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I’ve come to the conclusion that the direction of the marketing campaign for Catfish might have faltered a bit. Not that the trailers and posters weren’t ideal, rather I think that they intrigued the audience more than they wanted to.

Catfish is not a thriller. It’s not scary, suspenseful, or violent. There’s no blood or guts. But a movie can be mysterious without having any of the previous mentioned attributes. Yes, Catfish is very Hitchcockian like the trailer states, which seems to be upsetting people after having seen the movie because they thought that it was going to take a drastically dark turn. If Hitchcock were alive during the Facebook era, I think he would have made a movie like this. People seem to forget that Hitchcock directed romances and not just slashers like Psycho.

The main conflict revolves around a young man and his friends paying an impromptu visit to a woman whom one was having a virtual online relationship with, only to find out things are not as they seem. Or maybe I should say that since they were beginning to get suspicious of her before they visited anyway, things were not as they thought they were going to seem even though they expected the unexpected.

Catfish clearly respects all of its characters, including the character of Angela, who is quite remarkable without ever intending to be. She’s one of the most interesting people I’ve seen in a movie in the past decade. The credits role and you leave the theater with great questions in your mind. Why do we have Facebook if we really think we know ourselves that well? What things about ourselves do we like? What do we think other people like? And most importantly, we realize that the things we do everyday without thinking are what make us truly amazing.

Look, I know a lot of people will disagree with me and hate this movie. If you’re looking for a scary thriller, don’t see it. You’ll be disappointed. There’s no scares to be had here. But Catfish is a surreal and oddly touching social commentary on our obsessions with social networking.

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“Devil’s Playground” is basically a complete rip-off of Danny Boyle’s 2002 horror masterpiece “28 Days Later”. Same basic concept; fast-moving infected (not actually zombies as such)on the loose in modern day London and a group of individuals trying to escape the horror, fighting amongst themselves on the way. The one thing it doesn’t borrow from it’s source material is any level of intelligence. The characters are melodramatic clichés and way too good-looking and well-groomed to be in any way realistic; even though it’s a low-budget British film it unfortunately follows the crap Hollywood template of shallow, unbelievable, glamorous leads stuck in an increasingly over-the-top set of action-based scenarios. Still, if you just want to watch something empty-headed and fun then it’s not all bad. The stunt sequences are well done and the movie is nicely shot, with some fantastic views of London on display. Don’t take it too seriously and you’ll have a good time.

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A film about life in the backwoods of the Missouri Ozark mountains, filmed on location and with local residents supplying many of the bit parts; principal characters Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), her uncle, Teardrop (John Hawkes), and Merab (Dale Dickey), etc., are filled by experienced actors. Its tone is called “country noir.”

In this Ozark area cooking meth has replaced moonshining as the popular way to make an illegal living. Ree’s father, Jessup, was charged with this and then has fled? — disappeared. Ree is 16 years old and caring for her 12 year old brother and 6 year old sister as well as her catatonic mother. She depends mostly on the charity of neighbors for food, or from the squirrels she shoots, dresses, and cooks. A sheriff shows up and gives her notice that her father faces a court appearance in 10? days for cooking meth. To make his bond, her father had signed over the deed to their land and home as surety. If he doesn’t show in time, Ree and her family will lose their only security.

Ree says, “I’ll find him,” and the rest of the film deals with her determined quest — meeting and overcoming most obstacles to find her father and save the family home.

She makes an odyssey among both near and distant relatives seeking her father. It’s a very gripping journey and gives a view of that particular type of rural life and culture which, perhaps slightly broadly drawn, is fairly realistic in its picture of that wintry land and its people.

Some reviewers are already projecting “Winter’s Bone” as best picture of the year and/or Jennifer Lawrence as Academy Award winner as best actress; her performance is that brilliant and gripping. The photography is great, the suspense thrilling. I was propelled through it almost as if riding a roller coaster.

It was only after the movie was over and reflecting about it that I wondered why Missouri’s social services network was never mentioned, made no appearance**–and how in the world could Ree become such a strong, determined character given her father, mother, and circumstances? But just as I don’t question Ulysses’ escaping the cave of the one-eyed giant in The Odyssey, these omissions don’t bother me. It’s a great story, wonderful film.

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Let’s get this on the table now, I am an American man. I like red meat, apple pie, baseball and women who are armed and dangerous. I ask for nothing more. Well, one more thing, if one of those armed and dangerous women could also have been a recipient of an Oscar for portraying the Queen of England.

