Nebraska

Actors:  Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk, Stacey Keach

Rating:  8 out of 10, A very simple story lovingly told in simple stark, black and white.  The issues at play (within the object family) aren’t as clear though.  Dern is magnificent as a befuddled old man on a quest to claim one of those mythical million dollar sweepstakes awards.  He ends up on a road trip back through his life with a loving son.  I’m usually not that much into “message” type films but this one touched me, probably because I’m getting older.  The subtle humor at the social gaffes that form the fabric of the extended family is incredible.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I’ll give you a quick piece of advice – don’t give up on the character of the wife too early.  The final ride back through Hawthorne was priceless.

MVP:  Squibb as the long suffering but wise wife who you’d want on your side in any fight 

Lone Survivor

Actors:  Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Eric Bana.

Rating:  9 out of 10, An elegant film about the sacrifice young Americans continue to make daily in the furtive, hidden parts of the world.  You know going into the movie what the result is so it’s kind of painful to watch the real life story of a SEAL team's desperate battle for survival in Afghanistan which earned one a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor.   The 4-man recon team is compromised and tries to fight their way out of danger against a much larger force of Taliban. What emerges is the nobility of spirit amongst these warriors as they pay the price for a humane decision.  The devotion of the men to each other even when they might disagree is an object lesson.  The real life survivor plays a small role and advised in making the film, keeping the movie from descending into typical Hollywood jingoism.  The Afghans are given their place in the story and allowed to show some of their own nobility.  It’s bloody, heart rending and yet somehow ultimately uplifting.  The sacrifices these gallant young men made on that remote mountainside will never be forgotten now, even if the mainstream media would like to ignore the fact we still have a shooting war going on.  I was literally choked up at the end and said a prayer of thanks for those guys and to a country that can produce such heroes.

MVP:  Ben Foster as Ax truly captured the mannerism of a special forces operator 

Robocop

Actors:  Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Abbuie Cornish, Jackie Earl Haley

Rating:  7 out of 10, The original movie was something of an event when I took my very young (alright way too young) son to see it.  He doesn’t seem too damaged by this parental failure.  The new one is glossy and all CGIed up but it lacks the heart and visceral violence of the original.  There were some exciting sequences but invariably interspersed with some absolute plodding.  The resulting stop and go reaches whiplash level pain.  The new Robocop had issues covering up his Euro-accent but the rest of the cast was good.  There was a heavy handed, anti-American message in TV host Samuel L. Jackson’s character (who got in his signature M.F. with only a few seconds to spare).  I’m probably too hard on this because the original had so many fond memories, but this wasn’t nearly as good and a PG-14 Robocop is just too safe.

MVP:  Oldman as the Robocop creator 

All is Lost

Actors:  Robert Redford

Rating:  8 out of 10, A movie like this sneaks up on you.  Sometimes a sinking ship is worth logging onto.  I watched this almost accidently and was soon caught up in the understated crisis of one man trying to survive once his yacht is damaged by some debris in the middle of the Indian Ocean which also knocks out all of his electronics.  The filmmakers don’t go for cheap tricks or heartfelt emotionality.  This is so simple in execution and speaks volumes about Redford’s unappreciated acting skill.  He is the only person seen in the entire movie and as he moves from disaster to disaster it’s impossible not to get caught up in the escalating drama.  This character is not someone you would want to stand next to in a thunderstorm because he has the worst possible luck imaginable.  The unpretentious dignity of his fight to survive is worth the watch.

MVP:  Redford who is also the least valuable because he was the only guy in the  entire movie 

Old Boy

Actors:  Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Imperioli

Rating:  6 out of 10, Why are iconic films re-made and then everyone wonders why they fail so miserably?  I offer a case in point with Spike Lee’s attempt to “Americanize” the Korean classic revenge flick.  The film had Lee’s typical fascinating camera angles and pace but the last thing Oldboy should be is safe.  Lee obviously had to tone down the story to “appeal” to a wider audience in the USA and that doomed what could have been a riot.  The story of the extremely flawed hero held in a private prison by a mysterious billionaire is transferred almost intact as is the final “yechhh!” twist.  Samuel L. delivers his obligatory M.F.s as the jailor who’s caught up in Brolin’s post incarceration rampage and Olsen is compelling as the victim.  Brolin just doesn’t sell his role as Oldboy which made the original so awesome and could certainly use some Korean hammer lessons.  Don’t bother with this – watch the original.

MVP:  Olsen as the bleeding heart nurse drawn into the maelstrom of revenge 

Mr. Nobody

Actors:  Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Linh Dan Pham, Rhys Ifans, Natasha Little, Toby Regbo and Juno Temple.

Rating:  6 out of 10, So this is what happens when the French, Germans, and Belgians get together with the Canadians to make a movie. A movie that makes you go “Huh?”  a lot as the main character, a 118 year old Jared Leto, explores his past life which careens through an ever increasing number of tangents as he remembers key decisions and then makes different choices.  There’s a kind of sweet love story buried in the middle of the wildly staggering plot lines but it’s almost buried under the non-linear approach.  I was left with the impression that there were a lot of ideas thrown up in a planning meeting and nothing was discarded.  The result was a visually stunning movie that plods on for what seemed like all 118 years of Leto’s life.

MVP:  Kruger as Anna, the destined great love of Nobody’s life

3 Days to Kill

Actors: Kevin Costner, Amber Heard, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Nielsen, Richard Sammel, Eriq Ebouaney

Rating:  9 out of 10, This was a Luc Besson vehicle so of course it featured a grizzled, flawed hero (Costner) surrounded by legions of bad guys in Besson’s beloved Paris.  With a typically outlandish plot I really enjoyed this action flick.  Costner plays a CIA assassin dying from cancer trying to reconnect with a teenage daughter and estranged wife while simultaneously foiling a terrorist attack by the team of the Albino and the Wolf (very Besson).  There’s a huge body count and Costner lends a very cool level of humanity to the character.  Hailee Steinfeld continues her impressive work as the confused daughter.  Amber Heard plays Costner’s diabolical CIA boss who may have a cure for his cancer (as long as he stops at critical moments to down vodka).  The drug has the side effect of immobilizing Costner just as he’s about to close with and eliminate the bad guys.  As you can see this movie was all over the place but leavened with Besson’s typical charm – a lot of fun to watch.

MVP:  Costner, of course, as the deadly CIA assassin Ethan trying to learn how to be a father to a teenage girl