is punctuated with mini-disasters along the way.  AWESOME!  This is one of the few...the VERY FEW...that I watched again the next day.

Denzel Washington is a true actor.  In each role he takes, he is a different character: The Book of Eli, Philadelphia, etc.  He is awesome.  New comer Chris Pine (Star Trek, Bottle Shock, etc) is the same, though not as dynamic in his acting range.  His characters all have at their core a dude who is pretty sharp and who is able to overcome the lack of a sustained dedication (and the experience that dedication to one thing would bring) with his smarts.  The two play really well together and yeah, good movie, good movie.

The script was great, the directing was really good too.  It and the cinematography with grainy, choppy shots, really enhanced the intensity of the film without being too choppy to the point of inducing nausea and eventual vomiting.

Drive Angry

No.  Not only is 'Drive Angry' the title of the movie, it was descriptive of me during the next morning's drive to work.  Wow.   The acting was just bad.  Nicolas Cage and Kevin Costner share the same trait of being either really good, or really bad.  For instance, in 'The Rock' with Sean Connery and 'Leaving Las Vegas' with Elizabeth Shue, Cage was awesome.  Here, I don't know...stilted and all.  Perhaps all of the action and violence and mayhem was a catharsis to make up for the string of Disneyesque contract movies (National Treasure 1 to infinity and The Sorcerer's Apprentice) that lack any knarly language and mayhem. 

Character actor William Fichtner was the sole acting gem in the entire thing...unless you consider the extras who played dead people...I didn't see any of them move, so for me, they were pretty believable.  Fichtner's work and some of the killer lines were just wasted here.  Really appalling was the acting of Amber Heard.  Who is she?  I guess that because Jessica Simpson's acting skills are so good and so in demand, Jessica was too busy for this role, so her understudy Heard was tapped for the role of Piper.

Cinematography was fine, acting was bad, directing was good, the script was great, but again, the potential for some genuine "Dirty Harry" caliber moments and lines was just wasted on poor delivery.

The Tourist

Oh God, I tried, I tried for 3 nights to get to a point at which I would be pulled in and able to watch this without forcing myself into continuing.  I failed.  The downward spiral started with Angelina Jolie's "I am so much hotter than Audrey Hepburn in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'" impersonation and ended with Depp's character not seeing immediately that he was being played.

Bail on this.

Machete

Geez, what to think?  Ordinarily I will fly into the plot, acting, story line or whatever.  I had to take a few days to think this over after I finished this movie and all I could come up with is, "Girls, if you are seriously considering a career in acting and want to go really far as an actress, don't show your boobs."  Another tip, if showing your boobs was the screen test and you won that part that way, it ain't your acting that anyone is after...or ever will be.  Case in point: the girl in the beginning who showed her boobs and was ensured a part in the movie by showing more will never be seen again.

Okay, to the movie.  Hmm, what wasn't in it: kittens, puppies, singing nuns, Goodnight Moon...  I felt like I was watching the equivalent of a burger joint that, after a bit, had been taken over by Koreans or South East Asians and had added Terriyaki to the menu: it had everything: fights, guns, explosions, racists, good guys, bad guys, good bad guys and bad good guys.  All good.  So much going on in here and, well, even with all that, I don't know that I could find many pluses.  

I always liked the cameo's or bit parts that Danny Trejo gets, but his starring role was too long in coming.  He was like John McCaine in the 2008 elections: I thought he was about to fall over and die at any second.  Steven Segal was in there and like Keith Richards to Mick Jagger, he helped make Danny Trejo look spry and healthy by comparison.

Gore, gore, and gore in the form of rolling heads and pulse propelled blood spurts.  Therefore, this is not really a kiddie flick.  Steven Segal was a bit of an expected surprise in that of late, he has actually gotten his butt handed to him.  I miss the Segal of yore.  What I could always appreciate is that he never lost a fight and more importantly, he never got beaten down within an inch of his life and by a miracle, found the strength to come back and barely win.  No, Steven Segal would just walk in and without changing expression, just beat the crap out of any and everyone.  Then he'd go mow a lawn or something.  I liked that.

Wow, here is a news flash, Lindsey Lohan was in this too, but she wasn't acting.  All that you saw of her were portions of her home movies that had been spliced in: e.g. we first see her passed out on a mattress in a crack house after a crack bender.  We then see her getting cozy with another nude woman.  Great...