“Red” is an acronym, in CIA terminology, for Retired and Extremely Dangerous. The film is based on the graphic novel of the same name. Directed by Robert Schwentke and employs a multitude of great actors and actresses who bring the story to life. The story provides a whirlwind of travel from one American city to the next. While using the film’s time wisely to unravel clues about who is trying to kill the ex-CIA team from a 1981 Colombian CIA operation.

We begin the film with ex-CIA agent Frank Moses (played by Bruce Willis) who is living a meager day-to-day life with no excitement and no cause to look forward to the future. He wakes up alone, he eats alone, and he even takes out the recycle bin alone. Most recently he decorated his home for the Christmas holiday when he realized his was the only house on the block that was barren. He does everything a good citizen must do in suburban Cleveland, Ohio to keep up appearances. He has one ray of sunshine in his life. He makes calls to his customer service rep at the pension services office, Sarah Ross (played Mary-Louise Parker), to hear her voice and talk about romance novels. Sarah, too, is miserable in her dead-end job. We see an over the phone connection between the two characters. If you have seen one romantic comedy in your life, you will see what is going on here. Two lonely souls make a connection but are separated by two cities. However, in “Red” one of the lonely souls is an ex-CIA killer, you won’t find that in the typical romantic comedy formula.

Late one night Frank gets up to go to the kitchen and is attacked by a CIA team of killers. Grenades are thrown, machine guns are fired, bullets are fried in a pan (really it happens) and we are following Frank to Kansas City, Mo. to pick up Sarah to let her know that she is in trouble. From there we are yanked down to New Orleans to find Frank’s old CIA buddy Joe Matheson (played by Morgan Freeman). While in the French Quarter we are entertained with an amazing shot of Frank exiting a spinning cop car to unload an entire clip from his handgun into the windshield of his would-be assailant, William Cooper (played by Karl Urban).

I am done telling you about the story line. It’s a good story line but I have to tell you I haven’t seen action from an experienced cast like this in a long time. Sure I can compare this to “The A-Team” and “The Losers.” Sure it has the basic story line about a team of special ops killers who are doubled crossed and they need to find out who is behind it all. But, I want to tell you what great fun it is to watch someone who portrayed a queen (Helen Mirren) take a firing stance behind a .50 caliber machine gun to mow down a limousine. I want to tell you how someone who once drove “Miss Daisy” (Freeman) and the guy who once played Biff Loman in “Death of a Salesman” (John Malkovich) interrogate the nerdy marine biologist from “Jaws” (Richard Dreyfuss). I can’t forget to tell you how the guy from “Die Hard” (Willis) is back doing what Americans love to watch him do – eliminate the bad guys with a calm, cool attitude.

We, the people, deserve this movie, we have earned the right to put $10 down at the box office and say “give me four A-list actors with lots of explosions and car chases and even a little romance. Because after a summer of watching sub-par movies we need to be reminded how much fun it is to hear old people jokes. Then see those ‘old people’ exact their revenge on the system.”

Should you see this movie? Are you a red-blooded American? Then yes, go see it. This is your right to turn off your mind for a while and be grateful that you live in a country where you can watch absurd violent behavior by retirees. While all along you see a loving relationship between a man and woman blossom before your eyes.

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My Oh My how Ben Affleck has had a up and down career. Starting out as the cheesy yet funny guy in those Kevin Smith flicks, to the academy award winning writer of “Good Will Hunting”, all the way back down to the pathetic string of acting he produced only 10 years ago. But there is a silver lining….with his directorial debut in “Gone Baby Gone”, and his much improved acting in “Hollywoodland”. Ben Affleck is beginning to once again prove his worth in Tinsel Town. Hopefully he can continue to feverish pace.

Well i can say with complete just, that this is the best “Heist” movie since “Swordfish”……Now i know most of you may not like “Swordfish”, but what other bank robbery movie can you compare it to in the past 10 years? Maybe “Snatch”? “Lock Stock”?….eh, if you classify those movies as “Heist” pictures, than okay, it’s the best heist movie since “Snatch” or maybe even “Oceans 11″….either way, it’s a big compliment.

Ben Affleck has certainly proved that “Gone Baby Gone” was not a fluke. He can actually direct a major motion picture. And not only can he do it, he does it very well. Sure the movie had some minor flaws, but nothing that takes too much away from the overall big picture. The best way i can compare it is…..it’s like an east coast “Heat”. Now, the group is not as fool proof or professional as the gang in “Heat”……well, let’s face it, you will probably never top that group in movie…..ever. But never the less, the style of film making really pulls you into each sequence, whether it be the action packed bank robbery, the emotional dialog between characters, or the intense decisions the players all must endure.

