THE HURT LOCKER

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER FOR BEST FILM AND FIRST TIME

BEST (FEMALE) DIRECTOR

THE HURT LOCKER: WAR IS HELL

"The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug." It bothers me when I hear to someone refer to the war in Iraq as a "conflict" or "situation". That's wrong. It is a war and in this film we are shown the front lines up close and personal and indeed, this war is hell.

This film is about a team of men in charge of disarming bombs. The loose cannon (pun intended) is an unpredictable soldier, SSgt William James (Jeremy Renner) whose actions come off as too loose and even dangerous to his team. He mainlines testosterone for breakfast. Renner does an incredible job of portraying this incredibly cocky and also incredibly skilled soldier. The movie is shot documentary style and his presence is more than acting, it's being. He is strong and filled with adrenaline but at the same time, has his moments of reflection and frustration. No doubt, Renner carries the film and is hypnotically easy on the eyes. He makes sweat look good. The film has little in the way of plot or story, but more like a situation and the people involved in it, mainly Renner.

FUNNY PEOPLE

FUNNY PEOPLE: NOT ALL THAT FUNNY FOR AN APATOW FILM

Yes, there is the trademark crude humor, but much less pot smoking in this almost dramatic film by Judd Apatow. We meet George Simmons (Adam Sandler) a comedian very much like Sandler who has had comic success in the movies and the comedy circuit. George learns he is sick and has to undergo experimental therapy to try to reverse the condition. With his concerns and faced with his mortality, he meets and then hires Ira (Seth Rogen) a struggling comic desperate for a chance to make it.

MOON

MOON: IT'S 2010 NOT 2001

This is not your parent's space oddessy. Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is an astronaut who has a three year contract with a private company to "mine" the moon as a newfound source of electricity. Look closely at the great shots of the moon with square mined areas taken out. Brilliant. He is joined only by Gerty (Kevin Spacey) the intentionally sounding Hal-like robot who attends to his ever need. Director Duncan Jones (David Bowie's son) puts a few references in the movie to 2001 as well as Danny Boyle's Sunshine (clue, it's in the music) and has fun with the use of the flow-bee and the clapper. After an accident while on duty attending to a machine Sam is knocked unconscious. When we see him next he is waking up in the infirmary with Gerty informing him that he had an accident. After a while of paranoia, we soon find out that Sam is still unconscious, left for dead in the range rover only to be rescued by Sam. Confused?

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS

INGLORIUS BASTERDS: WAR DOESN'T HAVE TO BE HELL

"Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France..." At least Tarrantino doesn't bite off more than he can chew. His movies are getting to be like McDonald's franchises; you pretty much get the same food no matter which McDonald's you go to, but it's usually also always pretty good. Our story, which is quite clever in concept and creatively quirked just right to add a blend of sick humor and righteous indignation, begins in the small farmhouse of a French man who is hiding a Jewish family. Unfortunately the man who comes to call on that day is Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) from the SS, better known as the "Jew Hunter".

ADAM

ADAM: NOT THE MOST ORIGINAL MAN

Adam is different, both the movie and the character. Adam the character (Hugh Dancy) is a man with Asperger's Syndrome, who becomes enamored of the his new neighbor Beth (Rose Byrne). They have their exchanges, but what eludes me is how she can not see that there is something off about him. Asperger's Syndrome is a highly functioning form of Autism and he has little to no social skills. That she could be so blind to his imapairment makes the movie terribly unlikely to me. Additionally, as they enter the relationship, she seems insensitive in trying to force him to experience things and it doesn't seem possible that he would transform as much as he did by coaching and rehersing. The script and dialog far overshadow the actors and at times it sounds like it; words written well, not dialogue. Without buying the basis for the film, I don't buy the film.

No bite: Not enough to hold my attention or create a suspension of reality.

