Hereafter

This movie is about the experience of death, but not the morbid and horror side to it, but the spiritual experience that one goes through.  Directed and produced by the legendary Clint Eastwood, the film follows three characters and their different experiences with the spiritual realm of death.  In the first scenario, you meet Marie Lelay (Cecile de France), a French news reporter, who has a near death experience after almost drowning during the tsunami in Thailand.  She struggles to get back to her own normality after her experience. She loses focus at work and takes some time off to work on a political novel.  But she keeps delving back to her experience in Thailand and pursues informing herself about the subject matter.  Then you meet Marcus and Jason (Frankie and George McLaren), twin boys who struggle with the drug dependent mother for their own sense of normal.  Jason is the strongest of the two, he looks out for both his brother and mother.  Unfortunately, Jason meets a tragic end and Marcus is left struggling for answers and how to move on without his brother constantly by his side.  Finally you are introduced to George Lonegan (Matt Damon), a reluctant physic.  Everyone George touches, gives him a glimpse at someone that person has lost in their life.  Once profiting off of his gift, he eventually feels cursed by it and tries his hardest to live a normal life.  He is eager to meet that special someone, but due to his ability that has become a difficult challenge in itself.


It is a difficult subject matter, but each scenario is beautifully portrayed and eventually all the story lines do tie in together.  The question is how, but you would have to watch the movie to understand that.

I give it a 7 out of 10.

Next up is "What's Your Number?"

Tell Tale

So yes... we have seen this before.  A transplant recipient experiences something that directly ties him or her to their donor.  An intriguing concept, but in this particular film, it drags on.  Josh Lucas plays Terry Bernard, the lucky recipient of a heart and the doting father to a daughter who is stricken with one of the unluckiest genetic diseases, a degenerative disorder that turns her internal soft tissues (cartilage) into bone.  He is a single father trying to make the best of the situation he is dealt.  Further complications arise with his attraction to his daughter's doctor, Elizabeth Clemson (Lena Headley), and his visions of the brutal murder of his donor and his wife.  He keeps getting a glimpse of what had happened that fateful night.  


Soon his heart is acting on it's own, truly feeling the thoughts and emotions of the donor, he begins to seek and take revenge on all who participated in the donor's murder.  There are a couple of twists, but they are foreseen and extremely predictable, which is the one thing that I loathe about a movie.

I give it a 4 out of 10.

Next up is "Hereafter."

Contagion

So what influence does this politically charged movie have on a person? Teaches you to really wash your hands and food.... and speaking of food, to prepare it properly.  We all went through the hype and propaganda of the dreaded H1N1 (hyped up Swine Flu), that was further thrown of the fire of fear by various governmental agencies and the media.  My son caught it and handled it like any other bug, without any of us getting a vaccination.  What most people fail to realize is that the flu, which alters its beloved genetic makeup each and every instance, kills millions every year.


The most fascinating star of the movie is that actual bug itself, how sophisticated this microscopic organism truly is and how quickly it can devastate a community, city, state, country and the list goes on.  The film is a window to the future, we have yet to experience such devastation from a pandemic in this modern day and age, but it is not to say that it could not ever happen; which I believe is the true message behind the film.  However, I know that there are those lovely doomsday folk who see movies like this as the truth and continue to live their lives in fear of what might happen.  To me, that is not a life.  This is a star studded cast, with the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, and Kate Winslet.  Each giving great performances, which does make a truly good film. 

I give it a 9 out of 10.

Next up is "Tell Tale."

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift

Family movie night typically includes a high dose of CGI created characters full of humor and the latest entry in the Ice Age franchise does not disappoint.  This chapter in the daily lives of our favorite prehistoric creatures, Diego the saber-toothed cat, Manny the wise Woolly Mammoth and Sid the unexplainable sloth is aligned with a true star studded cast this go around.  Celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah, Wanda Sykes, Niki Minaj, Drake, Keke Palmer and Peter Dinklage all contribute their voice talents to expand this ensemble cast.


Squint, our beloved prehistoric squirrel has once again caused some worldly trouble chasing his beloved acorn.  This time, he has caused the major divide that created the seven different continents.  Truly hilarious in Squint form, but his true destructive masterpiece occurs at the close of the movie.  Manny is now separated from the loves of his life, his wife Ellie and daughter Peaches.  He is determined to get back to them and is, of course, aided by his allies Sid and Diego.  They meet challenges along the way, but in the end all is well (it's a kids' movie remember).  There are true laugh out loud moments and it is a true crowd pleaser.

