Hugo in 3D

Movie: Hugo in 3D

Genre: adventure-drama-fantasy

Synopsis: This is set in a train station in 1930’s Paris.  Hugo is an orphan who lives in – and winds – the massive clockworks in the train station.  He is terribly lonely and is trying to fix an automaton – a kind of wind-up robot-like creation - to be his companion.  He befriends Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz) whose god-father (Ben Kingsley) runs a fix-it shop in the train station.  When, with the help of Isabelle, he finally fixes the automaton – a surprise and mystery awaits the two of them.  Solving the mystery – and keeping out of the clutches of the train station policeman (Sasha Baron Cohen) takes up the rest of the movie.

My two cents: Although a bit long at 2:07, this movie never dragged.  Within the first five minutes, I knew it was going to be good.  The 3D effects were good, without overdoing it.  I have been a fan of  Chloë Grace Moretz since “500 Days of Summer” – and I really liked her in this.  Ben Kingsley was great at Isabelle’s god-father, Christopher Lee was great as kindly bookseller.  Sasha Baron Cohen was good – but strange – as the train station cop.  I am still not sure exactly what it is about this movie that so captivated me.  One measure of how good I think a movie is, is how far into the movie I get before I look at my watch.  I was 85 minutes into the movie before I checked the time.

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The Muppets

Movie: The Muppets

Genre: animated comedy

Synopsis: It’s the Muppets – need I say more?  Actually, I do.  This takes place decades after the Muppet series.  All of the Muppets have split up and gone their separate ways.  Enter, a pair of brothers: Gary and Walter.  Gary (Jason Segal) and Walter (Peter Linz) – who looks an awful lot like a Muppet.  Walter has been a fanatical fan of the Muppets ever since he found some old tapes of their show. Gary is taking his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) to Los Angeles for a vacation.  They decide to take Walter with them so that he can see the old Muppet studio.  They discover that an evil businessman (Chris Cooper) is going to tear down the studio and drill for oil unless the Muppets can come up with $10 million.  So . . . they find Kermit and Kermit decides to get the old gang together and put on a show to raise the money.

My two cents: I loved this movie. Any Muppet fan should enjoy this.  Jason Segal was perfect for his role.  Chris Cooper makes a properly maniacal bad guy.  Just about all of the Muppet regulars are back, and the reunion scenes are great.    For example, they find Animal in an anger-management group therapy session (the group also had Jack Black as a member).  Animal is not allowed near drums any more – “drum” is his trigger word.  If you are any kind of a Muppet fan – you must see this.

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Happy Feet Two in IMAX 3D

Movie: Happy Feet Two in IMAX 3D

Genre: animated comedy

Synopsis: Mumbles (Elijah Wood) is now an adult with three child – Eric (Ava Acres).  Eric is having trouble figuring out what he is meant to do – the dancing gene does not seem to have kicked in yet.  A natural disaster results in their entire penguin community being trapped away from the water.  In order to save them, Mumble and Eric have to enlist the aid of another penguin community, as well as other creatures.  And of course – there is a lot of singing and dancing along the way.

My two cents: It took a while, but eventually this movie hooked me – although not as deeply as the first.  We had many of the same characters and voices as well as some new ones.  This one also seemed to have a few more lessons to teach about getting along and finding yourself – but it does not get too preachy.  In the first Happy Feet, by far my favorite character was Ramon (Robin Williams).  This time, my prize goes to two krill: Bill the Krill (Matt Damon) and Will the Krill (Brad Pitt).  Bill and Will decide to leave the “hoard” of krill they have spent their lives in and see what lies beyond.  Second prize goes to Ramon’s new love interest: Carmen, voiced by Sophia Vergara.  The 3D I could have lived without – but the IMAX was great – especially when they were doing group dances.  If you liked the first one, you will probably like Happy Feet Two too (pun intended).

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The Skin I Live In

Movie: The Skin I Live In

Genre: thriller – in Spanish with subtitles

Synopsis: Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) is a brilliant plastic surgeon in Spain.  His wife is horribly burned in a tragic accident.  When she dies, Robert becomes obsessed with developing a synthetic skin to help burn victims.  Unfortunately, he chooses to skip a few of the standard testing steps and begins experimenting on a human.  The result is a beautiful female patient who is pretty much a prisoner in his private clinic.  The patient spends all of her days wearing a flesh-colored body suit in a locked room.  The movie gives us the background and reason(s) for his obsession and exactly how he performed his experimental testing on his patient.  By the end of the movie, the doctor’s plan is coming pretty severely unraveled,

My two cents: I put off seeing this movie because I was afraid it might get a bit too graphic.  Turns out my fear was unfounded.  While some parts did make me squirm a bit – nothing that was shown was the least bit graphic. The story line was fascinating – especially when some twists started entering into the story.  When I finally learned the whole story of the patient – it was jaw dropping.  If you like off-beat thrillers with a touch of horror, don’t pass this one up. If you like some good vengeance – it will be icing on the cake.