Okay, dialogue is goofy, directing is fine, cinematography does its job of immitating the 70's style of grainy action films that had titles of "Biker Chicks from Hell" and "The Badland Banderos."  Very contrived plot of powerful racist white guys putting down the honest hard working little man.  Again, I am a bit tired of that plot line as it is like going back to a broken slot machine that doesn't always give exhorbitant returns, but for the writers and directors who keep playing these plot lines, at least there is little risk  if any and they are quaranteed at least some return on investment.

Deception

No!  Don't see it.  I am such a pathetic American with the "finish your plate" mentality that has been so burned into me (even when what I was eating was so bad for me) that I had to finish what I had started.  During the viewing, it was just a skoosh above slipping it back into the red envelope and sending it home.

Plot: Socially inept dude who is an accountant (Ewan McGregor) falls into a sex club where he is suddenly having "relations" with incredibly beautiful women with no strings attached.  Deal is that he falls for a fling and she (Michelle Williams) is actually part of a plot to get him to siphon 20 million to an account she and her accomplice (Hugh Jackman) have set up.  Complications arise when she falls for the accountant in return.  Okay, so Mr. Excitement (the accountant) is able to woo a woman into bailing on her cut of 20 million after 2 nights of sex.   So, he is Mr. Incredible: well paid accountant during the day and 10 Million Dollar per tryst gigolo at night!  PA LEASE!!!

The way it ends is that Jackman, the evil puppeteer, is shot by Williams right before he is to shoot McGregor.  Both Williams and McGregor leave Jackman in the park to bleed all over 2 suitcases with 20 million dollars.  Are you kidding me?!?!?! 
You have just stolen 20 million from some unsuspecting victim, you then shoot the dude who master minded the swindle and you don't ttaek the cash?!  You instead leave it for some Central Park crack dealing type thug to find it.  Frickin' great.  Implausible, irritatiting, illogical, and all sorts of other 'i' words.

Remember, I suffered for you on this so if you ever come over, mow my lawn while I read something and sip a cool beverage while I try to regain some of the time I lost watching this.

Dead Snow

Okay, I am not a scary movie dude because the good ones (the ones without relying on gore) that rely on suspense and surprise do scare the crap out of me and I have 5 and 7 year sons to do that to me for free.  However, I made an exception on this film as I saw the preview and I am a sucker for anything having to do with Nazi's and WWII.  All good. 

Okay, in present times, 5 Finn's hike (and one snowmobiles) on up to a very isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere and are there to await a 6th Finn who decided get there earlier by hiking up the night before...she ain't gonna make it.  Everything is also completely covered in snow.  Okay, turns out that during WWII, a couple companies of looting German SS soldiers were chased into the mountains by villagers from whom they had stolen every valuable item they could find.  They had not been heard from or seen...until now!

In the beginning, this film had the suspense and surprise going for it, but then it got gory.  The gore was pretty much over the top when it happened, so, because it was so unbelievable, well, it didn't really gross me out.  Actually, the nastiest scene is where a guy is doing a sit down in the outhouse which is about 40 yards (or meters as this is a European film) away from the cabin.  Right as he is finishing up the paperwork portion of his job, his girlfriend decides that there ain't nothin' sexier or more irresistible than a man sitting down with his pants around his ankles, so she decides to get busy with him and gets him in the mood and over his surprise by sucking his fingers.  That was gross.

From there, the actual body gore takes over and there you have it.  Okay, as I said, I am not a gore fanatic, but there were bits of humor in the film that reminded me of Army of Darkness.  That is one of my all time favorites!  For that reason, yeah, it was not bad.  There was enough in the way of suspense to make it decent, the gore too over the top, etc.  Cinematography was good, directing was good, script, hell is was Finnish so they could have been reading Jack and Jill and I would not have known.  I don't really recommend the film unless you are definitely a horror movie nut.  If so, heck yeah, check it out.

The Social Network

I had to see the origins of what my wife got me into and what alienated (unbeknownst to me) some of my friends for bit.  Without my knowledge, she created a facebook account for me and when I didn't respond to my friends requests to be friends, the bashed me via my email account....thanks babe!  I have to keep her happy otherwise, who knows what she will put up there.  Evidently I did something wrong at some point because I guess, through comments from friends, that the Donald Duck picture was awesome.

