Cold Weather

Movie: Cold Weather

Genre: mystery

Synopsis: Doug (Cris Lankenau) is a college dropout.  He had been majoring in forensic science before he quit school.  Now he is living with his sister, Gail (Trieste Kelly Dunn) in Portland and working the night shift in an ice factory. Rachel (Robyn Rikoon) is a former girlfriend who pays Doug a visit when she is in town.  When she seems to mysteriously vanish from her motel room, Doug and his sister take it upon themselves to figure out what happened and what became of Rachel.

My two cents: This movie started a little slowly, but picked up steam nicely.  Initially, you are not even sure there is a mystery to be solved.  I had a lot of fun following the two as they came across clues and tried to solve them to get to the next piece of the puzzle.

Bottom line: this is one of those independent gems that will be seen by far too few people.  Don’t pass up a chance to see it.

[49]

Hall Pass

Movie: Hall Pass

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are married to Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate), respectively.  The two men are obsessed with sex.  Specifically, they cannot stop fantasizing about having sex with everyone from the babysitter to the coffee barista to just about any female they see.  Finally the women have had enough.  They offer their husbands a one-week “hall pass”: a week when the wives take the kids out of town and the men can behave as if they are not married.  They can do whatever they want – with impunity.  The two men learn that they are not the smooth operators they seemed to think they would be.  Meantime, both of the wives end up having a bit of fun during the week.

My two cents: An interesting premise.  A lot of laughs.  Personally, I found the raunchiness of some of the situations to be a bit over the top.  That said, I really enjoyed seeing Jenna Fischer outside “The Office” – although I found it a bit of a stretch to view her as a middle-aged mother who has lost her physical appeal.  An interesting bit of casting had Richard Jenkins as a kind of sexual guru.

[48]

Unknown

Movie: Unknown

Genre: action thriller

Synopsis: Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) arrives in Berlin with his wife, Elizabeth (January Jones).  He is a biologist who has been invited to give a lecture at a conference.  After leaving his wife at the hotel, the taxi Martin is in has an accident.  The driver, Gina (Diane Kruger) saves his life – but then flees the scene.  Martin is in a coma for two days.  When he awakens, his wife not only does not recognize him – but has another man that she claims is her husband – Dr. Martin Harris.  Martin does not know if he is going crazy or if he is being duped.  He tracks down the taxi driver and enlists her help to get to the bottom of things.

My two cents: Pretty good.  I was stumped as to what the heck was going on until pretty close to the end of the movie.  There were a couple of excellent car chases.  Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger and January Jones were all great.  The movie was not as good as Taken, but definitely worth seeing.

[47]