The Hangover II (2011)

It's happening again. Yes, our boys have gotten themselves into a bit of a pickle. This film basically follows the same formula that the first installment has, I guess the feeling is why mess with it if it makes millions of dollars. I myself can't help stopping to watch the original every time I stumble upon it on HBO. I also find myself singing about what tigers dream of.

This version has everyone going overseas to Thailand for Stu's (Ed Helms) wedding to Lauren. They are here because it is important to Lauren to make her father, who has nothing but rotten things to say about Stu, happy. Right before the wedding, the boys decide to have a drink on the beach and have included Lauren's little brother Teddy (Mason Lee) in their group much to Alan's (Zach Galifianakis) disdain. In the morning, Phil (Bradley Cooper) and the rest of our group, wake up in Bangkok in a totally disgusting hotel room. Doug (Justin Bartha) left the group before the action happened, so he woke up at the beautiful resort in Thailand. The missing element here is Teddy minus his finger which is found in the hotel room. Mr. Chow also plays a larger part as does a very talented monkey.

The critics really ripped this one up, but the people seemed to enjoy it. I thought it was pretty funny although there were a couple of parts that were pretty crude.

102 Minutes. Rated R. I give this film THREE STARS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYL_T7f59o8

Skyline (2010)

This movie takes place in Los Angeles and stars Eric Balfour, Donald Faison and Scottie Thompson. Aliens come to L.A. and possibly the rest of the world, put people in a trance and take them. Where do they take them you ask? Into their spaceship where they take their brains is my answer.

This "film" if it can be called that, is one of the worst movies that I have seen in a long time and I have seen "Natural Born Killers". In that movie, at least the audience could walk out of the theater (no kidding, at least 15 people walked out). I watched this entertainment nugget at home so all I could do is stomp off to the restroom. I have nothing good to say about it and neither would you. Don't waste your time. I can't even bring myself to subject anyone to a clip, so I'm not posting one.

92 Minutes. Rated PG-13. I give this movie 1/4 OF ONE STAR. Hey, c'mon, someone put their heart and soul into making this thing after all.

The Fighter (2010)

This film is the true story of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his older brother Dicky Eklund.

Boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) lives in Lowell Massachusetts and is being trained by his older half brother Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) who is a boxer in his own right having once fought Sugar Ray Leonard. While Dicky is training Micky, he is being trailed by a camera crew from HBO that is filming Dicky for a documentary about his life. Unfortunately Micky is what the boxing world calls a "stepping stone" meaning a boxer that is used by other boxers to beat so that they can advance. Another unfortunate issue is that Dicky is a crack addict and he often doesn't follow through on his obligations such as making it to training sessions on time.

When Micky has a scheduled fight and the other fighter is ill, a replacement is found but he is significantly heavier than Micky and Micky isn't sure that he wants to fight him. His mother Alice (Melissa Leo), who is also his manager, wants him to do it because of the money. Micky loses and is embarrassed. While at a bar, Micky falls for a bartender named Charlene (Amy Adams). After a while, Alice arranges another fight for Micky, but he isn't sure he wants to do it. Alice and the family blame Charlene for her influence which sets off conflict for most of the rest of the film. Micky gets an opportunity to go to Las Vegas to train and get paid for it in Las Vegas, but Dicky insists that he will come up with money to match it. To get this money Dicky begins running a scam that includes impersonating a police officer and gets caught. When Mickey hears and runs over to try to help his brother, he gets caught in the middle, his hand gets broken and Dicky goes to jail.

While in jail, the HBO documentary is screened and they see that the documentary was actually about Dicky's drug use and is called "High On Crack: Lost Lives In Lowell" and talks about how crack ruined his life. Devastated, Dicky finds the strength to push himself to get his life together while in prison. In the meantime, Micky finds that he has a chance with a new team to help him with his boxing as long as he can separate himself from Alice and Dicky. Before a bout, Micky visits Dicky in prison and Dicky gives him some boxing advice. Micky thinks that he is only giving him the advice for himself and disregards it. At the actual fight, Micky finds himself getting beaten and decides go with his brothers suggestions and wins.

When Dicky gets out of prison, he expects that he will jump right in with Micky's training and he, as well as Alice, are told that they can't participate. This causes a huge fight on both sides of Micky and he angers Charlene as well. Dicky stomps off to where he used to do drugs with his friends and says goodbye to them. He goes to Charlene's house and says that they have to work together for Micky's sake. Everything works out and Micky goes to London and his title bout.