I love money and that love allowed this to be a success story for me.  On the other hand, the portrayal of Zuckerberg and how he treated those around him in the creation of Facebook does not put him in so glamorous a light.  In any "non fiction" movie, you get only the director's opinion of the subject and be it good or bad, well, that's what you will more than likely incorporate into your opinion of the person or period covered.  You could walk away with "Zuckerberg is a dirtbag," or like me, walk away with "Zuckerberg is a freakin' billionaire!"   

The acting was really good.  Justin Timberlake is a rare quality in that as a crossover artist (music to film) he does really really well.  Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland 2009) who is prime to take all the roles Michael Cera might be considered for was awesome as well.  The script was good as well and the directing did a great job of switching between the "present" litigation and jumping back to the past events that lead up to the creation of Facebook and the conflicts that brought it all into litigation.  Cinematography was all good and suited the moods and all of that. 

This is definitely a small screener and I can't really give a killer recommendation for or against.  The movie covers something that has happened and there is nothing that can be done about it.  I am no better for seeing it, but it was entertaining.  It is though, some serious fodder for the black dressed, beret wearing, coffee shop vampires who, in their quest for unearned instant street cred, will tell anyone who will listen how it really happened.

Knight and Day

Okay, major stretch and it was Cruise who made this a chance to take.  There is so much cash behind his flicks that it is pretty tough to have his machine put out a bad one.  However, that evil thing called "doubt" had to be overcome and that doubt was due to Cameron Diaz.  Ever since her roles in the 2000 on Charlie's Angels offerings did I swear her off.  She was cool up until then (The Mask and There's Something About Mary) but the "Man, I am so cute and funny and quirky and still DEADLY" kinda shtick that she pooped out caused me to shut that cheese down within 25 minutes into the first one and never want to see anything she was in afterward.  Glad I did.  This was okay and she was okay.  Cruise is pretty good and he and Diaz do a good deal on two story formulas:

1.  Dude seems really weird and off to all who are around him, but one person believes in him and sure enough, all those who thought he was off base realize that only he had the true vision!

2.  Guy/girl gets guy/girl, then guy/girl loses guy/girl and finally guy/girl gets guy/girl back.

So, Cruise is an agent who is pursued by the agency and along the way goofs into Cameron Diaz who gets played but, alas, love blooms and yadda, yadda, yadda there.  Great bits of action and tons of exotic locations which, as if either actor could not afford to go their own their own, afford both actors to visit those locations and write them off as travel expenses because of the movie...savvy!  It all turns out well and is crazy reminiscent of 1994's True Lies and 2007's Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  This film, and how it ends, screams sequel possibilities.

Directing is good, acting is...not so bad that it messes up the movie, script was actually pretty good, and cinematography is great: there are no too dark scenes or too light scenes.  So, this would not be a must see, but it is not a bad film at all.  I actually was able to remember what film I was in the middle of during my days at work.

Robin Hood

One thing you can surely give Russell Crowe is that he will take the clean and pouffy romance out of period movies (mostly of the 30's-50's) and just drag them in the mud.  For example, this sure ain't your 1938 Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn.  I am cool with it for I am sure that Crowe's stuff like Gladiator and this movie are more realistic to what things were really like.  In anycase, I also came away from this movie with the realization that actors hang around in packs and where one actor crops up, the others will as well...kinda like a Ron Howard movie always has his brother in it.  Okay, here you have two gangs: William Hurt's and Russell Crowe's.  Case in point: in 2009 Hurt was in Endgame and it was there that I first encountered Mark Strong and they both appear here.  Further, 1999's Myster Alaska (okay, I watched this chick flick, but I watched it FOR THE HOCKEY ONLY!) starred Crowe and with him were Kevin Durand and Scott Grimes: both in this film.  Maybe just a coincidence, but are there really such things as coincidences?

Okay, to the movie.  I liked it!  The whole deal of Robin being asked to just hang out and live the part of a murdered son and husband and get to enjoy all the trappings that come with it is far fetched, but heck, if it were not far fetched and/or extraordinary, you wouldn't watch it?  Seriously, would you pay $20 to watch a day in the life of the guy who sits in the cubicle next to you at work?  No, you wouldn't.

