The Hunger Games

Not that I really have the time to completely bring back this review blog in the way it once was, but I miss writing movie reviews and what better way to jump back in than with the movie biggest opening non-sequel ever. Granted, inflated ticket sales help, but hey, at least this thing was not in 3D, right? I was first turned on to The Hunger Games when Borders was going out of business and I was able to pick up the first book for $4.00. I had heard much about how great the first book was, but my hesitation stemmed from hearing about how unimpressive the final book was. Who wants to invest in a trilogy when it appears a foregone conclusion that the ending was going to suck. I picked up the first book was hooked pretty instantly. However, that does not always translate into a good movie. Before I go on, those of you who have read this blog over the years and anyone who converses with me on a regular basis knows this, but for any newcomers, I will not spend this review comparing the book to the movie. It is a feeble and pointless act and I have no time for it. They are completely different animals that do different things to my imagination and enjoyment.

In a future North America where everything is controlled by The Capital, a competition exists. This competition exists as a reminder to the 12 districts of what happened 74 years ago when the districts tried to revolt against the leadership. The games are called The Hunger Games. 1 boy and 1 girl between the ages of 12-18 are "reaped" from a lottery to represent the district in a fight to the death game for the enjoyment of the national audience. These games are carefully crafted by the Capital so that they get the best show possible. Katniss Everdeen(Jennifer Lawrence) of District 12 volunteers herself to be in the games after her 12 year old sister is "reaped." District 12 is the outermost district, therefore the most poor and unhealthy. Katniss, though, is incredibly skilled with a bow and arrow and survives on her hunting skills. The male from District 12, Peeta(Josh Hutcherson), does not look like he presents much of a threat, but he is strong and as the competitors prepare for the games, Peeta turns out to be incredibly charming and intelligent. On the other hand, Katniss is a fiesty, seemingly unlikable girl, but that all changes once Cinna(Lenny Kravitz) gets his hands on her and styles her to look like the knockout she does not believe she is.

The show is where The Hunger Games really starts to gain traction. The film wastes no time introducing us to the world of Panem and taking Katniss and Peeta swiftly from the bleak greys of District 12 to the eye popping colors and gorgeously futuristic capital. The colors and designs of the set pop off the screen and the faceless crowds in bright pink wigs, luxurious clothes and ridiculous make up provide a wonderfully biting satire on current American life. Katniss has to learn to play a part, the way the best reality television stars of our time have learned to play a part. The only difference is, Katniss has to try not be killed by the other 22, or 23, contestants. The training before the games does not offer much in the way of developing the other characters, but it gives us 2 good villains, 1 small girl to care about and allows us to see Katniss practice her skills.

This first half of the movie may seem like mere filler for those desiring bloodlust, but I found it to be completely fascinating. Lawrence's Katniss is a strong female role model and Lawrence really owns this picture. The scene where volunteers as tribute had me choking up. It is a stripped down and honest performance, which is even more of a feat when everything about the character is done up. She never loses this laser focus on who Katniss is and what she wants. She is a superstar on the verge of shooting into the stratosphere, but she never shows it. She remains completely within the world of The Hunger Games. It is a true testament of her talent. There was never a moment where I wandered from her story. For his contribution, Hutcherson turns Peeta into a more rounded character than I would have imagined from him. The hair is ridiculous, but his Peeta is thoughtful, soulful and just the right amount of charming without seeming too fake. Their chemistry is not as bristling with sexual sparks as I would have liked, but they clearly work well together.

The supporting cast just adds extra fun to the film. Stanley Tucci is pitch perfect as Ceasar the talk show host. If he seems superficial, look deeper. Tucci really flushes him out in just his reactions to everything going on. I cannot wait to see what Kravitz does with Cinna in the later movies because here he was exactly what I hoped he would be. I was hoping Anthony Mackie would be Cinna, but Kravitz did a great job. Wes Bentley, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks (stealing every scene) and Woody Harrelson all did great work without too much screen time. T his is truly a case of me not being able to wait and see what these actors do with the progression of these characters.

One cannot review The Hunger Games without talking about the game itself. From the grueling (how great that they counted down from 45 and not just 10) countdown, to that brief quiet moment before the frenzied insanity, Director Gary Ross knew exactly how to let tension build. Then when the clock hit 0 and the tributes started their quest, wow, what insanity. This is a PG-13 movies, but it was not without brutality. Blood splattered, helpless teenagers fell and the body count rose with such furious tenacity that people in the audience were definitely flinching and trying hard not to look straight on. The pacing in the jungle was exquisite. I had a fear that everything in the jungle would be too quickly paced, but Ross was not afraid to let the action breathe. Our point of view remained Katniss, and Lawrence's ability to portray a girl who is lost, but confident, bruised but determined really shined through in the final hour.

I have 1 issue with the movie and that is the very end, but that is because I was expecting the book ending. It changed a bit here and it is difficult for me to remark on it before I see where the series goes from here. Therefore, I do not feel right making a big deal out it. Our expectations are not the fault of a film. If this was a totally original screenplay, I probably would have been completely satisfied with the ending of the film. I am ready for the next installment already. I hope the studio does the right thing and lets Gary Ross direct each installment because he has really taken great care in this world. The camera work was top notch, especially in the frenzied jungle. The film was not afraid to get gritty. In fact, it was often gritty. The Hunger Games is a top notch cinematic adventure with rich themes, a star making performance, and great attention to detail. It is devastating blockbuster entertainment in the middle of March. It has explosions, sci-fi technology, sexy people, and a big blood pumping heart right in the center. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Final Grade: A

The Green Lantern

I was always more of a Marvel guy than a D.C guy. Superman is too perfect and Batman has always been better on screen than on the page for me. However, I always kind of dug the Green lantern. It is a totally goofy Sci-Fi adventure, with green lanterns of power, an entire galaxy of creatures who protect galaxies from things like mass energies of fear. The Green Lantern Corp comes with its own oath and everything! It was always entertaining to me as a kid because it combined those goofy B-movie type sci-fi campiness with the superhero stuff. Green Lantern was about the Corp, but also about the flawed human being who wore the ring, especially when Hal Jordan was the Lantern. However, it seemed like an awful idea for a movie. Would the general public be able to get behind the goofiness? After spending nearly 300 million dollars (reportedly) to get the CGI looking good, Warner Brothers was hoping the public would. However, the movie kind of sputtered out of the gate. Banking on Ryan Reynolds' star power might have backfired.