This film was really good. The acting was extraordinary and the movie was nominated for best picture. Christian Bale won the Golden Globe and the Oscar for his role as Dicky Eklund. Melissa Leo won the Oscar as his mother and Amy Adams was also nominated for her role as Charlene.

Christian Bale's performance was especially good. Here is an Englishman born in Wales that must pull off a crack addicted guy with a Massachusetts accent and does just that. Many people are astounded that he has an English accent. You can check out some of his other films including one of his earliest "Empire Of The Sun" from when he was just 13. He has also played Batman and has been in "The Machinist", "American Psycho" and "Terminator Salvation". Melissa Leo also stirred up a bit of controversy when she marketed herself to win the Oscar when it is traditionally done by the studios.

114 Minutes. Rated R. I GIVE THIS FILM THREE AND ONE HALF STARS.

The Kings Speech (2010)

At the beginning of this film, Prince Albert, Duke Of York (Colin Firth) must give a speech at Wembley Stadium. He stutters horribly and the people listening seem to find it painful to hear. The Prince tries to cure his stutter, but nothing is able to help until his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) finds Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) a speech therapist to help him. At first Prince Albert gets frustrated with Logue, especially since Logue insists on calling Prince Albert "Bertie". Logue has Bertie read a passage while recording him at the same time that loud music is playing to see what the problem might be. The Prince thinks that this is a waste of time, throws a tantrum and leaves. Logue gives him the record. Later as Bertie's father gives his Christmas address to the British people, Bertie listens to the recrod and realizes that he was not stuttering. Bertie goes back to Logue and finds hope in Logue's rather unconventional therapies.

After Bertie's father dies and his brother David, the Prince Of Wales takes the throne as King Edward VIII, King Edward finds that he must abdicate the throne if he wants to marry and American woman named Wallis Simpson as she has been divorced. King Edward steps down but not before accusing Bertie of getting speech lessons because he knew he would be taking over. Bertie gets upset at Logue because of the pressure and is very cruel to him.

When Prince Albert becomes King George VI he realizes that he needs Logue's help more than ever and goes to Logue's to apologize. When King George must give a speech regarding England's declaration of war with Germany, Logue is right there giving him support. King George does a fine job and from then on Logue was always there when King George gave a speech.

This film may be a bit slow for some folks, but it was quite good. Colin Firth received an Oscar for his performance. Even Brian was glad that he saw it. Even if you think it might be boring, do yourself a favor and Netflix it.

111 Minutes. Rated R. I GIVE THIS FILM THREE AND ONE HALF STARS.

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2010)

Sorry, never gonna happen. What is it about this kid that everyone likes?

True Grit (2010)

This film, an adaptation of the book written by Charles Portis, is a remake of the 1969 film starring John Wayne as U.S. Marshall Rooster Coburn. It is directed by the Coen Brothers who have also directed films such as Raising Arizona and Fargo.

Mattie Ross' (Hailee Steinfeld) father was murdered by one of his ranch hands, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), and she needs help tracking him down. She asks U.Sm Marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) for help, but he doesn't want to do it. Around the same time a Texas Ranger named LeBoef (Matt Damon)who is also tracking Chaney down for another murder wants Cogburns' help as well. Mattie doesn't want to combine the efforts as she knows that if LeBoef finds Chaney that he will take him back to Texas and hang him for the other murder instead of her fathers. Cogburn decides to team up with LeBoef and they try to leave without Mattie. She chases them until Cogburn agrees to take her with them. LeBoef is not happy with this and decides to go his own way. Mattie and Cogburn come across a shack where outlaws hang out and find that Chaney may be coming to the cabin. Cogburn and Mattie lie in wait for the outlaws to arrive and see LeBoef instead. The outlaws do arrive and have a scuffle with LeBoef and Cogburn shoots three of them. LeBoef departs again. Mattie goes down to the river for water and runs into Chaney herself. She shoots him once then her gun jams. Chaney drags her off to his gang and they decide to hold Mattie as a hostage to get rid of Cogburn but it backfires and Cogburn kills most of them. LeBoef shows up again just in time to shoot the last one. Mattie tries shooting Chaney again but falls into a hole that is filled with snakes and is bitten. Cogburn rides all night with her to get help.