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Like Crazy

Movie: Like Crazy

Genre: romantic drama

Synopsis: Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and Anna (Felicity Jones) are college students in Los Angeles who fall madly in love.  The problem is that Anna is British, attending school on a student visa.  Her plan is to return briefly to England after graduation and then to come back to Los Angeles and Jacob.  A hitch in the plan occurs when Anna violates the terms of her student visa and is unable to return to the U.S.  For the next several years Anna and Jacob experience the ups and downs (mostly downs) of trying to maintain a really long distance relationship.

My two cents: This was another movie I enjoyed more than I thought I would.  I think it presented a pretty realistic look at the pitfalls a couple like this could face, given the visa problems.

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My Week With Marilyn

Movie: My Week With Marilyn

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Based on the memoirs of Colin Clark, this movie is set in 1956 London.  Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) is working as a 3rd directory (aka a gofer) on a movie starring Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams).  Marilyn is an emotional wreck and latches onto Colin as someone she can trust.  The movie details how he became her companion (and more?) during the filming of the movie.  We see just how emotionally fragile Marilyn was and how incredibly insecure she was.  A large part of the film also dealt with the conflict between Laurence Olivier and Marilyn.  He was forever being frustrated by her behavior on the set – constantly being late, forgetting her lines, and consulting Paula Strasberg for her motivation – Marilyn was a devotee of the Lee Starsberg school of method acting.  Laurence Olivia considered all of this to be incredibly unprofessional behavior.

My two cents: A much better movie than I expected.  Michelle Williams did a fabulous job of portraying her – she can really be stunningly beautiful.  She seemed to be effortlessly switch back and forth between the screen idol Marilyn Monroe and the insecure fragile Norma Jean.  Judi Dench was delightful as a famous elderly actress (not much of a stretch).  Emma Watson had a small role.  It was nice to see her without a magic wand – I just wish her role had been bigger.  It was fascinating to see what an emotional wreck Marilyn Monroe was.  She was the most famous woman in the world, but as insecure as a 14-year-old. 

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J. Edgar

Movie: J. Edgar

Genre: drama - biography

Synopsis: This is the story of J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DeCaprio) from his early years in the Justice Department through the founding of the FBI and his reign as director from 1935 until his death in 1972.  It covers his battle against the gangsters of the depression era, his fight against organized crime as well as his no-holds-barred fight against anyone he though was crossing him or getting in his way– whether it be his doctor, a senator or the president of the United States.  While he did a lot of admirable work in building the FBI, his utter disregard for the constitution and laws – when they got in his way was pretty scary.  In his world anything was acceptable if it furthered his ends.

My two cents: I thought this was a pretty good movie.  It did a great job of displaying the rotten underside of what Hoover became.  Leonardo DeCaprio’s performance was right up there with his portrayal of Howard Hughes.  Naomi Watt’s portray of his secretary, Helen Gandy was dynamite.  I thought she was really effective in showing the conflict Helen Gandy felt.  She was Hoover’s personal secretary for virtually his entire reign as directory and struggle with the conflict between her innate loyalty to the man and her realization that much of what he was doing was just plain wrong.  My only really beef with the film was with the makeup job on         Armie Hammer (as Clyde Tolson).  Whereas the makeup of DeCaprio was dead-on as Hoover aged, the makeup of Armie Hammer seemed almost amateurish by comparison. 

In any case, I found this movie to be well worth my time and money.

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The Descendants

Movie: The Descendants

Genre: drama - comedy

Synopsis: Matt King (George Clooney) lives in Hawaii and is a direct descendant of King Kamehameha.  He is one of a large group of cousins who are the beneficiaries of a trust (for which Matt is the executor) that includes 20,000 acres of pristine Hawaiian beachfront property. They cousins are preparing to vote on whether or not to sell the land to developers.  As the movie opens, Matt’s wife lies in a coma, following a boating accident.  Matt is wrestling with the prospect of having to pull the plug on her life support. To add to his stress, he must do some repair work on his relationship with his two daughters.

