Bernie

Movie: Bernie

Genre: comedy-true crime

Synopsis: This is based on fact.  In the 1990’s, Bernie (Jack Black) arrives in a small Texas town to be an assistant mortician.  Bernie is almost too good to be true.  The elderly ladies of the town love him, he sings in the choir, is a boys scout troop leader - - - you name the good deed that needs doing and Bernie is doing it.  Then he befriends Marjorie Nugenta (Shirley Maclaine), wealthy widow.  Marjorie becomes completely dependent on Bernie.  What ensues results in a police investigation lead by Danny Buck (Matthew McConaughey) and allegations of murder.

My two cents: This was one strange movie – especially when it turns out to be true.  Jack Black was great as Bernie.  If you like off-beat comedies with a bit of darkness, you should like this.

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Headhunter

Movie: Headhunter

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: This is a Danish film with sub-titles. Martin Vinge is a corporate headhunter who supplements his income by stealing expensive artwork.  Then he steals a painting from someone who turns out to have a special-ops background.  Big mistake.  Martin ends up fleeing for his life and desperately trying to figure out how he is being tracked.

My two cents: This was a darned good movie.  Lots of twists and turns to the plot.  To say that Martin has a bad couple of days is to put it mildly.  I have not seen a character get so physically abused since Bruce Willis’s John McClane in the Die Hard movies.

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Battleship

Movie: Battleship

Genre: alien invasion

Synopsis: During some multi-national naval war games off of Hawaii, alien space ships land and place a force field around the islands.  One by one they start destroying all of the ships that are inside the force field bubble.  One of the last surviving ships is commanded by Lt. Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) – only because all of the other officers have been killed.  It is up to him to lead the effort to save the world.

My two cents: This one was a bit of a stretch.  There are soooo many things that just do not make sense.  For example, a sailor yelling to turn left (whatever happened to that whole port and starboard thing).  I don’t want to give too much away, but the way they get one last ship to do battle with the aliens was so unbelievable that I could not get past it.  And the basis for saying this is based on the board game was so thin that I convinced myself that it was not really based on the game – although I subsequently read that it really was.  If all you want are battle scenes between good-guy-humans and bad-guy-aliens, this might do it for you, otherwise – wait for the DVD or HBO.

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Dark Shadows in IMAX 3D

Movie: Dark Shadows in IMAX 3D

Genre: supernatural

Synopsis: This was based on the 1960’s TV series.  Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) plays a wealthy vampire living in 18^th century New England.  When he scorns Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), he discovers that she is a witch with more power than he can handle.  He ends up chained in a buried casket.  Fast forward to the present.  A construction crew unearths Barnabas’ coffin and he is set free.  He finds his descendants have squandered the family fortune.  He sets out to help them rebuild – but finds out that Angelique is still around and still one very angry witch.  The battle continues.

My two cents: I was kind of disappointed.  The scenes between Johnny Depp and Eva Green were pretty good, but the movie just did not keep me interested.

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The Avengers in IMAX 3D

Movie: The Avengers in IMAX 3D

Genre: superhero thriller

Synopsis: This is the movie that the Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Captain America (Chris Evans) movies have been leading up to.  They are joined by The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Black Widow (Scarlette Johansson) in being asked to join Nick Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson) S.H.I.E.L.D. project.  The current goal of S.H.I.E.L.D. is to save the earth from an invasion being mounted by Thor’s evil brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston).

My two cents: This was a great movie.  Once we got past all the introductions and the squabbling between superheroes who are not used to sharing the spotlight, there was more than enough action.  The way they interacted was great.  I especially liked the expansion of David Banner’s (Mark Ruffalo) field of expertise being expanded from medicine to include nuclear physics.  I don’t know that the 3D was worth the extra money – but the IMAX certainly was.  I cannot wait for the next installment.

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Safe

Movie: Safe

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: Luke Wright (Jason Statham) is a disgraced former New York cop.  He happens to see someone chasing Mei (Catherine Chan).  Mei is a young Chinese girl with a photographic memory.  She was brought to New York to be the record keep for the Chinese Triad.  She has tried to escape – which is when Like see her and manages to rescue her.  The rest of the movie consists of Luke fighting the Triad, the New York mob, and the NYPD – all of her are seeking to kill him and capture Mei.

My two cents: If you like Jason Stratham movies, you will like this. Jason has one of the most intimidating scowls on the big screen – and he does a lot of scowling in this movie.  I never get tired of him kicking whoever’s butt needs kicking.  I definitely liked this movie.

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The Raven

Movie: The Raven

Genre: historical thriller

Synopsis: John Cusack portrays Edgar Allan Poe in 19^th century Baltimore.  Poe is desperately trying to find someone to publish anything of his.  He is called upon to help the police when it becomes apparent that someone is committing a series of grisly murders that mimic in every detail murders from stories Poe has published.  It gets pretty suspenseful in the end as to whether Poe will be able to decipher the clues from the murders and stop the killer.

My two cents: A pretty interesting movie.  Better than I expected. The final 10 or 15 minutes really kept me on the edge of my seat.

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