One Sentence: Not as hard to watch as The Notebook.

Rated: PG-13

Release Date: 10-Feb-2012

Nudity: Man Butt

This weekend is the weekend all men fear.  They fear Valentine’s Day, are they doing it right, did they do the right thing, they have to go see The Vow.  I understand the fear.  A movie about love and memory loss.  Your significant other crying next to you as you stare at the screen and wonder am I supposed to be crying too?  That is the picture men are painting in their head about this movie, but I think all you guys out there will be surprised at the connection to this movie.

If you are going to this movie on Valentine’s Day then you probably at least like the person you are going with, and The Vow hits the right spots in the question of what would you do without the person you love.  They do it in a way that doesn’t feel forced on you.  You are not tricked into feeling, you just do.  You understand the story, the pain the love and the loss.  It works very well and isn’t the cheesiest thing you will see this year.  I liked this movie very much and thought that I could be seeing much worse things.  Like When In Rome.  It doesn’t hurt that I really like Rachel McAdams and she was great in this movie just like she always is.

So be thankful, this movie is good and it could be a lot worse.  Yes it is a sappy movie, and it might make the person you are with cry, but this is a well done movie.  It might make you appreciate the person you are with a little more, love them a little more.  It might make you a little happier you are together on Valentine’s Day.

One Sentence: Better than Journey 1 for sure.

Rated: PG

Release Date: 10th Feb 2012

Nudity: None

After the debacle that was the first Journey To The Center Of The Earth, I was not excited about seeing Journey 2 the return of the cash grab.  Everything about this movie seemed less than it’s horrible predecessor, save for Michael Caine and Dwyane Johnson.  I have gotten that same response from anyone I talk to about this movie as well.  It is just not something people are excited about.   Hopefully I can change the mind of those with families at least.

Journey 2 is at the very least a solid, cute, fun family 3-D movie that has a good enough story for you to make it through the whole movie with your 8 year old.  Everything about this movie was better than the previous movie.  It was funny in the parts it was meant to be funny in.  It had solid action and CG to support that action.  It had a solid adventure story that if you are willing to suspend disbelief can carry you through the movie.  The 3-D was pretty good, because it was a dedicated 3-D movie from the start of filming.  Dwayne Johnson was great in this movie and delivered his great balance of action and nice guy.  It wasn’t just a cash grab, it felt like the people in this movie actually cared, and they delivered a solid product that I am recommending to all of you families out there.

This is a great movie for everyone to go see this weekend in the theater for a matinee.  I think without the kids this is a renter if you have a secret love for The Rock and want to see anything he is in.  It might be worth seeing in the theater in 3-D if you are a super fan of 3-D.  If you don’t love 3-D then I think this is a Sunday afternoon renter, but I wouldn’t shy away for this one if you like family adventures.

One Sentence: I do not remember this story in 1988.

Rated: PG

Release Date: 03-Feb-2012

Nudity: None

I think just about everyone already knows if they want to see Big Miracle or not.  You already know how the movie is going to end, and you already know how the movie will play out.  The great thing about a movie like this is, it doesn’t matter if you know the ending or the feel of the movie, if you want to see it, you will see it.  So if you are going to go see Big Miracle you will be happy to know it is exactly what you want it to be.

I do not think Big Miracle is going to win any awards or any thing like that, but it is a sweet little movie that I think will deliver exactly what you want.  Whiles, rescue, family based comedy, ice and uplifting music.  It really does what it is supposed to do.  So while it isn’t that unexpected it is at least well put together.  I can’t find any fault in that.  It is rare that I think a movie delivers what it is advertising and even the name Big Miracle seems to deliver here.

I think this movie is a perfect Sunday afternoon movie.  The type of movie that will end up on cable for the next 20 years.  I have no problems recommending it to people to see this weekend, but I wouldn’t pay full price for it.  Go have fun with your guilty please whale movie.  It is worth it.  You don’t have to tell anyone you are going.

One Sentence: The ghosts from Hogwarts got mean.

Rated: PG-13

Release Date: 03-Feb-2012

Nudity: None

The Woman In Black is a February horror movie.  Starring Daniel Radcliffe it has some things going for it and some things that are standing against it.  First February horror movies in general are bad.  They are not good enough to make it into the Halloween movies.  But if has Harry Potter in his first real movie since The Deathly Hallows Part 2, so I think people will be curious just for that reason.  I hope I can alleviate some of that curiosity in this review, but I have a feeling I am not going to be very much help.

