American Reunion

Movie: American Reunion

Genre: romantic comedy

Synopsis: Everyone from American Pie (and its six sequels) are back for the boys’ thirteen year reunion.  Everyone is a little older and a little wiser (except for Stiffler).  Now wives and kids are added to the mix.

My two cents: Well . . . .  I got bored pretty quickly.  I mean . .  . what school has a 13-year reunion.  If you are a fan of the other American  ____ (fill in the blank) movies, you will probably enjoy this.  I think my favorite scene was near the end of the movie – it was a scene with Stiffler meeting the MILF of his dreams.

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The Three Stooges

Movie: The Three Stooges

Genre: slapstick comedy

Synopsis: We get to see how the Larry (Sean Hayes), Curly (Will Sasso) and Moe (Chris Diamantopoulos got their start – as infants in an orphanage run by Mother Superior (Jane Lynch) and her nuns – including Sister Rosemary (Jennifer Hudson) and Sister Mary-Mengele (Larry David).  Now adults – but still at the orphanage – the stooges set out to earn enough money to save the orphanage from foreclosure.

My two cents: If you are a Three Stooges fan, you would like this.  I questioned casting Sean Hayes as Larry – but he was actually pretty good.  Larry David as a nun was certainly interesting.  The gem, though, was Will Sasso as Curly.  There were times when I could have been watching the original Curly.  He captured his moves, his mannerisms, his sounds, … he nailed everything.  That said, I found that watching men whack each other with hammers and take a chainsaw to someone’s forehead just was not quite as funny to watch as when I was ten.

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Detention

Movie: Detention

Genre: horror-comedy

Synopsis: A killer named Cinderhella is murdering his way around the students of Grizzly Lake’s high school.  The students are busy trying to figure out who the killer is, before they are all dead.

My two cents: The movie sounded interesting, but it hit me as being just kind of stupid.  Knowing what I know now – I would not even waste my time watching it on HBO.

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The Cabin in the Woods

Movie: The Cabin in the Woods  

Genre: horror

Synopsis: Five friends are headed to a cabin in the woods.  When they get there, really bad things start happening.

My two cents: I was dying to see this movie.  The trailers showed the requisite grizzled tobacco-chewing creepy guy directing them to the cabin.  Then the trailers also showed this same creepy guy on the phone telling someone that the subjects were on their way.  This movie was quite unique.  The way they blended good old fashioned zombie-style horror hi-tech “stuff” (I don’t want to give more away) was quite ingenious.  This movie spends a lot of time with its tongue planted firmly in place.  If you let yourself go with the flow, you should have a good time with it.

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Titanic in 3D IMAX

Movie: Titanic in 3D IMAX

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: I think everyone probably knows the story here.  This was a re-release in IMAX 3D.

My two cents: This was the first time I saw this movie.  It was pretty impressive.  It has been a while since a movie made me do so much reflecting.  Two weeks after seeing it, I find myself still thinking about it a lot.  Hat said . . . I don’t think that the IMAX 3D really added much.

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Delicacy

Movie: Delicacy

Genre: romantic comedy

Synopsis: Natalie (Audrey Tautou) is an executive in a small company.  When her husband dies in a traffic accident, Natalie deals with her grief by throwing herself into her work.  Eventually, almost by accident, she starts dating a Swedish do-worker.  The movie follows the blossoming romance and how she deals with the conflicts that arise.

My two cents: This was a really sweet and enjoyable romantic comedy.  It was nice to see the beautiful woman fall for the somewhat dorky, slightly overweight guy with a receding hairline.

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Goon

Movie: Goon

Genre: drama-comedy

Synopsis: In a family of PhD’s, Doug (Seann William Scott) is the black sheep who works as a bouncer.  Doug is at a hockey game with a friend when he gets into a scuffle with one of the players.  The scuffle is resolved when he knocks out the player.  The coach is so impressed that he hires Doug to be a goon – a player whose purpose in life is to get into fights with opposing players.  Doug seems to have found his niche in life, as well as a girl, although his parents do not agree. The movie builds to a climactic game in which Doug goes toe-to-toe with the soon-to-retire reigning king of the league’s goons, played by Liev Schreiber

My two cents: I liked this movie, but hoped to like it more.  I liked seeing Seann William Scott is a role other than Stiffler.  He did a pretty decent job.  The movie had the elements to be really good, but only managed to be pretty good.

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The Raid: Redemption

Movie: The Raid: Redemption

Genre: martial arts thriller

Synopsis: This is an Indonesian film set in Jakarta, with English subtitles.  Tama is a local crime lord has taken over an entire apartment building has his headquarters.  Neither police nor rival crime gangs have been able to penetrate it.  Rama (Iko Uwais) is a member of a Jakarta swat team sent in to try and capture Tama and shut down his organization.  Things do not go well and soon Rama is pretty much on his own versus an entire building of gangsters out to kill him.

