Cinema Paradiso

Actors: Phillipe Noiret, Jacques Perrin, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi
Rating: 8 out of 10, this is the first movie with subtitles that I ever sat all the way through. Any true lover of movies should have this movie which tracks the life of a true movie fanatic and film director from the age of five until middle age. The young actor does extremely well and the relationship with his secret father, who is the projectionist at the cinema, is so poignant. The movie is set in post WW2 Sicily but it has some universal truths as well as the characters that seem to inhabit all small towns. There are so many funny moments as the denizens of this town evolve with the movies they watch. The ending scenes, where we see the modern village, you share their sense of loss of innocence. It was an interesting mix of French and Italian actors but this movie works on so many levels. The movie ends with one of the best scenes in movie history as the adult Toto watches the bequeath of his recently deceased father, a compilation of all the on screen kisses that the village priest had required be excised before the film could be viewed. If you love movies and you haven’t seen Cinema Paradiso then you are not complete.
MVP: Noiret as Alfredo the beloved projectionist and secret father of Toto who nurtures his love of the movies

Jackie Brown

Actors:  Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Michael Keaton, Robert Deniro, Bridget Fonda

Rating;  8 out of 10, another great addition to the work of Tarrantino that includes one of the most detestable villains in movie history in Jackson’s Ordel Robbie.  I think Jackson breaks some sort of record for the number of times he uses the F word.  This was great fun as we watch the almost shy romance develop between the grizzled bail bonds man Max Cherry (Forster) and Jackie (Grier), the world weary flight attendant.  This takes place in the whirlwind of crime “masterminded” by Jackson and his befuddled, ex con employee Louis, played with great aplomb by Deniro.  He is so good in supporting roles like this.  Fonda as the drug soaked beach bunny is so gratingly good that you almost cheer when Deniro finally has had enough.  This is what Tarrantino does, surrounding his really memorable characters with a convoluted plot that moves right along.  Of course you have to include any discussion of this movie, the Chicks with Guns video (Ordel’s marketing tool), a great extra on the blu ray.  This was a very long movie that is well worth the time spent, great fun.

MVP:  Forster as Max Cherry the smitten hero who serves as the stable character with all the craziness swirling around him

The Warrior’s Way

Actors:  Dong-Gun Jang, Kate Bosworth, Kate Bosworth, Danny Huston, Tony Cox

Rating:  8 out of 10, this is a movie that shouldn’t work but does because it doesn’t try to be something it is not.  This is just great, ass kicking action laid on top of a paper thin, implausible plot with great set design.  This is how you bring a graphic novel to the screen and make it shine.  The lead actor is superb, while saying almost nothing.  He combines with Rush to overcome the shortcomings of Bosworh who is again, almost unwatchable as the female lead.  The impossible fight scenes are flawlessly choreographed.  Huston is a little over the top as one of the villains but that’s what’s called for; again, this movie does not try to be anything it is not – just a lot of fun.  There are small touches throughout that makes a kung fu master somehow running a Chinese laundry in a wild west ghost town with a second rate French circus run by a midget a very compelling movie.  This is great popcorn fare.

MVP:  Jang as Yuan, the very dangerous assassin  

Red Riding Hood

Actors:  Amanda Seyfried, Julie Christie, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Virginia Madsen, Max Irons, Lukas Haas

Rating:  3 out of 10, I was really looking forward to this movie when I first saw the previews.  I thought it had a chance to be something special.  I missed it at the theater and bought it, unseen, when it came out on blu ray.  Before I saw it I told my son and he laughingly told me that I would hate it.  Boy was he right!  This is a terrible movie.  There is a great cast and Seyfried, Christie, and Oldman deliver but the rest were terrible, bordering on despicable.  The two young male leads could not have been worse, especially Fernandez, with Irons almost as bad.  It’s hard to believe he’s Jeremy Irons’ kid – apparently acting doesn’t breed true.  Neither was believable and seemed to be posturing for the entire movie without actually bothering to act.  The director is most likely to blame for this disaster as he/she seems to go for “cool” camera shots instead of noticing if the cast is actually acting or not.  I get the impression this movie was made for prepubescent teenage girls, I don’t have that t-shirt.  There is nothing to recommend this movie – it just flat stinks.

