Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Movie: Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: Sharon (Susan Sarandon) has two sons: Pat (Ed Helms), who is married to Linda (Judy Greer) and his younger brother, 30-year-old Jeff (Jason Segel), who lives in his mother’s basement.  Pat is not a nice guy – verbally abusive to his wife and just an all-around jerk.  Jeff is just aimless.  He is unemployed snd is intent on finding a ‘sign’ to get him on his path.  He gets a wrong-number call for Kevin – and decides that his is his sign.  His pursuit of “Kevin” the entire day results in a number of interesting events – playing basketball with a Kevin, running into his brother Pat . . . and much more.  At the same time, we follow his mother as she discovers that she has a secret admirer at work.

My two cents: This movie sounded a bit odd.  The only reason I saw it was the presence of Jason Segel, Ed Helms and Judy Greer. They did not let me down.  While this movie definitely qualifies a quirkey, it is also delightful – I like the way the different story lines converge . . . and I loved the way that Jeff finally understands where the path ends that the wrong-number call for “Kevin” set him on.

[38]

John Carter (3D)

Movie: John Carter (3D)

Genre: fantasy-action

Synopsis: This is based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian series.  John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is a Civil War veteran.  He finds a mysterious cave in the desert, which results in his losing consciousness.  When he wakes up – he is on Mars.  Mars is in the midst of a war between two groups of humans, with a third group of 12-foot high 4-armed creatures thrown in for good measure.  Because of the weaker Martian gravity, John Carter has enormous strength – and the ability to leap hundreds of feet in a bound.  He meets up with a beautiful princess (Lynn Collins) whose city is about to be destroyed by the other ‘human’ group.  Against his wishes, he is pulled into the war.  Lots of action and fighting follow.

My two cents: I had heard nothing but negative reviews and went into this with low expectations.  I loved it.  Lots of great battles and fighting.  I liked the damn-the-physics premise of John’s strength and leaping ability – and the presence of air on Mars.  This was written somewhere around 1910 – so cut it some slack. I think the science fiction from the first half of the 1900’s has a lot of charm that is lost in more recent literature.  Criticizing this movie for stuff like John’s leaping ability is like criticizing Twilight Zone for being too old-fashioned.  My only regret was that I did not see this in IMAX.

[37]

Silent House

Movie: Silent House

Genre: horror

Synopsis: Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen) and her father, John (Adam Trese) are at the family lakeside vacation home.  They are there to clean it out in order to sell the house.  As soon as they get there, strange things start happening . . . funny noises from upstairs, doors shutting by themselves.  Things start getting really tense when Sarah finds her father unconscious with a bad head wound – and then discovers that all of the doors are either stuck closed or locked and the windows boarded up, resulting in her being trapped inside the house . . .  with some unknown person.

My two cents: I loved this movie.  A good old horror movie done without buckets of blood and gore and non-stop graphic violence.  This is the 2^nd movie I have seen Elizabeth Olsen in.  I am becoming a big fan of hers.  As far as I could tell, she was in every single scene in this movie.  She did a marvelous job of looking like a young woman who is absolutely scared out of her mind.  I judge horror movies by what I call ‘goosebump moments”.  There were at least two scenes in this movies that gave me waves of goosebumps.  The mystery of who was in the house with Sarah (and who knocked out her father) really kept me guessing.  Everything led up to a fairly satisfactory climax.  This movie definitely gets a thumbs up from me.

[36]

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Movie: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Eva (Tilda Swinton) and Franklin (John C. Reilly) are the parents of Kevin (as a todder: Rock Duer, at 6-8: Jasper Newell, as a teenager: Ezra Miller).  To say that Kevin is disturbed is like saying that Charles Manson was not a nice man.  From the day he was born, it is as if Kevin’s mission in life was to make his mother’s life miserable.  He is absolutely amoral, but is clever enough to keep this side of himself hidden from everybody but his mother.  The movie is a series of flashbacks leading up to the ‘event’ that is the defining moment in Kevin’s life.

My two cents: I had read the book, so I knew what to expect.  I was not crazy about the way the movie jumps back and forth between flashbacks and the present (not sure if the book did this or not).  The coldblooded cruelty of Kevin is really breathtaking.  I was particularly impressed with the Kevin-the-toddler.  The baleful malevolent stare that this toddler had was amazing.  The actor playing the 6-8 year old Kevin was also amazing.  This is not to detract from Ezra Miller’s performance – its just that these other two actors were so young.  Tilda Swinton absolutely nailed her portrayal of a woman who has had her spirit totally beaten out of her by her son.  If you don’t mind a bit of creepy violence, this acting alone in this movie makes it worth your while.