My two cents: I was not overly impressed with this movie.  Lots of martial arts action, but nothing to set it apart from other movies in the genre

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Wrath of the Titans

Movie: Wrath of the Titans

Genre: fantasy adventure

Synopsis: This is a sequel to Clash of the Titans.  Sam Worthington is back as Perseus, the half-human/half-god son of Zeus (Liam Neeson).  Zeus’s brother, Hades (Ralph Fiennes) Ares have captured Zeus and are draining him of his power in order to release the Titans (led by Zeus’s father, Kronos) upon the world.  The only person who can save the world is Perseus.

My two cents: I was underwhelmed by this; but then, I was underwhelmed by the remake of Clash of the Titans.

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Mirror Mirror

Movie: Mirror Mirror

Genre: fantasy comedy

Synopsis: The King (Sean Bean) is a widower with a young daughter, Snow White (Lily Collins – daughter of Phil).  The King gets remarried to the beautiful Queen (Julia Roberts).  When the King mysteriously disappears, the Queen’s true colors come out.  She banishes Snow White to her room and begins taxing the people of the kingdom mercilessly.  When Snow White manages to escape the castle for a visit to the village, she meets ends up with a handsome prince (Armie Hammer) who had been waylaid by seven bandit dwarves. The Queen decides she wants to marry the prince – and orders Snow White to be killed to eliminate the competition.  Of course, she ends up with the dwarfs.   

My two cents: This was a delightful movie.  Julia Roberts was spot-on as the over-the-top evil Queen.  Everything in the movie was just right.  Any adult with a sense of humor should enjoy this movie – and the dwarfs should be enough to keep kids happy.

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The Deep Blue Sea

Movie: The Deep Blue Sea

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Set in 1950, Hester (Rachel Weisz) is married to Sir William Collyer.  She falls in love with Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), an RAF pilot.  She leaves her husband to be with Freddie, even though she knows he is never going to really love her as she loves him.  The film follows this less-than-ideal relationship through the years.

My two cents: I love Rachel Weisz and she played a good role – but I really did not enjoy this movie.  Part of the problem is that I am always really annoyed at movies with female characters who throw themselves at jackass men who are so undeserving of their devotion . . . and Freddie certainly filled that bill.  I also could never quite figure out the direction of the movie – what it was trying to achieve..

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The Hunger Games

Movie: The Hunger Games

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Set in the future, North America has been decimated by both natural and human-induced disasters.  The remains of the continent were consolidated into 13 districts ruled by Panem.  74 years ago, there was a rebellion that resulted in Panem completely destroying the 13^th district.  As a punishment for the rebellion, once a year each of the remaining 12 districts must send two children to Panem to participate in the Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games are held in a huge high-tech outdoor arena filled with booby traps.  The game continues until only one child is left alive.  The movie follows 16-year-old Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) who is selected to be in the 74^th annual Hunger Games.

My two cents: This was a great movie based on a great book.  The bleakness of the 12 districts is overwhelming – especially contrasted to the opulence of Panem. Jennifer Lawrence was great as Katniss.  I also loved Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, the person in charge of prepping Katniss for the Games. There are a lot of big names in this movie, including Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland and Toby Jones.  This is one movie adaptation that you should definitely read the book before seeing.

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Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Movie: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Genre: Romantic comedy

Synopsis: Harriet (Emily Blunt) works in London for a wealthy Arab - Sheik Muhammed (Amr Waked).  The Sheik is a fly fishing enthusiast and decides he wants his Yemeni countrymen to be able to share his past-time.  In an effort to make this happen, Harriet hires Dr, Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) - a British government fishing expert – to come up with a plan to import salmon into a river in Yemen.

My two cents: The movie sounds crazy, but is actually quite good.  The sheik is quite a philosopher and is really intent on bettering the lives of his countrymen.  Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor were both great in their roles.  I especially loved the dry sense of humor Ewan McGregor’s character had.  If you like romantic comedies, this one will not let you down.  Definitely one of the best movies of 2012, in my opinion.

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Casa De Mi Padre

Movie: Casa De Mi Padre

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: This was a strange one. It guess “tongue in cheek” kind of describes it.  The movie is entirely in Spanish.  It is set on a ranch in Mexico.  The patriarch is Miguel Ernesto (Pedro Armendariz Jr.)  He has two sons: Raul (Diego Luna) who has been living in the city, but has now returned to the ranch; his other son is Armando (Will Ferrell)  - loyal but incredibly naïve (and stupid?).  The two brothers end up in a war against Mexico’s biggest drug lord.  Through into the mix Armando falling in love with Raul’s fiancée (Genesis Rodriguez).

My two cents: I am all for off-beat comedies – but this one was just too far out there for me.  I would love to have sat in on the pitch that convinced someone to put up the money to make this film.

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