The Woman In Black is a scary movie in many parts of the movie.  It has creepy moments, jumpy moments and some really scary imagery.  It also has a horrible conclusion, weak character development and some weak attempts at other scary moments.  Pretty much it is all over the place, and you might be ok with it, or you might hate it.  I am leaning toward not liking the movie.  The scary parts were not enough to save it from the weak story and horrible ending.  Which is unfortunate because I wanted to like this movie and tell everyone to go see it.

Daniel Radcliffe was fine as Arthur Kipps, a single man trying to cope after his wife’s death.  I think he held his own and I never though that he is just Harry Potter trying to act in another movie.  I think he held his own and I am hopeful that he will see more work after this movie.

I think you should skip this one.  I know supernatural horror is so rare now and that you almost are willing to go see anything that is in the genre, but this movie is just not good enough to spend money on.  I wouldn’t rent it either I don’t think.  Hopefully Harry Potter will have something better soon.

One Sentence: Your master crafted Oscar contender.

Rated: PG-13

Release Date: 20-Jan-2012

Nudity: None

Lets go over the list.  Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks, A child with a possible learning disability, 9/11, A dead father, Writer Eric Roth, and many others that have worked on Oscar nominated and award winning films.  This is your power house collection of people and characters that are are part of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  After the year of crap that we have been given it is easily one of the top contenders for movie of the year.  The weird thing is, that award would be for 2012.  They could of lead all the nominations for 2011, but instead this movie is your first best movie of the year for 2012.

An emotional look into loss and family Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is not that hard of a pill to swallow.  You would think it would be a punch to the stomach the whole movie but I was distracted.  I had to see what happened next.  I wanted to know more, I needed to make it to the end.  The story was so powerful that the drive to see more overtook the sadness.  It was very well balanced and wonderfully acted by everyone.  Propelling the story forward in an amazing way.   Everything about this movie is what you look for in one of the best movies of the year.  It was wonderfully done.

So for your movie dollars if you want to see one of the best movies of 2012 right out of the gate, then this is full price movie.  It is a little hard to watch, but no so much that it shouldn’t be seen in the theater.  I think it is well worth the full price admission.  Maybe a Sunday afternoon matinee would be good as well.  But I would at least bring a couple of tissues.

One Sentence:  Gone in 60 seconds on a slow boat.

Rated: R

Release Date: 13-Jan-2012

Nudity: None

Ahh 2012, the top 10 lists are coming out, the Golden Globes are this weekend and this is the time where the movies get bad.  January through February is traditionally when the movie studios throw movies when they are only ok, and hoping to make a profit on them.  I don’t know if Contraband should be lumped into this stereotype though, because I thought it was a fun crime action movie.

It was pretty much a pure action, low thought movie, but it was constructed well.  I had action, tense scenes and some touches of a smart heist movie.  It was enough to keep my attention for the almost 2 hour movie.  I never felt like I was having a bad time with it, even if the motivations of some of the characters did seem a little flawed.  This movie is really all I could ask for in a January movie.  Good enough to not suck, and fun enough for me to not have thought I wasted 2 hours.  This is pretty good for the first movie review of the year.

Even though the review is a positive one, I don’t think you need to rush to the theater to go see this movie.  It is a perfect rental movie.  It is not so great that you have to see it now, and it feels like the perfect movie to stay in with on weekend evening.  A little action, a little fun, and you save a bunch of money eating microwave popcorn instead of going to the theater.  So save your money after your Christmas spending and wait for this one on Netflix.

One Sentence: The worst Speilberg movie I have ever seen?

Rated: PG-13

Release Date: 25-Dec-2011

Nudity: None

I know that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was also a Speilberg movie, but it was the 4th in a series and he had an awful script to work with.  War Horse is a powerful story, not a franchise, and I think should of been dealt with a little more care.  It did not feel that way at all.  Maybe he is just losing touch with directing.  War Horse was a cheese fest.

The whole movie didn’t deliver to me.  It felt weird and cheesy and overacted.  Everyone in the movie talked about this horse, and how amazing he was, but you never really saw that.  You never connected like the people in the movie did.  The whole movie felt like we were being forced into an idea that wasn’t real.  We were forced to like this horse, and the connection between the horse and the boy.  We were being told he did hard things, we were being told he was amazing, but we as an audience never felt these things.   Then the ending, wraps up in this weird horrible way, that feels so forced, even if you were connecting a bit with the rest of the movie, the last 4 will kill it for you.

