The Iron Lady

Actors:  Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd, Iain Glen
Rating:  7 out of 10, a Netflix rental that took a very close look at one of the iconic figures of the later 1970s and 1980s, Margaret Thatcher.  She was Britain’s Ronald Reagan and accomplished a lot of the same things for which she was pilloried by the left leaning film industry.  This is a much more subtle look at her historic accomplishments and Streep totally owns this role – is there anything she cannot do?  The flashback technique was well done for the first half of the movie but wore me down in the second half.  This seemed to be a very honest appraisal of her battles against the rigid class structure of British society that is so prevalent but rarely talked about.  The supporting cast (many of them refugees from the Game of Thrones series) was fantastic, especially Broadbent as the often maligned but solid Dennis Thatcher.  I especially liked the scenes showing her origins and her fight up the ladder.  In the end I felt the film fell a little short because it couldn’t decide what it wanted to do – attack her, lionize her, or show the price she paid with her climb.  The best part of the movie were some of her quotes which rang true and could serve as a great indictment of today’s political arena which seems more about form than substance.
MVP:  Streep, the greatest actress of her generation, convincingly portraying Lady Thatcher

The Other Guys

Actors:  Will Farrell, Mark Walberg, Michael Keaton, Ray Stevenson, Dwayne Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson. Eva Mendes
Rating:  8 out of 10, this was a movie I had avoided seeing because I thought it was another lame rip off like so many “parody” films that try to capture the magic of Airplane or the Naked Gun (when it was still funny).  My son insisted I borrow his copy of the movie and I snuck in a viewing (my wife hates Will Ferrell for some unknown reason).  I was so glad he had me watch this because this is Ferrell back in his Anchorman and Talladega Knights realm where he is so funny.  This film really works and is so funny because the actors (great cast) play the insanity straight.  Walberg plays an able foil to Ferrell’s understated accountant type and is showing a flair for comedy.  There are several gags within gags such as a truly heroic Prius and Ferrell’s impossibly hot wife, Eva Mendes.  The small parts played by Johnson and Jackson as the epically super cops had me literally rolling on the floor.  The plot is only semi-important and mildly incoherent, especially the last quarter but this movie is about getting as many jokes onto the screen as possible, and that’s not a bad thing.  A nice little comedy that works because of the acting.
MVP:  Ferrell, as Detective Gamble, playing the understated psycho only as he can

Prometheus

Actors:  Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green
Rating:  9 out of 10, a movie that was hotly anticipated as Ridley Scott returned to science fiction and to the Aliens plot line.  This was truly an epic movie as the scope was just immense bridging the time from the origin of life on earth to the distant future.  Some sci fi fans are bemoaning the lack of direct connection to the Alien movie but they are there if you look and this plot direction made more sense in that it preserves the secrecy of the planet where the Alien is eventually found by Ripley. Speaking of Ripley, Noomi Rapace definitely lived up to Ripley’s credentials as the lead actress.  Anytime a character self-administers abdominal surgery and then still goes out to the fight certifies her as a genuine bad ass.  I really liked this movie but there were a couple of issues.  The plot is sailing along and then ¾ of the way through the movie changes directions radically, becoming the story of Pearce’s character instead of Rapace.  This was kind of jolting and not necessary.  The story also severely underused Theron which is criminal in its own right.  Great movie with tremendous scope and set up for the sequel where Rapace will seek out the engineers.  Fassbender continues his streak of superb characters as the slyly evil cyborg who loses his head (really his body).  If you didn’t see this on the big screen you missed out – a true epic.
MVP:  Elba as the sardonic and ultimately heroic captain, small part but it made it important

The Avengers

Actors:  Robert Downey Jr., Scarlet Johannsen, Samulel L Jackson, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Tim Hiddleston
Rating:  10 out of 10, that rare film that totally lives up to the hype surrounding it and despite the remarkable special effects present, it is the actors that make this movie.  Joss Whedon must be some kind of genius because this movie totally worked. These were serious actors playing silly characters and by playing them straight – the entire movie was a treasure.  How he was able to weave the story so that each character had his or her own story line and screen time was astounding.  I worried there was too much going on to be coherent but that is certainly not the case.  When you consider the number of major characters and plot lines involved and the fact that it still works so well – I am dumbfounded.  This movie is a sci fi, action junkie’s (guilty) ultimate high.  I liked the way Whedon was able to get CPT America and Black Widow involved in the action even though they didn’t have the same level of super powers as some of the others.  Johannsen again demonstrated that she is a lot more than just a pretty “face”.  Ruffalo stands out with his almost sardonic take on Bruce Banner.  The Hulk has the best moments in the entire movie when he sucker punches Thor and then disabuses Loki as to his divinity.  This was a dream team of actors who sublimated their egos to produce a real treasure – as goofy as the premise is, this was a great movie.
MVP:  Ruffalo as Bruce Banner subtly finesses the anguish of Bruce Banner