Hal Jordan(Reynolds) is a pilot with a death wish. He is a rebel in the air and is constantly defying orders and doing whatever he thinks is possible to be the best. This reckless attitude along with his natural instinct to run away when things get serious makes him the least likely person to receive an intergalactic ring to make him a protector of our galaxy, yet the ring chooses him. The Green Lantern ring does not make mistakes and when one of the Corp members is dying, the ring finds Jordan. At first, Jordan is elated. The ring projects anything he can dream up and makes it a reality. Plus, he can fly without a jet. However, it is a huge responsibility and he is not sure he can handle it. A Green Lantern Corp member has to be fearless, and has to clear his mind in order to be successful and Jordan is not that guy. However, as the giant evil cloud of fear gets closer to taking out Earth, Jordan must find it within himself to man up and take a stand for all of human kind. There is also a love story with Carol Ferris(Blake Lively) and a human villain, Hector Hammond(Peter Sarsgaard) who has the Green Lantern powers, but he uses fear as his motivator and eventual downfall.

The Green Lantern is not nearly as bad as it is being made out to be. I know that is not exactly a ringing endorsement, but that is how I feel. It is a good movie, with decent action and some good laughs and a few nice thrills, but it never quite kicks it into high gear. Reynolds is clearly a movie star capable of carrying a movie franchise, but I think he was let down by the rest of the creative team here. The script has far too much expository dialogue and not enough of anything else. The action sequences are clever and well done, but there are not enough of them and the climatic action sequence is over far too quickly. For a movie that runs a little over 2hrs, I would have expected much more action.

Reynolds and Lively make an extremely sexy couple and they have a really great chemistry, especially during the slower more tender scenes, but even they never get a chance to really light a fire under those scenes. There is too much time spent getting the lighter to ignite and not enough time watching the wick burn or explode. I think there is a very good movie to be found in the Green Lantern world now, which I did not think going in, but this is not it. A lot of time was spent on the CGI aspect and in all honesty, I think it looks pretty great. I have heard complaints about it, but I really enjoyed them. I think part of the reason why is that they look kind of goofy and Sci-Fi like and that is how they should look. I thought all of the things Jordan imagines through the ring that come true, looked great, even if the hue of green looks a little silly as the color of a Gatling gun and other various weapons. Again, The Green Lantern has always been a big goofy.

The Green Lantern comic has had various incarnations and Hal Jordan is the most famous and recognizable of this group, so it makes sense to tell this story. It also has a nice theme about fear and how to overcome it. Jordan changed the entire thought process of The Green Lantern Corp and the movie does a good job of showing that difference. I am always down for a theme and superhero comics have often been about themes of belonging and find one's place and this is no different. There is nothing really wrong with The Green Lantern, but there is nothing terribly right with it either. it just kind of exists. If you stay after the movie and about half way through the credits, you will be rewarded with a nice moment that sets up a sequel, which Warner Brothers is writing, but I would be surprised if it ever actually gets made.

Final Grade: C

Super 8

J.J Abrams gets me. He gets what I like and what I want to see. He also gets how to keep a movie mysterious and has the absolute best trailers for his movies. I truly believe Abrams is the future Spielberg, once he better figures out how to connect humanity to his epic stories. Star Trek was certainly on the path to that and it looked like Super 8 was going to make giant leaps forward in that category. It does not hurt that Spielberg was a major producer on the film and clearly his presence was felt in terms of story. I was crazy excited about this from day one. The moment i heard Abrams and Spielberg were teaming up, I was sold. My favorite director and one of my favorite up and comers together? Yes, please! There was nothing that I saw from the trailers or the reviews that made me think this movie would be less than totally awesome, which is always dangerous, as I have mentioned many times in this blog. But, I believed Abrams would not let me down! Would he?

In a sleepy Ohio town, a factory accident has left Joe Lamb(Joel Courtney) motherless. His father, Jackson(Kyle Chandler) is a well meaning man, but he is not equipped to raise a young boy on his own. Joe and his group of friends spend their days making movies and at the moment, they are making a zombie film with Charles(Riley Griffiths) as the writer and director. Joe is a master with make up, Cary does explosions, and Martin and Preston fill out the cast and crew. Charles, thinking the story is not emotional enough, decides to add a wife to the main character, Alice(Elle Fanning) is asked to be the wife. On a late night shoot near a train station, the group of kids witness an insane train derailment and total explosion. They talk to an ominous black man who warns them to keep quiet. This Ohio town is quickly overrun with military personal and Jackson, as the deputy, is soon in charge as the sheriff goes missing. It is not long after the train wreck that things start to go weird. First, all of the dogs in town leave, then electronics all over the town are either stolen or damaged, there are rolling black outs and of course, people are going missing. The young kids try hard not to talk about it and all they really want is to finish their film, but soon as the military evacuates the town, the boys set off to find answers and they find something in their footage.

Super 8 is the best movie of this year so far. It has heart, thrills, genuine laughs, and a great sense of nostalgia. It reminded me so much of all of the movies that made me a movie lover in the first place. It remembers a time when kids wanted nothing more than to be outside being creative. It has elements of Stand By Me, The Goonies, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. It also has young kids filming a zombie movie, so you have those references as well. it is a wonderful blend of low budget humanity and big budget blockbuster. It is the kind of movie I know I will watch and love many times because of the feeling it gives me. Yes, there are issues and it is not a perfect movie, but when a movie makes you feel this wonderful sense of joy, how can you really start nitpicking at it?

let us begin with the wonderful cast. The young actors in this film are just outstanding. The moments between the kids feels incredibly organic and the dialogue between them is often times hilarious and peppered with really honest lines and emotions. Elle Fanning is a star in the making for sure and she has great chemistry with Courtney and it lies at the heart of the story. Joel Courtney, in his first movie ever, is exactly what the movie needs and he really makes you believe everything he is feeling. If you have not seen Kyle Chandler in Friday Night Lights on television, you are really missing out. Very few actors can say more with a shift of weight, or with eye movement than he can. He says more with actually talking less than most actors and he brings that to the role of a father doing his best to figure out life.