My two cents: I really loved this movie. George Clooney once again shows how good he is at comedy.  Without trying to give too much away, I like the way his older daughter starts out as the daughter-from-hell, but ends up doing quite an about-face and is instrumental in helping her father face the discovery that his wife was not quite the person he thought she was.  The acting was good, there several interesting story lines within the movie – and it was in Hawaii.

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Tower Heist

Movie: Tower Heist

Genre: thriller - comedy

Synopsis: Josh (Ben Stiller) is the manager of the most exclusive condo high rise in Manhattan.  Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), one of the residents, is arrested for investment fraud.  The big mystery is where he has hidden is stash of millions of dollars.  The victims of his crime include the employees of the condo building – their entire pension fund has been lost.  Josh takes matters into his own hands and forms a “team” (Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, Michael Peña and Gabourey Sidibe) with the goal of finding and recovering the hidden millions.  The team’s plan and execution of the plan is not exactly of Mission impossible caliber.

My two cents: A great comedy – it was fun from start to finish.  This light-hearted slapstick quality of this movie is kind of a throw back.  I really enjoyed it and did a lot of laughing. There is one scene involving a car – and a couple of the characters – being dangled about 40 or 50 stories above the street that was one of the most squirm-inducing scene I have ever seen outside of a horror movie.  I really liked Tea Leone as the FBI agent who is also out to recover the missing money.  Last, but not least, Alan Alda seems to revel in playing the smarmy rich guy who has no morals.  He certainly did a bang-up job in this movie.

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The Interrupters

Movie: The Interrupters

Genre: documentary

Synopsis: Violence Interrupters is the name of a Chicago organization.  In the 1990’s violence was running rampant in many areas of Chicago.  Violence Interrupters was formed in an effort to reduce this violence.  The idea is to recruit former gang members who have reformed and turned their lives around.  These men and

women meet with current gang members to try and get them to realize that they have it within their power to stop the cycle of violence.  They also meet with victim’s families to help them.  The program has shown considerable success.  The movie covers a single year and focuses on three members of the Violence Interrupters.

My two cents: I found this movie to be pretty interesting. The amount of violence going on in Chicago was pretty amazing – one single day saw 16 shootings.  The whole idea was intriguing.  Since most of the members of this group are themselves former gang members, they are not easily intimidated by the gang members they work with. The movie did seem to plod along, though.  While I am glad I saw it and learned a lot, the 125 minutes of the movie seemed to drag on and on.

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Anonymous

Movie: Anonymous

Genre: historical drama

Synopsis: This movie takes place in the late 1500’s.  It proposes that the works attributed to William Shakespeare were in fact written by Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans  The movie covers, via flashbacks) the Earl’s childhood and his obsession with writing.  We get a taste of the incredibly complex political maneuvering that went on in the court of Queen Elizabeth I.  The infighting and manipulations that went into determining who succeeded Queen Elizabeth makes today’s politicians look like a bunch of boy scouts.

My two cents: From what I have seen in a brief internet search, the Earl of Oxford really is probably the leading candidates for the works attributed to William Shakespeare.  I found this movie to be absolutely fascinating and riveting. My biggest problem was keeping the various characters straight as the movie jumped back and forth over a 20 year period.  It was interesting to see how playwrights were looked down upon in those days.  Definitely a movie worth seeing.

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Melancholia

Movie: Melancholia

Genre: drama

Synopsis: There are two story lines here.  The first one is centers on Justine (Kirsten Dunst).  The movie opens on Justine’s wedding day.  The problem is that Justine suffers from almost an paralyzing depression.  Those around her fail to grasp the depth of her problem. The wedding reception takes place at plush estate of Justine’s sister, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg).  Justine’s divorced parents, played by John Hurt and Charlotte Rampling, are about as dysfunctional as they can get – and totally useless as parents.  Claire struggles to help Justine through her depression/melancholy.

The second story revolves around the planet Melancholia.  It has appeared in the solar system – where it came from we are never told.  There is much debate about whether Melancholia is going to collide with – and destroy the earth or if it will simply do a “flyby” and provide the earth with a beautiful display to watch. 

My two cents:  This was a very unique movie. The opening sequences are beautiful and surreal – and tough to describe.  The first half of the movie is difficult to follow – but it kept my interest.  The 2^nd half of the movie seemed a bit more coherent as I was able to see the direction it was going in.  This movie has really stuck in my head.  I keep going over it in my mind.  I am really looking forward to seeing it again when it comes out on DVD.  I expect to understand it a lot better the 2^nd or 3^rd time around.

Bottom line: If you are a Kirsten Dunst fan, you should enjoy this – she gives a superb performance.  However, it you like your movies to be neat and tidy and straightforward, this might not be the movie for you.