The movie doesn’t try to WOW! you by offering a different style of bank robbery. Which is a good thing, because you really run the risk of tripping over your own two feet in the process. But i really think the major factor in this film, was the acting. Everyone came to play ball in this one……..but i can also say this with complete confidence…….Ben Affleck was the best actor in this movie. Yes, i know it’s hard to swallow for some of you, but he really showed us all, what he is truly capable of doing. So Mr. Affleck, let me tip my hat to you and say job well done sir. You took a lot of crap to the face, and you wiped it off, and came back strong.

Bottom Line……Yes, i can honestly say that this is one of the best movies of the year so far. Sure the movie gets a little sappy at the end, but it’s pretty necessary. But overall, your very well entertained.

I read an article a few months ago about even after “Gone Baby Gone”, people still wouldn’t hire Affleck as a director. And he had to fight tooth and nail to land this deal. Well, hopefully now you can find more work buddy, because you have certainly earned it.

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Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps isn’t the sharp, critical film that its makers want you to think of it as. The sequel to the supremely influential, endlessly quotable original from the 80′s is a dull whimper about what triggered the present financial meltdown and though it’s cut from the same cloth as the original, it possess all of the bark yet, sadly, none of the bite.

Gordon Gekko is a name that defined an era. Played by Michael Douglas twenty three years ago, he reverberated in the minds of viewers as a ruthless, amoral investor without a soul. Years later, the sequel finds him released after serving his prison sentence. Cut to seven years after his release, and its 2008, the dawn of the financial crisis. Gekko is now known as a speaker publicly vilifying the notion of greed in corporate America while simultaneously, and some would reckon quite ironically, publicizing his book inspiringly titled “Is Greed Good”. A loner who travels in subways, he is estranged from his daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan, androgynously unglamorous) who is engaged to a young trader named Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf). Jake bumps into Gekko at one of his speeches (the films finest scene) and the two form a mentor-protégé relationship that irks Winnie but allows Jake to benefit by plotting revenge from Bretton James (Josh Brolin, the films principle villain), suspected of being responsible for the suicide of Louis Zabel, a close friend and confidant of Jake.

If the film sounds like a mess of relationships, then it is. As muddled as Stone’s own political activism it has no clarity on what its trying to say. From trying to rationalize the reasons behind the market crash to the impulsive nature of human behaviour, it doesn’t get either right. Not helping are the actors that Stone assembles. It’s a mystery to me why Shia LaBeouf is constantly being thrust down viewer throats in film after film by studios convinced he is the next best thing. He is not, and despite being dressed up in expensive designer garb, cannot pass off as being anything more convincing than a working intern. His relationship with Gekko has none of the enticing quality that Charlie Sheen’s Bud Fox did and a cameo appearance by Sheen only underscores this disparity. Douglas himself has none of the limelight. He has some powerful lines, but feels largely sidelined by the revenge/relationship/murder subplots and behaves uncharacteristically, especially in the very last scene (these were probably added as an afterthought). After showing some promise of returning to his incendiary, often infuriating filmmaking style and point of view with his previous film W, director Stone seems to have gone back to being comfortable working with drab studio approved material.

Not only was the original Wall Street a tremendously entertaining film, but one that was blessed with the critical foresight of its maker. The sequel partially entertains but does not have a new perspective. It is neither critical nor insightful and could have, with the same script and actors, been the work of a lesser director than Stone. The films themes are also impersonal – none of the characters suffer directly from the financial crisis the way they did in the original, they suffer from their own incompetent decision making, a sharp departure from how the original handled and fused stock trading with personal loss and gain.

