Movie Reviews - April 2011

Rio - A

The latest animated film by the makers of Ice Age. This movie has everything good about animated films; musical numbers, funny sidekicks, hilarious one liners, and awesome animation. The story is well written if not predictable. The monkey's doing Krunk dancing was too cute. This was also our first 3D movie experience at the cinemas and it was pretty cool.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - B-

A great installment. It stayed pretty true to the book with only a little bit of creative license. If you have read the book then you know there is a whole lotta nothing happening in the middle (just story and character development) so the movie does slow down for a big chunk. I suspect they saved all the action for part 2 judging by where they stopped part 1.

The Green Hornet - B-

Was a pretty good film. I don't normally like Seth Green (I know sacrilegious considering he is the "in" thing in Hollywood at the moment) but I found this movie to be a good mix of action, comedy and story. my only criticism is when they seemed to develop super powers, or what looked like super powers. Was just weird. Jay Chou who plays Kato was really good, I hope we see more of him now he has "broken" into Hollywood.

The Tourist - C

This was not a terrible movie it was just average. You just couldn't believe there was any relationship between Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, let alone that they were falling in love. There was also not a lot of action, despite what the trailer showed. The lack of chemistry between the main actors gave this movie a low score however the interesting twist at the end salvaged the score to a C.

The Fighter - B-

This is not really my kind of film because a) its a sports movie, b) its about boxing and c) its a drama. But all those aside it is a good film with a fascinating story. I found it ironic Christian Bale played the older brother (by ten years) to Mark Wahlburg considering in real life Mark is roughly ten years older then Christian. The actors really do make this film and I can see why so many got nominated. Christian Bale and Melissa Leo were just amazing in their roles and make the movie worth it.

Morning Glory - B+

A delightful movie full with lots of laughs, a little romance and a nice story line. Dianne Keaton, Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams all do a wonderful job. This is light and fluffy movie viewing. I did find the scenes where Rachel McAdams character tries to save the show hilarious.

Little Fockers - B-

Not a bad effort for a third movie. Was it as funny as the first two, well no. But it was still good and there were a few laugh out loud moments. It was a shame that the Grandparent Fockers were not featured as much because their story lines, though brief, were interesting. I enjoyed it but I know many didn't. My recommendation, start watching it with low expectations and you should enjoy it.

Old School

Back to the Future 1,2 & 3 - A

As always a great trilogy. One of the few where all movies in the trilogy are just as good as the first. Back to the Future 3 spawned one of the most famous 80's movie quote ever "duded up egg sucking gutter trash". We enjoy watching it and watch it at least once a year.

The Transporter - B

Awesome pure action film with the spunky Jason Stratham. Funny one liners, with awesome martial arts fighting scene, great action scenes. What is not to love in an action film. The perfect brain candy film.

Cruel Intentions - C+

A clever movie about Upper class Manhattan Socialites. Based on the old French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses. I have not seen any of the other adaptions to compare but it was a good show case of the 90's teen Queen's and Heart Throbs acting talents beyond their respective shows. If you want to watch nasty people getting their just deserts in an elegant way this is the movie for you. Think Gossip Girl before the technological age and a a little darker. But this is not really my kind of movie, and its pretty predictable.