I give it a 7 out of 10.

Next up is "Contagion."

Faster

Meet the Driver... Dwayne Johnson aka "The Rock." He, alongside of his brother, was double-crossed.  Because of this, his brother was murdered in front of his face.  After spending a decade in prison, he is hell bent on revenge.  His mission is to kill all of those involved in his brother's murder.  He will not stop or slow down until he has completed his goal.  In his rear view, he has two veteran cops played by Billy Bob Thorton and Carla Gugino, along with a sophisticated hired assassin with emotional issues (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) trying to stop his deadly path. Entertaining film, reminded me of "Get Carter" and Sylvester Stallone's gritty performance.

I give it a 7 out of 10.

Next up is "Ice Age 4: Continental Drift."  

The Big Year

This is a true feel good comedy about all things birding... if you have no clue what that is, just google it and you'd be so very surprised about how big of a world birding truly is.  It is  also a story of friendship, new loves, old loves, and family.  You meet three men from varying backgrounds, all on the same quest of having a "big year." Meaning that have the highest number of bird sightings of different types of birds.  There is the returning champion, Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson) who is trying to top his previous record, and to ensure that no one else can best him.  He is so dedicated to his passion for birding that it jeopardizes his current marriage to a beautiful and devoted wife who just wants to start their family.  You have the corporate CEO, Stu Priessler (Steve Martin) who just recently retired and finally committed to having his "big year" much to the chagrin of his former employees.  He has the support of his loving wife, who has encouraged him to finally do something for himself.  Finally, you meet the narrator of the film, Brad Harris (Jack Black).  Brad is a divorcee who moved back home with his parents and just can't seem to commit to anything but birding.


The movie gives a humorous view to the world of birds and birdwatchers down to the various lengths they go to just to catch a glimpse of a rare bird.  The three gentlemen meet, interact and compete against one another as they try to conquer the challenge of having the biggest year.  Stu and Brad forge a kinship and share the goal of both besting Bostick.  It is such a enjoyable film and worth the watch.

I give it a 8 out of 10.

Next up is "Faster."

In Time

This sci-fi movie stars Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried as two young people on opposite ends of the social hierarchy.  Here is a world where everyone stops aging at 25, when you hit the ripe old age, your time clock begins giving you just one year until you drop dead unless you earn more time.  Time essentially becomes the new currency.  The wealthy have decades even centuries of time at their disposable.  Living life at a leisurely pace.  Those less fortunate, live day to day. Earning and borrowing time to stay alive.  Each social class lives in particular zones that are heavily guarded by the Timekeepers.


Will Salas (Timberlake) is a hard-working young man determined to live a good life and to help his mother (Olivia Wilde).  He knows how to hustle and works every angle to earn mere minutes to extend his time and his mother's.  At a chance encounter he meets a wealthy man who is well into his eighties but of course looks like he is 25, Will saves his life.  For there are those who steal time for their own benefit.  This wealthy man truly believes that no one is meant to live forever and this notion stirs something within Will; and Will is even more surprised when he wakes up with 100 extra years added to his life.  With this new found time, he embarks on a journey to try and right the ways of the world, where everyone has their fair share of time on this earth.  Meeting Sylvia (Seyfried) on this journey they learn a lot about themselves, their world and what they can do to balance the scales.  A modern day Robin Hood meets Bonnie and Clyde.

I give it a 7 out of 10.

Next up is "The Big Year."

The Thing (2011)

This is a book adaptation and also a film remake.... so was it any where as intriguing and suspenseful as the original film from 1982 starring Kurt Russell?  I liked the original so much more, not that this one was horrible by any means.  The great thing about computer technology and the digital arts is the fact that you can create such a unique world and scary aliens.  This version was heavy on the CGI and the one thing that saved it was the simple twists and adjustments to the original screen play.  They kept the film in 1982, but this version used computer technology to make this alien encounter that more realistic.  I liked the fact that they had mostly Norwegian characters with a couple of Americans, and I also liked the fact that Kurt Russell's character is now a woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).  This film is not a time waster, but if you loved the original, don't expect to see that again.