Abrams knows how to direct action, there is no denying that. The train crash is about the best crash of that level I have seen. It is littered with thrills, explosions and death defying moments with the kids. He also does a great job of concealing the creature until he absolutely needs to show it to us. The final action sequence that interlocks the human side and the blockbuster side is quite a wonderful spectacle, but I felt like it never lost the human core. In fact, it kept it so intact, one of the people I saw it with thought it bordered on cheesy, but to that I say, the movie is about a father and son trying to come to terms with the death of a loved one, it had better be a little bit cheesy! I will never tire of watching people dodge tanks, bullets and exploding houses and Abrams shoots this finale in a nice blend of long and tight shots. He shoots overhead when we need to see the scope of what is going on, but he knows exactly when to pull it in and give us something intimate.

I am very much aware that there are some flaws. yes, it is a little convenient as certain points for the boys to stumble upon exactly what they are looking for, but if that is what you are focusing on, then the movie is clearly not for you, because the movie did not grab you and fill you the way it did me. I will not listen to anyone complaining about Lens Flares because it is a J.J Abrams movie and you knew what you were getting into. It is like going to a Michael Bay and complaining about sweeping slow motion shots, it is part of who Abrams is as a film maker. I am not sure Super 8 will stay my favorite movie of the year, but I am pretty sure it will end up in my top 5 and it will be a movie I love for years to come. Any movie that can combine the adventure of The Goonies and the thrills of Jurassic park is always going to be watchable in my book. Super 8 is the kind of movie that makes me glad I can just get lost in a movie.

Final Grade: A+

X-Men: The FIrst Class

The filmmakers here had an impossible task; they had to reboot a franchise nearing death, without restarting the franchise, which means they could not use the characters the general public knows and loves. X3 was a disaster and Wolverine was such an all over the place mess that I wondered why this movie was even being made. They went about it the right way, at least. Bryan Singer was back in the X-Men world, but only as a producer, story doctor and consultant. He brought in Matthew Vaughn, a wonderful and varied director, to helm the project and as the cast filled out, it looked promising. Yet, I was not sold. The original marketing was not good and while the trailer looked pretty solid, I was worried that it would be difficult to connect to these mutants that were not household names. So, with these lowered expectations, I made my way into the theater.

Erik Lehnsherr(Michael Fassbender) and Charles Xavier(James MacAvoy) could not be more different in terms of how to use or access their mutant powers. After being in a Concentration Camp and watching his mother get shot in front of his eyes, Lehnsherr uses anger and believes mutants should rule the Earth. Xavier wants to help humans and believes that humans are good. Yet, somehow a friendship forms. As part of a secret C.I.A team, Lehnsherr and Xavier find other mutants and begin a training facility in hopes of getting these young mutants strong enough to fight back against Sebastian Shaw(Kevin Bacon), Emma Frost(January Jones) and two other evil mutants. Against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis, that was actually a plot by Shaw to gain infinite power, this is an origin story, or more like origin stories. The first class of X-Men includes Havoc(Lucas Till), Beast(Nicholas Hoult), Banshee(Caleb Landry Jones) and of course, Mystique(Jennifer Lawrence).

X-Men: First Class is the best X-Men we have. It is funny, has killer action, makes perfect use of the mutant powers and tells a wonderful story with great writing and wonderful acting. Matthew Vaughn is, by my calculations, 4 for 4 in terms of the movies he has directed. He knows how to pace this movie without letting it derail because it is, after all, a summer blockbuster. However, he lets the story hit all of the beats it need to. We get angsty mutant moments and we get the parallels between the civil rights act, or more to the point, the Nazi/Jewish parallels in the story as well. I loved how well Vaughn told this story because with so many mutants, and with a story moving in essentially three different directions, things could have gotten muddled. Direction 1 in the overall arc of Shaw as the villain, but the two other moving parts are Erik's revenge and of course, Xavier's desire to save Erik. With all of this going on, it could have easily crumbled, but Vaughn keeps it moving by effortlessly switching from kick ass action scene to quiet contemplation about the meaning of being a mutant.

This is of course helped by the wonderful acting, especially from MacAvoy, Bacon and most importantly, Fassbender. MacAvoy and Fassbender had the unenviable tasks of playing young versions of beloved characters that are played by amazing actors when the characters are older. MacAvoy is right at home playing Xavier like a playboy. it was fun to see Charles Xavier as a young, intelligent flirt who is not afraid of a lot of alcohol. So, the real task was Fassbender and what a star making performance. He is funny, angry, sincere, scary and very cool. Fassbender does what Hayden Christianson could not do: he took an iconic villain and made him human without losing the edge that lets us see that he is still going to become Magneto. He switches from accent to accent effortlessly and plays every moment in such an honest way that it makes everyone else look good as well.

Of course, this is an X-Men movie and so the action has to be crisp and it is. I loved the epic climatic battle, with all of the different characters spread out this awesome ocean landscape, but this movie is more than just the climax. And the action scenes are not always just straight up battles. There is a training montage that also provides some great action, and the scene where the young mutants reveal their abilities is very well done. The action does not overwhelm the story, but moves it forward. Azazel (think Nightcrawler, but looking like Satan) gets a lot of great action stuff to do and I loved the effect of Banshee flying and using his power. It is easy to make Havoc look cool with his red energy being flung, and when Beast gets in his full beast Mode, it is easy to make him look good as well, but to have a kind of wimpy looking kid, whose power is to high pitched frequencies, look as cool as Banshee does, you know the movie has it working.

