Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

Movie: Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

Genre: mystery-thriller

Chinese with English subtitles

Synopsis: The year is 689 and Empress Wu Setian (Carina Lau) is about to be coronated first female Chinese emperor.  To commemorate her coronation, she is having a 66 yard high statue of herself built.  As the coronation approaches, high ranking officials start dying by bursting into flame from within.  In a desperate attempt to solve – and stop – the murders, the empress orders the great Detective Dee to be released from prison – the prison she had sent him to eight years earlier.  Detective Dee’s investigation leads him through wild chases, attacks by mysterious assassins as well as government soldiers.  Along the way, more people are dying by the “Phantom Flame”.

My two cents: The movie had a lot going for it: huge sets, lots of martial arts fighting, supernatural enemies, an innovative storyline . . . My only wish was that the fighting had looked a little more realistic and less staged.  Some of the names in the English subtitles had interesting translations.  My favorite was the royal physician: Doctor Donkey Wang.  In retrospect – although not a bad movie, I would rather have waited for this to come around on TV.

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Love Crime

Movie: Love Crime

Genre: mystery-thriller

French with English Subtitles

Synopsis: Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas) is the head of the Paris office of a multinational company.  Her top assistant is Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier).  When Isabelle witnesses Christine taking credit with the corporate headquarters in New York for Isabelle’s work, Isabelle is less than happy.  Christine is amused by this and tells her that it is all part of getting ahead – something Isabella needs to learn.  When Isabella takes Christine’s advice, Christine’s response is swift and brutal.  But Isabelle is a quick study.  To say more would give too much away . . . but the movie has twists right up to the end.

My two cents: I really enjoyed this movie.  Kristin Scott Thomas is one of my favorite actors and she did not let me down in this movie, although the real star was Ludivine Sagnier.  The plot really had me scratching my head trying to figure out what in the heck was going on.  This movie is definitely worth your time.

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Abduction

Movie: Abduction

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: Nathan (Taylor Lautner) seems to be a typical teenaged boy.  He has a loving mother (Maria Bella) and a rather strict father (Jason Isaacs).  His biggest problems seem to be managing his anger issues and getting up the courage to ask his neighbor, Karen (Lilly Collins), out on a date.  Nathan’s world is turned upside down when he suspects his parents are not his biological parents.  It turns out a really nasty foreign agent is after Nathan and all hell breaks loose because now he know where Nathan is.  Nathan and his friend Karen go on the run.  It also turns out that the CIA is after Nathan.  It becomes a race to see if the CIA will be able to get Nathan before the foreign agent (and his seemingly endless supply of gunmen) can get him and kill him.

My two cents: I had a little problem with the idea of a teenager to be able to get through what Nathan has to do.  Other than that, this was a decent movie.  Probably no Oscars . . . but enjoyable enough.

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Drive

Movie: Drive

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: Ryan Gosling plays a character known only as “Driver” or “Kid”.  He is a mechanic who moonlights as a stunt driver and as a wheel-man for robberies – or whatever someone needs to “getaway” from.  Driver has a neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan) with a small child and a husband who is soon getting out of prison.  Driver and Irene clearly have some chemistry.  Drivers’ boss and agent is Shannon (Bryan Cranston).  Shannon is involved with a pair of mob bosses played by Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman.  When Irene’s husband gets out of prison, Driver helps him on a job that ends badly.  The further muddy the waters, the two mobsters get involved.  All Driver wants to do is get Irene and himself out alive.  Lots of action and lots of violence.

My two cents: I am getting to be a big fan of Ryan Gosling. From “Half Nelson” to “Fracture” to “Lars and the Real Girl” to “Blue Valentine” to “All Good Things” to “Crazy, Stupid, Love” to “Drive” he is like a chameleon.  He seems to effortlessly go from playing an emotionally-backward character to a suave lady’s man to an abusive controlling monster to a nice-guy wheel-man.  In this movie, Driver seems to be completely calm – but you get an occasional glimpse of the volcano waiting to erupt.  He is quietly eating dinner in a diner when someone who once employed him as a wheel-man offers him a job.  In a perfectly conversational voice, Driver tells the man “how about you shut your mouth before I knock your teeth down your throat and shut it for you” . . . and then calmly goes back to his dinner.  Albert Brooks was great as a smiling but utterly ruthless mob boss.  The violence in this movie is shocking at times, but if you can get past that, this is a great movie.