Okay, so Robin comes back from the Crusades, King Richard gets an arrow in the neck and dies, and on the way back to England, the carrier of Richard's crown also takes one for the team.  Booya!  Robin gets the crown, impersonates the dude who took one for the team and so it goes.  Now, Robin helps knock the invading French back in the Channel and tells those freakin' frogs to get the heck off English soil and never come back until they have a decent dental plan to offer...I guess they haven't been back.  Okay, so things seem to be on the righteous path between Prince/King John and the barons but no!!!  King John decides that he is going to be King Bastard and goes on to tax the crap outta the British peeps in a way that would make the US Government envious.  Game on for Robin Hood!  The movie ends here but it is RIPE, I say RIPE for a sequel and I hope it comes!

The acting is good.  Crowe, Hurt, and their gangs are awesome and Cate Blanchett is good as usual.  The cinematography is good, the script is cool and the directing is just dandy.  I liked it and recommend this one!

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

PaLease!  I forgot this was an Oliver Stone directed dealio and got hammered with yet another "Wall Street is bad, green energy is good but it won't have a chance because greed and not overall good will triumph, and all capitalists are bad," movie.  Geez.  I am somewhat tired of these things.  Someone please get me a movie that shows capitalism and business in a good light.

Okay, beyond the political undertones and all, this was an okay movie.  I love those red envelope suppliers for I did not spend the $40 to go see this in a theater.  It took several nights to finish because there was nothing really drawing me to watch a little more or to stop watching what I was watching:  remember, it was 'Money Never Sleeps' and not 'Ron Never Sleeps.' In each session, sleep won over watching further easily.

Michael Douglas gets out of jail and goes to back to what made him millions in the first movie; trading.  In the process, he screws over the relationship his daughter has with her boyfriend (Shia LaBeouf) but then a microbe of decency in his heart helps get them back together.  This little dance completes the boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back routine.

Script is fine, acting by Shia is great and supported well by the acting of others, directing is okay, and the cinematography is fine.  Josh Brolin did seem a bit miscast, but the real question is where did he come from?  "No Country for Old Men" is the first A class big screen I remember seeing him in, but wow, he seems to be all over now.

In any case, I would use time on another movie.

Extraordinary Measures

Harken back to Nick Nolte's performance in a MOVIE called "Lorenzo's Oil" in 1992.  Same deal here as the characters of Brendan Fraser and Nick Nolte are fathers with child(ren) afflicted with rare and horrid diseases...then again, any disease that gets kids is horrid.  Against amazing odds, each father finds a cure for his kid(s) just in time.

I capitalize MOVIE as Lorenzo's was a movie for theaters (aka big screens) whereas "Extraordinary Measures" could not quite escape the TV movie feel.  Keri Russell (Fraser's movie wife) is on the up escalator from TV to movies here, and as she rides up, she seems to pass Fraser and Harrison Ford who are on the down escalator from Moives to TV.  All in all, it is a feel good movie and you feel good as Fraser and Ford triumph!  However, this has TV within 4 months written all over it, so if you can wait that long, do so.

Other than Harrison Ford's overplaying the cantankerous but brilliant scientist, the acting is good.  The script, directing, and cinematography are good as well.  The only beef I have is that I could not place the Seattle location of the Zymogenetics' Lab.   I think it was Nike's Beaverton, OR headquarters...that bugged me.

Appaloosa

Okay, I was never really into westerns as a kid and the closest I got was with "The Wild Wild West" tv show.  There were a few John Wayne movies I dug, but it wasn't until the Clint Eastwood brand of movies (spaghetti westerns becuase of the Italian hand in them) that I really got into them and into only that brand.  In the last 15 years, there has been a resurgence with "The Mask of Zorro, The Wild Wild West" with Will Smith and few others...not to mention the sequels to those and I have gotten into them. 

"Appaloosa" follows these with 21st century speak in 19th century settings.  Don't get it.  Ed Harris did just about everything in this from writing, starring, and directing it all.  There is nothing at all wrong or really horrible about the film, but there is nothing really noteworthy either.  The acting is good, the directing and cinematography are good and the script is good, but that is it.  There is nothing great...except for the interaction between the characters of Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris.  Aside from the interaction of their characters, there is nothing that is really going to make you feel that the time watching this could not have been better spent doing something else.

The American

Mix between the original "The Mechanic" (1972), a bit of MacGyver, and "Pretty Woman."  Clooney is a hitman and fabricator extraordinaire of firearms for other hitmen.  He meets a woman he digs and thinks he can start a legal life with, but the tone and mood of the movie say otherwise.  You know it will end badly and the only suspense is "how?"