I give it a 6 out of a 10.

Next up is "In Time."

The Help

So here is another book to film adaptation following my review of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo."  However, the one difference between the two outside of the genre, is that this film version was dead on, 100% on the money, capturing the true personalities within the book and passionately portraying them on screen.  Each actress cast in their role for this film gave a breathtaking performance as they breathed life into the characters that you grew to love in the novel.  Beginning with Octavia Spencer's Oscar deserving portrayal of Minny Jackson, she was everything that I had envisioned the character to be and I am sure that I am not alone saying that they Academy Award was well deserved.  


For those who have yet to read the novel, it is a period piece taking place during the Civil Rights movement and located in one of the states that fought to keep everything "separate but equal," Mississippi.  You meet Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) helping her boss, Mrs. Elizabeth Leefolt (Ahna O'Reilly), get ready for bridge.  This is a time when "the help" took car of everything to make a household a success, from cooking, cleaning, serving, and raising their bosses' children.  During this bridge party, you meet Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) who is the most uptight and haughtiest woman in Jackson, and the one woman in all of Jackson that other women want on their good side.  There is also Jolene French (Anna Camp) and of course, our other main character, Ms. Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone), the only unmarried one of the bunch.  Skeeter wants to be a writer and her own person, she does not want to define herself by her husband, but this type of thinking is truly her own.  None of her friends and her mother can understand why she isn't trying to find a husband.  Skeeter also had a close bond to her housekeeper, Constantine and truly always looked at her as a part of her family.  After a particular comment from Hilly regarding having a separate bathroom for the maids outside of the house and registering the pain in Aibileen's face, Skeeter becomes intrigued in understanding the plight and point of view of "the help."  So much so, that she begins to write a book under the guidance of a publishing company in New York, where she dreams of beginning her career in writing.  Aibileen is reluctant in sharing her opinions with Skeeter because she knows what would happen to her if anyone found out that she contributed.  But because of Mrs. Leefolt's treatment of her own daughter, her own flesh and blood, Aibileen begins her story.  Soon she is joined by Minny and eventually others as Skeeter eloquently writes the book that soon is in the hands of many of Jackson's residents.  You see the roots of change trying to spread and grow in Mississippi and the relationships that have developed and continue to grow.


Just like the book, this movie had me laughing, crying full of hope and joy.  It is a must see.

I give it a 10 out of 10.

Next up is "The Thing (2011)."

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

I have anxiously awaited the arrival of this film in my On Demand listing.  I read the entire trilogy and based on the great reviews of this film version, my mouth salivated at the opportunity to watch the movie.  Is it a good movie? Yes.  Is it better than the book or even on the same level? No.  As with any film adaptation of a novel, and to avoid having a five hour movie, there are things that are left out.  There are also slight variations of the characters, in particular the main characters that left me with the question.... why? I am assuming that it is the garner the adoration of the audience to each of the characters.  To make both Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander more likable and agreeable.  


For those of you, who have yet to read the books or even seen either this version or the Swedish version in film, here you go.  Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is a respected journalist, whom at the beginning of the film has just been nationally embarrassed and convicted of libel against Hans-Erik Wennerstrom (a multi-millionaire businessman), looking to escape his unpleasant reality he is offered an opportunity to pen the biographical book of Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) and his family.  Blomkvist is initially not interested until hearing that Henrik is solely looking for answers to the disappearance and believed murder of his beloved niece Harriet Vanger.  Henrik also dangles the fact that he alone has the information to truly take down Wennerstrom.  Mikael is hooked alone by the bait of Wennerstrom.  You meet the troubled Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), an investigator of sorts, but more so a hacker who was recently hired via her company to do a background check on Blomkvist.  You get bits and chunks of her troubled existence and every day struggles, in particular those of her current guardian Nils Bjurman (Yorick van Wageningen).  When Blomkvist needs an assistant, he is pointed in the direction of Lisbeth and their team work begins.  What the eventually discover is more horrific than originally anticipated.


It is an excellent movie, especially if you have not read the books.  However,  if you have read the books, you truly do wish that the film shows the true characters as they were initially written.  I will also say that Rooney Mara's performance, far exceeded my expectations.  She was phenomenal as Lisbeth.

I give it a 9 out of 10.

