The Watch

Movie: The Watch

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: Evan (Ben Stiller) is a compulsive organizer.  He manages to organize a neighborhood watch that includes Bob (Vince Vaughn) and Franklin (Jonah Hill).  Nobody but Evan really takes the job seriously – until they discover signs of an alien invasion (seriously).  It is now up to The Watch to save the world.

My two cents:  This will probably not get any Oscar nods, but I really enjoyed it.  I had my usual problem with Vince Vaughn – he just annoys the crap out of me.  If you like typical Ben Stiller and/or Jonah Hill (or even Vince Vaughn) movies, you should enjoy this.

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Farewell, My Queen

Movie: Farewell, My Queen

Genre: historical drama

Synopsis: This is a French movie with English subtitles.  This movie chronicles the final days of the French aristocracy at Versailles before the mobs descended on it during the French Revolution.  It is told from the perspective of Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux) who is the personal reader of Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger).

My two cents: An interesting movie.  It really brings home how the utter arrogance and the debauchery of the French ruling class at Versailles is exceeded only by the complete disregard and contempt most of them had for the masses.

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To Rome With Love

Movie: To Rome With Love

Genre: romantic comedy

Synopsis: Directed by Woody Allen, this movie is several smaller stories that are interwoven.  In one, Alec Baldwin is a successful, but unhappy, architect who seems to be trying to capture something from when he lived in Rome as a young man.  Another has Jesse Eisenberg and Alison Pill as a young couple with a friend (played by Alsion Pill) who comes between them.  In a third story Roberto Benigni is an office worker who wakes up one morning to discover that overnight he has become the most famous man in the world – for reasons that he never does learn.  There are one or two other story lines – and all of the stories cross at least one of the other stories somewhere along the line.

My two cents: I so loved Midnight in Paris that I was hoping for something as good.  I did not find it.  Individual performances were OK, it just never came together for me. The movie was entertaining, but nothing more.  I would probably not even bother to see this if it was on TV.

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Savages

Movie: Savages

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: To set the cast: Chon (Taylor Kitsch) is a former Navy Seal, quite comfortable with violence.  Ben (Aaron Johnson) was a horticultural guru and more the peaceful stuff.   O (Blake Lively) is the girlfriend of both – and all three live together.  Elena (Selma Hayek) is the ruthless head of a Mexican Drug Cartel and Lad (Benicio Del Toro) is her equally ruthless enforcer. Chon and Ben make an unlikely pair of best friends.  Along with O, they have become growers of the country’s best marijuana.  They have no plans on expanding their business and are the antithesis of the classic drug dealers – very laid back and reasonable.  Until Elena decides to become partners with them.  When they are not enthusiastic enough for her, she kidnaps O.  This sets up the rest of the movie with the boys trying to rescue O and not get themselves killed in the process.

My two cents: My only real beef with this movie is with the trailers I thought they were a bit deceptive.  My expectation that I would be watching two guys go on a mission of vengeance to rescue their girlfriend – I was thinking of Denzel Washington’s swath of destruction in Man on Fire.  That was not this movie.  That said – I really did enjoy it.  I liked was the way it showed how a decent peaceful person (Ben) could, when pushed hard enough, descend into being a pretty darned violent and ruthless person. I also enjoyed how Elena was portrayed – one minute she is ordering men to be brutally killed and the next moment is on the phone pleading with her daughter to call her (from college) more often.  All of the main characters were very well played.

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Ted

Movie: Ted

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: When a young John Bennett gets a teddy bear for Christmas, his makes a wish for the teddy bear to be real so they can be friends forever.  His wish is granted – and his teddy bear comes to life.  Flash forward to John in his thirties.  He and Ted are still best friends and still live together.  The problem is that they are both stoners and John is not making any progress in growing up.  His girlfriend, Lori (Mila Kunis) starts pressuring John to make a split from Ted.  Naturally, both Ted and John resist this idea.

My two cents: This is an R-rated film and the humor is often off-color.  That said, this is the funniest movie I have seen in years.  Ted is voiced by Seth McFarland, so it was like watching Peter Griffin re-incarnated as a teddy bear.  Scene after scene of people just accepting a teddy bear walking around, talking, making crude remarks and groping women never got old.  To see Ted making amorous advances on anything in a skirt . . .  to paraphrase Nora Jones (she played herself in the movie): “Sex with Ted was pretty good – which is surprising since he doesn’t have a penis”.   If you don’t mind some R-rated humor, this movie should keep you in stitches.

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The Dark Knight Rises

Movie: The Dark Knight Rises

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: This is the third and final chapter in this reboot of the Batman series.  Batman (Christian Bale) has been off the grid for seven years.  After Harvey Dent died in the previous movie, Batman took the blame for his death.  He wanted the (good) image of Dent to remain with the public rather than the true evil side of Dent.  Now it seems that crime is returning to Gotham City – in the form of Bane (Tom Hardy).  Bane is absolutely one of the most intimidating villains of any of the recent super-hero movies.  While Bane tries to take over the city, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) tries to get Batman back on the job.  Fox (Morgan Freeman) and Alfred (Michael Caine) are back for the ride.  New players are Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levit), an eager young patrolman; Miranda (Marion Cotillard), a wealthy philanthropist; and – best of all – Selina (Ann Hathaway).  Selina is really Catwoman.  She is a cat burglar who keeps getting the best of Bruce Wayne, although they ultimately team up.  After a lot of waffling, Batman finally dons his suit and enters the battle to save Manhatten.   

My two cents: This might just be the best of the three Christopher Nolan-Christian Bale Batman movies.   Lots of nice gadgets and action.  They also spend some time on the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Alfred.  Batman is far from invincible in this movie – he actually gets his butt kicked early on.  Anne Hathaway could not have been better as Catwoman (although they never use that name).  It was great to see her consistently out-fox and out-maneuver Bruce Wayne.  My favorite part of the movie was in the last five minutes or so.  It wraps things up brilliantly.  I can’t say more without giving too much away – but even if the rest of the movie had sucked (which it did not), the final couple of scenes would have made up for it.  If you are any kind of a Batman fan, you should love this one.

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Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Movie: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Genre: romantic comedy

Synopsis: Dodge (Steve Carell) is an accountant.  When it is announced that a meteor is soon going to strike – and destroy – the earth, things start to fall apart.  After his wife leaves him, he strikes up a friendship with his neighbor, Penny (Keira Knightley).  He decides to try and help Penny get back to her family (in England) before the world ends.  This launches the two of them on a rather unusual road trip.

My two cents: I went into this movie curious about how you make the end of the world humorous.  Well, they did it.  I think Steve Carell is the go-to-guy for romantic comedies.  He was perfect in this movie.  The stops the two of them make on the road are hilarious – and touching.  Definitely a movie worth seeing if you like romantic-comedies.

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