We Bought a Zoo

Movie: We Bought a Zoo

Genre: family-drama

Synopsis: Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) is the recently widowed father of the 7-year-old Rosie (Magee Elizabeth Jones) and 14-year-old Dylan (Colin Ford).  Benjamin decides his family needs a major change, so he quits his job and buys a new house – that happens to come with a 17-acre zoo.  The head zoo-keeper is Kelly (Scarlett Johansson).  The zoo is in bad physical shape and in dire financial straits, but Benjamin is determined to make a go of it.  The goal is to get everything fixed up so that the zoo can pass inspection and re-open.

My two cents: I was not too enthusiastic about seeing this movie. But . . . Matt Damon has never let me down and I am fans of both Scarlett Johansson and Elle Fanning, so I decided to give it shot.  Good decision.  The phrase that keeps coming to mind when I think of this movie is “heart warming”.  Benjamin is good person and a good father who is trying his best to raise his children following the loss of his beloved wife.  His son was a little over-the-top with his self-pity; but his sister more than made up for his character.  I cannot wait to see more of Magee Elizabeth Jones.  She is only seven, but pretty much stole every scene she was in.

If you like a feel-good movie, give this a shot.

It turns out the whole movie is based on fact. While the movie is set in Southern California, the zoo it portrays is actually in England.

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The Adventures of Tintin in 3D IMAX

Movie: The Adventures of Tintin in 3D IMAX

Genre: animated adventure

Synopsis: Based on the wildly popular Belgian books, this is a stop motion movie – the same style as “Polar Express”.  Tintin (Jamie Bell) is a hot-shot reporter in Belgium.  When he buys a model of the Unicorn – a famous sailing ship that sank in the 1600’s - things start happening.  Two different men try to buy it from him – one of them gets shot.  Someone steals the ship.  It turns out the ship has a clue to a fabulous treasure from the 1600’s.  Tintin teams up with Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), a descendent of the captain of the Unicorn, to track down the two other clues and ultimately find the missing treasure.

My two cents: I had never heard of Tintin until this movie came out.  While the animation and 3D effects were decent, the movie as a whole was pretty disappointing.  Perhaps if I had read the Tintin stories I might have enjoyed it more.  Instead, I found myself taking frequent looks at my watch to see how much longer I was going to have to sit through it.

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Young Adult

Movie: Young Adult

Genre: Comedy-drama

Synopsis: In a small Minnesota town high school, Mavis (Charlize Theron) was at the top of the food chain.  She was homecoming queen and the envy of everyone.  Her boyfriend was Buddy (Patrick Wilson).  The classic loser-geek was Matt (Patton Oswalt) who had the locker below Mavis’ all through high school.  Fast forward to the present – Mavis is a 37-year-old ghost writer who is miserably unhappy.  She gets it into her head that she is going to return to her hometown and rescue Buddy from his wife and new-born child.  Things do not go as planned.  The only one who really will have anything to do with her Matt – the geeky nerd.  The movie follows her repeated attempts to reclaim Buddy – who does not want to be reclaimed- and her increasing friendship with Matt.

My two cents: I enjoyed this movie – but it was a bit on the dark side.  There are things that make you laugh, but then feel guilty because it is so dark.  An example is the story of how Matt was brutally beaten and maimed when he was in high school.  Doesn’t sound funny – but I found I was chuckling in spite of myself.  Mavis is so unhappy and seems so unable to do anything other than dig herself even deep into her pit of misery. The best scenes are those with Mavis and Patton Oswald’s Matt.  I thought I knew what direction the ending was heading . . . but it took a left turn that left me surprised.

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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Genre: spy drama

Synopsis: This takes place during the 1970’s at the height of the cold war. The movie opens with a botched operation in Prague.  The fallout results in Control (William Hurt) being removed as head of MI-6.  A senior operative, George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is also forced into retirement.  It turns out that Control had been convinced that there was a mole in MI-6.  Smiley is brought back in to try and if there is a mole – and to uncover him if there is.  Control had narrowed the list of suspects to three operatives, code named Tinker, Tailor and Soldier (played by Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds and Colin Firth – not necessarily respectively).  Now Smiley has to devise a way to verify the existence of the mole – and find him.

My two cents: I loved this movie.  It was suspenseful and riveting – without a lot of action.  It was more like watching a chess game.  Gary Oldman was great as George Smiley.  He often said little – but it was clear his brain was working a mile a minute.  Just looking at him, you knew he had a formidable intellect.  If you like spy movies – especially the cerebral type – don’t pass up this movie.

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The Darkest Hour 3D

Movie: The Darkest Hour 3D

Genre: sci-fi horror

Synopsis: Two young men are in Moscow, trying to close an Internet-based business idea.  They meet a couple of young American girls in a nightclub.  While they are there, mysterious glowing “things” start falling from the sky.  These “things” are virtually invisible and pursue and annihilate any living creature that they find.  They also have managed to totally the electrical grid.  These four Americans are among the few in Moscow to survive the first night’s attack.  The movie follows them as they try to find either some place safe and ultmately a way out of Moscow.

My two cents: This seemed more suitable to a made-for-TV movie.  The special effects were decent, but the story line was a little too implausible and inconsistent.

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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Movie: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Genre: drama

Synopsis: This is the sequel to Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. back as Sherlock and Jude Law as Watson.  This brings us Jared Harris as Professor James Moriarty, the arch enemy of Sherlock Holmes in the original books.  Throughout the movie, it seems that Moriarty is one or two steps ahead of Holmes as Holmes pursues Moriarty through Europe..  The climax is a battle between the two high in the Swiss Alps.

My two cents: A decent sequel.  I would like to have seen more or Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler), but you can’t have everything.  I thought the middle of the movie dragged a little, but the final 30 or 40 minutes were well worth waiting for.

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The Women on the 6th Floor

Movie: The Women on the 6^th Floor

Genre: drama

Synopsis:  This is a French film set in Paris with English subtitles.  Jean-Louis Joubert (Fabrice Luchini) is the wealthy head of an investment firm founded by his father (or perhaps it was his grandfather).  His wife, Suzanne (Sandrine Kiberlain) is a bit of a socialite who ‘exhausts’ herself with social funcitons, charities and managing the family maid.  Jean-Louis owns the six-story apartment building in which they live.  The sixth floor consists of a bunch of small rooms and a single bathroom.  This is a floor occupied by a large number of maids from Spain.  They are all poor and live in pretty lousy conditions.  Jean-Louis has a comfortable life, but not a happy life.  The new family maid lives on this floor.  One day he has his eyes opened to the squalor the maids on the sixth floor live in.  A simple, for him, act of kindness brings great relief to one of them. Jean-Louis discovers that hanging out with the maids brings him happiness.  The maids discover that, although rich, Jean-Louis is a very decent fellow.  When his wife decides that Jean-Louis must be fooling around – she makes him move out – so he moves into a room on the sixth floor and finds happiness.

My two cents: I loved this movie.  You have this rich fellow who should have been on top of the world, but is actually quite unhappy with his life.  He discovers that the poor maids on the 6^th floor are much happier in their lives than he is.  I really enjoyed watching how he became a part of the maids’ lives and found such happiness living in a single room among them.

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