J. Edgar

J. Edgar explores the public and private life of one of the most powerful, controversial and enigmatic figures of the 20th century. As the face of law enforcement in America for almost fifty years, J. Edgar Hoover (DiCaprio) was feared and admired, reviled and revered. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career and his life.

The first thing I have to say is that the makeup job on older J Edgar and company is one of the worst I've ever seen. It looked so fake. Very lame. That being said, this was a pretty decent movie. Good performances by the whole cast and there was really good back and forth between past and present and through lots of historical cases. One thing I absolutely am not is a history buff so at no point was I wrapped up in the accuracy of any of it. I just enjoyed watching this very complex character work through his sexuality, obsessiveness and awkwardness.

I would recommend people checking this out. Again, I'm not sure how much history buffs might be bothered by its accuracy levels but I enjoyed it enough to watch the whole thing. 

Arthur Christmas

Set on Christmas  night, the story of Arthur Christmas at last reveals the incredible, never-before seen answer to every child's question: 'So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?' The answer: Santa's exhilarating, ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole. But at the heart of the film is a story with the ingredients of a Christmas classic - a family in a state of comic dysfunction and an unlikely hero, Arthur, with an urgent mission that must be completed before Christmas morning dawns.

This movie decided to push the whole dysfunctional family bit using the Claus family this time.  Apparantly they are a bunch of selfish, thick headed men who are really the opposite of "Christmas spirit" except for the youngest son Arthur who is a textbook clutz.  All the grandfather cares about it showing the oldest son and heir apparant Steve that he is right.  Steve just wants to be named Santa because he knows everything and Santa is portrayed as a lazy one that just wants to sleep after not really doing anything.  It was all a little too much waa-waa for me.  The elves were cool and provided most of the funny lines, but that was really about it.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to see this.  It's not horrible.  It's somewhat watchable but there has to be better movies you could see or just pop in a much better Holiday movie.

Hugo

Hugo tells the story of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. With the help of an eccentric girl, he searches for the answer to a mystery linking the father he recently lost, the ill-tempered toy shop owner living below him and a heart shaped lock, seemingly without a key.

This is a tough one to review.  I felt myself wanting to like it throughout out because the movie was awesome visually with all the inner gear workings of the clocks, the cinematography was great and I really liked how they took us in to this train station and built a whole world of intriguing characters within its walls.  I stayed very intrigued to these characters for over an hour before I started wondering where this movie was going.  Then I played the game of checking to see how much longer there was and getting more and more disenchanted by how it wasn't really going anywhere and there was no actual storyline.  The movie was about 2 hours long - MUCH longer than it needed to be and it ended up being really artsy fartsy. 

I wouldn't recommed anyone bothering with this movie.  It started off really good and had a ton of potential but ultimately ended up going nowhere.

The Muppets

On vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world's biggest Muppet fan, and his friends Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams) from Smalltown, USA, discover the nefarious plan of oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to raze the Muppet Theatre and drill for the oil recently discovered beneath the Muppets' former stomping grounds. To stage The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever and raise the $10 million needed to save the theater, Walter, Mary and Gary help Kermit reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways: Fozzie now performs with a Reno casino tribute band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management, and Gonzo is a high-powered plumbing magnate.

There is no movie that I was looking forward to this year more than this movie.  I have been a lifelong Muppets fan.  It was baffling to me how they have been just kind of back there on the backburner for so many years.  There have been a bazillion remakes, relaunches, etc over the last several years and I couldn't understand how this was left alone - especially with Disney having the rights to it.  God bless, Jason Segel for bringing them back to the forefront of entertainment where they belong.  All the spoof trailers and posters leading up to the movie were textbook Muppets and what I grew to love as a child.  The movie capitalized on that even more because they were mocking their loss of popularity throughout with an ending that explained the exact joyfulness that I - and any other true fan of them for the last 25-30 years will - felt watching this on the big screen again.  Hopefully they can get back to churning out movies or television specials again like they used to. 

I couldn't recommend this movie more if I tried.  Its an absolute joy for adults and children alike and is so long overdue.  I had super high expectations and the movie completely met them.  Get out there and welcome the Muppets back, people!