I have been hoping for a new Speilberg directed movie for a while now.  However it is with great regret that I must steer you away from War Horse.  I do not think it is a great movie, and is not a choice for the family on Christmas.  It is a far tamer war movie than his others, but it is a far worse movie as well.  I would say it is a sit on your TV for a month before you get around to watching it on Netflix type of movie.  It just wasn’t very good.

One Sentence: If you can handle it, one of the best of the year.

Rated: R

Release Date: 21-Dec-2011

Nudity: Lots, including some hard to watch scenes.

I do not know if people are excited for this movie, or if they just have heard it is good because they heard the books were good.  I do not feel the buzz for it.  I think Christmas is throwing off my radar.  Let me clear up the buzz confusion for you and tell you right away what you need to know.  If you can handle graphic images of sex and murder, then this is probably the best movie of the year for you.  I am not bringing up the graphic images to put down the movie, in fact I felt like they were required for this movie and the story, I am just bringing them up so you are warned in case you can’t handle such a hard to watch movie.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, is another amazing movie in a long line of successes from David Fincher.  He creates a multi-layered amazing story brought to life from the best selling book.  A tale of pain, murder, misdirection and even Nazi’s.  Fincher gets all he can out of Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, in some amazing portrayals with some very hard to watch scenes.   A huge cast of supporting characters and stories make this movie not just amount a single killer and deliver so much more than a simple mystery.   It touches so much more and delivers a character driven story, where you want to know just as much about the characters as you do about the mystery.  It is masterful work.

This is a hard to watch movie.  This pushes even further than se7en in my opinion.  So beware of what you are getting yourself into for the Christmas weekend.  If you are going, do not bring your kids.  I saw a lot of teens in the audience, and this is not even close to ok for even teens.  I would say it’s not even ok for some adults.  If you are ok with all of that, this is one of the best movies of the year, and comes highly recommended.  Go see it in the theater if you can.

One Sentence: Better than the first.

Rated: PG-13

Release Date: 16-Dec-2011

Nudity: None

I did not like the first Sherlock Holmes movie all that much.  I thought it was too much CG, not enough detective.  I know it’s 2011 and the audience needs all that for the movie to make money, it just felt hollow and cold.  Sherlock Holmes A Game Of Shadows is the movie I wish the first one was.  A good blend of action, comedy, intrigue, and suspense.  With at least what felt like a lot less CG.

The movie assumes a lot, and jumps right into the story.  You do not have to have seen the first movie, but they start right up expecting you have.  You will not miss much, it’s just that this movie just gets up and goes right from the start.  I think I like it that way.  The pace, action and story all are upbeat and don’t really slow down.  All while actually telling a fairly solid story that kept me interested.  Much better than the previous movie where I felt the story a bit lacking.  Of course Downey and Jude are great, and play very well off each other.  It all just felt like a much better movie than the first.

I would recommend this movie for this weekend for sure, or for your time off for Christmas.  There are some other movies coming out that I am going to recommend as well so if you have to be picky might want to check out all the reviews.  But I would pay full price for this one.  It was a very fun action flick.

One Sentence: Minnesota makes you crazy.

Rated: R

Release Date: 16-Dec-2011

Nudity: None

The team that brought you Juno is back with another Confused Adult Life Choice Reflection Independent Feeling movie that might or might not be good, but you could never say it wasn’t good because it’s so real.  Bleh.  I am just about tired of these independent movie characters, they are the same people who complained in Rent about not being able to pay rent because they refused to get jobs.

The whole movie is about shitting all over your pretty awesome life, because you are dissatisfied with it even though you are doing better than most.  Clinging to your high school life, and hoping that things would be as they were back then.  All while slowly going completly crazy.

I did not feel this movie at all.  I get the reflection and loss and the story they were trying to tell.  It just did it in a forced uncomfortable way that I couldn’t relate to or empthaize with.  I was just sitting there thinking that this movie is making me feel dirty and I don’t care what happens to this messed up girl.  She wasn’t worth spending my time on.  These types of movies need this relationship between audience and main character and if it doesn’t exist the movie doesn’t connect.  This is what happened to me with Young Adult.  I just wanted it to be over, I didn’t care what would happen at the end, because the girl wasn’t interesting or sad enough to want to know more about.

If you are going to attempt this type of movie it has to be amazing.  It can’t just be ok.  It doesn’t have anything else to bring to the table.  I just didn’t feel like Young Adult was amazing.  It was just ok, and that isn’t good enough in the Independent style to say go see this movie.  I would think it might be a renter, but I wouldn’t go out of your way to see it.