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.

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.

Inception (2010)

Inception is a very complex film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, an "extractor". Dom enters the dreams of others and extracts information from them that those that he works for could not otherwise obtain.

Dom is unable to return to the U.S. or his children as he ran after being accused of killing his wife. His wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) often shows up in his dreams, and those of the people whose dreams that he is in, and tries to get him to stay. The only way that he can return home is to do a job for a man called Saito (Ken Watanabe)that would require him to enter the dreams of the son of one of Saito's rivals and instead of extracting information, plant it. The victim, Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) is the son of the Saito's newly deceased rival. Dom must implant the idea that Robert's father would want him to break apart his fathers company so that Saito would have the upper hand. In return, Saito would arrange for Dom to be able to return to the U.S. Does he accomplish is goal? I'll never tell!

I won't get into the how this feat is attempted, I will just say that it kept me interested. This is a complicated film that you must pay attention to understand. Don't nap, don't go to the bathroom, don't get that refill of super sized popcorn with extra fake butter. The photography is excellent and there is a fight scene that has Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character rolling around on the walls and ceilings. This film also includes Ellen Page as a "dream architect" and Michael Caine as Dom's father.

Overall I would say that this is a good movie, it made you concentrate. If you are looking for "summer fluff", this isn't it.

148 Minutes. Rated PG-13. I GIVE THIS MOVIE THREE AND THREE QUARTER STARS.

Salt (2010)

The film begins as Evelyn Salt (Jolie), a CIA agent, is being exchanged with another political prisoner. She is accompanied by her friend and colleague Ted Winter (Liev Schrieber). The reason that she ended up in prison is never explained.

Back at the office, Salt is brought in to interrogate a Russian spy named Orlov (Daniel Olbrycski) that wants to defect. While talking to him, he says that a Russian spy named Evelyn Salt is to assassinate the Russian president when he arrives to attend the funeral of the vice-president of the United States. Salt of course denies this and, worried about her husband, tries to call him without success. When She tries to leave, she is barred by her employer and escapes the facility as does Orlov. Now the CIA really believes that Salt is indeed a Russian sleeper spy. Salt runs home to find that her husband is missing and it looks like he was taken against his will and fast. Salt goes to New York City and infiltrates the Cathedral, shoots the Russian president, and gets away.

We see flashbacks to when she was a child in Russia and Orlov teaching the children to obey him and how to infiltrate the American government and respond on "Day X" when he would command them to do his bidding. After shooting the president, Salt goes to Orlov's boat where her husband is killed in front of her. She acts as though it doesn't matter as the marriage would have been part of her cover. Orlov, now convinced of her loyalty, tells Salt that the second part of Day X is to take the U.S. stock of Nuclear weapons. Salt then kills all aboard the ship and goes to meat up with a mole in the government that Orlov told her about.

The mole and Salt (in disguise as a man) get inside the White House. The mole sets off a bomb and the president is rushed to a bunker where he is convinced by Ted Winter that the Russians are preparing a nuclear strike. The President begins to transmit the codes into the computer right before Winter shoots everyone except the President who he knocks out cold. Winter explains to Salt that this was Orlov's plan all along and tries to start the sequence for launching missiles at the Middle East.

This movie wasn't bad. It definitely had a lot of action, albeit action that there is no way that a woman who weighs 95 pounds soaking wet could ever accomplish in real life. However, this is the movies and I have to keep that in mind. Her arms are so skinny it doesn't look like they could even hold up a gun. There are several twists which always keeps it interesting. they also left it wide open for a sequel... what a surprise! Overall I liked "Wanted" better although I hate a movie where Morgan Freeman plays a bad guy.

Rated PG-13. 99 Minutes. I GIVE THIS MOVIE THREE STARS OUT OF FIVE.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

This film is adapted from the book of the same name written by children's author Ronald Dahl. He is also the author of another famous book, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

This animated film (stop motion) begins as Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney), a newspaper columnist, has decided that he is going to start chasing chickens again. He had promised his wife (voiced by Meryl Streep) a long time ago that he would not do that any more. The three farmers that he steals from decide to band together and get rid of him once and for all. They try to kill him, but only succeed in shooting his tail off. They then decide to dig him out which forces his family to dig further into the ground.

