The Smartest Guys in the Room

This movie is worth watching, just to see the excesses of the 1990's and the bubble that popped in the early part of the 21st century.

Lost in Austen

Haven't written anything in a while.  Just remembered while taking a break at work that I should post about this cute little TV series before I forget.  I liked it: a science-fiction-like take on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  Surprisingly, Ming didn't like it: I think it spoiled the purity of the original novel for her.

The King's Speech

We watched this film on Blu-Ray.  Excellent!  Colin Firth did a great job, and the cinematography was interesting: everything was just slightly askew/off-center.  Richly costumed, and well acted.  Boy, my reviews are getting terse.  Well, two thumbs up!

Captain America!

We took a break from unpacking our house to see another Marvel-superhero blockbuster movie, Captain America.  He was never one of my favorite characters, but the movie was really well done.  Another Marvel movie with serious actors: Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones being the most obvious ones.  Hugo Weaving is making a career out of comic/sci-fi/fantasy movies!

This movie and the prior well-done release of Thor bode well for next year's Avengers movie...

True Grit

Jeff Bridges delivers another great performance as a crusty old guy.  This time with a gun, and with Matt Damon too.  The young actress who drives the plot forward was fantastic too!

Gnomeo and Juliet

Fun movie! Lots of great British actors, including the new Charles Xavier, James McAvoy, and a hilarious script. Elton John score too!

X-Men

A really good telling of the origin story: hard to beat with James McAvoy as the young, charismatic Charles Xavier. Kevin Bacon was quite entertaining too!

Midnight in Paris

This film about Paris as a center for artistic expression is a lovely tribute to the city: I wonder what made Woody Allen fall in such love with Paris?  All of his earlier movies are all about the beauty of Manhattan, but Paris now seems like his true love.  Owen Wilson does surprisingly well as the lead actor, although he isn't required to do much except act befuddled and stunned by meeting such historical figures as Hemingway and Gertrude Stein.  Overall, the film is worth watching, but there isn't a lot of substance in it.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Wow, what a great film: the last one by Sydney Lumet.  Great cast, fantastic writing, compellingly disturbing plot.  What's not to like?

Thor

I took a day off work, and watched this movie as part of enjoying the beautiful weather; or, at least, to avoid my allergies.

The storyline felt forced (redemption through sacrifice, brotherly conflict, identity issues), but you really can't expect too much from a superhero movie in that respect.  It was fun to see Hawkeye make an appearance, in preparation for the Avengers movie.  Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Kenneth Branagh (director), Patrick Doyle (music): quite the talent assembled for this movie!

Easy A

This modern-day "adaptation" (if it could really be called that) of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter is predictable yet quite charming to watch.  Lots of well-known actors in the supporting cast: Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, Fred Armisen, Malcolm McDowell.  Emma Stone is fun as the protagonist: I give this movie an A!

Wanted

Got around to seeing this, even though I knew it wouldn't be as good as the comic of the same name.  And, of course, it wasn't.  It had some of the same attitude, though (lots of swearing and killing), and they made the movie somewhat unpredictable, even though the comic already had some surprising plot twists.

Ponyu

A cute little Japanese movie about a boy and his fish.  Or maybe a fish and her boy.  A little trite, but enjoyable in the spirit in which it was made.  Hearing Tina Fey and Matt Damon voice the boy's parents was a bit disconcerting!

Red

This movie (like Expendables, featuring a cast of older actors) is a lot of fun to watch.  Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman,, and Brian Cox play a bunch of "retired" spies/assassins who are forced to unretire.  Quite the fun film!

The Expendables

My first Blu-Ray movie from Netflix.  The picture quality didn't make up for the poor storytelling.  At first I thought it might be an action-oriented remake of The Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven.  That would have made for a fine movie.  Oh well, what can you do: bad movies will continue to be made.

Despicable Me

A charming, if somewhat predictable, animated film.  I thought this film was cuter (in terms of the kid-friendliness and charm) than Megamind, but the latter was the more entertaining story.

Conversations with Other Women

Two of my favorite actors (Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter), and some interesting writing (although disorienting cinematography).  I enjoyed it!

Megamind

Megamind is hilarious!  The spoof of the comic genre was well-done, and had lots of quick little inside jokes (like when Marlon Brando made his parental appearance).  Quite fun to watch, although it's really an adult movie dressed up like a kids' movie.

The Social Network

The "story of Facebook".  Backstabbing, a dislikable protagonist, $, all the makings of a good story.  I'm not convinced the story is very accurate, given what I've seen of what the media tends to say about things that I have been familiar with.  But it was entertaining, nonetheless.  And it reminds me of why I don't have a Facebook account too...

I'm not quite clear on why Jesse Eisenberg deserved an Oscar nomination for best actor.  I liked him better in Zombieland and Adventureland.  Facebook-land?

Salt

Wow.  What a bad movie.  Before watching it, I thought it wouldn't be a brilliant work of art, but at least I had hoped it would be entertaining.  But the movie was disjointed and broken into about 3 different parts, with little interesting action.  And it became obvious who the real villain was just by the pacing of the movie.

Liev Schreiber was so much better on Broadway when I saw him there...