**Rerun's Movie Reviews**

[Rerun]

The Hurt Locker (2008)   Two Stars - too intense for me.  I know this happens in war but I don't like to think about it.  Lame I know!

Kathryn Bigelow directs this gripping drama (winner of the Best Picture Oscar) following one of the U.S. Army's elite EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) teams operating in the ferocious war zone of Iraq. As the squad identifies and dismantles improvised explosive devices and other bombs, they must also contend with the frayed nerves and internal conflicts that arise from living in constant peril. Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse and Guy Pearce star.

[Rerun]

Animal Farm (1999)  2 stars - Kind of DUMB a Pita Film I'm sure. 

Only somewhat faithful to George Orwell's allegorical novel, this made-for-TV adaptation uses real animals as well as Jim Henson's puppets to tell the story of a band of farm animals who stage a revolt against their human owner (Pete Postlethwaite) in a bid for freedom. Several notable names provide the voices of the animals, including Kelsey Grammer as Snowball, Patrick Stewart as Napoleon and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Mollie.

[Rerun]

Invictus (2009)  4 stars        

In this drama based on real-life events, director Clint Eastwood tells the story of what happened after the end of apartheid when newly elected president Nelson Mandela used the 1995 World Cup rugby matches to unite his people in South Africa. Based on John Carlin's book, the film stars Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon (both Oscar nominated) as Francois Pienaar, the captain of the scrappy South African team that makes a run for the championship.

[Rerun]

Gifted Hands (The Ben Carson Story) 2009 -  5 stars because I love true stories
        

Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. stars as pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson (portrayed as a child by Jaishon Fisher and as a teen by Gus Hoffman), who overcomes enormous obstacles to study medicine and save lives at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Kimberly Elise plays Carson's hardworking single mother, Sonya, who faces her own hurdles on the road to helping her son succeed in this made-for-cable drama based on Carson's memoirs.

[MooseMom]

Enjoyed Hurt Locker, loved Invictus (I remember watching Pienaar play while I lived in the UK) and have never heard of Gifted Hands.

We're going to see "Let Me In" this weekend; we saw the original Swedish "Let the Right One In" and thought it was really interesting.

Am awaiting the second film in the Millenium series and am hoping I'll like it better than "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".  I thought they didn't make the actress playing Lisbeth Salander either goth or dirty enough.  The rest of the casting was uninspiring.  Interesting to see how the American version will stack up.

[Rerun]

Let Me In looks too scary!  Let me know what you think.

             

[Poppylicious]

We're going to see "Let Me In" this weekend; we saw the original Swedish "Let the Right One In" and thought it was really interesting.

I saw Let the Right One In a couple of months ago and absolutely loved it.  I'm wary of seeing the remake simply because the original was so perfect.  Also, I get the impression it's pretty much identical (down to the littlest details, as well as the script) from the trailer so I'll probably just wait for it to be on the tellybox.  Let me know if you think it's worthy of cinema viewing though!

 

[MooseMom]

I'm not usually that impressed with American remakes of foreign films (ie The Ring), but I thought Let Me In was extremely true to the original, so if you liked "Let the Right One In", then I think you will like this remake.  It is fundamentally a story about friendship.  It is not your typical horror film, and so the ads on TV don't do it justice.  There is a tenderness to it that is surprising, just like in the original.

[cariad]

Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr. interpretation)

I got quite a kick out of it. I've not read a Sherlock Holmes in ages and ages, but I seem to remember as a character he was dirt dry and had no internal life to speak of. This Sherlock was a joy to watch and had a rich emotional life under the surface.

[MooseMom]

I think RD Jr is brilliant, and I'm always glad to see him working and not doing drugs.  I hated knowing that he was being so destructive to a really quite worthy talent.

[cariad]

He is lovely! I am not big on Iron Man, but the boys of the house loved it, and so we own the DVD. They show his audition for the film on the extras (which is meant to give you an idea of how far he had fallen, as auditions would never be required of someone with his CV under normal circumstances). I have sat through so many theatre auditions that I could hear in my head how flat these lines would sound from most actors, while he lent them so much energy and electricity. It was quite amazing. I thought he could have enunciated a bit better in Sherlock Holmes, but on the whole, it was just marvelous.

Last night Gwyn and I watched one of the sadder documentaries I've seen, Confessions of a Superhero - and by sad, I mean pathetic, and with pathetic I refer to the subject matter, not the film itself. It is about those people who stand around Hollywood Boulevard in character costumes, taking pictures with tourists for tips. It reminded me of the documentary We Are The Children about Michael Jackson's fans. It is hard to watch such mental illness and also what I see as a type of human degradation.

[MooseMom]

Cariad, I have to question your entertainment choices after having been so unwell...

[cariad]

Cariad, I have to question your entertainment choices after having been so unwell...

Wise move!

[Rerun]

Brothers (2009)  4 stars          It was pretty good.  A real mind catcher.

When traumatized Capt. Sam Cahill (Golden Globe nominee Tobey Maguire) returns home from a military mission in Afghanistan after he is presumed dead, he becomes obsessed with the idea that his brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his wife (Natalie Portman) have a relationship. Sam Shepard, Bailee Madison, Taylor Geare and Mare Winningham co-star in this wartime drama about human frailty and battles fought on the home front. Jim Sheridan directs.

