Contagion (2011)

My love/hate relationship with Steven Soderbergh continues. This film has a lot of elements working in its favor but also some that don’t. I’ll start with the positives. The script here is well written, with a decent amount of dialogue and situations seeming competently researched and intelligently presented. The music fits the atmosphere nicely, with […]

A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)

This movie is TERRIBLE…ly ridiculous, stupid, and hilarious. I hit PLAY wanting to hate this flick, as I wanted with the previous two. But I didn’t. Like those that came before, I laughed frequently…and out loud! The story picks up years after the last film with the fellas having gone their seperate ways in life. […]

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

Holy intense shit, Batman! This film pivots around the growing ‘disconnect’ of a young cult follower who is driven to flee by the growing criminality of her ‘family’ in rural Upstate New York. After being taken in by her estranged older sister and her husband, the normalcy of their domestic lives begins to take it’s […]

Puss in Boots (2011)

If there was EVER a character from the increasingly tedious Shrek franchise that deserves his own, stand-alone film…it’s Puss in Boots. Antonio Banderas is once again perfect as the voice of The Furry Lover, clearly having fun with the appropriately over-blown vocal stylings. His Desperado(1995) co-star Salma Hayek steps (or dances) up as the saucy […]

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

I didn’t know what to expect from this one going in…and I’m glad. This metaphysical ‘chase’ movie is a romance at its core…and it’s handled very well. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are terrific as the love-struck couple who are simply not meant to be…but are. Their chemistry and dialogue crackles and gives added gravity […]

Retreat (2011)

Now THAT’s how its done! This psychological thriller from the UK is well executed with great, believeable performances from the three leads and a story, while simple, that kept me guessing all the way through. Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later) and Thandie Newton (Mission Impossible 2) are a couple attempting to ease the strains on […]

Black Gold (2011)

Holy crap! (face palm) This movie is such a blunder of near epic proportions that I’m not even sure where to begin. It centres on the son of a sultan in 1930s Arabia who becomes caught in the middle of a war between his families house and that of his father-in-law over the use of […]

Bad Teacher

I got pretty much what I expected with this one…what I expected being a funny, slickly-written, HIGHLY un-PC yarn revolving around Cameron Diaz’ venomous but hilariously damaged ditz character…which seems eerily tailor-made for her. She’s backed up by an enthusiastic and amusing cast (kids and adults) who have a nice crop of awesome, well-paced moments […]

The Next Three Days

This well-orchestrated crime caper succeeds NEARLY everywhere. Russell Crowe plays his teacher/family man character nicely, with a realistic degree of uncertainty and fear as he comes to grips with the perilous choices he must make to carry out his plan to spring his murder-accused wife from the ‘pokey’. The initial chemistry between Crowe and Elizabeth […]

Limitless

I didn’t want to like this one going in, but against my initial (and unfair) judgement, this flick is actually quite entertaining. The concept of a pill that unlocks the dormant intelligence locked away in the inner recesses of the mind is a simple one but the execution, particularly the kinetic and fun visuals, is […]