[35]

Project X

Movie: Project X

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: Thomas (Thomas Mann), Costa (Oliver Cooper), and JB (Jonathan Daniel Brows) and high school seniors.  Thomas’ parents are going to be out of town for his 18^th birthday,  so Costa and JB talk Thomas into throwing a birthday party.  Things get wildly out of hand when hundreds of uninvited ‘guests’ show up for the party – which ends with news-helicopter coverage on the evening news.  It is a combination of a high school boy’s dream come true along with his worst nightmare.

My two cents: An amusing film - but nothing special.  I think they were trying to make the king of all high school party movies and kind of got carried away.

[33]

In Darkness

Movie: In Darkness

Genre: war drama

Synopsis: This is a dramatization of the true story of how a Polish Catholic sewer worker helped a group of Jewish refugees hide out in his town’s underground sewer system in the last 14 months of world War 2.  His actions save their lives.

My two cents: This was a pretty amazing story of survival.  Some of these people went 14 months without seeing the light of day.  The courage and strength it would take to do this is amazing – but these people also had children to take care of.  And once again I find myself amazed at the unthinkable brutality of the Nazis in World War 2.

[32]

Wanderlust

Movie: Wanderlust

Genre: romantic comedy

Synopsis: Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston play George and Linda, a married city couple.  When their financial situation nose dives, they end up moving into a commune.  At first it seems like a great idea, but then George starts having second thoughts, while Linda really embraces the new lifestyle.  Then they find that not everyone in the commune is entirely sincere in their seeming acceptance of the commune life.

My two cents: A really funny movie.  Be forewarned – there is considerable full frontal male nudity.  And while Jennifer Anniston goes topless – the camera remains focused on her back – or gets pixelated.  If you don’t mind frequent doses of really off-color humor and language, this movie will give you some good laughs.

[31]

Good Deeds

Movie: Good Deeds

Genre: romantic comedy/drama

Synopsis: Wesley Deeds (Tyler Perry) is the CEO of an investment firm founded by his father. Wesley is engaged and is a stand-up guy – the opposite of his conniving resentful brother, Walter (Brian White).  Walter is short-tempered, verbally abusive to women and seems determined to undermine his brother.  When Wesley meets Lindsey Thandie Newton, his life gets turned upside down.  For the first time, he imagines the possibility of doing things he wants, rather than following the narrow road laid out for him by his parents.  But first he has to deal with his brother, his fiancé (Gabrielle Union) and his domineering mother (Phylicia Rashad)

My two cents: I have a soft spot for Tyler Perry movies.  This is my favorite so far.  Best of all, there was nothing to be seen of Madea.  Tyler Perry is great at playing the successful businessman who is still a great guy.  It was fun watching the early scenes with Thandie Newton is cannot believe that anyone with Wesleys money and power could actually be a decent guy.  If you like feel-good movies, I definitely recommend giving this movie a chance.

[30]

This Means War

Movie: This Means War

Genre: spy-romantic comedy

Synopsis: A pair of CIA operatives (Chris Pine and Tom Hardy) discover that they are dating the same girl (Reese Witherspoon).  A friendly rivalry quickly devolves into a no-holds-barred-anything-goes fight between the two to wind the girl.

My two cents: I know this was just a comedy – but I just had a hard time accepting a pair of trained CIA operatives using CIA resources to run surveillance on each other and go to the extremes they did.  If you can get by that, it is a decent comedy – but will probably not be getting any Oscars.

[29]

Gone

Movie: Gone

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: Jill (Amanda Seyfried) was the victim of a kidnapping two years ago.  The good news is that she escaped.  The bad news is that she was never able to provide any evidence of her kidnapping.  The result was that everyone thought she made it up and she ended up in a psych ward.  Now she is out – and her sister has disappeared.  Jill is convinced that her kidnapper has kidnapped her sister,  Everyone else thinks she is having another breakdown – which leave it up to Jill to rescue her sister before the kidnapper kills her.

My two cents: I really enjoyed this movie.  Lots of suspense – especially when you start wondering if Jill is just imagining and/or making the whole thing up.  This did not last long in the theatres – I donlt really understand why.  I thought it was first-rate.

[28]

Act of Valor

Movie: Act of Valor

Genre: action

Synopsis: This movie had actual active duty Navy Seal Team members acting in the role of . . . Seal Team members.  It revolves the rescue of a kidnapped CIA agent and the efforts to stop a terrorist attack in the United States.

My two cents: Some of the acting was, understandably, a bit wooden.  Lots of action scenes.  Worth seeing just to see real Seal Team guys in action.

[27]