The Straight Story

Actors:  Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Jane Galloway Heitz, Joseph A. Carpenter, Harry Dean Stanton, Everett McGill
Rating:  10 out of 10, I don’t know what surprised me more - that this was a David Lynch film or just how powerful the movie was.  The simple elegance of the story and the understated command with which the story is conveyed is almost mesmerizing.  Farnsworth plays Alvin Straight who decides upon hearing of his estranged brother’s stroke that he will jump on his riding lawn mower for the 300 mile journey.  This apparently is based on an actual event.  There is no flash or attempt to overly dramatize the journey.  Farnsworth was suffering from terminal cancer when this was shot but he delivers a performance for the ages.  Again, the simple dignity of a man confronting himself and doling out wisdom to those he encounters without preaching.  There are so many memorable scenes in which little is said but so much is conveyed.  The scene between Alvin and another aged World War 2 veteran sitting in a bar and revealing the pain they’ve each harbored for all the years since is heartrending.  Alvin tells the story of accidently killing a comrade in combat and reflects that as he gets older he doesn’t count the years he’d lived but the number of years he’d denied his comrade.  Again, that simple, but powerful elegance this whole film is permeated with.  The ending is perfect.  I find it hard to do justice to this film.  If you love films and you haven’t seen this – do yourself a favor.   
MVP:  Farnsworth as Alvin Straight, a fitting send off to a great character actor

Color of Night

Actors:  Bruce Willis, Jane March, Ruben Blades, Lesley Ann Warren, Scott Bakula, Brad Dourif, Lance Henricksen, Jeff Corey
Rating:  6 out of 10, A very long movie set back in the days Willis still had a hairline although you can see the beginning of its death throes.  He plays a traumatized psychologist called upon to take over group therapy for a bunch of complete wackos, one of which murdered his best friend, or so we think.  Everyone in the group as well as Willis and his deceased friends sample Ms March in one of her incantations although it’s never really explained where she got all the time (not to mention energy) accomplishing that.  March is not very convincing but she is very adept at shedding clothes which was what her part called for.  This film may have driven the stake into the heart of the post-Basic Instinct main stream crime-porn movies.  It’s also very, very long (but I already said that). 
MVP:  Willis is watchable even in a bad movie

Playing God

Actors:  David Duchovny, Timothy Hutton, Angelina Jolie, Peter Stormare, Michael Massee, John Hawkes
Rating:  5 out of 10, I’m not sure what possessed me to keep watching this – incredibly bad movie.  I’m pretty sure it was partly due to the extremely high unintentional comedy level.  Duchovny plays a drug addled former doctor who’s called upon to perform emergency surgery in bars and hotel rooms.  Duchovny is okay, as is a pre-body sculpted Jolie but Hutton is a complete and utter disaster as a supposedly ruthless crime lord.  I’ve seen girl scouts that were more convincing villains.  Don’t waste your time with this.
MVP:  Duchovny as Dr Eugene Sands

Side Effects

Actors:  Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vinessa Shaw  
Rating:  8 out of 10, Wow, unbelievable – a really smart movie – huge surprise, although Channing Tatum as a Wall Street banker was a bit of a stretch.  A movie that grants the audience a modicum of intelligence and then runs with it.  I love movies that leave small early clues to the major late plot shift, basically giving you the tools the figure out the big surprise but not being obvious about it.  Mara is back in chameleon form seemingly a new character in each new scene. However this movie belongs to Jude Law in arguably his strongest role ever.  He plays the victimized psychiatrist who steadfastly pursues the truth.  He’s definitely moved beyond his pretty boy roles.  A great watch.
MVP:  Law as Dr Banks tortured but triumphant

Olympus Has Fallen

Actors:  Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Dylan McDermott, Rick Yune, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett
Rating:  8 out of 10, Gerard Butler in full Leonidas mode saving the day when terrorists seize the White House (again!). It pissed me off a little bit to see the White House taken down (again!) but the action was relentless and Butler can really do this kind of thing. It was like seeing a return of Jack Bauer, but with a sneaky Scottish accent. It was totally unbelievable and some of the plot holes taken to keep the story moving were laughably farfetched but I still loved the flick. The female actresses were a bit wasted but this was Butler's flick and he delivered.
MVP:  Butler as the Mike Banning the ultimate Secret Service agent

The Numbers Station

Actors:  John Cusack, Malin Akerman, Liam Cunningham
Rating: 6 out of 10, An interesting, if flawed, spy thriller with Cusack once again playing a wrung out has-been (carving out a real niche there).  I liked this because it was different; shot mostly in an underground bunker where a disgraced CIA killer is under siege while protecting Akerman with both sides urging him to kill her.  I know the director was aiming at some lofty comment on the insidious spy agencies but he accidently made a fairly good movie, thanks mostly to Cusack and Akerman.
MVP:  Cusack as Emerson the reluctant hero, a killer discovering his conscience