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A movie spin-off of Nicholas Stoller’s previous film, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. That was one of my favorite comedies of the year in 2008. In fact, I include it fairly high on my top 10 list of that year in general. And Aldous Snow (played by British comedian Russell Brand) was part of the reason for that movie’s success, for sure. So, alas, Snow’s spin-off movie is unfortunately a mild disappointment. Jonah Hill (who had a small role in Sarah Marshall but plays a different character in this) works for a record company. He has an idea to re-ignite the fading rock star’s career by having him perform a ten year anniversary gig at the site of one of his biggest triumphs. But, of course, Snow is a pampered rock star who likes to party constantly and do whatever the Hell he wants, and Hill is kind of a pushover. It’s a simple story, and one that has been done before. All you have to do is string some good jokes along and it should work. It does work much of the time, in all honesty. It even has some good characters. I especially love Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) as Hill’s overworked girlfriend. And P. Diddy is actually really funny as Hill’s boss. Colm Meaney (whom I always remember from Star Trek: The Next Generation) is also good as Snow’s father. The film is sporadically funny – hilarious at times, even. But for some reason it always feels like it’s kind of shallow and just not funny enough. Forgetting Sarah Marshall really scored by having just enough real emotion in the film that we ended up caring for the characters. I don’t think this one ever gets that far, though it does try. Maybe Sarah Marshall’s screenwriter (and star) Jason Segel should have collaborated on the script with Stoller. This film is still well worth a rental if you liked the first film. Kristen Bell has a nice cameo as Sarah Marshall in the film.

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Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole is the most beautiful movie created till today. I appreciate the efforts of the director Mr. Zack Snyder to have done such a lot of research. The songs are heart rending. It is a movie to be viewed by anyone who is really interested in Legend of the Guardians. Hats Off to all who contributed in making this movie. The characters are portrayed very beautifully . The best part is every detail of the original Valmiki Ramayana has been shown which also makes it very informative. Also the songs make the whole aspect of the movie complete and provide entertainment. I specially like the music which has been composed by Mr. David Hirschfelder and the lyrics of the songs are very meaningful although they are is Sanskrit. Only flaw is that , Metalbeak was a very powerful personality and that is why people used to like him . So Metalbeak’s character should have been portrayed in a better way. But never mind that I like the efforts put in to make such a great movie. The best part is an American Person made a movie on an Indian mythology!!

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I’ve been waiting for Alpha and Omega for years, mainly because I am a wolf-lover and a cartoon lover.

First off, let’s get into what the movie is about. Kate is an Alpha wolf of a pack, Alpha’s are the pack-leaders. Humphrey is an Omega wolf, who’s job is to play as peacemaker and retain calmness in the pack, so the story-writers got their jobs fairly accurate. There are two rival packs who want to fight for each others land… why? Small amount of caribou, good reason, so it make the rival pack more like anti-heroes rather than villains who want to hurt others for the sake of it.

To keep the peace, Tony (Kate’s father) arranges Kate to marry the rival pack’s Alpha son, Garth. At first, I was going to expect Garth to be some snobby rich-like stuck-up who doesn’t care about Kate… I was taken off-guard when Garth actually was handsome AND had a heart of gold. So the movie wasn’t TOO predictable! In the scene where Humphrey and Kate were tranquilized, it just… happened! No build-up of the park rangers coming, Humphrey and Kate were just talking, suddenly SNAP! I was taken off-guard by that! I mean, I KNEW it was coming due to the trailers, but didn’t know WHEN. I also liked the conversation Humphrey and Kate had between the crates, you can’t see their faces, allowing the viewer to use their imagination on what’s going on.

Some people can’t wrap their minds around a golfing goose. Right, WHY was a goose golfing? … my answer, WHO CARES?! Just WATCH it and ACCEPT it… a GOOSE is playing GOLF… it’s FUNNY! Who cares if it doesn’t make sense (except for nit-picky perfectionists who are incapable of finding/keeping jobs that require creativity)? Some people complained about the potty-humor. I personally LIKE potty-humor, and to those that don’t, there’s only like one or two of those scenes. To those that like that kind of humor, there are only a few scenes of it, but they’re WORTH it LOL Humphrey and Kate combine what they have learned as Alphas and Omegas to overcome obstacles, such as the bear-slide. Over time, Kate learned how to have fun like an Omega, giving her some character development. At first, she was annoyed by Humphrey’s “rain dance” but then she laughed and enjoyed the log ride at the end.