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas

The new Harold & Kumar comedy picks up six years after the duo's last adventure. After years of growing apart, Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) have replaced each other with new friends and are preparing for their respective Yuletide celebrations. But when a mysterious package mistakenly arrives at Kumar's door on Christmas Eve, his attempt to redirect it to Harold's house ends with the "high grade" content and Harold's father-in-law's prize Christmas tree going up in smoke. With his in-laws out of the house for the day, Harold decides to cover his tracks, rather than come clean. Reluctantly embarking on another ill-advised journey with Kumar through New York City, their search for the perfect replacement tree almost blows Christmas Eve sky high.

I tried.  I did.  I had zero interest in seeing this movie.  How is this a franchise at this point?  It was a couple of laughs one trick pony that got a sequel that was garbage.  Now there is a third one that on top of the one trick pony joke of getting high - it wants to be a spoof on 3D now too.  I made it literally 15 minutes in and just couldn't be bothered anymore.  There are so many other things I could do with my time. 

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting their time with this.  Not even the 15 minutes I did.  This is just plain lame.

Breaking Dawn - Part 1

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions.

They don't even bother giving these movies legit plot summaries anymore.  Basically, there isn't one.  This is literally a "you read the book so you are going to see the movie" franchise.  This one was really nothing more than a three scene set up for the second part.  They get married.  They go on a honeymoon.  She has a baby.  That's it.  Seriously.  I was pretty bored by this one.  Definitely more so than the previous three installments.  But none of that matters because if you love the story - you love the movie.  If you don't - then you don't.

Like I said - my recommendation really doesn't matter whatsoever.  You either live for this "story" or you have no interest whatsoever.  I felt like it was just a set up but Part 2 really won't make much sense without this three scened movie.

Happy Feet Two

Happy Feet Two  returns audiences to the magnificent landscape of Antarctica. Mumble, The Master of Tap, has a problem because his tiny son Erik is choreo-phobic. Reluctant to dance, Erik runs away and encounters The Mighty Sven - a penguin who can fly!! Mumble has no hope of competing with this charismatic new role model. But things get worse when the world is shaken by powerful forces. Erik learns of his father's 'guts and grit' as Mumble brings together the penguin nations and all manner of fabulous creatures - from tiny Krill to giant Elephant Seals - to put things right.

I think I might have liked this more than the first one. The first one was enjoyable only because of the music. The cuteness factor fizzled out after a while. This one didn't rely on the cuteness as much. The story was good, the music was great and the traveling through all different characters was awesome. I think that was what made the movie more enjoyable. And the two krill recurring throughout like Scrat in the Ice Age movies were also very funny.

I would definitely recommend people checking this out. It has great music, big laughs and very entertaining for both kids and adults.

Jack And Jill

Jack and Jill is a comedy focusing on Jack Sadelstein (Adam Sandler), a successful advertising executive in Los Angeles with a beautiful wife and kids, who dreads one event each year: the Thanksgiving visit of his identical twin sister Jill (also Adam Sandler). Jill's neediness and passive-aggressiveness is maddening to Jack, turning his normally tranquil life upside down. Katie Holmes plays Erin, Jack's wife.

This was one of the most utterly pointless and stupid movies I've ever seen. It's basically just another Adam Sandler movie with all the usual stupidity and two Adams in it. The fact that Al Pacino was in this was beyond baffling. It's not that the movie didn't have laughs. There were a couple, but this is pretty much a big waste of time.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone wasting their time with this movie. There are much better options out there and this is definitely one of Sandler's lamer offerings.

Like Crazy

 A love story is both a physical and emotional tale, one that can be deeply personal and heartbreaking for an audience to experience. Like Crazy illustrates how your first real love is as thrilling and blissful as it is devastating. When a British college student (Felicity Jones) falls for her American classmate (Anton Yelchin) they embark on a passionate and life-changing journey only to be separated when she violates the terms of her visa. Like Crazy explores how a couple faces the real challenges of being together and of being apart.

Another artsy snoozefest.  This one is one of those "raw emotion" movies about longing lovers.  I didn't care about the characters whatsoever.  Didn't care what ended up happening to them.  I could see artsy fartsy fans loving the range of emotions on the characters.  I didn't. 

