The Darkest Hour 3D

Movie: The Darkest Hour 3D

Genre: sci-fi horror

Synopsis: Two young men are in Moscow, trying to close an Internet-based business idea.  They meet a couple of young American girls in a nightclub.  While they are there, mysterious glowing “things” start falling from the sky.  These “things” are virtually invisible and pursue and annihilate any living creature that they find.  They also have managed to totally the electrical grid.  These four Americans are among the few in Moscow to survive the first night’s attack.  The movie follows them as they try to find either some place safe and ultmately a way out of Moscow.

My two cents: This seemed more suitable to a made-for-TV movie.  The special effects were decent, but the story line was a little too implausible and inconsistent.

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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Movie: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Genre: drama

Synopsis: This is the sequel to Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. back as Sherlock and Jude Law as Watson.  This brings us Jared Harris as Professor James Moriarty, the arch enemy of Sherlock Holmes in the original books.  Throughout the movie, it seems that Moriarty is one or two steps ahead of Holmes as Holmes pursues Moriarty through Europe..  The climax is a battle between the two high in the Swiss Alps.

My two cents: A decent sequel.  I would like to have seen more or Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler), but you can’t have everything.  I thought the middle of the movie dragged a little, but the final 30 or 40 minutes were well worth waiting for.

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The Women on the 6th Floor

Movie: The Women on the 6^th Floor

Genre: drama

Synopsis:  This is a French film set in Paris with English subtitles.  Jean-Louis Joubert (Fabrice Luchini) is the wealthy head of an investment firm founded by his father (or perhaps it was his grandfather).  His wife, Suzanne (Sandrine Kiberlain) is a bit of a socialite who ‘exhausts’ herself with social funcitons, charities and managing the family maid.  Jean-Louis owns the six-story apartment building in which they live.  The sixth floor consists of a bunch of small rooms and a single bathroom.  This is a floor occupied by a large number of maids from Spain.  They are all poor and live in pretty lousy conditions.  Jean-Louis has a comfortable life, but not a happy life.  The new family maid lives on this floor.  One day he has his eyes opened to the squalor the maids on the sixth floor live in.  A simple, for him, act of kindness brings great relief to one of them. Jean-Louis discovers that hanging out with the maids brings him happiness.  The maids discover that, although rich, Jean-Louis is a very decent fellow.  When his wife decides that Jean-Louis must be fooling around – she makes him move out – so he moves into a room on the sixth floor and finds happiness.

My two cents: I loved this movie.  You have this rich fellow who should have been on top of the world, but is actually quite unhappy with his life.  He discovers that the poor maids on the 6^th floor are much happier in their lives than he is.  I really enjoyed watching how he became a part of the maids’ lives and found such happiness living in a single room among them.

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Shame

Movie: Shame

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Brandon (Michale Fassbender) has a successful and well-paying career in Manhatten.  His seemingly perfect life has a dark side.  He is a sex addict.  He feels the need to “release” multiple times a day.  If the urge hits him at work, he is liable to pull up some porn on his computer, find someone for a quicky or simply retire to the privacy of a bathroom stall.  The problem is that none of this even remotely makes him happy.  His very orderly life is disrupted when his sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan), unexpectedly moves in for an extended stay following a breakup. It is as if this disruption is a tipping point and Brandon’s life starts spiraling out of control.

My two cents: This was one dark movie.  Great performances by Fassbender and Carey Mulligan.  I became a fan of Carey with her performance in “An Education”.  In “”Shame” she plays a durg-user who has made multiple attempts at suicide.  I can’t really decide if I liked this movie or not.  The acting was good, but the story was so dark and depressing that I left the theatre emotionally drained.

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New Year’s Eve

Movie: New Year’s Eve  

Genre: romantic comedy

Synopsis: This multi-story ensemble movie had an impressive cast that included Halle Berry, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Robert De Niro, Cary Elwes, Alyssa Milano, Jessica Biel, Seth Myers, Sarah Paulson, Carla Guigino, Katherine Heigl, Joh Bon Jovi, Sofia Vergra, Ashon Kutcher, Lea Michelle, Sarah Jessica Parker, James Belushi, Hilary Swank, Ludicris and Josh Duhamel.  It consisted of 5 or 6 different stories that followed captured the trials and tribulations of different sets of people in New York City, leading up to the ball dropping in Times Square on New Years.

My two cents: I was a bit disappointed.  I guess with a cast like that, I just expected more.  It was entertaining – just not up to the level I had hoped for.

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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1

Movie: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1

Genre: horror-romance

Synopsis: This is the fourth installment of the Twilight series,  At last, Bella and Edward are going to be married.  The problem is that the Cullen family is supposed to “turn” Bella somewhere along the line.  According to the treaty between the Cullens and the werewolves, this act will break the treaty – leading to an all-out war between the vampires and werewolves.

My two cents: I am losing patience with this series.  The only thing that keeps me going are the werewolves and the occasional vampire battle.  I am soooooo tired of longing looks exchanged between Bella and Edward.  If you eliminated these looks and the accompanying sighs, the movie would last about half an hour. My problem is that I keep hoping for the movies to go more to the horror side of things, while they are definitely leaning ot the romance side.  Oh well.

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