Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes sends Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson on their latest challenge. Revealing fighting skills as lethal as his legendary intellect, Holmes will battle as never before to bring down a new nemesis and unravel a deadly plot that could destroy the country.

This movie was a lot of fun. It had many flaws if you are looking for a well made movie, but the performances of Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law were great. The chemistry between the two of them was amazing. Right off the bat, they played off of each other phenomenally well. There was a winding story line that if you really end up analyzing it would probably make the movie stupid and sucky. However, I chose to just enjoy this for the holiday popcorn movie that it was and really enjoyed it. I also liked that they had the gusto to not only put this movie out there, but to be blatantly building towards a built in sequel all along as well. I'm already looking forward to it.

I would definitely recommend people checking this movie out. Its a great watch as long as you don't over analyze it. Just enjoy the ride. Downey and Law were really great together.

The Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans

In Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Nicolas Cage plays a rogue detective who is as devoted to his job as he is at scoring drugs -- while playing fast and loose with the law. He wields his badge as often as he wields his gun in order to get his way. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina he becomes a high-functioning addict who is a deeply intuitive, fearless detective reigning over the beautiful ruins of New Orleans with authority and abandon. Complicating his tumultuous life is the prostitute he loves (played by Eva Mendes). Together they descend into their own world marked by desire, compulsion, and conscience. The result is a singular masterpiece of filmmaking: equally sad and manically humorous.

This was one of the most horribly overacted movies I have ever seen. Nicolas Cage was beyond painfully bad. Eva Mendes was equally awful. Why either one of them chose to be in a movie that would have been a great dirty cop movie . . . . . . in 1983 is beyond me. I pulled the plug after about the first 45 minutes because it was bad and the only reason that WW made it to the end was that she kept telling herself that it would have to get better. It didn't.

I would never recommend anyone bothering to check out this movie. This is one of those movies that didn't get a limited release for nomination cred and buzz build up. It got released limited because it is just straight up poop.

An Education

It's 1961 and attractive, bright 16-year-old schoolgirl, Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is poised on the brink of womanhood, dreaming of a rarefied, Gauloise-scented existence as she sings along to Juliette Greco in her Twickenham bedroom. Stifled by the tedium of adolescent routine, Jenny can't wait for adult life to begin. One rainy day, her suburban life is upended by the arrival of an unsuitable suitor, 30-ish David (Peter Sarsgaard). Urbane and witty, David instantly unseats Jenny's stammering schoolboy admirer, Graham (Matthew Beard). To her frank amazement, he even manages to charm her conservative parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour), and effortlessly overcomes any instinctive objections to their daughter's older, Jewish suitor. Just as the family's long-held dream of getting their brilliant daughter into Oxford seems within reach, Jenny is tempted by another kind of life. Will David be the making of Jenny or her undoing?

This was a really good character drama. Every character seems very genuine and you could totally see Jenny and her parents being "seduced" by David. You know that somehow its going to fall apart and feel for all of them as it does and watching them deal with it.

I'd definitely recommend people checking this movie out. Its a great watch. I wouldn't put in on my 10 best list like a lot of critics have, but it is absolutely not a waste of your time.

Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

There have been many great movie sequels. There have even been prequels. Now, get ready for the world's first "Squeakquel," in which Alvin, Simon and Theodore finally meet their match – and maybe more – in the newly arrived female trio, The Chipettes.

This movie is exactly what you would expect it to be. Its a replica of the first one. They sing some current songs. There are a few chuckles for the adults and kids are guaranteed to love it. The best part of the movie is that its like an hour and 20 minutes long. If you liked this first one, you will enjoy this one just as much.

I would recommend that anyone with kids (or adults that liked the first one) bite the bullet and check this out. Its too short to be overly painful and they will absolutely love it.

The Messenger

Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband's death, Will's emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival.

This is another one of those powerful but dark character dramas that flood the zone this time of year. Bottom line with this one is that its a great movie with amazing performances that I could see getting nominated for numerous awards. However, it is a dreary watch. Just like Brothers a couple of weeks ago, I watched this knowing that it was a great, well done and well acted movie but you really feel down and drained after watching it.

I would definitely recommend anyone who is in to award nominated movies check this one out. Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster put forth two of the better performances of the year in this one.

Avatar

The story's hero is Jake Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. Bitter and disillusioned, he's still a warrior at heart. All Jake ever wanted was something worth fighting for, and he finds it in the place he least expected: on a distant world. Jake has been recruited to join an expedition to the moon Pandora, which corporate interests are strip-mining for a mineral worth $20 million per kilogram on Earth. To facilitate their work, the humans use a link system that projects a person's consciousness into a hybrid of humans and Pandora's indigenous humanoids, the Na'vi. This human-Na'vi hybrid – a fully living, breathing body that resembles the Na'vi but possesses the individual human's thoughts, feelings and personality – is known as an "avatar." In his new avatar form, Jake can once again walk. His mission is to interact with and infiltrate the Na'vi with the hope of enlisting their help – or at least their acquiescence – in mining the ore. A beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake's life, albeit reluctantly, because even in his avatar body, Jake represents to her the human encroachment on the Na'vi's unspoiled world. As Jake's relationship with Neytiri deepens, along with his respect for the Na'vi, he faces the ultimate test as he leads an epic conflict that will decide nothing less than the fate of an entire world.