I obviously wouldn't recommend people checking this one out.  Again - my level of boredom might not be shared by all so if you were interested in seeing this - perhaps you should not heed my review here.  It was a giant nap though.

A Dangerous Method

On the eve of World War I, Zurich and Vienna are the setting for a dark tale of sexual and intellectual discovery. Drawn from true-life events, A Dangerous Method takes a glimpse into the turbulent relationships between fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung, his mentor Sigmund Freud and Sabina Spielrein, the troubled but beautiful young woman who comes between them. Into the mix comes Otto Gross, a debauched patient who is determined to push the boundaries. In this exploration of sensuality, ambition and deceit set the scene for the pivotal moment when Jung, Freud and Sabina come together and split apart, forever changing the face of modern thought.

This is another one of those artsy character pieces.  I get that Kiera Knightley was technically putting forth a great performance with her psychosis and what not, but it annoyed the living hell out of me and I could barely watch.  And even though I'm becoming a huge Michael Fassbender fan - this movie was just too boring and annoying to finish.  Pulled the plug about halfway through.

I obviously wouldn't recommend the movie because I was too annoyed/bored.  I do realize that they were actually pretty good performances and my level of boredom and annoyance might not be shared by all.  If you are into autobiographical movies like this - you will probably enjoy this a lot more than I did.

Immortals

The brutal and bloodthirsty King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) and his murderous Heraklion army are rampaging across Greece in search of the long lost Bow of Epirus. With the invincible Bow, the king will be able to overthrow the Gods of Olympus and become the undisputed master of his world. With ruthless efficiency, Hyperion and his legions destroy everything in their wake, and it seems nothing will stop the evil king's mission. As village after village is obliterated, a stonemason named Theseus (Henry Cavill) vows to avenge the death of his mother in one of Hyperion's raids. When Theseus meets the Sybelline Oracle, Phaedra (Freida Pinto), her disturbing visions of the young man's future convince her that he is the key to stopping the destruction. With her help, Theseus assembles a small band of followers and embraces his destiny in a final desperate battle for the future of humanity.

This is another one of those wannabe 300 movies.  It had that same visual flair as 300 and the other attempts at something like it.  This one is probably the closest to 300 because it actually had a story not just a bunch of buff dudes running around and lots of gore.  I was one of the people that thought 300 was amazing visually but not as totally awesome as many others did.  I feel pretty much the same way about this one.  I guess I'm just not in to the whole Greek Gods thing enough to really get in to the story. 

I would lukewarmly recommend people checking this out.  But that is based on my lessened level of interest in the subject matter.  I have no doubt that those of you that liked 300 will be sure to like Immortals as well.

Tower Heist

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in "Tower Heist," a comedy caper about working stiffs who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them.

This is another one of those you see the trailer - you see the movie type deals.  There were no great laughs or scenes that were you didn't see already.  There was no real big twists that you didn't see already or weren't telegraphed long in advance.  The movie wasn't horrible.  It was somewhat watchable but really ended up just kind of being there.

I would lukewarmly recommend people checking this out.  It's not really worth the time or money and you might be better just waiting to watch this one at home.

11-11-11

• After the tragic death of his wife and child, famed American author Joseph Crone travels from the United States to Barcelona, Spain to reunite with his enstranged brother Samuel and dying father, Richard. However, fate has a different plan for Joseph as his life becomes plagued with strange happenings, and the constant sightings of the number 11. Curiosity quickly turns to obsession, and Joseph soon realizes that this number holds a horrific meaning not only to himself but possibly to all of religion. Isolated in a foreign country with only the support of his companion, Sadie, Joseph soon realizes that 11/11/11 is more than just a date, it's a WARNING!


• This movie didn't really have any legitamite actors in it. The only guys I recognized played a cop in Final Destination 2. I'm not sure if this is going to be one of those same release in theaters and at home or not but it felt like one of those. Regardless, the movie was surprisingly good for a while. Lots of cheesy scary movie jumps. No excessive gore or anything like that and they kept you pretty interested in how it was progressing. I don't want to say that the ending ruined it but it did get a little over the top with the "spirits/creatures" and I was felt like they kind of lost me although the twist ending brought me back somewhat.


• I would lukewarmly recommend people checking this out. Its not a must see by any means but it was short enough and watchable enough for me.