Charlie St. Cloud

I see dead people. Or, at least, I see Zac Efron seeing dead people in the fantasy romantic drama Charlie St. Cloud. The movie is part Ghost, part Ghost Whisperer and part Sixth Sense, so it’s fairly easy to stay one step ahead of the dialogue and plot, with just a few exceptions.

Efron plays the …

Salt

Salt is an action-packed spy thriller that keeps you engaged and entertained, but doesn’t really break any new ground. Angelina Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA officer who goes on the run when she’s accused of being a Russian spy. Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor play federal agents in hot pursuit of Salt, who …

Ramona and Beezus

I loved Beverly Cleary books growing up. And now I remember why. They are filled with heart and humor and mischief and extremely relatable characters… especially if you’re a young girl, or used to be. So it came as a relief to see the essence of the books preserved in the big-screen version of Ramona …

Micmacs

What a wonderful film! From director Jean-Pierre Jeunet who brought us the delightful Amélie, Micmacs is the story of a group of misfits who, to avenge the wrongs done to one of their family, conspire to bring down a couple of big arms dealers. It is a perfect political comedy, a genre that …

Despicable Me

Despicable Me was delightful to me… and to the child and other adult I had in tow when I went to see it. We all experienced laugh out loud moments throughout the movie, including a few just for the adults, like a sly reference to Lehman Brothers. This movie is, in a word, hilarious.

The Despicable …

The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid is best viewed through the eyes of today’s youth, as opposed to the eyes of aging fans (like me) of the original. I have a soft spot for Ralph Macchio as Daniel san and the late Pat Morita as his mentor, Mr. Miyagi. But alas, the 1980s are over, and this reboot …

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Ka-Ching! There’s no way this franchise won’t continue to make millions (upon millions upon millions), no matter what the critics – or any Twilight naysayers- might have to say about it. The first Twilight movie was pretty bad. Actually, it was really, really, almost comically bad. But two satisfying sequels later – and all is …

Knight and Day

With star power like Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz you expect more than you get with Knight and Day. Not that it is a bad movie; it just doesn’t really ever take off. Cruise plays an unnamed agency’s secret agent Roy Miller who’s supposedly “gone rogue”. He meets up with Diaz’s June …

El Secreto de Sus Ojos (The Secret in their Eyes)

El Secreto de Sus Ojos was the very deserving winner of the 2010 Academy Award for best Foreign Film. (I have to admit it is the only one of those nominated that I have seen so far, so stay tuned.) It is both an absorbing crime thriller and a heartbreaking love story. …

Toy Story 3

I took my nephew to see Toy Story 2 back in 1999. He was three years old, and loved the movie (as much as a three-year-old can. He was a tad squirmy back then but the movie definitely resonated with him, and me.) Fast-forward ELEVEN (!!) years, and we returned to the same theater for …