MVP:  Seyfried, as always, is solid as Valerie, the female lead surrounded by apocalyptic level incompetence

Midnight in Paris

Actors:  Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Mimi Kennedy, Kurt Fuller, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates

Rating:  9 out of 10, my daughter brought me to see this movie this past summer when she was up for a visit.  I was a huge Woody Allen fan back in my youth but his efforts over the past couple of decades were, for me, self indulgent junk.  I was therefore less than enthusiastic, but I trust my daughter, so we went and my faith in her was totally redeemed.  This is just a great movie.  It involves time travel but without all the usual attendant sci fi slap and dash.  This is, in truth, a homage to writing in general and seeking the truth.  Wilson really steps up in this movie.  I’ve always thought he was an underrated actor but he won’t be after this.  There are great actors spread throughout the movie in bit parts playing some of the literary colossi of the 1920s.  I like the message that everyone wishes for life in a simpler, more romantic time but in reality we’re all blessed with the life in the time we inhabit.  I love reading and seeing a new legendary figure unveiled in each succeeding scene was a great deal of fun.  Woody also added in his usual zingers, comic lines hidden in the dialogue that you would miss if you aren’t paying attention.  A smart movie that was a lot of fun watching again.

MVP:  Wilson as Gil, the lost author who ultimately finds himself in the 1920s – best part of his career

Red

Actors:  Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss
Rating:  10 out of 10, just look at that cast, a truly great movie that most critics would dismiss as pure popcorn.  What's wrong with that - on a certain level that's what all movies should hope to be.  This movie is pure entertainment with Willis in the lead along with Parker and the rest of the cast of distinguished actors doing good work when it would have been easy to just sleep walk through it.  Willis is a very underrated actor and his romance of Parker which starts off with his kidnapping of her to save her from assassins is extremely sweet.  He is more than capable of the physical parts his roles called for but can also insert nuance as well in all of his scenes with Parker.  He's a guy you root for almost instinctively - one of those actors that almost forces you to like him.  The pace is great as new characters are added and subtracted to keep the plot bouncing along. You sense the real bond between the characters as well as the futility of their post operative lives. Mirren and Malkovich are especially fun - I'd watch anything they're in.  It looks like they had a lot of fun making this movie and it translate to a great movie that most serious critics will hate - screw em - this one was fun.
MVP:  Willis as the love struck ex-super agent Frank Moses

Columbiana

Actors:  Zoe Saldana, Michael Vartan, Amandla Stenberg, Jordi Molla, Lennie James, Cliff Curtis
Rating:  8 out of 10, a lot of great action in this movie with a lead in Saldana that is more than capable of carrying the entire movie.  Saldana is a very interesting actress, from the outside she looks like a skinny waif but when the camera role she totally sells the ability to be a bad ass.  She's done it in several movies now and she is awesome in this.  The story is completely implausible, a la Luc Besson, but as usual with his movies, it works.  Here more so than his Jovovich efforts because he has in Saladana, an honest to god actor.  The rest of the cast does a great job of supporting Saldana, especially Cliff Curtis as the assassin mentor.  One of my favorite actors from Snatch, Lennie James, plays the FBI agent in pursuit, only barely able to cover his British accent.  Stenberg, the girl who plays the young lead is very good, especially during the parkour chase through the streets of Bogota.  Vartan plays the romantic interest but is barely used, he's very good and I wonder why he doesn't do more.  This is a very good movie and more than worth the watch.
MVP:  Zoe Saldana, who else, is sexy, vulnerable and extremely dangerous as the graceful assassin Cataleya