If there is a weak spot, it is January Jones as Emma Frost. Frost should be more of a bad ass, but Jones is so weak next to the incredibly charismatic Bacon. She looks totally hot, but not entirely comfortable with her hotness, so it is kind of a bummer. I loved her silvery look and actually all of the effects were top notch, so if my only complaint is that the hot actress was not very convincing, I think that can be forgiven. X-Men: First class is a top notch entry into the Superhero genre and I hope people can look beyond the fact that there is no Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Cyclops or Jean Grey and just enjoy the ride because it is definitely worth the trip!

The Hangover 2

The Hangover took the world by storm. It starred 3 not-that-famous guys, it rehashed Dude. Where's my car's plot and went on to become the highest grossing R Rated comedy of all time and I believe the third or fourth top grossing R Rated movie of all time. It was hilarious, but not super raunchy, so it had that mass appeal. Something about the chemistry of those three, mixed with a baby, a tiger, Mike Tyson and some serious memory loss resonated with the public. I loved it, as well. It has physical comedy, ridiculous situations, really funny lines and a genuinely interesting story. The Hangover could have been recut as a mystery film very easily. There was no way a sequel was not going to happen. Hollywood knows how to cash in on money making properties better than anything. The teaser trailer hinted at nothing but a very dirty Bangkok. The trailer looked like a complete retread of The Hangover and that actually suited me perfectly. With INSANE box office numbers in the opening weekend, it is clear The Hangover 2 will lead to a Hangover 3, but is it funny?

Opening with another messed up phone call about how they lost someone, Phil(Bradley Cooper), Stu(Ed Helms) and Alan(Zack Galifinakis) are at it again. There is a wedding, this time Stu is getting married to a ridiculously hot Asian girl(Jaime Chung) and as Stu has not forgotten what happened the last time this crew threw a bachelor party, he refuses to have one. Instead, Stu, Phil, Alan, Doug(Justin Bartha) and Stu's soon to be brother-in-law, Teddy(Mason Lee) grab one beer and have some marshmallows. Next thing they know, the Wolfpack is in a dingy motel room with Chow, a finger without a body and no memory. Thus repeats the pattern. The guys empty their pockets, go to a strip club, a tattoo parlor, a monk monastery, hook up with a chain smoking, drug dealing monkey. They get mixed up in the Russian mob, an Armenian arms dealer and Paul Giamatti. Oh, the person they lost is Teddy.

If you are looking for variety, go somewhere else. The Hangover 2 follows the comic, mystery and ridiculous beats from The Hangover exactly. In fact, the movie plays more like a remake than a sequel, but that is just fine with me. This is a ride I am willing to take as often as they offer it. It is just a flat out funny time. Cooper, Helms and Galifinakis make such a great comic team and they are all very much game for whatever director Todd Phillips throws at them and it makes for such an awesome adventure. I love the reactions from the characters as shit just gets crazier and crazier. yes, it is absolute stupid that this nonsense keeps happening to these same three guys, but that is a big part of what makes the second film work. These guys cannot believe this shit is happening either.

Helms is, of course, on the receiving end of most of the wildest stuff. I almost wish the face tattoo had not been revealed in the trailer, because it would be such a great reveal, but that pales in comparison for the raunchiest, funniest, nastiest thing that happens in this movie. That is what The Hangover 2 has going for it. It's raunch is actually hilarious, unlike Bridesmaids. Cooper still plays Phil as the ultimate Go-With-the-Flow attitude that helped bring levity to The Hangover and Helms is even better this time around as Stu. He is so perfectly over the top in how much he cannot believe what has happened to him. In fact, the movie goes to a petty dark place momentarily with Stu and in the third one, I hope they come back to it. Galifinakis makes Alan the right mixture of asshole and helpless child which is becoming his specialty.

I loved the flashback with the guys as kids doing the debauchery. It was a nice touch and the photos at the end are even more insane than the last time and I really liked that Doug was still around. This movie seemed less focused on the mystery and more on the insanity of what these guys do when they get black out nuts and that was fine because the kid playing Teddy did not matter much to me. I got the point of him, but I think the stakes did not matter as much to me this time. The cameo at the end is great, even though I totally should have seen it coming and really, the only negative thing I can say about this movie was that I did not come out of it with as many quotable lines. It is probably not going to be as memorable as the Hangover.

Final Grade: A-

P.S. This movie makes me want to avoid Bangkok at all costs, whereas The Hangover made me want to fly to Vegas as soon as the movie was over.

Bridesmaids

I was never totally sold on this movie by the trailers. I thought they all sort of missed the mark. However, I think Kristin Wiig is a brilliant comic actress and Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy are both great character actresses in search of a breakout. The reviews were pouring out adoration for the movie and producer and director team of Judd Apatow and Paul Feig was infinitely intriguing to me. I figured the trailers just had to be a very tame version of this R-Rated comedy. It was being mentioned as a female Hangover, of a female version of a Judd Apatow movie and who would not want to see that movie? I was excited at the prospect of all of these women coming together and creating something hilarious. After missing it opening weekend, I heard even more raves from co-workers and the general public coming out of the movie wiping away tears from laughing so hard.

Annie's(Wiig) life is not going exactly how she pictured. She is having sex with a guy who can barely stand her (he does not appear to be very good at sex either), her baking business went under and she is paying bills by selling jewelry. She has awful roommates and her only other living option is to live with her mother who goes to AA even though she has never had a drink. To top it off, her best childhood friend, Lillian(Rudolph) just got engaged and asked her to be the maid of honor. While Annie is excited for Lillian it only magnifies how off track her life is. It does not help that Lillian's life is easy street and Lillian has a friend, Helen (Rose Byrne) who has a ridiculous amount of money, is gorgeous and undermines all of Annie's ideas for the wedding party. The rest of the Bridesmaids also have their own ideas of what the bachelorette party and wedding shower should look like, and it is up to Annie to try and juggle it all.

Bridesmaids was so unbelievably disappointing. I laughed a lot in the first 25 or 30 minutes and then had a few sporadic laughs after that, but I found that most of the movie missed the mark. People around me seemed to be having a good time, but I was fidgety, bored and ready for the whole thing to be over long before its bloated 2hr run time was over. Wiig is a wonderful comic actress and she even handled the dramatic moments very well, but I am not sure this movie is worthy of her talents, or maybe I think she is meant to be a character comic actress, not a leading woman. All of the other actresses were fine too. Byrne did not drag the picture down even though she has nowhere near the comic background many of these women have and Melissa McCarthy was probably the only one who managed to be funny throughout, even though I did not get most of what everyone else was laughing at.