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Straw Dogs

Movie: Straw Dogs

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: David and Amy Sumner (Jamers Marsden and Kate Bosworth) have just moved to Amy’s hometown of Blackwater Mississippi.  David is a screenwriter working on a movie script and is something of a pacifist.  Amy’s return stirs up her old boyfriend, Charlie (Alexander Skarsgård) and his posse of rednecks. Charlie and his friends keep pushing David.  Finally the town trouble-maker, James Woods, provides the match that ignites the finale with the whole bunch doing their best to break into the house to kill them . . . when it turns out that if you push David hard enough, he will eventually push back.

My two cents: This movie had its moments, but not enough of them.  I thought the behavior of David and Amy was not too believable, given the circumstances.  In retrospect, I would have waited for this movie to hit HBO or Netflix.

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The Lion King 3D

Movie: The Lion King 3D

Genre: animated adventure

Synopsis: Simba is the son of Mufasa – the king of the lion pack.  Simba is next in line to be king, much to the frustration of his conniving uncle, Scar.  Scar plots a way to eliminate Musafa and tricks Simba into leaving the pack.  Simba eventually comes back to do battle with Scar and his hyenas to claim the throne from Scar.

My two cents:  I forgot just how great some of the songs were in this movie. I also forgot just how violent it gets.  I don’t understand how it managed to get a “G” rating.  It is a great movie, but I don’t think I would be comfortable taking a child under the age of 8 or 9 to see it.

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Warrior

Movie: Warrior

Genre: action-drama

Synopsis: Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) and Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) are brothers.  Growing up, Tommy was a champion wrestler of amazing talent.  When their abusive, alcoholic father, Paddy (Nick Nolte), became too much to bear, Tom and his mother fled.  Brendan opted to stay behind.  Flash forward to the present.  Brendan is a high school physic teacher, married (to Jennifer Morrison) with children and is estranged from his father.  He is also about to lose his house to the bank.  Tommy has returned home for the first time since he left – while he was gone, he had no contact with his brother or his father.  Although he still despises his father, Tommy asks him to help him train for an upcoming Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) world championship.  Paddy has been sober for 1000 days and agrees to train Tommy, in hopes of building a relationship.  Brendan also enters the same MMA tournament – in hopes of winning the $5 million prize so he can save his house from foreclosure.

My two cents: A really enjoyable movie.  While there are a lot of fight sequences that are well done and fun to watch, the movie is just as much about a father trying to redeem himself with his sons and build a relationship with them – and the sons trying to bring themselves to forgive their father and each other and put the past behind them.  Nick Nolte was great to watch.  I first saw him as a boxer in “Rich Man Poor Man” in the 1976.  It was interesting to watch him play a tired old man trying to coach his middle-aged son as a fighter. I also liked seeing Jennifer Morrison (Brendan’s wife) – I have not seen much of her since she left “House”.

Bottom line: most definitely worth seeing.

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Contagion

Movie: Contagion

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) is infected with a particularly virulent virus while on a business trip in Asia.  She brings it back to the U.S. where it spreads like wildfire.  Her husband, Mitch (Matt Damon), was immune but she and their son both succumb to the disease.  One story line follows Mitch as he tries to keep his daughter from being infected.  A second story line follows the efforts of the CDC doctors (Laurence Fishburne and Kate Winslet) try to track the origin of the disease and develop a plan to contain it.  A third story line follows a WHO doctor (Marion Cotillard) as she tries to locate the origin of the disease in Asia.  Another story line follows a fringe blog writer (Jude Law) who claims to have predicted the outbreak and also claims to have a cure.

My two cents: A really good thriller.  A lot of good performances.  The really scary thing about the movie is how possible it is.  Something like the 1918 Spanish Flu could spread throughout the world in a matter of days.  It’s pretty sobering stuff to think about.  Definitely a movie worth seeing.

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Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star

Movie: Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: Bucky Larson (Nick Swardson) is a not-so-bright kid (early 20’s) who is hanging out with his equally dim-witted friends one night watching a porn film from the 70’s.  Much to his surprise, the film starred his parents (Edward Hermann and Miriam Flynn).  Much to his delight, he learns that his mother and father were a famous porn acting team in the 70’s.  Bucky decides that his destiny is to also be a porn star . . . so he moves to L.A..  There he meets Kathy (Christina Ricci) who becomes his good friend.  He also meets a down and out porn film producer, Miles Deep (Don Johnson).  Mile guides Bucky into his new career where, amazingly, he becomes a wildly popular star.