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Immortals 3D

Movie: Immortals 3D

Genre: sword-and-sandals

Synopsis: In the time before men, the Greek gods battled the Immortals.  When the Greek gods prevailed, the Immortals were imprisoned in a special cage, with the caveat that if the gods ever directly interacted with humans, the Immortals would be released.  Fast forward to the 2^nd millennium B.C. where King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) is well on his way to conquering all of Greece.  His goal is to find a magical bow that he can use to release the Immortals.  Theseus (Henry Cavill) has the skills, but not the desire, to be a mighty warrior and leader.  When Hyperion kills his mother before his eyes, Theseus is finally motivated to fight Hyperion.  Assisting him is the oracle Phaedra (Freida Pinto) and Zeus (Luke Evans).

My two cents: A pretty decent entry in its genre.  Hyperion was satisfyingly evil and ruthless.  There was a lot of good old fashioned swordplay.  It was interesting to see the Greek gods as less than immortal.  Freida Pinto was great as the oracle. I first saw her in Slumdog Millionare.  She has become breathtakingly beautiful – truly stunning.

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A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

Movie: A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

Genre: comedy           

Synopsis: This is set several years after the 2^nd movie of the series.  Harold (John Cho) has dumped Kumar (Kal Penn) as a friend.  He works on Wall Street, is very successful, lives in a beautiful house, is married and trying to have a child.  His stress levels go through the ceiling with the arrival of his father-in-law along with about 15 other in-laws for Christmas.  Kumar, still a stoner, drops by Harold’s house.  Their adventure begins when the Christmas tree Harold’s father-in-law brought burns down.  The movie follows the re-united friends as they try to find a replacement tree on Christmas eve.

My two cents: This is my favorite of the three movies.  If you can get past the wildly inappropriate subject matter of most of the jokes, it is really funny.  There are a lot of inside jokes – such as a crack about Kumar working in the White House (Kal Penn really did work for White House for a year).  NPH (Neil Patrick Harris) is back – with an interesting explanation about how he survived his death in the second Harold and Kumar movie.  I thought the real scene stealer in this movie is the Waffle-Bot.  If you liked the first two in the series, you are sure to like this installment.

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Puss in Boots in IMAX 3D

Movie: Puss in Boots in IMAX 3D

Genre: animated fantasy

Synopsis: Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) teams up with Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and his childhood friend, Humpty Dumpty (Zack Galifianakis) to go on a quest to find the Golden Goose.  Competing with them to find the goose – and doing their best to sabotage their quest -  is Jack and Jill (Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris).  Will Humpty ever forgive Puss in Boots for abandoning him years earlier?  Will his home town – and mother – ever forgive Puss in Boots for what they think he did? 

My two cents: I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie.  It had a lot of really funny throughout with pretty darn clever dialogue.  Other than the three main characters, the big scene stealers were Jack and Jill – a married couple raising pigs, but thinking about starting a family – which was a bit uncomfortable to hear.  While the 3D effects were not enough for the extra cost, I would definitely recommend seeing this movie.

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In Time

Movie: In Time

Genre: sci-fi / thriller

Synopsis: The movie is set some time in the future.  Humans have been genetically engineered so that they stop aging at the age of 25.  The catch is that when they turn 25, a digital countdown timer appears on their forearms.  The timer is set to exactly one year – which is when they die, unless they earn/buy/steal more time.  Time is the currency.  People are paid by having time added to their meter, they buy things buy having time subtracted from their meter.  They can even give – i.e. transfer - portions of their time to others.  Some people start each day with only a day or two on their meter – which means they need to get some time by the end of the day or they die.  Others have managed to accumulate eons of time.  Having too much time in the wrong time zone can get you killed.

Will Salas (Justine Timberlake) lives with his mother (Olivia Wilde).  They are extremely poor and very rarely have more than 24 hours of time.  When Will is given a century of time by a man tired of living, the trouble starts.  A Timekeeper (Cillian Muphy) assumes Will killed to get the century, and goes on the hunt to track him down.  Will teams up with the daughter (Amanda Seyfried) of a multi-millionaire (Vincent Kartheiser).  They become a sort of Bonnie and Clyde meets Robin Hood as they go around stealing time from banks and giving it away.

My two cents: This was a fascinating movie.  The idea of starting each day with only a day left was hard to stop thinking about. Because of the premise, everybody in the movie was supposed to look like they were 25 years old.  A man, his daughter and grandmother would all look to be the same age.  It must have made casting interesting.  I think it is about time that Justin Timberlake gets some serious Oscar attention. Definitely worth seeing.

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