Also, Bridesmaids is more than a little bit depressing. I get that desperation and awkwardness make for humor all of the time, but this was just tough to watch at times. There is a scene where Annie and Helen go back and forth trying to outdo each other with speeches about Lillian and many people were laughing, but I was just left cringing because it reeked of depression from Annie. She knows her life sucks and that she may be losing her best friend and it was difficult to laugh at the pain. I like my raunchy comedies to get serious and not be afraid of emotion, but the general tone of this movie was to laugh at this woman's life spin so far out of control she has to move in with her mother. Of course, the character of Annie is not inherently likable either. There is this great cop character, Officer Rhodes(Chris O'Dowd) and Annie does everything she can to sabotage the possibility at happiness. It gets old pretty fast.

I have received the remark that I did not enjoy this movie because I have something against women who act the way we expect men to act in movies. This is false. Fart, poop and vomit jokes are not funny to me no matter who is farting, vomiting or pooping. The big gross out scene in this movie may make a lot of people laugh, but I was just left sitting there. I wanted so very much to be left with tears of laughter. I wanted my gut to hurt from laughing and instead I was just left wondering how much longer I had to sit and wait for the inevitable conclusion. I did laugh at the sex jokes. I actually appreciated jokes with women talking about sex, but not in that Sex and the City way. I really did want to love Bridesmaids, but it just did not go that way for me. I wish I could say there is a good movie somewhere in this mess, but I just do not think there is.

Something Borrowed

If you know me, one of my general movie going habits is to avoid Kate Hudson movies at all costs. She is grating, unfunny and not particularly attractive, in my opinion. However, when you put her in a movie with the adorable Ginnifer Goodwin and hilarious John Krasinski, I cannot be so harsh on my habit. I still probably would not have seen it if I had to pay for movies and did not have a girlfriend who wanted to see it. There is just something so annoying about everything Kate Hudson says and does. So, it is with my Anti Kate Hudson glasses on that I went into this movie.

Rachel(Goodwin) and Darcy(Hudson)are best friends and have been since childhood. Darcy is loud, flirtacioud and fashionable and Rachel is bookish, awkward and a pushover. Darcy is engaged to Dex(Colin Egglesfield), who was Rachel's good friend and crush from law school. The night of Rachel's 30th birthday, she and Dex have sex and after she admits she always had a crush on him. Dex becomes quickly confused as to what he wants. He thinks he loves Darcy, but he always wanted Rachel, so for a while he gets them both. he and Rachel start secretly dating, and Darcy remains oblivious. Rachel's other best friend Ethan(Krasinski) becomes her sounding board and he sometimes has to tell her what she does not want to hear.

It has been roughly a week since I watched Something Borrowed and I am still undecided what exactly I feel about it. The movie is undoubtedly funny. John Krasinski is just hilarious in every scene that features him and the script has some genuinely funny moments and situations. Goodwin and Hudson have pretty good chemistry and there is a wonderful moment involving them and a Salt N Pepa song that might be the highlight of the movie. Goodwin is her usual adorably self conscious self on screen and she really sells the drama of the story, especially in the big confession at the end. She is sexy in a subtle way and even though Hollywood keeps trying to sell her as more on the frumpy side, the girl is gorgeous.

However, there is something deeper going on in this movie that keeps me from really liking it. The premise of the movie is essentially a girl has sex with her best friend's fiance. Rachel's selfishness is constantly rewarded, Dex is an indecisive asshole and Darcy is an obnoxious brat who has nothing nice to say to anyone throughout the entire movie. These are the three people we are supposed to care about enough to watch them for nearly 2hrs, but I honestly did not like any of them. Hudson's Darcy is the kind of movie character that should have no friends and only in film does this kind of personality come across as charming to a group of people. Krasinski's character is the only one who can seem to call Darcy on her shit and he is the only one really worth caring about.

I do not need likable characters in my movies, but in what is supposed to be a kind of breezy ROMCOM, I should. I should care if the characters are happy and I honestly did not. In fact, I think the movie takes the easy way out in the climax. These characters do not deserve the Hollywood ending and in giving it to them, the movie cheats life. Granted, there are consequences and the consequences are long lasting, but in the end, we get the ending we all knew we were going to get at the end of the movie. The writer got lazy which is too bad because there are at least 3 inspired scenes where the writing really helped sell these characters. The scene involving the Salt N Pepa song has a really great feel to it and almost endears the Kate Hudson character to me. Then Ethan's confession is honest, sad and beautiful and of course, the big major confession from Goodwin is wonderful, but it is all spoiled by false moment after false moment.

When the lights came up, I felt incredibly mixed emotions for the film. I was super annoyed by the ending and by the actions or lack of actions by the characters, but I also laughed a lot during the movie, especially at two side plots involving Ethan's one night stand and this super douchey guy Darcy tries to set up Rachel with. So what I have decided is that I loved everything about the movie that was not directly related to the main story. I love Goodwin, but as likable as she is, her character is too much of a pushover and by the time she grows a backbone, it is too late, I was over it. Hudson actually looked hot a few times in this movie, which is a rare thing for me to say, but she did not help make Darcy any more likable. I would have rather seen a movie built around the supporting characters!

Final Grade: C+

THOR

Hopefully I remember how it is I do this review thing. THOR seemed like an odd choice for a stand alone character movie in the Marvel and Avengers universe. Not to say that any of these marvel movies are based in a sense of reality, but would audiences be willing to go to another world for this Superhero stuff? They cast basically a no name and hired Kenneth Branagh to direct and I just did not think it was going to work. Would it be too silly to have a dude with a spinning hammer as the hero? I was curious about it and found myself way more excited than I would have thought at the end of Ironman 2 when they showed Thor's hammer. Clearly they had me hooked! The trailers were good, but not great, but I had read some good things about the 20 minutes shown at ShoWest. Plus, there is this whole big plan with Marvel and this entire world being connected meant it would be wise to watch it. Oh who am I kidding, it is a Superhero movie, of course I was going to see it!

Thor(Chris Helmsworth) is a powerful but arrogant warrior in a realm of Gods where magic and science are one in the same. His father (Anthony Hopkins) is a powerful king and is all set to pass the kingdom to Thor, but Thor's childish arrogance starts a war and he is banished to Earth where he meets up with a trio of American Scientists. Thor's power has been taken from him and he believes if he can get his hammer back, he can get his power back. With the help of the trio (Natalie Portman, Stellen Skarsgard and Kat Dennings) Thor tries to fight through the secret government agency known as SHIELD, but as he reaches his hammer, he cannot pull it out of the ground. Back in his home world, Thor's brother, Loki(Tom Hiddleston), sets off a chain reaction to kill their father, take over their world and maybe, just maybe destroy everything.

Thor is an origin story, but not in the same way as most Superhero origin stories. Thor has always been a bit of different kind of comic. It is a very straight forward story and is told in a very straight forward way, to the point where it almost feels like a series of short films tied into one film. This is not a bad thing as I found Thor to be quite an excellent movie. My biggest fear was that they would take the material far too seriously, but the first 15 minutes of Thor on Earth are very funny and set a good tone for a summer movie. The action is a little too frenzied at the beginning, but as the movie settles in the action gets a lot easier to follow. Branagh has too many tight shots of the action, which he did not need because all of the effects looks great. I wanted him to pull the camera back and let us get a more broad scope of what was going on in the action sequences, but he does give us plenty of action. The pacing is excellent and while there is a serious amount of exposition, the story does not get bogged down in it, mostly because Portman and Helmsworth are so great together.

Chris Helmsworth is going to make hundreds of girls and gay guys drool throughout the movie, but beyond being chiseled like a statue, he makes a very great Thor. he has the right mix of arrogance, playfulness and strength to pull of a pretty oddball character. He handles the action flawlessly and there is never a time when I questioned whether he could do all of these insane action stunts. He also handles the Earth stuff very well. His chemistry with Portman was a pleasant surprise for me. Portman is her usual solid self. She clearly was having a great time with all of this big summer blockbuster stuff and it helped bring a sense of levity to the movie. Skarsgard is great as well. I expected it to be a throw away role, but the way he played it made the character incredibly important. Hiddleston, as Loki, was another pleasant surprise. It is good he was so great because we have not seen the last Loki in the Marvel universe of movies. Hopkins was the only disappointing aspect in the movie to me. He was clearly just phoning this in and I know he had issues with Branagh, so that may have had something to do with it.

Superhero movies are becoming almost overdone and people wondered if maybe Thor was signalling the end of the genre, but Thor is a breath of fresh air. With flying spinning hammers punching through crazy Ice Monsters(best action sequence in my opinion), a great cameo from another Avenger, great comedy and a solid cast, Thor borders on being truly epic. The world created is gorgeous and some of the shots of Thor's home world are stunning. I feel like Branagh and company did a very good job of making Thor workable to the general public. It is easy to have audiences embrace Spiderman, or Robert Downey Jr as Ironman and it will probably be easy to ask audience to cheer for Captain America, but it was tougher to make Thor accessible and this movie more than accomplishes that. This movie makes me hope Thor has a major part of The Avengers. It also makes me hope Portman will have at least a cameo in The Avengers.

Pre Summer movie bash!!

I know I do not really write in this thing anymore, so it would not surprise me if no one came back to read it, but I am hoping to, at the very least, write reviews during the summer months. The summer movie season is always fun for me and with school being on hiatus,I am confident I will have the time to dedicate to writing reviews. So without further ado, here is my annual pre summer movie bash!

My 10 most anticipated movies of the summer.

10. Green Lantern: I am not sold on this movie because the trailers have not wowed me. The 7 minute sizzle reel was nice, but I am still missing something.

9. Friends with Benefits: So far, it is the funniest trailer of the summer and I love the cast. yes, we have seen a version of this movie already this year, but this looks flat out hilarious

8. X-Men: First Class: X3 was bad, Wolverine was bad, so why do I even care? Well, it looks really damn good. The cast is strong, I like the director and the footage so far intrigues me.

7. Thor: Curiosity is what makes this so high on the list. How are they going to do this movie. It is not the easiest character to translate to the mainstream and casting a virtual unknown as Thor is not the Marvel way, but I am curious enough.

6. Transformers 3:The Dark of the Moon: The fact that this is outside of my top 5 goes to show how bad part 2 was. Everyone involved swears they have fixed it and I love the teaser trailer!! I will miss sexy Megan Fox, but excited for more Robots beating the crap out of each other.

5. The Hangover 2: I do not care if the trailer looks like a rehash of the first movie, there is something about it that makes me giggle every time. I love these guys and want to see more crazy adventures.

4. Cowboys and Aliens: Until a week ago, this movie would have been probably down at number 7 or 8, but the new full length trailer came out and it totally rocks! I am still unsure of the full tone of the movie, but I am super amped.

3. Captain America: I love the idea of a Captain America movie. He is not my favorite in the Marvel universe, but the idea of a Captain America movie just feels right. The trailer is solid and Evans looks great, which was a big hurdle in my opinion. It has a great classic cinema look, with killer action and I think the suit looks excellent. Also, Tommy Lee Jones is a total bonus.

2. Harry Potter 7 part 2: The saga finally comes to an end. An entire generation of people were raised on this group of characters and here we are at the end. The first half was moody, creepy and totally awesome, so I can only imagine how totally epic part two will be.

1. Super 8: I am not sure I have ever felt like a director/producer team mattered as much as Abrams and Spielberg. J.J Abrams is the man in my book. I love everything of his I have seen. His mind works in a way that makes him the perfect geek director. I cannot wait to see how this one plays out. It looks like a total throw back movie and everything being written about it is positive and I just NEED this movie now!!

My guesses for the worst 5 movies of summer:

5. Cars 2: This is the first time in quite a few years that I was not excited about a pixar movie. It actually makes me sad to say it, but this looks absolutely awful

4. Kung fu Panda 2: The first movie was pleasant enough, but the action was cool and the comedy sucked. The trailers really push the comedy, so bleh!

3. The Smurfs: I will see it because NPH is in it, but there is no reason for this movie to even exist. No reason at all. The trailer looks awful and honestly, why??

2. Zookeeper: If you take Paul Blart and smash him into Dr. Doolittle, you have this movie. Kevin James is likable enough, but honestly, this is nonsense. I am typically against talking animals in live action movies anyway.

1. Pirates 4: If you know me, you know i am not shy about my hatred for Pirates 2 and 3. Getting rid of Orlando and Keira and adding Cruz does nothing to excite me. Johnny Depp has been playing nothing but Jack Sparrow for almost a decade now it seems and I am over it. I am hoping to avoid this movie, but since I see movies for free, I will probably see it.

Random Thoughts:

There is no Adam Sandler movie this summer. It weirds me out.

Priest looks sufficiently bad ass

I feel like this year is going to determine what happens with 3D. Many big movies being released in 3D this summer and winter. I hope 3D dies.

The Beaver could be Lars and the Real Girl level brilliant, or it could be a total suckfest. I do not think there is a middle ground.

Bridesmaids just missed my top 10, but will it be the female Hangover? Will Kristin Wiig be the breakout star SNL is breeding her to be?

A few interesting looking movies being released in limited release this summer: Everything Must Go, Hesher, Tree of Life
I feel like Bad Teacher would have been a good movie for Cameron Diaz a few years ago, but now it just comes off as desperate.

Until I see a trailer for Horrible Bosses I cannot in good faith be excited, but the team involved make me anxious for a trailer.

Winnie the Pooh is coming back to theaters and it is in traditional looking animation. This is the most exciting animated movie this summer, in my opinion.

CrazyStupidLove intrigues me based on the cast and the trailer is promising, but can Ryan Gosling keep up with such comic actors as Steve Carrell and Emma Stone?

There is a serious over loading of comic book movies this summer and next summer looks to be more of the same. Will people stop coming to see them?

2010 top 10 and other thoughts

I admit the blog kind of got away from me in 2010. I hope that I can get it back this year. The hiatus was due to many things. First off, for half of the year I did not have reliable internet on which to post. Secondly, I saw less movies because I did not have the money to see the amount I usually see. And lastly, it was possibly the worst year of my life and I just could never bring myself to find the energy to post. Things have turned around and for now, I work at a movie theater so I get my movies for me. This should make the viewing of movies a lot easier. I am not going to retroactively review the movies I missed, but there are a few of them on this list, so you will get mini reviews. I hope I still have some readers and I hope to get the ball rolling again in 2011.

Kyle's Top 10

10. The Town: Wrapped in Ben Affleck's blue collar sensibilities, this crime heist raises the level of tension by mixing balls to the wall gun fights with moments of quiet tension. When a scene that takes place at a table in restaurant can carry the same level of tension as the final shoot out, you know the director has done a wonderful job. Affleck is going to be nominated for an Oscar for best director some day, this I believe. It was also nice to see John Hamm branch out and he has some killer cop lines.

9. The King's Speech: I did not go all crazy for this movie the way so many have, but I am going crazy for Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. These two performances give the movie a level of brilliance I am not sure it deserves. The supporting roles, the directing and the script could be improved, in my opinion, but because of the two men this movie is an absolute joy to watch. Every scene between Firth and Rush is a treasure of acting and they play off of each other so well, I want to watch them in other movies together.

8. True Grit: I honestly thought this movie would be top 5 easy for me this year, but even at number 8, I do not consider it a disappointment. The script is one of the Coens' tightest, mixing wonderful language, broad humor/appeal and a pretty gripping character study. Matt Damon is hilarious, the lead girl does amazing work and Jeff Bridges is a wonderfully gruff version of Jeff Bridges. However, the epilogue drags the movie down and I think because it is a Coens' movie, the straight forwardness of the movie was kind of off putting at times. Still, they took a genre I hate and put it in my top 10.

7. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: I would not be surprised, if over time, this movie grows on me even more. I think this movie, more than any other, has been analyzed in my head. I want to teach it, study it and just talk about it all of the time. It is a fantastic feat of direction more than anything else, but it is very much a movie aimed at people like me. I can identify with the characters, the images, the thoughts and the ideas. It is the ultimate coming of age in a digital age story. Like a movie featured later in this list, it is an in-the-moment movie that I think will be more appreciated in years to come.

6. The Kids are All right: Wonderful performances, a great script, a fun and interesting story and interesting direction choices are all one needs to make an engaging intimate movie about real life. This movie features all of those things, especially some very winning performances all the way around. You understand the motives of all of the characters and the ending leaves you wondering what will actually happen to these people because after 2hrs, I began to really feel for them. I think you own life experiences will sway your opinion on the characters, but I think that is intentional.

5. Exit Through the Gift Shop: Best piece of performance art by Banksy, or interesting, gripping documentary? No one really knows, but I do know that I was riveted in a very real way throughout. This movie is getting at what it means to be a celebrity, it speaks to how the masses are easily swayed by a name or by trying to get the next big thing, but ultimately it is an engaging story about this guerrilla style of art that at its best is pure and raw and at its most manufactured is an interesting study on what makes art real.

4. Black Swan: I cannot remember the last time I was this floored by a young woman's performance in a movie. Natalie Portman flat out gives the best performance of the year of any gender. She gets in this movie and becomes everything it is supposed to be. Arronofsky hits another home run in a film about obsession, addiction, insanity and the blurred line between reality and fantasy. it is a gorgeously dark tale with a twisted sense of humor and the most intense moments I have ever seen involving hands. It is hard to watch, but impossible to turn away from. It is controversial, brilliant and is the ultimate mind fuck. If nothing else, it is worth seeing to watch Natalie Portman give the performance of a career. I am not being hyperbolic in any way. It is truly spectacular.