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Actors:  Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Wentworth Miller, Shawn Roberts
Rating:  7 out of 10, this movie has flashes where it is actually interesting but for the most part it was used a vehicle for moving the "story" forward and getting rid of the extra Alices left over from the last film.  There were some really poor choices in casting, the worst being Miller as a long lost brother to Larter.  He was good in a TV show a few years ago but he appeared totally lost in this movie.  You know he's a bad actor when Jovovich is acting circles around you.  The Alice character had become almost too cartoonish in the recent movies so they take away her super powers in this one.  She's still a bad ass but I think this was a move in the right direction.  This is really more like three episodes of bad TV than a major motion picture.  As is the case in too many movies they lose sight of the plot just so they can showcase some cool 3D technology.  I've said before, the best science fiction is when they focus on the people and their story instead of the effects.  This movie tries to do that but the actors are not up to task and there are too many tangents.  This movie was definitely a bridge to the next movie where I hear they're bringing Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine back - that should definitely help.  This movie was still enjoyable - if for no other reason than the fight scenes which are really well done.
MVP:  Jovovich as the indestructible Alice still kicks ass

Robin Hood

Actors:  Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt, Mark Strong, Max Von Sydow, Oscar Isaac, Mark Addy

Rating:  8 out of 10, Crowe teams up with director Ridley Scott again for an historical epic.  This is a really solid movie with an incredible cast at the top of their game trying to reinvent the Robin Hood legend.  I had forgotten how good this movie was, even my wife enjoyed it and she’s not the historical epic kind of gal.  As a student of history I was a little incredulous with some of the leaps they took the hero through.  Going from a simple archer to leading an entire army and serving as the author of the Magna Carta was just a bit of a stretch – read that to mean way too much.  Given that, the action scenes were extremely well done as was the bawdy edge the merry men enjoyed in Nottingham.  Strong is just a great villain, he has such screen presence.  As I was watching the actress playing Eleanor I kept thinking back to Katherine Hepburn playing the same character so well in The Lion in Winter.  Crowe only shows flashes of the charisma that made his character in Gladiator so compelling, he seems to have grown complacent.  He was definitely the weakest of the leads.

MVP:  Mark Strong as Godfrey, sociopath, traitor, Francophile friend of Prince John

Larry Crowne

Actors:  Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Cedric the Entertainer, Wilmer Valderrama, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Pam Grier, Rita Wilson, George Takei
Rating:  9 out of 10, this movie puts two of today's biggest stars and best actors together.  They are both among my favorite actors and the best thing about them is that they convey emotions with simple facial expressions.  Hanks is the best at this of any actor in movie history.  This was another great addition to his legacy.  He is once again the supremely likable everyman dealing with the ground level effects of the recent recession.  He does so with class and to witness his intellectual awakening as a community college student is truly heartwarming.  I really liked his relationship with Cedric, who plays his usual "in your face" Africa-American character.  So many people who have never hung out with this type personality react with fear instead of enjoying the innate love of life most have.  Hanks is telling us not to be afraid but embrace this type of emotion.  It is a subtle comment on race relations that I think most people miss. The romance with Roberts is handled lightly and the transcendent moments are not slammed in your face.  The simple speech Hanks gives as his final exam in Roberts' class is the best example of this.  Its like they are giving us, the movie watchers, credit and intelligence enough to realize this simple act is in fact a huge victory without having to change the course of western civilization.  Valderrama is almost unrecognizable from his 70's Show personality - who knew he could really act.  If you haven't guessed already - I loved this movie.
MVP:  Hanks in the title role, best actor of his generation

Rock N Rolla

Actors:  Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Tom Hardy, Thandie Newton, Idris Elba, Mark Strong, Ludacris, Jeremy Piven
Rating:  7 out of 10, Ritchie returns to his strength although this seems to be a re-run of the same movie he made before:  bumbling criminals, evil crime lord, and indestructible Russians.  I actually liked this movie a lot better the second time I watched this.  Butler is the obvious choice for the lead but he is mostly a second fiddle here and the ensemble cast works although it is exhausting staying up with the story in all its twists and turns.  Wilkinson is usually great in everything he does but he kind of misses here as the crime lord.  Strong is just that as the second fiddle to the crime lord.  I like Ritchie because he takes chances and he certainly does here making the heroes a bunch of losers who aren't even that lovable and the transcendent hero an indestructible, ex-rock star junkie.  Butler does have some really funny moments, especially when he is dealing with the coming out of his long time partner in crime.
MVP:  Tom Hardy as Handsome Bob who saves the day in the end as the gay driver

Scott Pilgrim Versus the World

Actors:  Michael Cera, Ellen Wong, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Brandon Routh, Chris Evans, Jason Schwartzman