Help

Actors:  John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Roy Kinnear
Rating:  8 out of 10, Since I hear Beatles music all the time I had forgotten just how charismatic the boys were at the height of their fame when this was shot.  The movie itself is a huge mess – as if a highly stoned member of the Monty Python tried to make a Bond picture.  It is still so much fun though, a real guilty pleasure.  The Beatles look impossibly young and the iconic music still stands by itself. 
MVP:  Ringo could actually act – a very little bit

Stand Up Guys

Actors:  Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Christopher Walken,  Julainna Margulies, Lucy Punch, Addison Timlin
Rating:  8 out of 10, Sometimes you just sit back and realize you’re watching genius at work.  The scenes between Walken and Pacino represent two master craftsmen at work.  There’s so much going on beyond the dialogue, which is a good thing since Walken is at his monosyllabic best.  You then throw in Alan Arkin and it ascends to another level.  Maybe I’m getting old myself but this story of some aged hoods grabbing one more night of their youth really struck a cord with me.  So good.
MVP:  Pacino as Val is luminous

The Full Monty

Actors:  Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Tom Wilkinson
Rating:  7 out of 10, I’d forgotten how downright funny this movie is.  Once I adjusted to the accents (about fifteen minutes in) there are so many just drop your beer and laugh out loud lines.  The story of semi-lovable losers contending with bleak employment opportunities and resorting to stripping only to find themselves is too funny.  One of the best scenes in cinema history has the lads waiting in line at the unemployment office and starting to subtly dance to the elevator music playing – classic.  The last scene before he heads out to drop trou between Mark Addy and his wife is incredibly touching.  While the concept is totally absurd it works because we can all see a town reacting this way to some of their own – too funny.
MVP:  Wilkinson as Gerald the unlikely choreographer of the boys

Oblivion

Actors:  Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Andrea Riseborough
Rating:  8 out of 10, Science fiction on a very large scale, but done right, focusing on the stories of the people involved. That story was kind of predictable (the supposed big twist is just about revealed in the previews) but Cruise, for whatever else he is, can carry a movie like this effortlessly, even when he has to fight himself. He does get to make his trademark, head back sprinting scene a number of times, so you get that.  His interactions with other cast members were tone perfect and very believable. My only problem was the severe underuse of Morgan Freeman and the Jaime Lannister guy. I think there was a great movie hiding just under the surface of this very good flick.
MVP:  Cruise as the abused hero Jack

Dead Alive

Actors:  Timothy Balme, Diana Penalver, Elizabeth Moody, Ian Watkin
Rating:  6 out of 10, Interesting that the same man behind the Lord of the Rings created this blood bath – literally.  Some great lines accompany this very low budget zombie flick of a young man caring for his zombified mother and quite possibly the most epic lawn mower in the history of cinema.  The last half of this movie is jaw droopingly awesome in sheer over the top, entertaining carnage.
MVP:  Balme as the wielder of the lawn mower

Solomon Kane

Actors:  James Purefoy, Pete Postlethwait, Alice Krige, Max Von Sydow, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Jason Flemyng
Rating:  7 out of 10, I didn’t have high expectations since this seemed to have gone straight to video (at least here in the US) but I was pleasantly surprised.  This is a really well done movie and it doesn't cut corners.  Purefoy has real presence although it’s extremely difficult to look tough and menacing in a Puritan hat. Kane is difficult to root for as a hero, at least in this incarnation, where he careens wildly between being epic and then damnable.  The action scenes are incredibly well staged, there's some great location shooting, and the special effects are top notch.  Again, though, wearing a huge buckle on your hat is a lot to overcome.    
MVP:  Purefoy in the title role, very interesting actor

G.I. Joe Retaliation

Actors:  Dwayne Johhnson, Jonathan Pryce, Adrianne Palicki, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, Channing Tatum
Rating:  7 out of 10, Pretty much what you would expect and I can see why it was delayed so long. It was kind of a fun mess. They obviously couldn’t figure out where to go with it and so it was all over the place. A couple of the big stars are just shoe horned into the plot for brief appearances while the newcomers, Rock and Adrienne Palicki, take on major roles. Luckily this kind of stuff is right down Rock’s alley and Palicki once again shows some real screen presence as well as wearing the hell out of a red dress. There were a couple of really memorable scenes (other than the red dress), like the ninja fight in the Himalayas(hey, we’re talking GI Joe here), but overall this comes out as kind of flat and formulaic.
MVP:  Rock as Roadblock, apt titling

Because I Made Such a Big Deal About it