Next of Kin

Actors:  Patrick Swayze, Helen Hunt, Liam Neeson, Adam Baldwin, Ben Stiller, Bill Paxton

Rating:  6 out of 10, It’s the red necks versus the mafia as 1980s Swayze tries to straddle two worlds.  He’s trying to make it as a Chicago cop while dealing with his backwoods brothers.  When one of them gets knocked off by the mafia (including a very young Stiller) he’s caught between his family’s backwoods code of eye for an eye and the law.  Neeson as a hillbilly is a real stretch (didn’t know they had Irish accents).  The ending confrontation in a graveyard was typical 1980s subdued action and angst.  This movie was more of a vehicle for Swayze to strut around looking cool with a pony tail and still kicking ass.  I really miss Dalton, always thought he’d be bigger.

MVP:  Swayze as Truman Gates, 1980s action dude extraordinaire

Runner, Runner

Actors:  Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterton, Anthony Mackie

Rating:  4 out of 10, It’s good to see that Affleck hasn’t totally lost his ability to deliver an absolute stinker of a movie, a la Gigli.  He plays a criminal mastermind here running an online gambling empire from Costa Rica.  He draws in the innocent Timberlake to take the fall for his crimes.  The plot is all over the place with sub-plots emerging and disappearing without resolution.  The overall arc is exposed way too early and the ending twist way, way too pat. 

MVP:  Mackie as the hat wearing FBI agent

I, Frankenstein

Actors:  Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, Jai Courtney, Kevin Grevioux

Rating:  8 out of 10, I was not going to miss a movie about the Frankenstein monster fighting gargoyles and demons!  It turned out to be pretty good popcorn fare, maybe because my expectations were so low.  Some great action pieces and fantastic special effects with an out of the ordinary take on the Frankenstein “legend”.  I’ve always thought Aaron Eckhart was an interesting actor and he delivers here as the monster caught in the war between good and evil.  This wasn’t Shakespeare by any means but one of those put your mind on hold and enjoy the carnage kind of flicks.

MVP:  Eckhaart as the monster, of course 

Alpha Dog

Actors:  Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Anton Yelchin, Olivia Wilde, Amanda Seyfried with Harry Dean Stanton, Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis

Rating:  6 out of 10, The retelling of a real world senseless killing by some California teenaged idiots boasts a strong cast with the exception of Hirsch. Hirsch is not believable or even a little scary as the supposed bad guy pulling all the strings.  Timberlake on the other hand plays to form as a happy go lucky irresponsible California “dude” who cannot take responsibility for anything and ends up costing an innocent life.  I really wanted to like this but it kept coming back to Hirsch and his totally unbelievable villain.  They would have done better giving Ben Foster more screen time as he was at his compelling best, as usual.
MVP:  Timberlake excels as the apologetic assassin Frankie

The Book Thief

Actors:  Geoffrey Rush, Sophie Nelisse, Emily Watson, Nico Liersch

Rating:  7 out of 10, Supremely well-acted, but slow moving drama about a young orphan thrust into a childless German family on the cusp of World War 2.  It was obviously aiming for some highly moralistic message as the atrocities of WW2 are seen through the eyes of a child but it ends up being a little too dull.  The cast does its level best to elevate the work but there’s just not enough meat hanging on the bones of the story. Geoffrey Rush should be marked as  a national treasure for his career and he’s once again spot on as the doting father.  The young actors are also very good and it was interesting to see the story told from the German side.  Death as the narrator wasn’t an easy thing to pull off and wasn’t.

MVP:  Rush elevates any role he undertakes and does so as the humble and loving Papa

Sweetwater

Actors:  January Jones, Ed Harris, Jason Isaacs,

Rating:  6 out of 10, Kind of weird revenge western with a mildly psychotic Ed Harris prancing around as long haired sheriff prone to fits of ballet while administering beat downs and a fully psychotic Jason Isaacs as a horny man of God.  This was supposed to be January Jones’ vehicle but I’m not sure she has the presence to carry a movie beyond her obvious talents.  Jones plays an ex-prostitute out to avenge her husband’s murder at the hand of the fanatical Isaacs.  This was all a little too much tongue in cheek to be enjoyable; being weird just for weird’s sake doesn’t always work.  It doesn’t’ here.

MVP:  Jones for the above listed reasons

The Butler

Actors:  Forrest Whitaker, Oprah Winfield, David Olyelowo, Terence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr.

Rating:  7 out of 10, Not really my cup of tea but some truly excellent acting on display (I’d forgotten what a good actress Winfrey was) as we watch a sharecropper son’s life long journey from poverty to the White House where he serves a number of presidents as butler.  His life is used to demonstrate the civil rights movement from the late 1950’s to the present time.  That makes this film important as these critical events are too easily swept under the carpet of receding memories.  It was kind of jarring to see Robin Williams as Eisenhower and John Cusack as Nixon.  Obama has become such a lightning rod during his presidency that it’s easy to forget what his election meant to so many people who fought the good fight for so long.  That was the best moment in the movie.

MVP:  Oprah as the long neglected butler’s wife Gloria