The Lucky One

Movie: The Lucky One

Genre: romantic-thriller

Synopsis: Logan (Zach Efron) is a Marine on his 3^rd tour of duty in Afghanistan when his squad is ambushed.  He survives the ambush and is strangely inspired by a photo he finds on the ground.  It is a picture of a young girl in Louisiana.  He credits the picture with giving him the resolve to survive.  When he gets out of the Marines, Zach is determined to find the girl in the picture.  He finally tracks her down.  He learns her name is Beth (Taylor Schilling) and manages to meet her.  He learns that her husband was killed in action in Afghanistan.  Zach cannot bring himself to tell her his story and instead goes to work for her and manages to bring some light into her lands her son’s life – as well as her mother’s.  Along the line he does battle with Beth’s jealous ex-husband – who happens to be the sheriff.

My two cents: Definitely a feel-good movie. I was skeptical about how effective High School Musical veteran Zach Efron would be in portraying a seasoned war veteran.  I have to say that he did a pretty good job.  If you like a nice romantic movie, you should enjoy this.  I certainly did.

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Lockout

Movie: Lockout

Genre: sci-fi thriller

Synopsis: This is set in the future.  The worst criminals are kept in a space station.  When the president’s daughter, Emile (Maggie Grace) is visiting the space station prison to inspect the inmate’s conditions, an uprising occurs.  The result is the inmates take over the space station, leaving Emile in a rather precarious position.  When the president wants to send a rescue team, it is recommended instead that he send a single, very special man – Snow (Guy Pierce).  Unfortunately, Snow is in prison for a murder he did not commit.  A deal is struck, and Snow goes off to rescue Emile.  Naturally, there is more to everything than meets the eye..

My two cents: I enjoyed this movie.  Guy Pierce makes a good bad-guy-hero type.  I also liked Maggie Grace as spoiled rich kid who turns out to be not so spoiled at all.

[54]

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.

[52]

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.

[51]

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.

[50]

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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