Clooney is good and in a role that shows that, "yeah, this dude can act."  He is surrounded by others who carry their own as well.  So, the acting, the cinematography, directing, and script are all good.  It is a good film.  It was not action packed, it was suspensful and would get a high recommendation.

Devil

Wow!  This is my type of horror film.  It calls back to the Hitchcock style in which you are given just enough to then let your mind run wild and no knows better than you what scares you.  You never see the actual killing or maiming stuff, instead, you just see about 1 second of the aftermath.  Knarly.  I have never been into the gore for gore's sake and so I was not bummed or disappointed with this. 

Had I investigated this film more, regarding writing and directing, I would have passed on it becuase of the story having been conjured up by M. Night Shyamalan: The Sixth Sense was great, but man, stuff has not been so good from him.  Stepping way back from previous roles he has had in films to the point of just writing the play and then letting others move the ball over the goal line worked, and it may be the beginning of his return to 1st string QB.

5 strangers get stuck in an elevator and we soon discover they all have dark poop in their pasts.  Nice; perfect stew for the Devil to cruise in and then kill them one at a time with the intention of speeding up the time it takes to get their souls down below... he is an impatient Devil this guy!  Spooky, erie, and good!  Acting is good by, uh, I don't know and, uh, I don't know, and, oh yeah, another person I don't know.  Nice.  The minor leagues are about to send some talen to the bigs!

Script, cinematography, directing, and acting are all good.  Good film...yeah, a good horror film with so much more on the suspense and not the gore.

Dinner for Schmucks

This one was a tough one.  I was not really into it as I recognized 2 classic overplayed story lines (I guess admirable was combining 2 into a single movie):

1.  Out of mainstream, somewhat off dude has the clarity of vision to do the right thing and get those around him to see that he may not really be an idiot but a savant.

2.  Boy has girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back.

Well gee Uncle Ron, what was tough about that. 

Well Johnny, here is what was tough.  I wanted to put my mirrored disc back in its envelope and send it home as soon as I smelled above points 1 and 2.  However, Steve Carell was good in his role and Paul Rudd did a good job of being the straight man.  That was all that kept me into it.  What was nasty tough to deal with as well were the standard/cliche bashes on both succesful businessmen and the rich.

Case 1: Bruce Greenwood's Character: The men who build great companies and fortunes are really cruel abusive men who feed on the rest of us.

Case 2: David Walliams' Character: The rich, if they didn't earn their money exploiting the less fortunate or those they swindled, they inherited it and are incredibly shallow.

I am tired of that. 

The directing was fine, the script was okay, the acting was good, and the cinematography was fine.  However, there is quite a bit to see out there and this is something that, though not horrid, could be passed up many times for a better movie.

Red

GET THIS AND ENJOY!  What a killer surprise!  Clooney's "Ocean Whatever Number" meets "Die Hard" meets "True Lies." Where was this film earlier and why didn't I hear about it?  The cast was awesome; Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, and finally, John Malkovich in a role that didn't have me thinking he was overacting.  In fact Malkovich was one of the funniest dudes.  Awesome.

Ex CIA Frank Moses "Willis" is retired and has a phone relationship going on with the girl who oversees his pension account.  Okay, he soon discovers that he is on a hit list that is made up of those who participated in a previous job.  That previous job involved a person who is now an aspiring politician.  Okay, Moses must now figure what is going on and then take care of the mess.  On and in the way is Karl Urban's current CIA character of "William Cooper."  Cooper is an honest dude who wants and does the right thing.  A classic scene is toward the beginning when Moses starts going back to his old CIA ways and begins to put a severe thumping on Cooper.  What makes the scene so classic is the soundtrack is Aerosmith's version of "Back in the Saddle."

See this!  The acting is great, the writing and plot awesom, and the cinematography and directing rock.  Man, this is probably a double watcher for me!

Harry Brown

If you still remember Charles Bronson's 1974 'Death Wish,' and liked it, SEE THIS.  35 years later, street punks, junkies, and ne'er do wells are hassling the responsible contributing members of society and killing the most innocent and defenseless...only this time it is on the other side of the pond.  Same background turmoil as well when the innocent approach the police only to get something far less than an effective response.  Therefore, the vigilante must rise and bring on the swift retribution we all dig!

