Mirror Mirror

Movie: Mirror Mirror

Genre: fantasy comedy

Synopsis: The King (Sean Bean) is a widower with a young daughter, Snow White (Lily Collins – daughter of Phil).  The King gets remarried to the beautiful Queen (Julia Roberts).  When the King mysteriously disappears, the Queen’s true colors come out.  She banishes Snow White to her room and begins taxing the people of the kingdom mercilessly.  When Snow White manages to escape the castle for a visit to the village, she meets ends up with a handsome prince (Armie Hammer) who had been waylaid by seven bandit dwarves. The Queen decides she wants to marry the prince – and orders Snow White to be killed to eliminate the competition.  Of course, she ends up with the dwarfs.   

My two cents: This was a delightful movie.  Julia Roberts was spot-on as the over-the-top evil Queen.  Everything in the movie was just right.  Any adult with a sense of humor should enjoy this movie – and the dwarfs should be enough to keep kids happy.

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The Deep Blue Sea

Movie: The Deep Blue Sea

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Set in 1950, Hester (Rachel Weisz) is married to Sir William Collyer.  She falls in love with Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), an RAF pilot.  She leaves her husband to be with Freddie, even though she knows he is never going to really love her as she loves him.  The film follows this less-than-ideal relationship through the years.

My two cents: I love Rachel Weisz and she played a good role – but I really did not enjoy this movie.  Part of the problem is that I am always really annoyed at movies with female characters who throw themselves at jackass men who are so undeserving of their devotion . . . and Freddie certainly filled that bill.  I also could never quite figure out the direction of the movie – what it was trying to achieve..

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The Hunger Games

Movie: The Hunger Games

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Set in the future, North America has been decimated by both natural and human-induced disasters.  The remains of the continent were consolidated into 13 districts ruled by Panem.  74 years ago, there was a rebellion that resulted in Panem completely destroying the 13^th district.  As a punishment for the rebellion, once a year each of the remaining 12 districts must send two children to Panem to participate in the Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games are held in a huge high-tech outdoor arena filled with booby traps.  The game continues until only one child is left alive.  The movie follows 16-year-old Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) who is selected to be in the 74^th annual Hunger Games.

My two cents: This was a great movie based on a great book.  The bleakness of the 12 districts is overwhelming – especially contrasted to the opulence of Panem. Jennifer Lawrence was great as Katniss.  I also loved Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, the person in charge of prepping Katniss for the Games. There are a lot of big names in this movie, including Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland and Toby Jones.  This is one movie adaptation that you should definitely read the book before seeing.

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Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Movie: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Genre: Romantic comedy

Synopsis: Harriet (Emily Blunt) works in London for a wealthy Arab - Sheik Muhammed (Amr Waked).  The Sheik is a fly fishing enthusiast and decides he wants his Yemeni countrymen to be able to share his past-time.  In an effort to make this happen, Harriet hires Dr, Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) - a British government fishing expert – to come up with a plan to import salmon into a river in Yemen.

My two cents: The movie sounds crazy, but is actually quite good.  The sheik is quite a philosopher and is really intent on bettering the lives of his countrymen.  Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor were both great in their roles.  I especially loved the dry sense of humor Ewan McGregor’s character had.  If you like romantic comedies, this one will not let you down.  Definitely one of the best movies of 2012, in my opinion.

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Casa De Mi Padre

Movie: Casa De Mi Padre

Genre: comedy

Synopsis: This was a strange one. It guess “tongue in cheek” kind of describes it.  The movie is entirely in Spanish.  It is set on a ranch in Mexico.  The patriarch is Miguel Ernesto (Pedro Armendariz Jr.)  He has two sons: Raul (Diego Luna) who has been living in the city, but has now returned to the ranch; his other son is Armando (Will Ferrell)  - loyal but incredibly naïve (and stupid?).  The two brothers end up in a war against Mexico’s biggest drug lord.  Through into the mix Armando falling in love with Raul’s fiancée (Genesis Rodriguez).

My two cents: I am all for off-beat comedies – but this one was just too far out there for me.  I would love to have sat in on the pitch that convinced someone to put up the money to make this film.

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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.

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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.

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