This is without a shadow of a doubt the most visually amazing movie ever made. I can't remember the last time that I said "Wow" out loud so many times during a movie. I was afraid that the effects and method of filming would be all there was to this movie, but I was wrong. There was a story. It was pretty basic for a 3 hour movie, but it was there. The character development was done well enough that you get pumped up by the good guys and are totally rooting against the bad guys as the movie goes on. Is it too long? Of course it is. They could have easily trimmed out some of the tribal scenes to bring this to 2 1/2 hours. And the script at times was silly to say the least. I'm not sure that I will ever recover from the fact that they actually named the hard to obtain mineral "unobtanium". That was rough. Outside of that, I really have no complaints about this movie.

I strongly recommend that everyone check this movie out. Its a must see visual treat and the movie is very enjoyable.

Up In The Air

Up in the Air stars George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a corporate hatchet man who loves his life on the road but is forced to fight for his job when his company downsizes its travel budget. He is required to spend more time at home just as he is on the cusp of a goal he's worked toward for years: reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he's met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.

This was a great movie. Its worthy of all the award recognition but its not one of those overly artsy movies. Its a really enjoyable watch. You really feel for the characters and you are fully invested in the short journey of thier lives you get to watch for 2 hours. Its also beyond realistic in every way and really makes you see all different ways that life can be lived and the reasoning behind it.

I fully recommend everyone checking out Up In The Air. Its a fun watch, a very well done movie, and one of the better movies to come out this year.

The Princess & The Frog

The Princess and the Frog is a tale, featuring a beautiful girl named Tiana, a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again, and a fateful kiss that leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana. The Princess and the Frog marks the return to hand-drawn animation.

Disney has finally gone back to its roots with awesome success. Disney was at its best when it would churn out one of these a year. They had that amazing stretch with The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King and Beauty & The Beast. Then it kind of faded a little bit with The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan and Tarzan. They were all still great and then Disney fell in love with Pixar and stopped making these types of movies that inevitably become classics just because of the mix of great storylines for kids, awesome sidekick characters and original music/dance scenes mixed in. The Princess And The Frog returns to that formula in every way. They can go ahead and get these characters walking the streets of Disney World. Its not quite on par with those four absolute triumphs that I mentioned, but its pretty close and thats very impressive considering the long layoff. I hope that Disney can capitalize on this and keep making these types of movies to go along with Pixar's greatness. It would be awesome to have an Up and a Princess And The Frog every year.

I fully recommend this movie. Its a great trip to the movies for kids and adults. Probably the best universal option that you'll have for the holidays.

Invictus

The film tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.

Every year there is one of these. There is always one movie that comes out this time of year that is a very well made movie in every way. It will probably get nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and numerous Best Acting nominations. However, I am just not into it at all. Last year it was The Reader. This year it is Invictus. I knew all along that I was watching a "great" movie, but I wasn't remotely hooked by it at all and just kind of watched it completely uninterested. I guess it didn't help that I know absolutely nothing about Rugby. There were a lot of very dramatic rugby scenes where I had no idea what was going on. I have a whole new respect for people sitting through sports movies that have no idea about sports after seeing this one.

I am really not the right person to be recommending or not recommending this movie. If you want to see all the oscar worthy movies - you should check this out. I was pretty bored by it though and felt it lacked a legitimite emotional hook.

Brothers

Shipped out to Afghanistan, Sam is presumed dead when his Black Hawk helicopter is shot down in the mountains. At home in suburbia, the Cahill family suddenly faces a shocking void, and Tommy tries to fill in for his brother by assuming newfound responsibility for himself, Grace, and the children.But Sam is not dead; he and a fellow soldier have been captured by Taliban fighters. In Afghanistan's harsh, remote Pamir Mountains, Sam is subjected to traumas that threaten to rob him of his very humanity. At the same time that Sam's sense of self is being destroyed overseas, Tommy's self-image is strengthening at home. And in the grief and strangeness of their new lives, Grace and Tommy are naturally drawn together. Their longstanding frostiness dissolves, but both are frightened and ashamed of the mutual attraction that has replaced it.When Sam unexpectedly returns to the States, a nervous mood settles over the family. Sam, uncharacteristically withdrawn and volatile, grows suspicious of his brother and his wife. Their familiar roles now nearly reversed, Sam and Tommy end up facing the ultimate physical and mental challenge when they confront each other.

This is one hell of a character drama. All three actors put forth great performances and were completely believable. I could never imagine having to go through what Tobey Maguire's character went through and the dementia that something like that would cause. As a movie goer, this is one hell of a heavy watch though. You feel exhausted and spent after watching it because it is so real and jarring.

I'd recommend people checking this out. Just be warned that it is a very heavy watch. With this being such a down year for acting, I could see some of them maybe being considered for awards.

The Blind Side

A homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, Oher (Quinton Aaron) is taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential on and off the football field. At the same time, Oher's presence in the Touhys' lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own.Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle.