Meanwhile, back at the packs, Kate’s sister Lilly offered to show Garth around. She even taught him how to howl, whom Garth was a BAD howler, birds falling out of the sky twitching. As the movie progressed, the pile of birds kept getting bigger (to me, THAT’S funny!). However, over time, Garth and Lilly started to fall for each other, and it was coming SLOWLY, so it wasn’t rushed, you know. To me, that’s “I’m marrying you because I love you” instead of “I’m only arranged to marry you.” Eventually, Kate and Humphrey return and, even though Kate admits to herself she’s in love with Humphrey, she uses her responsible personality to go on with the marriage with Garth. During the wedding, both Kate and Garth are unsure of each other, Lilly looks sad… but in the end, they both agree that they couldn’t do it because she said “I’ve fallen in love with an Omega” … everyone was shocked to hear that (can you BLAME them if you were them?!) But Garth understood, because “I’ve fallen in love with an Omega too” and Garth and Lilly embrace, but the rest of the pack fights! … which provokes a caribou stampede! During the stampede, Kate’s father and Garth’s father, leaders of the rival packs, get caught in the stampede! Soon, Kate and Humphrey use what they’ve learned in their journey to rescue them! But Kate is hurt. This was a sad scene. I knew it was going to have Kate come back, but it still felt like an eternity… kind of like in “Toy Story 3″ where the toys were in the incinerator ready to be burned alive… but saved at the last minute. Finally, the packs are united, Kate is with Humphrey, and Garth is with Lilly, and everybody’s happy. Some people don’t like happy endings… WHY?!

My only complaint was I wish Humphrey and Kate’s journey would have been longer, like in “Bolt.” But “Bolt” was all about the journey whereas “Alpha and Omega” were about feelings. I guess they overdid it with having the wolves stand on their hind legs, but it was still most on all fours. Some people complained about how the wolves LOOKED… well, play this game called WolfQuest (it’s free to download at the WolfQuest website) and look at the 3D models of the wolves in that game. Are they realistic? VERY! Would they make for believable faces, express lots of emotion, and could we relate to them? I know I wouldn’t. A real wolf’s face, up-close you can see emotion, but a normal view it’s hard to tell, that’s why the animators make them look the way they did.

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Maybe it’s because M Night Shyamalan is finally coming to terms that he no longer is the toast of the town, that he has decided to focus his energies on producing and writing suspenseful thrillers for his project known as The Night Chronicles, with the first film Devil off the blocks, and others to come including his original story idea from his planned sequel to Unbreakable. We know how Shyamalan of late likes to direct and include himself as one amongst the cast, though this time it probably took a lot of effort to vacate that director’s chair and quash that acting bug, to allow someone else to helm what is essentially a film that’s right up Shyamalan’s own territory. It’s almost like putting a candy jar in front of a kid, but not allowing him access at all.

Enter directors Drew and John Erick Dowdle, who I thought made a decent effort in bringing to life Shyamalan’s story set around the confines of a claustrophobic lift, where five strangers happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, each of them being trapped inside the lift and sharing some common traits that will be revealed as the story wore on. The film addresses the notion that nothing is ever coincidental, especially if powerful negative forces like the devil decide to walk the earth and claim a few souls, while at the same time having fun toying with their prey. Weaving in a folk tale like what he did for Lady in the Water, Shyamalan’s tale here involves the full works of how the devil operates, and comes with a method to defeat the supernatural forces seen in the film.

The directors managed to steer clear of the usual clichés for a fright fest, and rightly so as well because this is not that film. Granted that there are a few well crafted scenes to suggest that there are spiritual elements involved in how the victims – a mechanic (Logan Marshall- Green), an old woman (Jenny O’Hara), a young woman (Bojana Novakovic), a guard (Bokeem Woodbine) and a salesman (Geoffrey Arend) – the real draw is how visually arresting this film is in capturing fear from within close quarters. The opening sweeping shot of the city of Philadelphia upside down will bring about some disorientation, before reducing that spatial distance down to within the lift, mirroring that view through a CCTV camera back to the building’s security control room, which to me is where some of the best instances of the film shines through.

I’d actually preferred what went on outside of that lift, since what’s going to happen within is more like a done deal, with one of the five already revealed through marketing that he/she is someone who doesn’t belong. There’s more fun in following Detective Bowden (Chris Messina), who has to make sense of what’s going on, balancing his deductive prowess against something that cannot be explained by logic, and watching how his due diligence and process get blown to smithereens when at first he thinks this is a simple open and shut situation, until he realizes that he’s up against something that’s inexplicable. It’s one thing to swagger in with a plan, before fear sets in that one can be so helpless when trying to save the lives of others.

The strength of the film lies in Shyamalan’s story, which is deceptively simple, yet highly effective in weaving all the plot threads together, and the linking up of the characters so crucial in providing a satisfying finale. Fans of Shyamalan’s stories will find that he still has more than enough gas in the tank to come up with suspenseful tales that others now have a chance to helm on the big screen, something like what Luc Besson does these days. My interest is now piqued to see how the rest of the Chronicles will present themselves.

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