Michael Caine rocks (as he does in all of his films) as the avenger of his best friend's murder.  The smacketh he layeth upon the perps and scum is...well, delicious!  I don't know what it is about Caine, but he is in so many movies and in each, he tweaks himself just a hair and comes up with pretty unique characters each time.  Good deal, good deal! Direction, cinematography, and acting with a decent script are all good.

In the Loop

The only person I recognized was James Gandolfini and be it bias toward his role of Tony Soprano carrying over or what, who cares?  He was awesome.  I can't say I am for better or worse with this one.  There is no real set/action candy, it is all dialogue and that dialogue or script is really good.  Ah heck, I guess I did come away with something and that would be (albeit most probably a fictional item) a possible reason as to why nothing worthwhile seems to get done or come out of Washington D.C.

Hmm, the plot, what the heck was the plot..oh yeah.  A bumbling British politician is elected (translation: bathed in meat tenderizer) and put into political office (translation: vat of starved sharks) where he ignorantly picks a scab.  The rest of the movie does slices of life of all those around him who are affected, have to support him, stop him, use him, etc.

This would be a great movie for the Michael Cera type college student eager to impress a first date into thinking that he is an intellectual who actually seeks films of this type.  Not my cup of tea, but it was okay.

Buried

Bail.  Do not watch this.  I suffered for you and so anyone who reads this needs to calculate their hourly wage and send me that dollar amount x (95 minutes / 60) to compensate me.  Tense, no, boring, yes, a let down yes, another cheap attack on corporations yes, vindication, no.  Let me put it this way, Ryan Reynold's character is stuck in box for 95 minutes until he dies.

YouTube has people dying on it and most of those videos are about 2-5 minutes.  Watch those if you are into that type of stuff and then compensate me based on this calculation:

Your hourly wage x [(95 minutes -the YouTube video's length)/60]

Chaser

I have never seen any of the actors here or what, but limbed it here and scored.  Of course, if you are suicidal or severely depressed, no, not good for you to watch.  It is a dark movie that could be a revolution around South Korea's equivalent of a Gary Ridgway, Ed Gein, or Ted Bundy.  Long and short of it is an ex cop who turns to pimping is losing his girls.  Where they are going is a mystery and it ain't pretty.

Unlike similar films I have seen of this genre, the acting is really good, the ending totally unexpected, and the gore is not over done: the other aspects of the film are so good they keep this from being needed.  I can't adequately comment on the script as it was subtitles, but the cinematography was fine, the directing good, and as I said before, the acting was great.  It was very watchable and I totally recommend it....unless you are looking for a happy movie.

Tennis Anyone

At the behest of a friend, I reached for this one and it finally came.  Okay, Donal Logue (oh yeah, I've seen that guy) is the star and a friend to Kirk Fox who plays an ex tennis pro who wants to be an actor.  Fox's role was to play an actor with little skill, problem was, I wasn't sure when he was and wasn't out of his character's character.  No matter, the dude can serve at 137 mph. 

Okay, I watched enough of it and all to have to keep watching and after the drought of films (because of the sabotage of my queue by the child movie loving gremlins) I suffered, I wasn't going to quit.  I almost caved becuase of the scratches on the disc, but I suffered through.  Glad I did becasue the ending was good. 

So it would not be on the top of my list, but it was good.  Donal Logue is good and, well, yeah, it was all good.

The A-Team

Save yourself.  Don't watch this.  What the heck happened to Liam Neeson?  He started down this action vein of films with 2008's "Taken" and was a good knarly BAD A%* in that!  But here, oh my gosh!  This thing was so lamely over the top that it actually went over the top, went across China and then went over the top again.  117 minutes of Ron's life...gone.

"Well gee Movie Dude Ron, if it was so bad, how come you watched the whole thing?"

"Ya see Johnny DVD watcher, the thing that kept me from returning this hideous boy early within its red envelope of redemption was that someone borked my queue and punked me with 2 Disney dealios; "The Aristocats" and "The Fox and the Hound".....No, that isn't the title of my wedding video!"

If you are inclined to watch this because of Jessica Biel, save yourself and instead get the 2009 Maxim she is in.  At least you will still be able to respect her...as for yourself, well, that's a matter for you to take up alone.