After a few days of no food, he decides to tunnel into one of the farmers homes and steals more chickens among other things. Mr. Fox runs into other animals that are suffering from starvation because of the farmers digging. Mr. Fox feels bad and they decide to make a city underground where they will be safe.

Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Willem Dafoe also voice characters in this movie.
While the movie is mostly aimed at adults, kids would like it also.

87 Minutes. Rated PG. I GIVE THIS FILM THREE AND ONE HALF STARS.

The A-Team (2010)

This film is a remake of the original t.v. show starring George Peppard as "Hannibal" , Dirk Benedict as "Face" and Mr. T as B.A. (Bad Attitude) Baracus.

Colonel Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson) and "Faceman" aka "Face" Peck are in Mexico and are finding themselves in trouble with a very corrupt General. He manages to free himself and along with B.A (Quinton "Rampage" Jackson) whom he meets on a road in the middle of nowhere, manages to rescue Face who has gotten himself into trouble by sleeping with the wife of of said corrupt General. They get out of their situation and find themselves at a hospital and needing to find a way out. Enter their pilot, H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock (Sharlto Copley), a certifiable nut case that they find kept as a patient at the hospital.

They get themselves back to the states and proceed complete many missions for the government over the next few years. They are approached while in Iraq by an agent that wants them to recover some money plates that are going to be used to manufacture counterfeit currency. Their superior officer General Morrison (Gerald McRaney) advises against this covert operation, but they do it anyway. They find that they have competition in this quest by a security company called "Black Forest" which is a Blackwater type of operation led by Brock Pike (Brian Bloom). The members of the A-Team are framed and are given a military trial where they are given dishonorable discharges and sent to prison.

They break out of their separate prisons so that they can redeem themselves and prove their innocence.

This is your typical action flick. It had funny parts, action and a lot of things being blown up. It was pretty good as long as your expectations weren't too high. Pure entertainment value. Jessica Biel's character wasn't even needed here and was obviously just to have a good looking girl in the film.

The characters were basically the same as the t.v. show down to the fact that B.A. is afraid to fly. I pity the fool!!! Hannibal still loves it "when a plan comes together". If you were a big A-Team fan, stick around after the credits (the most credits that I have ever seen) for some cute footage that includes cameo's from the original Face and Murdock.

117 Minutes. Rated PG-13. I give this film THREE STARS.

Kick Ass (2010)

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson)is a nerdy kid who decides to become a real life super hero after being mugged and sees a bystander who does nothing to help. He buys a funky scuba suit for his costume and decides to call himself "Kick Ass".

Kick Ass goes out on patrol and gets beat up badly by the very same guys that mugged him earlier. He ends up in the hospital where most of his bones have been fixed with metal plates. He also has damaged most of his nerve endings and this has made him unable to feel most pain.

When he goes back to school, he finds that a girl, Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca), that he is in love with thinks that he is gay since he is so nice and sensitive. He goes along with it to be around her and they spend a lot of time together having sleepovers and applying self tanner.

Dave gets back into his super hero mode and beats up some guys that are chasing after someone. The incident is caught on tape and put on YouTube and becomes an instant sensation. All of a sudden Kick Ass is a hot merchandise property complete with his own MySpace page. When Dave finds out that Katie is being bothered by a drug dealer when she volunteers at the needle exchange. Kick Ass goes over to the dealers house and finds himself in a precarious situation until "Hit Girl" (Chloe Grace Moretz) appears. This 11 year old kills everyone in interesting ways (It kind of has a "Kill Bill" flavor) then leaves with her father "Big Daddy" (Nicolas Cage). Big Daddy is a former cop named Damon Macready that was framed for drugs by a kingpin named Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong). While he was in prison his wife died while having his daughter Mindy who was then taken care of by his former police partner. When Macready got out of prison he began training his little girl all things lethal.

D'Amico thinks that Kick Ass is the one messing up his business by killing off his men when it is actually Big Daddy. They find this out when D'Amico's son Chris(Christopher Mintz-Plasse) decides to become "Red Mist" to try to flush out Kick Ass. When Red Mist takes Kick Ass to the lumberyard where the bad guys hang out, they find that it is on fire and all of the men are dead. Thanks to a nanny cam from Chris' baby days, they also see that it is Big Daddy, dressed a bit like Batman, that is the one doing the killing.

Dave decides to quit being Kick Ass because of the danger. However, checking his My Space he finds that Red Mist is trying to get a hold of him in a bid to flush out big Daddy. Kick Ass notifies Big Daddy that he needs help and they go to a safe house where the bad guys shoot Hit Girl and take Big Daddy and Kick Ass. Hit Girl saves the day, but not before big Daddy sustains lethal burns. Dave tries to get Hit Girl to stop, but she must avenge her fathers death and finish what he started.

This film is based on a comic of the same name and the movie rights were sold even before the first issue was published. Brad Pitt is a producer of this movie.

The most amusing parts of this movie were the parts with "Hit Girl" and her father. While it seems strange to find an 11 year old participating in such violence and some profanity it was still pretty funny. The rest of the movie was pretty good, but not what I would call great. While much was made of Hit Girls language, she dropped a couple of F words a C word and a couple of other small ones, they made it seem like there was an endless stream of profanity. I don't see what the big deal was about. However, I would like to applaud (sarcastically), the parental skills of the parents that brought their what looked like 5 and 6 year old kids to this R rated violent movie. What is wrong with people?

Chloe Grace Moretz and Nicolas Cage both did a good job.

Rated R. I give this movie THREE STARS.

Armored (2009)

This movie begins as Ty Hackett (Columbus Short) is just finishing up his probationary period as a member of an armored car team that also includes Ty's godfather Mike (Matt Dillon), Baines (Laurence Fishburne), Quinn (Jean Reno), Dobbs (Skeet Ulrich) and Palmer (Amaury Nolasco).

Ty is a veteran and Silver Star recipient whose parents both recently died and now is responsible for his teenage brother Jimmy (Andre Kinner) who is quickly approaching delinquent status. To top it off, he is about to lose the family home due to two mortgages and the medical bills from his parents.

On the last day of his probationary period, his fellow employees play a "joke" on him by making like they are being robbed by some men in a van. Well, it turns out that the "robbery" was basically a dry run for a robbery that they themselves want to pull off. It turns out that they will be getting new trucks that will be tracked by GPS and if they are going to pull this job, they need to do it now. Amazingly this coincides with a huge shipment of 42 million dollars from the federal reserve.

At first Ty wants nothing to do with this when Mike tells him about it, but when he goes home a child welfare person is there talking about putting Jimmy in foster care. Ty decides to do it as long as no one gets hurt. Famous last words.

When the guys pick up the money from the federal reserve, they have an hour to check back in with the armored security company. They drive the trucks to an abandoned mill, unload the money and hide it. Just as they are about to leave, they spot a homeless man who saw everything and chase him down. Baines shoots him and when Ty tries to help the man, Mike kills the man. Now the guys begin to argue about what to do. Ty runs to one of the trucks and tries to get away, but has no luck. He hides in the truck which also has 21 Million still in it. The other guys decide to try to take the hinges off the truck to get to the money and Ty. The truck alarm goes off alerting a local deputy (Milo Ventimiglia) that there might be something going on at the abandoned mill. He goes over to take a look and gets shot. while the guys are arguing about what to do, Ty grabs the deputy and drags him into the truck.

The guys continue to try to get the hinges off the truck. Ty convinces Dobbs to help him and when Dobbs gets caught by the others, he pays for it. Ty finds that there is a removable floor plate in the truck and takes the deputies radio up to the roof to see if he can get reception. When he comes back, he finds that the guys have grabbed his brother from home to try to get Ty out of the truck. It works. However, when the remaining guys try to get the money, it explodes thanks to the booby trap that Ty set. Ty tries to run away and is chased by Mike in one of the trucks. It doesn not end well for Mike.

In the end the deputy tells how Ty helped him out and the boss at Eagle (Fred Ward) mentions that there is talk of a reward.

This has got to be one of the most predictable movies that I have seen in a long time. Super thin plot, kind of boring actually. There is a lot of star power here, but it wasn't used.

Rated PG-13. 85 Minutes. I give this movie TWO AND ONE QUARTER STARS.

The Hurt Locker (2009)

The title "Hurt Locker" comes from the phrase "they sent him to the hurt locker" meaning someone that has been injured in an explosion.

Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner) has just been sent to take over a team that deactivates Improvised Explosive Devices or IED's. He has taken over for someone that has just been killed trying to deactivate another bomb. The other members of his team are Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anothony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). From their first mission with James, the Sergeant and Specialist, who provide cover for James while his is working, look at James as sort of a loose cannon. James takes unbelievable chances with his life while trying to deactivate bombs. Is he really that reckless or is he that good and professional? They have only 38 days left on their tour, will they make it?

While trying to chase down some insurgents (that his colleagues thought would best be left to the infantry) one of them suffers a bullet wound and blames James.

James goes home to his wife and child and the boring drabness of everyday life. The last shots of James are those of him going back to Iraq for another tour, this is his life.

This was a great movie. However it was hard to watch in parts.

This movie was based on accounts by Mark Boal a journalist who in 2004 followed a United States bomb squad in Iraq. He would often go out on 10 missions a day to observe the squad. The movie was shot in Jordan and Kuwait and won 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman director to win the award. This movie was made for 15 million dollars and is the lowest grossing movie to win the Academy Award. Since it's win, it has been re-released in theaters, although it is now on video. Netflix it!

Many veterans do not seem to care for the movie claiming that some of what they show is not like it is in real life.

Rated R. 131 Minutes. I give this movie FOUR AND ONE QUARTER STARS.

Avatar (2009)

This movie is set in 2154 and centers around the mining of a precious mineral called Unobtanium that is located on a moon, called Pandora, of a planet called Polyphemus located in another star system. Pandora is inhabited by a people called Na'vi who are 10 feet tall, blue skinned and worship a goddess called Eywa. Humans must wear oxygen masks as they can't breathe on Pandora.

Scientists have created a way to pair a humans mental awareness with an Avatar (sort of a hybrid body) that they have created. The human lies down into a pod and their mind is transferred by mental link into the Avatar body. This way they can interact with the Na'vi.

Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) leads the mining operation for the mineral assisted by a security company headed by Colonel Quaritich (Stephen Lang) whose sole purpose seems to be getting the Na'vi off the land so they can mine their mineral.

Jack Sully (Sam Worthington) is a paraplegic former Marine whose twin brother is killed unexpectedly and they need him because as he has the same DNA as his brother, he can use the same Avatar. Scientist Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) helps him with this. On his first trip on Pandora with another scientist to collect samples in the forest, Jake and the scientist are separated when an animal attacks. He is rescued by a Na'vi from the Omaticaya tribe or clan named Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). Neytiri takes Jake back to her village and her father tells her to teach him their ways.

Colonel Quaritich sees this as an excellent opportunity to get intel on the Na'vi and promises Jake that he will fix his legs in return for information that may help them get rid of the Omaticaya's. Jake begins bringing in information and Grace does not like this. She takes Jake and another scientist to a remote station away from the security team. Jake continues his instruction from Neytiri and becomes very close to the tribe. After a few months, he becomes one of their tribe and accepts Neytiri as his mate.

When Jake tells Selfridge that the Omaticaya will never move from their spot on Pandora, Selfridge orders that the area be destroyed. He tells Jake that they have one hour to move. When Jake tells the Omaticaya of the plans, he is accused of betrayal and his and Grace's Avatars are taken captive. The security forces destroy their village and the area killing many including Neytiri's father.

Soon afterward Jake and Grace are imprisoned for defying the security forces, but escape with the help of a security member (Michelle Rodriguez) that doesn't like the security teams methods. While escaping, Grace is shot and Jake begs the remaining Omaticaya, who have gathered at the "Tree of souls" to heal Grace. Unfortunately, Grace dies before she is able to be transferred into her unconscious Avatar.

Jake and Neytiri unite warriors from the other tribes to fight the humans. The security forces attack and many Na'vi are killed, but they prevail in the end. The security forces and mining people are expelled from Pandora, but the scientists are allowed to remain.

We saw this movie in 3D at an IMAX theater. I highly recommend seeing this in at least 3D. The 3D effects were amazing. I have seen t.v articles on how this movie was made and it is incredible. The movie itself was o.k., but the effects made this a must see, so do yourself a favor and see it in a theater.

This film was directed by James Cameron who has also directed "Titanic", "The Abyss", "Aliens", "True Lies" and "Terminator I and II" to name a few. His efforts have generated 5.7 billion dollars worldwide. He was also married to director Kathryn Bigelow that recently won the Oscar for her movie "The Hurt Locker".

Rated PG-13. I give this movie FOUR AND A QUARTER STARS.

A Perfect Getaway (2009)

Cliff and Cyndey (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) are a freshly married couple spending their honeymoon in Hawaii. They decide to backpack to a hidden beach that they had heard about that has to be accessed by hiking in.

They pick up a couple of hitchhikers named Cleo and Kale (Marley Shelton and Chris Hemsworth) along the way to the trail and think that they are strange and drop them off at the side of the road.

Along the trail on their hike, they run into some hikers talking about the recent murders of a couple in the islands. Cliff and Sydney question whether to go on, but decide to continue. They run into Nick (Timothy Olyphant) along the trail and decide to hike together and meet up with Nick's girlfriend Gina (Kiele Sanchez) at a water hole. While at the water hole they bump into Cleo and Kale and freak out but figure they are o.k. since they are with Nick and Gina.

The couple continue to bond with Nick and Gina until one of the ladies finds out something about the others that leads to the truth. I won't tell you what happens, that wouldn't be fair.

This movie is o.k. for a cheesy and mildly entertaining way to pass the time.

Rated R. 120 Minutes. I give this movie TWO AND ONE HALF STARS.

Land Of The Lost (2009)

This film, a parody of the Saturday morning show by Sid and Marty Krofft, is one of the worst films that I have seen in the last year.

It stars Will Ferrell (who I usually like)as Dr. Rick Marshall a paleantologist, Anna Friel as Holly, and Danny McBride as Will. None of the characters are as they were in the original show. They fall into a space/time vortex and find themselves in a quasi desert, jungle situation with evidence that there have been others there before them.

Most of this movie varies from the original although Chaka, the Sleestak and the T-Rex are still there but that is about it. This was made for adults and therefore has the usual sex and adult jokes. At least the older one had the excuse that it was from the 70's and the cheesy effects were funny.

It sucks, nuff said.

Rated PG-13. 102 Minutes. I GIVE THIS MOVIE ONE AND ONE HALF STARS.

Here is the lead in for the old Saturday morning show. Memories people?

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

It is late 19th century London and Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) are trying to stop a human sacrifice occult ritual that is being performed by Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). They are able to stop the murder and Lord Blackwood is sent to prison.

Poor Holmes has no new cases and Watson is about to marry his sweetheart Mary (Kelly Reilly) and move out of their shared residence at the famous 221B Baker Street. At the same time, the soon to be hung Lord Blackwood requests to see Holmes before his execution. Blackwood tries to mess with Homes' head (a la Silence of the Lambs) and is soon hung and declared dead by Dr. Watson who checks to see that there is no pulse.

Holmes is offered money by an old adversary and paramour, Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) to find a red haired man by the name of Reardon. Holmes and Watson try to find out who is employing Irene, but have no luck. Days after Blackwood's execution, a gravedigger says that he saw Blackwood walking away from the site. When the coffin is dug up, they find the red haired man inside. They search Reardon's house and find evidence of all kinds of science and chemistry experiments. They are attacked in the house by some men and are arrested after causing all kinds of damage trying to get away from the villains. Watson is sprung by his fiance, but Holmes is brought before the occult society, "The Temple of The Four Orders" who fear Lord Blackwood. Holmes and Watson continue to investigate and soon a couple of the high members of the Order are killed, supposedly by unexplained means. Blackwood then takes over the Order and wants to take over the world, especially America.

Holmes hides out as he finds that he is wanted by the police. He and Watson figure out what Blackwood's next move is and they find that Blackwood wants to kill Parliament members by using a machine devised by Reardon that will release poison gas into the chambers. Holmes, Watson and Adler foil the plan and Blackwood goes after them, losing in a major way. It is left wide open for the next Sherlock Holmes installment.

I will not reveal how Blackwood survived, try to figure it out for yourself. This film is adapted by the stories written by Sir Conan Doyle and was directed by Guy Ritchie. I have not been thrilled by most of the last movies directed by Ritchie, but "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" is quite good. Not for the children though. The movie set reminded me of the Johnny Depp movie "From Hell" about Jack the Ripper. Speaking of, if you go to London, do the Jack the Ripper Tour. For about ten dollars, they take a group of people on a walking tour that lasts about an hour or so around the area where the murders occured. They talk about what happened and the knowledgeable guides answer questions, very interesting!

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are great together as Holmes and Watson. They remind me of a bickering married couple. It seems that Holmes would be devastated by Watson marrying and moving away, not unlike today's "bromances". I found the movie to be very entertaining. Lord Blackwood looked amazingly like Andy Garcia only taller. Rachel McAdams part could have been played by anyone, her performance was not very significant.

Rated PG-13. 134 Minutes. I GIVE THIS MOVIE THREE AND THREE QUARTER STARS.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

In this installment of the "Twilight" series, adapted from the book written by Stephenie Meyer, Bella (Kristen Stewart) must deal with the fact that she may never again see her beloved Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson).

The film begins as Bella realizes that although her love Edward, a vampire who will always stay 17, will not age, SHE will. The fact that this is her 18th birthday does not help matters. This disturbs her and she wants Edward to turn her into a vampire to prevent this. At her birthday party at Edward's family's house, she cuts her finger and one of his family members tries to attack her because of the blood. The Cullen's decide that they must move away so they won't put Bella in danger. We don't see much of Edward until the last part of the movie. Unhappy Bella mopes around for months until she goes out with a girlfriend with prompting from her caring father. While out with her friend, she realizes that when she puts herself into a dangerous situation, that the ghostly specter of Edward appears to warn her not to proceed.

This seems to pull her out of her funk and she runs over to her friend Jacob Black's (Taylor Lautner) to have him rebuild her a couple of motorcycles that seem to have appeared in the back of her truck. He, just like Edward, is enamored of her. They spend a lot of time together until he begins to act strangely. Bella discovers that Jacob as well as some of his fellow Quileute tribe members are actually werewolves (by an inherited gene) whose purpose is to kill vampires. He tells her that a vampire is hanging around and that they are trying to catch her. The vampire is Victoria who has made it clear that she wants to kill Bella. Bella wigs out and decides that she is going to have some "fun" and go cliff jumping into the ocean and is pulled out of the water by Jacob. Edward is led to believe that Bella is dead (he can somehow see this) and therefore decides that he can't live without her and is going to Italy to ask the Volturi (kind of like the royalty/vampire jury of the vampire nation) to kill him. They refuse because of his talents as a vampire. He decides that he is going to break the cardinal vampire rule and expose himself to the public (he likes to sparkle) which results in certain death by the Volturi. Bella meanwhile speeds to Italy with Edward's sister Alice (Ashley Green) to stop him. She manages to get there in time, but the Volturi want to see her. Aro (Michael Sheen and the "head" vampire) is amazed to discover that Bella is immune to their vampire powers of mind reading and pain inducing and decides not to kill her as she can be useful later when they are assured that she will be turned into a vampire by the Cullen's.

I know that most people loved this movie, and I did thing it was pretty good, but not great. It's not that I don't like the romance, but it was a bit over the top. Don't get me wrong, this 40 something body is still housing a 17 year old mind and I still remember what it was like to be devastated by a failed romance that was supposed to last FOREVER!!!! But come on! I did like the parts with the werewolves but thought that there wasn't enough of that action. I was also looking forward to the part where Jane (Dakota) and the Volturi interact with Edward and Bella, but this part was much more interesting in the book. Dakota Fanning's Jane did not have nearly the impact and presence that she had in the book, the part was very small here. I thought that Kristin Stewart's acting was pretty bad and exaggerated but Michael Sheen's too brief portrayal of Aro was great. The best part was that when Jacob pulled off his shirt to dab the tablespoon of blood on Bella's forehead after her motorcycle accident, there was an audible gasp in the theater by ladies of all ages quickly followed by groaning by the men. Hilarious! The forest scenes in the movie were beautifully photographed.

130 Minutes. Rated PG13. I give this movie THREE STARS.

2012 (2009)

This film begins as geologist Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chimetel Ejiofor) goes to India in 2009 to see evidence that the earth's core is heating up at an alarming rate. He runs back to the U.S. and explains his findings to a presidential aide, Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) who then reports it to the President (Danny Glover with a really bad lisp. Did he get new teeth or something?).

Several years later, Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) a one time published author and limo driver, is taking his kids camping in Yellowstone despite the fact that many earthquakes are occurring. He is separated from his wife (Amanda Peet) who is living with her plastic surgeon boyfriend Gordon (Tom McCarthy) who, it seems, his son prefers. While in Yellowstone, they enter a restricted area and are whisked off to a military/scientific base where Dr. Helmsley recognizes Jackson from his book which, by the way, predicts a global catastrophe. What are the odds? Jackson and kids head back to their campsite where they run into a whacko (Woody Harrelson in a role tailor made for him) that runs a pirate radio station out of his R.V. that predicts the end of the world. He tells Jackson about what he thinks is going on with the government and the end of the world and tells Jackson that he has a map of where the government is building "spaceships" to survive.

Jackson takes the kids home and later that day is when the world begins to fall apart. When things start to crumble, he drives to get the kids, his wife and her boyfriend. He then drives like a crazy man as the world is literally collapsing all around them to the airport where he has reserved a plane that Gordon flies (he is taking flying lessons)to Yellowstone so that Jackson can acquire a map from the wacko that tells them where the "spaceships are located. The so-called "spaceships" actually turn out to be Arks complete with animals that were available for the low low price of a billion dollars for those that could afford it (they had to finance the building of the Arks somehow. What?...the government would pay for it?). They are obviously expecting the flooding by the tsunami's that come with geological events that are so powerful that the continents and the Poles move (the South Pole ends up in Wisconson. Really!).

A couple of parts, such as the part where Jackson is making his mad dash for the airport, are so unbelievable they would be funny if not for the fact that people are being killed all over the place. There is a scene where they had to land a plane in a snow covered area in China in the middle of nowhere and a truck just happens to drop by and pick them up. Again, what are the odds?

The film, directed by Roland Emmerich who seems to be the king of the end of the world as his other movies "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow" both deal with apocalyptic type events, is not horrible as long as you don't take it seriously. If you look at it for what it is, a silly, slightly entertaining way to pass the time, then you might enjoy iT. The effects are good and may best be viewed at the theater.

180 Minutes. Rated PG13. I give this movie TWO STARS.

Amelia (2009)

Starring Hillary Swank as Amelia Earhart and Richard Gere as her husband George Putnam, "Amelia" is on the boring side. How can this be when she is such an interesting and iconic figure? Most of the film dealt with her relationship with George and her affair with Gene Vidal, an aeronautics instructor and the father of the famed author Gore Vidal. She was way ahead of the game when it came to feminism. When she and George finally married, she made him promise that they would both be free to do what they wanted in their marriage and even had the word "obey" removed from their vows, which people didn't do in those days. The film begins as she approaches George Putnam to be the first woman to go across the Atlantic in a plane. She would not be the pilot, she would just be a passenger, she was not happy about this. She would later remedy this with a solo flight across the Atlantic at a later date. She was made to endorse products that she didn't believe in and hated it, seeing it as fraud. The best parts of the movie were of the shots when she was flying, whether it be above the clouds, or flying over parts of Africa and seeing the animals on the ground. The film ends while on her second try to fly around the world and couldn't locate Howland Island where she was to refuel and disappeared along with her navigator Fred Noonan on July 2, 1937.

I like Hillary Swank (great in "Million Dollar Baby" for which she won an Oscar) and thought that she did a good job in this movie. There just wasn't much to keep my attention.

