Currently browsing the "Drama" category.

Battleship

I wasn’t blown away by Battleship, though a lot of stuff does blow up real good! So if you like explosions galore and a bloodless (though high) body count, then Battleship might be a ‘hit’. Otherwise, consider it a ‘miss’. B-10! Get it?

Battleship is “inspired by” the classic naval combat board game by Hasbro. That explains why there’s no real plot or character development. Just your good ol’ fashioned heroes (go Navy!) and villains (Aliens, go home!).

What to Expect When You’re Expecting

I wasn’t expecting much from What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and it’s a good thing because this movie really doesn’t deliver. It’s one of those movies that suffers from too many plot lines and too many stars — Jennifer Lopez, Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz, Chris Rock, Chace Crawford, just to name a few. Based loosely on the best-selling pregnancy manual, the movie focuses on five couples who are expecting. Four of them are in Atlanta and one is in Los Angeles but of course they are all somehow connected. (Frankly, we could have done without at least two of the couples.) Throw in the gang of park-walking dudes/daddy support group led by Rock and it’s all just too much going on.

The Lucky One

At last check, The Lucky One had a rather unlucky 21% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I think that’s a little harsh. Sure, the movie is pure, unadulterated chickflick-romantic-drama-sap with a capital ‘S’. But if you made it through – or even sorta liked – all the other Nicholas Sparks books-turned-into-movies (The Notebook, Dear John, Message in a Bottle, The Last Song, Nights in Rodanthe…), then this one is what it is. More of the same (though far short of The Notebook).

In fact, if you saw Dear John, you may actually think you’re watching a remake of the same movie, only this time it’s starring Zac Efron (instead of Channing Tatum) as the war-scarred soldier (er, Marine) and Taylor Schilling (instead of Amanda Seyfried) as the blonde chick he falls for. And instead of a letter, there’s a photograph.

The Hunger Games

May the odds be ever in your favor. Odds are, if that means anything to you at all, then this review is totally irrelevant – you’re going to see The Hunger Games. As well you should. It’s good. It’s not “oh my gosh – this is, like, the best movie ever” good. But it does serve the book and its fans quite well. In case you’re unfamiliar, the movie is based on the first book of a young-adult, adventure science fiction trilogy by Suzanne Collins. That means we can expect at least two (or if the studios take a page from Potter and Twilight, at least three) more installments of what’s sure to be a gazillion-dollar franchise.

The premise is admittedly bizarre. Every year, a teenage boy and girl from the 12 districts of Panem are sent to the Capitol to compete in a nationally televised, fight-to-the-death competition known as The Hunger Games. The Games were created as punishment for an uprising against the Capital decades earlier – and perpetuated as a way to keep the districts in line. Think of the 12 Districts as home to the 99 percent. The Capitol houses the 1 percent.

The Games’ participants, known as Tributes, must fight one another until one survivor remains. And just like Texas with the Miss America pageant, some tributes are better prepped than others for the competition.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen may sound like a boring documentary, but it’s actually a rather charming chick flick that will likely need strong word of mouth to expand its audience beyond the indie/art house crowd. So check it out and talk it up! Trust me, there’s a strong chance you’ll like it, even if you can’t find Yemen on a map or couldn’t care less about fly fishing or the migration patterns and ecological needs of salmon.

Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria, The Devil Wears Prada) plays Harriet, a British public relations executive who is given carte blanche to help a wealthy sheik realize his dream of bringing salmon fishing to the desert. She turns to the UK’s leading fisheries expert, Dr. Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) for help, but he finds the entire project completely absurd. So does the British government – until the Prime Minister’s press secretary (played by Kristin Scott Thomas) decides that the salmon project is just what the government needs to divert attention from another Middle East ‘project’ that isn’t going so well – the war in Afghanistan.

The Forgiveness of Blood

Albania is no cinematic hotspot, though as The Forgiveness of Blood shows, they have some interesting stories to tell. It is fascinating to see these corners of the earth that have been ignored and catch a glimpse inside their culture. In this case, it is a strange mix of the modern and the ancient — cell phones and horse drawn carriages, modern policemen and tribal codes of conduct. The plot here revolves around a murderer’s family and the local society’s acceptance that all of them pay for his crime.

A Separation

A Separation won the 2011 Oscar for Best Foreign Film, marking Iran’s first Academy Award ever. It was also nominated in the Best Original Screenplay category, unusual for any foreign film. While the world frets about their nuclear intentions and tension mounts, it is nice to see a fairly non-political depiction of life there. This is a film about relationships and cultures and power and truth, pretty universal themes played out on a very human scale and directed with a masterful hand.

The Vow

I wouldn’t completely disavow The Vow, but I wouldn’t commit to a recommendation either. It’s mediocre melancholy that topped the box office in its opening weekend for one main reason: it’s the only romantic drama out there. So hapless romantics like me flocked to the theater, hankies in hand, hoping for the best. I may have dabbed my eyes a few times near the end, but I wasn’t swept away.

The Vow stars Channing Tatum (Dear John, Step Up 2) and Rachel McAdams (The Time Traveler’s Wife, Morning Glory) as Leo and Paige, a couple of newlyweds whose vows are put to the test when Paige emerges from a coma with severe memory loss. She does not remember her husband – at all. As Leo struggles to woo Paige all over again, Paige struggles to reconcile a past that she remembers, with a present that’s a total blank.

We Need To Talk About Kevin

This movie has all kind of things going for it — a well-written script, beautifully paced, interesting visual themes, even great performances all around, but seriously! If you are of childbearing age and thinking of having a kid any time in your life, you might not want to see this movie, that is unless you want to know what it feels like to parent a sociopath.

Man on a Ledge

 Man on a Ledge is one of those movies that holds your attention and ultimately entertains, even if it does fade from memory a short time later. The less you know going into it, the more you’ll get out of it. So if you think you may want to see it, skip the more in-depth reviews and stick with this one!