This movie was very good and often humorous in parts. All of the actors were quite good with Hailee Steinfeld and Jeff Bridges receiving Oscar nominations for their roles. The movie was filmed mostly in the Santa Fe and Austin areas.

This version darker than the original 1969 version. I recently saw the original and it had a more uplifting feel to it. Even the music was semi happy. John Wayne apparently refused to wear a moustache in the role as the character in the book had one wondering how the audience could see his facial expressions with both a moustache and an eye patch.

110 minutes. PG-13. I give this move THREE AND ONE HALF STARS.

Black Swan (2010)

The "Black Swan" is a dark psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky who also directed "The Wrestler". This film starring Natalie Portman as Nina illustrates the sinking of a ballerina into dark psychotic depths.

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina that wants more than anything to be the lead in Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake". In Swan Lake, the lead must be able to be both the pure White Swan as well as the sensual Black Swan. The director of the ballet, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) does not think that Nina is capable of being the Black Swan. When Nina goes to Thomas to ask him about it and tries to kiss her, she bites him and he thinks that perhaps she CAN play it. He chooses her and from then on she begins to lose her grip on reality. Thomas brings in Lily (Mila Kunis) to be Nina's understudy and Nina begins to think that Lily is trying to take her spot from her. Nina begins to become more and more paranoid and begins to have delusions and see things that aren't there. One night Lily shows up at Nina's door and takes her to a club where she gives Nina drugs. Nina goes home, has a arguement with her mother Erica (Barbara Hershey)and imagines that she and Lily had sex. When she goes to work the next day and asks Lily about it Lily says that she went home with a guy and kids Nina about her having a crush on Lily. Then Nina really starts to lose it.

When opening night arrives, her mother tells her that she called Thomas to say that Nina was too ill to work that night, Nina runs there to find that Thomas has Lily as being the Swan. Nina talks to Thomas and gets her place back. She imagines that Lily comes into her dressing room and that she breaks a mirror and stabs Lily. She hides Lily's body and dances giving her best performance ever. She goes back to her dressing room to change into her next outfit and sees blood coming from underneath the closet door. Someone knocks at the door, it is Lily to congratulate her on her performance. Nina realizes that she imagined what happened and that she had really stabbed herself. She finishes up the ballet as the White Swan and as people have realized that she is bleeding, says to herself that she was "perfect".

This was a very good movie and performances were great by all. Both Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis trained for months for their roles and Natalie Portman won the Oscar and several other awards for her performance.

110 Minutes. Rated R. I GIVE THIS MOVIE THREE AND ONE HALF STARS.

Eat Pray Love (2010)

This film is based on the book written by Elizabeth Gilbert based on a trip that she took after her messy divorce in which she decided to spend a whole year traveling to three countries. Four months in Italy to eat and enjoy, four months in India trying to discover her spirituality and four months on Bali where she found love.

Liz (Julia Roberts) is unhappy in her marriage and is tired of pretending. She files for divorce from her husband Stephen (Billy Crudup) who does not take this lying down and makes things very hard for her. She eventually decides to just give him whatever he wants so that he will just go away. Soon after she is writing and article on Yoga vacations and goes to Bali where she meets a very old medicine man who says that she will lose all of her money (but make it back again) and that she will come back to Bali one day.

She soon embarks on her trip to Italy, India and Bali. In Italy she meets some fun people and puts on some pounds. In India she lives and works at an Ashram where she meets Richard from Texas (Richard Jenkins) who becomes her good friend and confidante. She moves on to Bali where she meets up with the medicine man again, makes some good friends and finds love with Felipe (Javier Bardiem) a Brazilian business owner.

I was not a huge fan of this movie. I had read the book and wasn't thrilled about that either. When I worked at the bookstore, people came in droves to buy this book which was on the bestseller list for 187 weeks. I finally read it but was one of the few people that weren't completely enamored of it. Sometimes another customer would come in and whisper that they didn't think it was great either, hilarious. I think when so many people think that something is great (ie "The Secret" secret what? Secret way to get you to spend your money needlessly) they feel like they have to say they like it too. I just found it kind of boring. I felt the same way about the movie. Julie Roberts looked wonderful as always and the bright spot here was Richard Jenkins who is awesome! The scenery in Italy and Bali was gorgeous.

133 minutes. Rated PG-13. I GIVE THIS MOVIE TWO AND A HALF STARS.