This is easily the feel good movie of the year. I had laughed watching the marketing of this movie and can't remember the last time that a movie reached every possible demographic like this. They had the whole Oprah/female circuit with the story of the mom. Its about football so the guys are in too. They pushed the hell out of the funny little brother so kids are in as well. And then when you factor in how senior citizens LOVE true stories, there is nobody that wasn't looking forward to seeing this movie. I am a HUGE football fan and leading up to last years draft this was actually one of the guys I wanted the Jets to move up and draft based on the film I had seen of him. That was before I knew all the background story. Now I might go out and get myself a Michael Oher jersey. How can this story not make you feel great to be a human being? Every performance in this movie was on point. This is easily Sandra Bullock's best performance to date.

I am giving this movie the stamp of must see. It is a fabulous movie. It is a great story. It makes you laugh, cry and leaves you feeling good.

Armored

A crew of officers at an armored transport security firm risk their lives when they embark on the ultimate heist... against their own company. Armed with a seemingly fool-proof plan, the men plan on making off with a fortune with harm to none. But when an unexpected witness interferes, the plan quickly unravels and all bets are off.

This is yet another dictionary definition of you saw the movie by seeing the commercial. Its a tough guy, testosterone movie with some guys feeling guilty and some guys feeling greedy. Its formula in every way and there isn't a single non-cliche character in this.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone unless you have a desire to see a mindless good guy vs bad guy movie. That really is all that this movie is and there's no way you don't know every second of the movie by watching the commercial.

Old Dogs

Two best friends -- one unlucky-in-love divorcee (Robin Williams) and the other a fun-loving bachelor (John Travolta) -- have their lives turned upside down when they're unexpectedly charged with the care of six-year-old twins while on the verge of the biggest business deal of their lives. The not-so-kid-savvy bachelors stumble in their efforts to take care of the twins (newcomers Ella Bleu Travolta and Conner Rayburn), leading to one debacle after another, and perhaps to a new-found understanding of what's really important in life.

This movie had a couple of big laughs. Its also short enough and paced fast enough that you don't feel completely weighed down by it. The part that throws me off is that this is a Disney family comedy with a lot of material that maybe shouldn't be thrown at the kids. The whole premise is based on a one night stand that produced two kids. I'm not so sure that should be comedic material in a family movie. Its also a lot of cheap humor. Don't get me wrong. I have a very high tolerance for cheap humor and did chuckle at a lot of it, but I will call it like it is.

I wouldn't really recommend that anyone be rushing to check this out. Its not fully for kids, but its kind of too low brow/formula for adults.

Everybody's Fine

Everybody's Fine follows a widower (De Niro) who embarks on an impromptu road trip to reconnect with each of his grown children only to discover that their lives are far from picture perfect.

When I saw the trailer for this movie, it did nothing other than open up the massive scars from "The Family Stone". Not sure if anyone remembers that movie. I sadly will never forget it. It was advertised as a feel good, family comedy for the holidays. WW and I were all psyched to see it. Turns out the movie was about the kids finding out that their mother was dying of cancer and this would be the last holiday that they would spend with her. It might honestly be the most devastating movie going experience ever. I saw the trailer for this and immediately assumed that Robert DeNiro was going to die. SPOILER ALERT . . . . . . . . . . . I was wrong. He makes it. However, this movie is horribly misadvertised. Its marketed as a comedy drama. There is NO comedy in this whatsoever. Actually, I'm wrong. I laughed at one scene that DeNiro has with his grandson about 15 minutes in to the movie. Outside of that there was nothing. Even the title is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off. It should have been called Everybody's Not Fine. Putting my rambling aside - this is a watchable movie - IF you can identify with the crazy family dynamics. Essentially the mother passes away and the father who never really had a connection with any of the kids is trying to establish one now and the kids are trying to shield him from all the tough things in their lives.

As for my recommendation, if that last part above strikes an understanding nerve with you then you could check this movie out. If you have no idea what I mean by that or don't understand it - you won't enjoy this movie at all. Its purely a situational watch.

The Road

The Road is an epic post apocalyptic tale of a journey taken by a father (Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee) across a barren landscape that was blasted by an unnamed cataclysm that destroyed civilization and most life on earth.

I really liked this movie. I just can't really figure out why. Its not that I shouldn't have liked the movie. The performances were great. The cinematography was amazing and really took you to the post apocalyptic world. Maybe it was just that the movie took right off? The movie didn't really have a beginning. They were just kind of there in this really crappy future for our world. They kept flashing back to conversations between the father and mother where they kept talking about knowing what they had to do . . . . . . but never really said what it was. The father and son just kept travelling . . . . . but I'm still totally in the dark as to what they were travelling to. They finally got to the ocean . . . . . . but what closure does that provide? Even with these knocks against the movie, at no point was I bored or not interested in what was going on. I'm still very confused as to what it was that made me really like this movie. Usually I'd be able to go on and on about how great it was. This vexes me.

I'm not sure whether or not to recommend this movie because of my aforementioned confusion about liking it. Its a downright dreary journey that really sucks you in. I really liked it. I just don't know why.