Rating:  8 out of 10, I didn’t know what to make of this movie when it first came out and didn’t even bother to see it in the theater.  Both of my kids recommended it though, knowing that I would like it; they know me.  The movie is apparently permeated with video game references which went totally over my head as a member of the pre-video game generation.  Even with that I loved the edgy techniques the movie makers used with sound effects and totally random characters.  Those characters made the movie.  The semi supportive sister, the crazed girl with a thousand jobs, the gay roommate, the high school girlfriend more than made up for the totally unlikable lead.  Cera plays his normal geek to perfection but the supporting actors are what makes this movie great.  I also loved the random insertion of major actors in small roles.  I felt almost guilty about it but I loved the movie.

MVP:  Co winners – Ellen Wong as the dynamic Knives Chao and Keiran Culkin as Wallace Wells the totally inappropriate roommate

Season of the Witch

Actors:  Nicholas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Stephen Graham, Claire Foy, Robin Sheehan
Rating:  7 out of 10, this movie just misses being great.  The story moves right along and the characters are engaging and for the most part well acted.  The battle scenes are a little too much comic book and they should have given Cage a helmet that fits, he would lasted 5 seconds with the one he wears in a real battle.  There is chemistry between Cage and Perlman as world weary warriors trying to get home who get sidetracked into transporting an accused witch.  Foy is very good at the changing demeanor her part calls for.  Perlman, as always, is pitch perfect as the grizzled veteran.  Sheehan gets the Tony Curtis award for misplaced accents in a historical epic but seems to be a very talented actor.  Cage just does not have the physicality to carry off his part.  He is just too frail looking to be convincing as a medieval knight - I mean he would have some sort of neck after spending his adult life wearing armor and a steel helmet.  The ending confrontation with the demon is well done and the lead up is very entertaining.  A nice popcorn movie that could have been a lot more.
MVP:  Perlman as the ever faithful and dangerous Felson

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Actors:  Nicholas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, Teresa Palmer, Toby Kebbel, Monica Bellucci, Alice Krige
Rating:  8 out of 10, extremely well done popcorn movie where in typical Disney fashion we are rooting for the geek to win the girl and become a super hero.  This movie however doesn't over do it and makes the hero extremely likable, this is a tribute to Baruchel who is good in everything he does.  The special effects are awesome but they don't take the place of the story or get in the way of the actors.  There are some cool tributes to the original Disney animated version.  Molina always plays a great villain and he and Cage make a great pair of antagonists.  It would have been easy for Cage to mail this one in but he doesn't and although they share very little screen time together - he and Bellucci have great chemistry.  I was prepared to not like this movie but I couldn't help myself - somehow Disney still has that arcane ability to tap into the kid in all of us.
MVP:  Baruchel as Dave, the hapless but lovable apprentice

Source Code

Actors:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright,  Michael Arden

Rating:  8 out of 10, very interesting sci fi adventure set in today’s society.  There are huge holes in the plot but the cast overcomes it through sheer charisma.  Farmiga and Monaghan are two of my favorite actresses and they both deliver here in supporting roles.   This is Gyllenhaal’s movie and he is superb.  He obviously spent some time with some military guys in preparing for his part as an Army pilot because he was very believable.  I don’t always like him as an actor but he was great in this and had great chemistry with both female leads.  Wright is a huge stretch as a cerebral scientist; I think he used a cane to make it more believable.  I really liked this movie; largely because of its optimism and the belief in the good in everyday people.  Too many movies turn supporting characters into over the top stereotypes; that did not happen here.  I did find in re-watching this that you get impatient with the first half of the movie because you know where it is headed.  Its frustrating to watch knowing the lead is heading down pointless avenues. 