My two cents: I saw this movie because of the “0” rating in Rotten Tomatoes.  I thought it might be one of the those “so bad that it’s good” films.  It was not.  This was the type of film that regularly made me feel really uncomfortable because the lead character was just so naïve and downright stupid.  I was surprised to see actors like Christina Ricci, Edward Herrmann (the grandfather from Gilmore Girls), Don Johnson, and Kevin Nealon (Weeds) in a film like this.

An example of the level of this movie is the opening scene: Bright and early in the morning, a farmer is shown standing in his goat pen holding a big jar of peanut butter as he takes a handful of it and smears it on below.  A big smile appears on his face as the goats crowd in. . . and you get the definite impression that this is considered to be perfectly acceptable behavior, as he waves and says “howdy” to a passerby who gives a friendly wave back.  Too much for me.

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Apollo 18

Movie: Apollo 18

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: The premise is that Apollo 17 was not the last Apollo mission.  There was a top-secret Apollo 18 that made it to the moon.  When they got there, they discovered what would become the basis of the catch-phrase “there is a reason we never went back”.

My two cents: This movie has gotten pretty crappy reviews . . . but I liked it.  The big stumbling block is believing that - with all the hundreds, if not thousands, of people on the ground involved with an Apollo mission – it has taken over 35 years for anything to be leaked about it to the public. Once I got past that, it was kind of fun.  A number of real goose-bump moments; such as when the two astronauts in the lunar module look out their window and discover that the flag they planted is no longer there, or when they discover footprints.  I think this was much better than the critics and a lot of viewers) have given it credit for.

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Creature

Movie: Creature

Genre: horror

Synopsis: The “Creature” is a man-alligator that haunts the swamps near a small Louisiana community.  Three young couples who are just “passing through” learn about the “legend” of this creature and decide to visit the house where the man who supposedly became the creature used to live.  Many, many bad things follow.

My two cents: A pretty typical “wrong turn” type of movie – with an alligator twist.  The actor I most enjoyed watching was Sid Haig – who played his typical really-evil type of character (you may remember him as one of the scariest clowns ever in “The Devil’s Rejects”).  An example of the stuff that just drives me crazy with this type of movie: these six people just suddenly decide that they are going to hike through an unknown backwoods swamp area and camp there overnight – but no one even has a flashlight.  If you are into this genre you would probably like it.  If you are not a big fan of this genre, definitely give this a pass.

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The Debt

Movie: The Debt

Genre: spy thriller

Synopsis: In 1966, Rachel (Jessica Chastain), Stephan (Marton Csokas) and David (Sam Worthington) were three Israeli Mossad agents wo were sent on a secret mission to East Germany.  Their mission was to kidnap a Nazi war criminal and bring him back to Israel for trial. The movie begins 31 years later in 1997 with Rachel (now played by Helen Mirren) is the ex-wife of Stephan (Tom Wilkenson) and David (Ciarán Hinds) has only recently re-entered the picture.  The three were celebrated as heroes for their exploits in 1966; but the return of David brings a major bump to their lives.  As we re-live the 1966 mission, we find out just how big the “bump” is.

My two cents: A pretty good spy thriller.  The plot and execution was pretty believable.  I especially liked Jessica Chastain as Rachel.  After seeing Jessica as Celia Foote in “The Help” it was interesting to see her in such a radically different role.  I would like to have seen Ciarán Hinds get more screen time.  After seeing Helen Mirren play a “wet work” specialist in REDS, it would have been nice to see her do more butt-kicking.  That said, my only real beef with this movie was the ending.  I like the endings to wrap up loose ends and – for me - this movie left too many.

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Seven Days in Utopia

Movie: Seven Days in Utopia

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Luke (Lucas Black), an up and coming professional golfer, is challenging for the lead in the final round of a golf tournament … until he shoots a 14 on the final hole.  After his meltdown, he drives off to be by himself.  He ends up in a town of 375 called Utopia.  In Utopia, Luke befriends Johnny Crawford (Robert Duval).  Johnny is a crusty old gentleman who turns out to be a former professional golver with his own golf course in Utopia.  Johnny promise Luke that if he gives Johnny a week to work with him, he will give Johnny the tools to turn his golf game around.  What follows is Johnny in the role of Mr. Miyagi and Luke in Ralph Macchio’s role.  By the end of the seven days, Luke has indeed learned what he needs to turn his life (and golf game) around.