Next up is "The Help."

Wake

Meet Carys (Bijou Phillips).... a young woman, obsessed with feeling some type of emotion after struggling to cope with the death of her sister, who goes to stranger's funerals to see if she can actually cry.  She attends the funeral of a young woman named Anna and after hearing the woman's mother speak, she begins to move out of the pew, then she hears the voice of a charming and handsome young man.  He speaks of the true spirit of Anna and Carys is instantly drawn back in, she actually feels some emotion and cries.  What does this mean? After the service she views the body and an unfortunate incident happens.  During this occurrence she comes face to face with the handsome, young man who introduces himself as Tyler (Ian Somerhalder).  She eventually finds out that he is the fiance of Anna.


But they are strangely drawn to each other, she has not told him the truth about why she was at the funeral and she suspects that the handsome Tyler actually had something to do with Anna's death.  Could everything really be too good to be true? Torn between her emotions and logic, her heart and her brain, what will happen with every one's secrets finally come out? It is a cute and quirky movie, that I truly enjoyed.  

I give it a 7 out of 10.

Next up is "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo."

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Never saw the first film, but it was so popular that I am very familiar with the characters.  In this long, overdue follow up, we meet Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) as he is released from prison after being convicted of insider trading.  The sad part about his release is that there is no one there to meet him and take him home.  Move up a couple of years, right before the burst of the real estate bubble and we are introduced to a young couple, Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf) and Winnie Gekko (Carey Mulligan).  Both are idealistic and in love with their chosen fields.  Jake is a trader on Wall Street for a major bank lead by his mentor Louis Zabel (Frank Langella) and Winnie runs her own non-profit online newspaper. After seeing Winnie's father give a speech, Jake is intrigued by Gordon Gekko and uses the fact that he is engaged to Gordon's daughter to get in good.  Gekko also sees an opportunity in Jake to get back on good terms with his daughter, but more importantly to exact his revenge and make a miraculous comeback on Wall Street.  


There are several poignant events that occur in the movie and ultimately Gekko does get his revenge but at what cost?  It is a great movie and although I am not at all in love with the financial world of Wall Street, it was an interesting view.

I give it an 8 out of 10.

Next up is "Wake."

Quarantine 2: Terminal

The first version of this movie was a unique spin on the Zombie genre, with the residents of an apartment complex contracting a rabies like virus turning them into the creature that   dines on the flesh of the living. In part two, the backdrop moves from the apartment complex to the small plane and subsequent airplane terminal.  Jenny (Mercedes Mashon) is your heroine, a plucky flight attendant who is not living up to her daddy's expectations and becoming a pilot just like him.  She is working the red eye with her best buddy.  The number of passengers is limited because of the late flight, but includes a young kid, a young female war veteran, a European couple, an uptight couple, an elderly couple, a cute guy and the overweight pain in the rear.  Your typical flight, except they are unknowingly exposed to a virus that takes them over one at a time, slowly but surely.


Not as good as the first, but not a total time waster.

I give it a 5 out of 10.

Next up is "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps."

Fright Night

This delicious remake of one of my favorite horror films from my youth, was actually surprising... surprising because I truly enjoyed it.  There have been several remakes, as of late, and some of them should have simply stopped at the idea of the remake.  What made this movie successful is that they did update the plot and gave it a modern take.  The plot of the movie, however, remains the same.  Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) suspects his new neighbor is a vampire.  He becomes suspicious not of his own accord, but because his former best friend gave him the heads up shortly before he disappeared.  After viewing footage that confirms his buddy's claim and that this footage has something to do with his disappearance.


Once Jerry the vampire (Colin Farrell) lures his attractive neighbor into his home and Charley hears her screams, he tries to save her, unsuccessfully.  Charley tries to convince his mom (Toni Collette) and his girlfriend Amy (Imogen Poots) that they are in grave danger.  Here's where the plot changes, unlike the 80's version.  Mrs. Brewster becomes very well aware that she is living next to a vampire and the second change is the involvement of Peter Vincent (David Tennant), who is nicely updated as a famous magician and illusionist working on the Las Vegas strip. 


Although we are quite well aware of how the movie plays out, it is still an enjoyable ride and fun to watch.

I give it a 7 out of 10.

Next up is "Quarantine 2: Terminal"