MVP:  Gyllenhaal shines as Captain Colter Stevens/Sean Fentress and carries the whole movie

The Hangover Part 2

Actors:  Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong
Rating:  7 out of 10,  they take almost the exact same story and transport it to Bangkok, Thailand.  They try to capitalize on the popularity of the Galifinakis character from the first movie by trying to focus too much on him.  While he does have the best lines in the movie as the wildly inappropriate Alan, the charm of the first movie was the interplay of all three leads, which is missing here.  Cooper obviously just took this for the paycheck and doesn't really expend a great deal of effort.  Helms is suitably manic as he is once again dragged into a morass where he doubts his sanity.  The subplots that were so cool in the first movie are not as effective.  A chain smoking monkey, a she-male prostitute, and Mike Tyson singing - come on.  All this being said, this movie is still very funny.
MVP:  Helms as the buttoned down Stu who once again finds his dark side

Cowboys Versus Aliens

Actors:  Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown, Adam Beach

Rating:  9 out of 10, this looked like an awesome movie when I first saw the previews and it's one of those rare movies that lives up to the hype.  A very dynamic cast with some really solid actors playing bit parts.  The plot moves along briskly despite some gaping holes in the story.  Craig kind of sleep walks through this but Wilde, Beach, and Ford are at the top of their respective games and carry the movie.  I don't know who thought up this concept but it is a great mix of the sci fi and western - who knew. Wilde  is in so many movies but she's turned into one of those chameleons and is interesting in everything she chooses.  Favreau as the director is turning into a blockbuster superstar.  This movie rocks and is worth watching over and over. 

MVP:  Wilde as Ella, an interesting mix of hottie and alien, steals scenes throughout the movie from Craig

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Allen Rickman, Helen Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith, David Thewlis, Michael Gambon
Rating:  9 out of 10, this final chapter brings home this franchise with a bang.  The epic final battle at Hogwarts is worth the wait and all the melodrama leading up to it.  The only problem I had was the lack of charisma from Radcliffe.  The entire movie was set up to make him a messianic hero against the powers of darkness and yet he plays it more like the bookworm nerd.  I guess with all the metro sexual political correctness nowadays - this is what serves as a hero.  He is likable but pales when he is on screen with Fiennes as his arch nemesis.  It may be unfair to compare the two but when Harry shows up unexpectedly for the final battle and is lustily cheered by all his friends he looks almost apologetic.  The director is very effective in capturing the wide ranging final battle and even a non-Potterite such as myself understood.  The plot tied up all the loose ends, especially the enigmatic Severus Snape.  This was a great watch and I especially liked the final scene where all the characters are sending their own kids off to Hogwarts, well done.
MVP:  Fiennes chews up scenery as the evil Voldemort

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Allen Rickman, Helen Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes
Rating:  7 out of 10,  brooding movie that starts out really well with the first half of the movie containing lots of action and plot movement.  That comes to a screeching halt once the three main characters end up in a tent for most of the second half of the movie. This is probably a result of telling only half of the final story.  I was expecting this next to last film to do more of buildup before the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort.  I really felt the impact of not knowing the Potter lore most in this movie because some of the movie characters were totally undeveloped but were apparently very important.  My biggest problem was that, at a time they are supposed to be gearing up for this immense battle they spend most of their time wandering around some of the more scenic sites of Great Britain.  They are then easily captured by some idiots and subsequently escape with ease from one of Voledmort's most heinous lieutenants.  This movie falls almost entirely on the trio of young actors without their normal supporting cast of accomplished actors; they do well but struggle to carry the whole movie.
MVP:  Watson really shines in this movie as Hermione, becoming the glue that holds the trio of leads together

Gone With the Wind

Actors: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland 

Rating:  7 out of 10, this was "hands down" my mother's absolute favorite movie of all time.  I remember seeing it as a kid and enjoying it immensely.  I did enjoy watching it again but I did not realize just how much a "chick flick" this movie really is.  I guess it's testimony to how much stronger woman are allowed to be nowadays compared to the late 1930's.  I found myself actually loathing Vivien Leigh and her portrayal although it is generally regarded as one of the greatest of all times in the movies.  I just don't see that.  On the other hand, Clark Gable dominates in every scene he is in, showing power, nuance, and great emotion.  He was every bit the mega movie star and I think his performance stands up much better than Leigh's does.  I cannot think of another movie star that can match his presence.  By the end of the movie I was tired of the simpering Scarlett and the pathetic Ashley, but I guess that means the actors were convincing.  This is a great movie, just not any where near my favorite.

MVP:  Gable as Rhett Butler totally dominates this movie