My two cents: The movie had a lot of potential . . . but I was too distracted by the “Karate Kid” similarities.  I kept waiting for Johnny to tell Luke: “Wax on . . .wax off”.  I did like the performances: Robert Duval never seems to miss.  I especially liked seeing Deborah Ann Woll sans fangs (i.e. outside of True Blood).  The movie just got a little too preachy for me.

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Attack the Block

Movie: Attack the Block

Genre: horror

Synopsis: Sam (Jodie Whittaker) is on her way home located in a crime-ridden section of London when she is mugged by a gang of teenaged boys – who turn out to live in the same apartment building that she does.  After the mugging the gang investigates a strange explosion that occurred nearby.  It turns ouy to be some kind of alien creature that attacks them.  The rest of the movie follows the gang as they do battle with the dozens of other aliens that land and seem intent on killing them.

My two cents: A bit out of the ordinary.  The story line was a little thin.  The thing that stood out were the creatures.  They looked like short, hairy gorillas with fangs that glow in the dark.  In hindsight, I would have been happy to wait for it to come around on TV.

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The Whistleblower

Movie: The Whistleblower

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Kathy (Rachel Weisz) is a Nebraska police officer.  She is hired by a State Department contractor to be part of the United Nations peacekeeping force in post-war Bosnia.  While there, she discovers that there are very young girls being held in brothels as sex slaves.  As Kathy investigates, she finds the she has only scratched the surface, not only are the local police involved, but members of the U.N. peacekeeping force are actually helping smuggle the kidnapped girls into Bosnia.  Then, higher-ups decide to shutdown Kathy’s investigation, forcing her to take some extreme measures. Also stars Vanessa Redgrave, David Strathairn and Monica Bellucci.

My two cents: I had to keep reminding myself that the events in this movie really happened.  The things these poor girls are put through and forced to do are unimaginable.  And equally unimaginable is how anyone could allow things like this to occur and then protect to perpetrators, much less to actually participate.  Kathy put her own life in jeopardy to try and make the world aware of these atrocities.  This was a tough movie to watch . . . but one that needs to be seen.  Rachel Weisz turns in a great performance.

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The Names of Love

Movie: The Names of Love

Genre: comedy (French, with subtitles)

Synopsis: Baya (Sara Forestier) is a very liberal French woman who is a bit of a hippy.  Arthur Martin (Jaques Gamblin) is a very straight-laced government scientist –  he is an expert on avian-born diseases.  Her mother was raised in a wealthy family and rebelled by marrying an Algerian immigrant.  His parents both fled to France from Germany during World War II after their parents were killed by the Nazis. Baya has a mission in life – she sleeps with righ-wingers in the belief that her actions make them more liberal.  Although an unlikely couple, Baya and Arthur take a liking to each other.  The movie follows their relationship through its ups and downs.

My two cents: I liked this movie. . . it was definitely not your typical comedy.

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Higher Ground

Movie: Higher Ground

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Corrine (Vera Farmiga, who also directed) has had faith issues all her life.  As a young girl in a ‘Christian’ church, she goes through the motions of accepting Jesus into her life – but did not really mean it.  The movie follows her through her life as she lives an extremely religious life, only to end up still having doubts.

My two cents: An interesting movie.  I am always fascinated by – as well as a bit frightened by – the religious types who feel it is appropriate to pray for everything under the sun – who absolutely believe that everything that happens is God’s will and should be accepted as such.  A woman has a brain tumor that leaves her a vegetable, and her husband says they must accept it as God’s will.  While that type of faith is not my cup of tea.  I enjoyed the movie and thought that Vera Farmiga gave a great performance.  It was very thought provoking to watch her character’s struggle with faith and belief. . . . but this movie will not be everyone’s cup of tea.

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The Guard

Movie: The Guard

Genre: crime thriller / comedy

Synopsis: Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) is a rather unconventional detective in a small Irish town.  Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) is an FBI agent in Ireland on the trail of drug dealers.  Boyle and Everett form an uneasy partnership to bring down the drug dealers.

My two cents: This was a pretty good movie.  Brendan Gleeson was great at playing a seemingly bumbling detective.  To paraphrase Don Cheadle’s character:  You don’t know if Boyle is really really stupid or really really smart.  This movie is definitely worth watching.

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