“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” on IMDB
Comedy/Drama, 124 Minutes, 2011
Movies about old people tend to be really good. They just are. “On Golden Pond” [IMDB], “Coccon” [IMDB], “Grumpy Old Men” [IMDB], “Driving Miss Daisy” [IMDB], “*Batteries Not Included” [IMDB], “Second Hand Lions” [IMDB], “Red” [IMDB] – and the list goes on. They’re all great.
“Jeff, Who Live at Home” on IMDB
Comedy, 83 Minutes, 2011
This is a surprisingly brilliant little movie. While there is a rather hippy-dippy message at the core the wrappings are so charming even somebody as jaded as myself can forgive it.
“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” on IMDB
Action/Mystery, 129 Minutes, 2011
Being a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes I was incredibly worried about the first film but happily surprised by the result. While it added an action-movie physicality to the characters it lost none of the cleverness and brains-over-brawn mentality that makes the character so beloved by skeptics and mystery lovers everywhere (who, if I may speak for the group, hate nothing more than a simplistic “it’s magic” answer to a mystery). The movies have happily stayed grounded in reality exactly where they belong.
Sci-fi, 124 Minutes, 2012
This is difficult to review. It has to be considered a stand-alone film (because that’s what Ridley Scott’s been screaming at anybody who’ll listen) but dammit, it isn’t a stand-alone film. It’s a prequel to Alien [IMDB]. Telling people to forget it doesn’t change it. So, as a stand-alone film? Not a bad popcorn flick, but tremendously flawed intellectually. As a prequel to “Alien”? Well… then it sucks and blows.
Sci-fi/Adventure, 132 Minutes, 2012
I’ve always been a big fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter stories ever since I first read them as a teenager. Pulp fiction (the genre, not the film) has always been a favorite and Burroughs is one of the best. I also truly adore turn-of-the-(last)-century science-fiction. Reading about the advances that authors from the pre-transister-age invented has always been a joy. So when I found out that Disney was going to celebrate the centenary of the character (yes, John Carter is 100 years-old this year) with a big-budget blow-out written and directed by Andrew Stanton (“Wall-E” [IMDB], “Finding Nemo” [IMDB]) I was more than a little interested.
Documentary, 101 Minutes, 2008
Bill Maher has never been one to shy away from controversy or confrontation. Sometimes (as with his views on medicine and vaccines) he’s as crazy as you could ever ask somebody to be but in the matter of religion he and I see pretty much eye-to-eye.
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” on IMDB
Drama, 129 Minutes, 2011
Let me begin by saying that both my wife and my mother loved this film. They laughed and they cried. They said things like “I just love that Sandra Bullock in everything” and “Tom Hanks is so talented”. Me? I thought it was very, very long. Really – I swear – it was like seven hours long. That’s not to say it was at all bad – just long. And a little dull.
Family, 103 Minutes, 2011
Who doesn’t love “The Muppets”? Big, dumb, jerk-faced idiots – that’s who! Jason Segel loved the muppets so much that he spent the better part of the last 10 years writing this movie. More than that he made it about my muppets (and maybe yours too): The Muppet Show muppets.
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” on IMDB
Sci-Fi/Comedy, 109 Minutes, 2005
Today is the 12th annual Towel Day, a celebration of all things Douglas Adams. In celebration (and since the kids happen to be home from school) we decided to grab our towels and cuddle up on the couch and watch this.
Action Adventure, 143 Minutes, 2012
Was there really any chance this would be a bad film? All of the prequel films (with the arguable exception of “The Incredible Hulk” [IMDB] which I personally felt was an unneeded remake) were top-notch. The studio enlisted geek God Joss Whedon to write and direct. The marketing machine has been running non-stop for months. Of course the best laid plans always have a chance to explode in one’s face but this was as much of a lock as I’ve ever seen.