DISTRICT 9

DISTRICT 9, BOTH SCARY AND HEARTFELT

This is, perhaps, one of the most sensitive and tender sci-fi movie I have ever seen. To use all of those words in the same sentence seems quite odd; don't get me wrong. There are plenty of aliens, heavy artilery, space ships and neato special effects to qualify the use of the word sci-fi. However, it's the relationship between one of the aliens and a unique hero that makes it indeed touching.

It begins like a regular documentary film. An alien spaceship landed, well hovered, over Johannesburg, South Africa for three months until humans were sent to cut into the ship, where they found sick aliens, presumably workers not leaders, and they were promptly brought down and set up in camps which quickly turned into crime infested ghettos. After the polish wore off, the aliens were referred to as prawns, a derogatory comment to their looks and not treated with the utmost respect. Here begins out story.

500 DAYS OF SUMMER WORTH THE WINTER AND THE FALL

"Author's Note: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch."

Maybe best start to a love story ever. But this is not a love story. Hold on tight, like flipping through the pages of a young girl's journal, this movie takes us on a journey, the story of a relationship, starting on (page) day 390 then back to day one. We meet Tom Hansen (Joseph Gorden Levitt) who upon first sight falls head over heels for the lovely Summer (Zooey Deschanel) a beautiful and quirky co-worker. As these things go, it ebbs and flows as they get to know each other, first as friends, then as lovers and then, not so much so. Tight and very clever and true writing helps bring these characters to life, as they were most likely based on just that, some's true life.

THE LODGER

THE LODGER: WHAT A THRILLING MOVING DAY                  Nothing like a good old fashioned murder mystery. This one involves a Jack the Ripper copy cat in West Hollywood which is the same size area as where the Ripper murdered in London. Alfred Molina is Detective Manning who has made it his priority to solve a string of murders that were once attributed to a man who was sentenced to death on his watch. At the same time a mysterious lodger (Simon Baker) pays a generous amount of cash to rent out the cottage from a young couple, particularly exciting the odd woman (Hope Davis) who holds some sort of eccentric secret. The question is do these two events act independently from one another or is there some sort of connection between them?

THE OTHER MAN

THE OTHER MAN HAS TERRIBLE TIMING
What a sad movie to watch Liam Neeson in as he portrays Peter, husband to Lisa (Laura Linney) who one day leaves him, as his own wife died tragically soon after. Obsessed and consumed with grief, he goes through her things and with odd clues, this mystery takes him on a treasure hunt of sorts to find the man who was once her lover, Antonio Banderas. Does he go looking for her or is he going to kill the man for once being with his wife? Neeson gives a solid performance, but nothing compared to Taken. Linney also does a fine job, but it seems so effortless and low key. Banderas, however, shows a side of himself where he tries to be the suave Latin lover, but stumbles and shows instead a man who is just an ordinary man. The plot twist at the end really surprised me and I didn’t see it coming at all. Final scene was beautiful and done in stride with the characters and their hearts.
Bite: Good to see a thriller done so well in a world of predictable endings.

AN AMERICAN AFFAIR

AN AMERICAN AFFAIR AN AFFAIR NOT TO REMEMBER

Made to look like a film about the infamous Monroe/Kennedy affair, this movie instead tracks a teenage boy who discovers his artist neighbor, who among others, is having an affair with the President. This film is slow and boring even if the acting by Gretchen Mol and James Rebhorn are decent. It is a slice of history and the archival footage is interesting to see, but it is not enough to make a movie about. This was not a bad movie, but an unentertaining one, which comes close.
No Bite: Very slow and uninteresting.

THE PROPOSAL

THE PROPOSAL NOT WORTH GETTING DOWN ON ONE KNEE

An old recycled plot: tough bitch of a woman boss Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) makes lackey Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) life a bitch as well until she gets herself into a sticky situation and he is the only way to get out of it. She’s being deported back to Canada (really?) and she needs a fake husband to keep her in the country. Paxton needs and wants a better position in the company she terrorizes, so a pact is made with the devil, let the laughs begin.