The Other Guys

Okay, it seems strange that the movies I watch carry a thread for a bit; for instance here, I seem to be on Wahlberg films.  Man, what a surprise!  This was funny!  Wahlberg and Ferrell are the needed "Odd Couple" who are third stringers in their department which is captained by an hilarious Michael Keaton.

Keaton is like Beetlejuice with a badge...just a litte more subdued though.  Actually, he is a cross between Batman and Beetlejuice.  He hasn't been seen in a bit, but as soon as he appears, his movements and mannerisms let you know that, oh yeah, that's Michael Keaton!  Good deal.  Wahlberg is dynamite just waiting for his fuse to get lit and it gets lit often.  Ferrell, geez, he is given the freedom to ad lib and pulls it off big time.  The dialogue goes off as it shoots in the most bizarre and unanticpated directions, but most of all, it is way appreciated.   Wahlberg is in a role I have never seen him in and pulls it off well as he rounds the duo out.  In this film, Ferrell hits the mark that it seems many of his other movie roles have tried to reach. 

Directing is all good, the unexpected weirdness and situations rock, the script/dialogue (whether planned or ad libbed) is great and the cinematography, well, I don't know if it was great or what, but it was done well enough that it didn't obscure anything.

I actually think that I could watch this one again.

North Face

1936: Against the backdrop of the Nazi's advancing dominance over all thing German, a team of Austrian and team of German climbers tackle the Eiger in a race to see who is going to get there first.  The German team is the focus of it and their climb is covered for a Berlin newspaper by the girlfriend of one.

Okay, I am going to ruin it for you....they don't make it and they die.  It is still intense to watch and if climbing is anything like it is portrayed here, count me out.  We have helicopters that will get you there.  Cinematography was great, directing, good, acting good, dialogue...not sure, all in German with subtitles. There you are.  A good watch.

The Town

Good!  Though it took me 4 nights to watch, which usually signifies a "tough to get through" film, this one was great.  The duration or time needed to finish this was due to these demon things called kids that I (what was I thinking) willingly brought into the world.  Kidding, I love them to pieces....they may read this one day and by then, I will need them to push me around when the battery on my scamp dies.  Ben Affleck rocked.  This was the best role I have ever seen him in.  Of course, he directed and did just about everything (including writing I believe) so the character he invented may have been easier to play than one he didn't invent.

Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) was really good as well.  Good film, action and cinematography, writing, acting and the lot!  Okay, so another Boston dealio in which The Town is a part of Boston and a spawning ground for bank robbers.  Affleck's character gets a heart after he be(boy)friends a traumatized victim of one his crew's heists.  As the film progesses, you get the "one last job" formula and the ominous, "is she going to ever find out it was him" angst.  I almost bailed because I didn't want to be insulted with a standard and tired out rerun finish that was simply done in a different setting with different people, but  no faithful readers, I labored on and I am glad that I did.  Watch it!  Ben is at his best.

Valhalla Rising

We are definitely not in Kansas anymore on this one.  I had no idea of what was happening or where we were headed, yet I was still into this movie.  A religious gig throughout with some knarly fight scenes and just down and dirty dirty people.  One Eye (Mads Mikkelsen: Flame and Citron) is evidently a Christian who is captured and used as a gladiator by his chieftain master to win money by besting the the gladiators of other chieftains.   My only clue to his being a Christian is the disdain his "owners" have of him when they mention that he is from a clan that eats the flesh of their god and drinks his blood.  Charming, I would be a bit freaky on someone like that too; but dudes, you don't know the whole story!!!

Okay, so One Eye is really good at what he does but not too into it, so when he has the chance, he breaks his bonds and then the bones and skulls of those who have kept him captive.  The only survivor is a boy whom he takes along with him.  He falls into the company of a group of guys who are Christians and who are on their way to Jerusalem to fight for their God.  One Eye (who never says a word) is like, "Okay, cool, you gotta boat and aren't really into enslaving me?  Yeah, I can hang with you guys."  They embark on a voyage, land somewhere which isn't Jerusalem and where the leader says, "I am sick of the boat and if I can't reach Jerusalem, to heck with it, I will make 'New Jerusalem' and more or less kill anyone who is not with me in the worship of MY lord!"

Cinematography is great!  The script, well, yeah, it's okay, the directing and acting, yeah, but overall, I understood what the heck was going on in this film just about as much as I understrood what was going on in 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey.