Tag: movie review

Movie Review: We Bought a Zoo (2011)

We Bought a Zoo (2011)

4 out of 5 stars

Terry and I saw this in the theater about a week ago (on a Monday afternoon, since I had the day off from work). Matt Damon played the bereaved widower, Benjamin Mee, excellently but failed to convince me of his anguish as the widowed parent of a teenager. MacFadyen and Church provided some great comic relief, but Scarlet Johansson, as the lead zookeeper Kelly Foster, didn’t really click as the romantic interest for Damon’s character.  Although, she totally captivated me while trying to convince Benjamin to ‘let go’ and euthanize a seventeen-year-old Bengal tiger.  A good family film and a pleasant afternoon spent laughing and crying at the local movie theater.

Movie Review: Like Dandelion Dust (2009)

Like Dandelion Dust (2009)

4 out of 5 stars

I found this a difficult drama to watch.  I could sympathize with both families.  I could empathize to some extent with the gracious biological mother.  I can’t say I was completely satisfied with the ending.

I originally wanted to watch this movie to follow Barry Pepper’s acting career (the last film I’d seen him in happened to be the remake of True Grit wherein he reprised the role of Ned Pepper well).  His performance as Rip Porter, the stereotypical alcoholic abusive anger management posture child, met my expectations, but paled beside Mira Sorvino’s performance as his wife, Wendy Porter.  Her character convincingly portrayed grace, forgiveness, resilience, perseverance and unclouded unconditional love on a scale I can only imagine and probably will never achieve.

The other couple (the affluent Campbells) got less sympathy from me, but that could have been intended by the filmmaker.  Or perhaps a result of less convincing performances by Cole Hauser and Kate Levering.

If you’ve ever been in the position, as a woman, and needed to ask and answer the question “Do I abort my baby, or give it up for adoption?” you may find some surprising insights in Like Dandelion Dust.

Movie Review: Point Blank (2010)

Point Blank (2010)

3.5/4 out of 5 stars

Summary from IMDB:  Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche) is a nurse who saves the wrong guy — a thief (Roschdy Zem) whose henchmen take Samuel’s pregnant wife (Elena Anaya) hostage to force him to spring their boss from the hospital. A race through the subways and streets of Paris ensues, and the body count rises. Can Samuel evade the cops and the criminal underground and deliver his beloved to safety?

I added this film to my Netflix streaming queue yesterday morning because after reviewing the DirecTV guide for Sunday the 15th, I could not find anything worth watching.  Initially, I did not fully grasp the fact that the movie was filmed in France and had English subtitles.  This did not put me off, though, as most action movies tend to have less dialog and I read very fast.  Being able to pause and rewind also helps get the entire experience (not just the read dialog, but the body language of the actors).

That being said, this film impressed me.  The story, the action, the stunts, even the acting, were every bit as good as movies made in Hollywood.  In fact, it outshone many of those.  This is by no means a ‘new’ twist on the ‘old’ crime thriller.  It had all the usual suspects: organized crime henchmen and bosses, dedicated detectives and their bad apples (corrupt cops), innocent bystanders who push the moral envelope to ransom their kidnapped loved ones.  Tons of tension and thrills abounded and I had no trouble staying riveted to the screen.

Movie Review: The Encounter (2010)

The Encounter (2010)

2.5 out of 5 stars

Contrived and over-the-top preachy.  Yes, I know, it’s a Christian film so it’s supposed to be that.  But I disagree.  It could have been much better.  It barely rose above the level of what I would see performed at a local church as a liturgical drama.  I guess I just prefer a subtler approach and something that reaches people where the are right now with a bit more real world.  You can still tell a great story and send your audience home with a message, without giving them a concussion (from the two-by-four of theology or Bible quotations you hit them over head with).

 

Movie Review: The Final Countdown (1980)

The Final Countdown (1980)

3.5 out of 5 stars

My daughter had not previously seen this movie, which my husband and I have watched several times.  Terry thinks he may have seen it in the theatre when it was released in 1980.  I don’t think I did, though; I think I have only seen it rebroadcast or on VHS.  Thanks to our Netflix streaming, we were able to revisit this interesting take on time travel and Pearl Harbor Day (somewhat fitting since we just celebrated the 70th anniversary of the original attack on Pearl Harbor earlier this month).

While the officers and crew of the USS Nimitz (a nuclear powered supercarrier) and our token civilian observer (a very young Martin Sheen) pondered taking on the entire Japanese fleet, taking full advantage of forty years of technological advancement in aircraft, weapons, radar and communications, I sat and wondered how dated everything looked from another thirty years in the future.  Crew members had a library of hardcover books to read, were putting together puzzles or playing board games or card games, listened to the radio (instead of plugging in to their iPad or iPod or iPhone), had no Internet, no cell phones (not that they would be of any use in the middle of the Pacific Ocean), no video games, no flat screen television screens or monitors, no personal computers or laptops of any kind.

I realized this time around that the story seemed a bit thin and most of the film seemed to be an advertisement for the capabilities of our Navy, demonstrating take offs, landings, emergency landings, emergency helicopter water rescues, reconnaissance, dog fighting (although not much of a dog fight between a Japanese Zero and a F-14 Tomcat).  Since this film was made ten years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, I assume the Cold War influenced some of this.

Despite these observations, I still enjoyed watching this movie.  Perhaps it’s time this one got a makeover similar to what happened with 3:10 to Yuma.  Maybe before the 75th anniversary rolls around.

Movie Review: Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966)

Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966)

1 out of 5 stars

If only I could get those ninety minutes back I spent watching this movie last night.  Even the respectable talents of Peter Cushing as Doctor Who could not save this film (although his character did manage to save the world from the Daleks).  If the rest of the 60s era Doctor Who movies and television series overflowed with such bad acting, inept stunts, God-awful music and exceptionally fictional science, it’s a miracle Doctor Who survived to the 21st century. 

Some of the ‘shocks’ for me in this movie included a girl who called the Doctor who grandfather and a woman companion who professed to be his niece.  Having watched the Moffat version of Doctor Who for the last few years, I assumed the Doctor had no relatives (except for one episode involving a regenerated hand during the Tenant season).  And I realized this morning that the police officer who rushed into the TARDIS thinking it was an actual police call box is the very same actor who portrayed Donna Noble‘s grandfather, Wilfred Mott (also during the David Tenant Doctor Who seasons). 

I can thank my husband for finding this gem on TCM.  Even though this movie was the sequel to the previous year’s Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965), I won’t be rushing over to Netflix to place it in my queue.  And, thankfully, the BBC does NOT consider anything but the television series to be ‘canon’ with respect to the Doctor Who universe.

Movie Review: Cowboys & Aliens (BluRay)

Cowboys & Aliens (BluRay)

4 out of 5 stars

My father lent me his BluRay of Cowboys & Aliens when he came for dinner Tuesday evening.  We would not have been able to view it via Netflix for another week or two otherwise.  After a dinner of leftovers (more ham and home-made bread), we sat down to watch the BluRay.  As usual, the combination of dinner and a movie put Terry into a food coma within thirty minutes, but Rachelle and I made it through to the credits without dozing off.

Daniel Craig did well, if stoically, as an archetypical Western character. Olivia Wilde’s performance didn’t wow me, but that’s usual for her.   I still think her best performance to be Quorra in Tron: Legacy.  I enjoyed Harrison Ford in a different type of role than what I’ve seen him do before. I also enjoyed Rockwell and Beach’s performances.

But by far my favorite, albeit not a long lived character, was rendered by Clancy Brown, who normally suffers under the stigma of villainous typecasting, this time around he stretched his wings as a gun toting man of the cloth who delivered some of the most memorable dialogue.

Overall, the movie was much better than I thought it would be and I’m sorry I skipped seeing it at the movie theater this past summer, especially after seeing the incredible cinematography (courtesy of the great state of New Mexico).  While four out of five stars might be stretching it a bit (considering the believability of the story and circumstances), I can’t say I didn’t completely enjoy my evening mash-up of two of my favorite movie genres:  westerns and scifi flicks.  The Old West has never been wilder!

Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Four out of Five Stars

My husband and I braved the last-Sunday-before-Christmas-crowds at the Legends shopping center to watch this latest installment in the Sherlock Holmes universe.  Strangely, our theatre (the largest one at the Phoenix Theatre complex) was sparsely populated for the mid-afternoon matinee.  Be that as it may, we thoroughly enjoyed the film. The musical score grated less on the ears this time (more classical orchestration instead of the out-of-tune upright piano cacophony overused in the first movie). I can’t wait to re-watch this on DVD so I can pause it and examine certain scenes minutely. Even with my photographic memory, modern day editing gives viewers nanoseconds to absorb an incredible amount of relevant detail.  Despite the dreary gray British and French winter countryside, the cinematography was gorgeous, the highlight being the Swiss Alps.  The action frequently sported ultra-high-speed slow-motion sequences, punctuated with excellently choreographed audio.

Movie Review: A Dog Named Christmas

Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie: A Dog Named Christmas (2009)

Four out of Five Stars

I read the book this movie was based on last year for Christmas.  The author, Greg Kincaid, lives in Olathe, Kansas, just twenty or so miles south of my home via K-7.  But for some reason, the movie was not re-aired last year (or I completely missed it in the avalanche of Hallmark Channel Christmas movies that start in late November and don’t stop until nearly New Year’s).  This year, I caught the movie on my DVR when it aired on Saturday night.  My husband and I spent a very pleasant Sunday evening with the McCrays and their on-again-off-again adoption of a dog named Christmas.

Movie Review: The Accidental Spy

The Accidental Spy (2011)

Three out of Five Stars

My husband and I have separate Netflix queues (and have for years).  This DVD came in the mail Saturday so we popped it in the player for Saturday evening entertainment.  Who can resist a Jackie Chan action movie?  Not me.  The Turkish bath fight sequence brought a smile to my face.  The plot was hardly believable, but I really didn’t care.  It’s too much fun watching Jackie pretend to play the spy game.