[okarol]

My son just showed me a trailer for the latest Harry Potter movie - looks pretty intense - comes out Nov. 19.

[MooseMom]

We saw the most enchanting animated film this evening..."The Secret of Kells".  It has just been released on Netflix.  It is suitable for children but not exclusively.  It was nominated for Best Animated Film last year.  Beautful artwork, beautiful music, lovely story complete with a few scary bits.

[Rerun]

Old Dogs (2009)  4 stars  (funny)        

On the verge of a game-changing business deal, a divorced dad (Robin Williams) and his womanizing best friend and partner (John Travolta) are thrown for a loop when they're tasked with caring for a rambunctious pair of 6-year-old twins. Helmed by Walt Becker, this family comedy also stars Seth Green, Kelly Preston, Matt Dillon, Rita Wilson and Bernie Mac, in his final big-screen appearance.

[Poppylicious]

Wow, since last posting on this thread I've enjoyed:
a) Paranormal Activity 2 (not very scary, but slightly so and fitted in snugly with the first film.)
b) Saw 3D (hopefully that was the FINAL film; it's gone on way too long and it confuses me muchly.  There's been so many films they all blend into each other.)
and
c) Burke & Hare (very funny, but then anything with Simon Pegg in tends to be worth chortling over.)

This weekend I'm hoping to see Skyline (mainly because I'm currently crushing on Eric Balfour), but I also fancy Due Date.  Blokey wants to see Jackass 3D, but I'm hoping that he won't drag me along with him.

 

[MooseMom]

Jackass is bad enough, but in 3D?  Oh what a waste of brainspace.

I want to see Skyline, too!  I'm a fan of indie/art films.  In fact, I confess to being a bit of a film snob.  But I do love the big disaster movies and the big alien invasion flicks!

[Poppylicious]

Jackass is bad enough, but in 3D?  Oh what a waste of brainspace.

I know!

But I do love the big disaster movies and the big alien invasion flicks!

Me too ... but I just tend to watch them so that I know what NOT to do when disaster or aliens strike ...

 

Saw Due Date last night.  It wasn't as funny as The Hangover, but Robert Downey Jr. made it easy on the eyes!

[MooseMom]

What was I thinking?  If you've seen "Cloverfield", you've seen "Skyline"...same plot, same self-absorbed young people who all look alike.  Why don't they make alien invasion films using 50-year old short ladies like me as the protagonists?

I didn't expect a lot from "Skyline", and I didn't get much.  Didn't care about the cast...let 'em all die for all I cared.  Unoriginal.  Cool aliens, but that was about it.  Boring script.  This film was made very cheaply, and boy, could you tell!

You expect a certain yuk factor in films like these, and that doesn't usually bother me.  However, the end of this film nearly made me gag, so be warned.  The end DID have a modicum of creativity, but that was undermined by senseless motivation.

[Poppylicious]

What was I thinking?  If you've seen "Cloverfield", you've seen "Skyline"...

Ha, ha.  Even the 'alien' climbing the building looked like Clovie!  They hyped it up and it was nothing special.  I actually REALLY hated the ending and think it should have finished five minutes earlier - now all I can think is, what was the point in that ending?  That poor baby! Cloverfield was much better. Still, Eric Balfour was yummy(ish) ...

 

[cariad]

We saw a few films in Wales because the cottage had no internet, television, or phone reception, but the owners did provide a lovely television/dvd player and a wide selection of films from which to choose. The kids watched a number of their childrens' films as well.

Lost In Translation - excruciating, start to finish
Sideways - I don't think we laughed once, and the story was just so-so. I don't like that one actor at all, so seeing him au naturale was traumatizing.
Invictus - could not watch this properly as it was shown on the plane, but what I did see was fairly compelling. Same goes for Blindside.

[cariad]

Speaking of Jackass - this is going to sound bizarre, but I watched an interview with the guy who does the films - Johnny something - and I have a lot more respect for him. I didn't really watch when he was on either Colbert or the Daily Show, but I did see him on Graham Norton. I guess he only risks himself and his colleagues. For some reason I thought he went around trying to convince other people to hurt themselves for his films. Gwyn laughed for minutes on end when they showed the clip of them surprising their colleague with a gigantic papier mache hand that coated him in flour.

But the thing that made me think of IHD was the fact that he so badly injured himself during a bicycle stunt  that he now has to self-cath twice a day. (handle bars flew off, crashed right down and hit him where he lives) I know what I was like going through everything I did when I was a kid, and I do think it's lovely that he mentioned this and is possibly normalizing this for self-conscious teenagers and anyone else who might need it. I heard a comic (Sarah Silverman) on Fresh Air talk about the first time she heard a celebrity discuss their bed-wetting problem, a problem she had, and how it changed her life seeing someone casually discuss it as if it were not, in fact, the end of the world.

[YLGuy]

Yes, the new Jackass movie is very funny.  I really almost threw up twice during it and had to avert my eyes.  Just a warning.