Amelia received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress for being the first woman to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic. It was mentioned that she felt that her wanderlust came from her father, but it was not mentioned that her mother was the first woman to summit Pike's Peak. Amelia also became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt.

There are several theories as to what happened to Ms. Earhart. The most popular theory being that she ran out of fuel and ended up in the ocean somewhere around Howland Island. Her radio was not working correctly and although the people on the island could hear her, she could not hear them and therefore could not locate the island. It was also thought that she had somehow gotten herself to Gardner Island as it has been suggested that radio signals came from there and signs of recent occupation were there even though the island was uninhabited. A skeleton was later found, but was thought to be that of a man. By the time that better tests were available, the bones were lost. One of the others was that she was actually alive and changed identities. This was not believed by most.

Rated PG. I give this movie TWO AND A HALF STARS.

Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Scottish actor Gerard Butler plays engineer Clyde Shelton whose wife and daughter are murdered in a random home invasion. The criminals, Clarence Darby (Christian Stolte) and Rupert Ames (Josh Stewart) are caught but only one of them gets the death penalty. The other one gets just a few years in a plea deal that the prosecutor set up. Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is the prosecutor on the fast track to the D.A.'s office and doesn't want to upset his 96% conviction rate with a case that he is not certain to win. Needless to say, Shelton is not happy.

Fast forward ten years later and one of the criminals is executed and the other turns up in a gruesome way. Shelton is arrested and it seems that we should applaud his efforts instead of condemning them because of what happened to his family, but after he is jailed he begins to threaten that more people will die and the targets become more innocent. The audience view of Shelton begins to make him look more like a criminal as Price's colleagues and more innocent people die before his eyes. Shelton is always 12 steps ahead of the authorities and it is interesting to see how everything unfolds. The big question is how are Shelton's murders still being committed even as he sits in prison?

This film has some gory, unexpected and inventive ways of killing (some of the items used looked like they were borrowed from the prop room at "Saw") and had some interesting plot twists. Butler gives a good performance as the tortured husband and father out to show everyone the injustice of the event.

A lot of critics didn't like this movie, but it kept me interested although I had to turn away from some of the gore (Kind of wimpy, I know).

108 minutes I give this film TWO AND THREE QUARTERS STARS.

Rated R

Whiteout 2009

Based on a graphic novel, the first scene of this movie is of an old transport plane flying over Antarctica in 1957 and ends with the plane crashing after a gunfight and some Vodka swilling by it's occupants over a box on the plane.

Flash forward to present day at a research facility at the South Pole where Carrie Setko (Kate Beckinsale) is the resident U.S. Marshall. Within a few minutes, we already get our gratuitous shot of her stripping and getting into the shower. She also seems to have the ability to repel hat hair even after wearing hoods and those big Russian hats that I would get hat head with after about 30 seconds of wearing anything on my head. The film also includes Tom Skerritt as the facility doctor, Gabriel Macht a U.N. investigator and Alex O'Loughlin who was previously a vampire in a show called "Moonlight". A few days before the winter replacement personnel take over for the departing staff (past a certain date, no planes can take off or land as it is so cold that fuel will not run)a body is found in a remote location by a pilot. On further investigation it is found to be murder. Several other murders are committed during the course of the film and Setko must deal with this before a huge storm comes in so that she can make it out before the planes leave for the winter and she is stuck there for months.

You would think that a murderer running around during a whiteout would be interesting. Nope. There was not much excitement and the "surprise" ending was not unexpected. The most interesting thing about this movie was the setting and the dangers that the people stationed here face.

I read a book called "Ice Bound" by Dr. Jerri Nielsen in which she took a job as the doctor at a research facility at the south Pole for a year. Most of the book describes life at the facility over the winter and was very interesting. The movie actually includes much of the same things that I saw in the movie right down to the Streakers doing their thing (in temps WELL below 0) before they go home. The doctor, while at the facility, descovers that she has breast cancer and does her own biopsy and gives herself her own chemo treatments with drugs dropped by planes because the planes can't land. You can get it at the library, it's worth reading.

Overall this movie was not very entertaining. Wait til it is available at the library and check it out for free. I give it TWO AND A HALF STARS.