3. Inception: I know this movie has been talked and talked and talked to death, but I do not care if I understand it or not, I loved it. The first half builds us the world and tells us what is going to happen and how it is going to happen, but the second half just shows us and what a brilliant piece of film making it is. Chris Nolan is juggling 4 or 5 balls in the air at the same time throughout the whole picture and he manages to land them all cleanly. The performances are great summer event film performances and the action sequences are among the most interesting I have seen, especially the hotel hallway fight. The movie is a testament to how editing can make or break a movie and honestly, I liked feeling like the rug had been pulled out from under me. People have cooled off on this movie a bit now, but having recently re watched it, I still love it and plan on always loving it.

2. Toy Story 3: Nothing seemed like a worse idea than making a third Toy Story movie. How dare I question Pixar!! This movie is more than just a wonderful cartoon. It is joyful film making at its best. It twists and bends genre conventions, from Film Noir to a jail break movie, to buddy movie to slapstick style comedy. The voice work is beyond top notch and the characterization of Ken from Barbie and Ken is worth the price of admission. It is a scary, sad, dazzling, hilarious, sweet and comforting journey that left me in tears all 3 times I saw it. The ending should choke everybody up and the way the movie unfolds is perfect.

1. The Social Network: This should come as a shock to absolutely no one. I was on this movie from day one and saw it 4 times in theater and tomorrow will be buying it on dvd. It has a perfect, complicated script full of sharp humor, brilliant lines, and great structure. Fincher's direction is flawless, especially the interesting way he lets the movie work for him instead of him working for the movie and the performances all around are perfect. Jesse Eisenberg sheds his "Michael Cera light" tag and even sheds his likable charm and dives head first into playing this asshole who may or may not have cheated 3 people out of millions of dollars. The movie does not point fingers, even less so than the source material, but allows the audience to make up its own mind about what really went on. Sorkin has always been a brilliant writer of dialogue and structure, but in this he outdoes himself by surrounding himself with top notch people across the board. It also features the best score of the year. Yes, even the music is perfection here.

Random thoughts

The A-Team was grossly underrated. It is a wonderfully perfect action movie for the summer months.

Robin Hood and Sex and the City 2 were the absolute worst movie this year had to offer, at least of the movies I saw.

Kick Ass just barely missed the cut of my top 10, but I still think it is wonderful and spawned a great movie conversation between Robbie and I since we disagree on a movie so rarely.

Harry Potter 7 part 1 was excellent, even though almost nothing happened. It makes me crazy excited for the second half.

2010 also saw the rise of movies being released in 3D but the box office draw of those 3D diminishes as the price goes up.

The Fighter also just missed my top 10. Christian Bale is perfect.

The Harry Potter book series (spoilers like WOAH)

After years and years to rejecting everyone who offered up their copy of the Harry Potter series(We will call it HP from this point on) I finally gave in. Sometimes it is just impossible to say no to a beautiful charming girl. The reason I fought it for so long was due to the fact that when I tried to read it years ago, I got roughly 60 pages into the first book and loathed it. Armed with a new perspective thanks to Erik telling me to read the first book like a Roald Dahl book, I ventured into it.

I have been trying to figure out how to best write my experience with this much beloved series and I am still unsure if this is going to go exactly how I want, but I really wanted to go through my feelings on the series as a whole. Going book by book would not really do the series justice because J.K Rowling managed to be pretty brilliant in her weaving the stories together. Yet, HP is so massive, I had to figure out how to best attack it. For those of you who follow my twitter (@KyleHadley) some of this will be familiar, but in 140 characters, I could not fully realize major thoughts. This will probably not follow any sort of chronological order, nor will it follow the normal "things I like" followed by "Things I do not like" order of my typical reviews. None of those worked when I went to write them. What is most likely to follow is a free flowing sense of ideas or thoughts. It is probably going to be messy and long, but I think ultimately if you can make your way through it, we will come to a satisfying end of this HP adventure.

One of the main things I could not get a handle on in twitter was Voldemort. The beginning of book 4 is when we really see Voldemort as a character not an abstract idea or concept. For three books he is really mostly just "he who must not be named", but in book 4 and then through the rest of the series, he becomes more tangible, more knowable. He has a personality and I think that works to the disadvantage of the series. Voldemort is scarier as an abstract. Part of the power of that character is his mystique. He is cloaked in this unknowable and when he is "knowable" he loses the dark magic. Now, if someone wants to argue that it was part of Rowling's plan for Voldemort to get less scary to us as he gets less scary to Harry, I will listen to that argument in earnest because I can see that point, but I think she worked so hard to create this legendary villain and then destroyed it. I enjoyed the Tom Riddle back story, so that was not my problem. In fact, I think the Riddle back story makes Voldemort that much scarier, but when he starts talking to his Death Eaters he is less scary. He becomes too much of a character and not this mysterious creature lurking in the darkest corners of Harry's mind.

My biggest issue with the series also ties to the idea of Voldemort as a non scary character. It is Rowling's way of writing death. I was first bothered by it in book 4 when Cedric Diggery got such an unceremonious death. However this trend continued with pretty much every character death in the series right down to Voldemort. You are telling me the scariest, most bad ass villain alive dies at the hands of his own curse rebounding??? He does not even get to have an epic wizard fight with "The Boy who Lived"?? Death scenes are hard to write. Fight scenes are tough to get a grasp on, but Rowling clearly had action sequences down by the time Voldemort died. The Battle for Hogwarts is one of the most exciting action scenes I have come across and it weaves all kinds of complex stories into the backdrop of this fight, however Rowling decides to side step death scenes by writing quick deaths that rob the readers of the emotional pull of a death. She redeems herself for Cedric and Dumbledore by giving moving tributes in the form of a eulogy, but that is such an easy way out. Sirius never gets that proper due and he is such an important character for Harry.

Through it all though, there is this foundation of Harry, Ron and Hermione. This trio of friends, I think, represents why these books are so well loved among all generations. The theme of friendship that is the glue for HP is something to which everyone can relate. Every time the series starts to lose focus, or get long winded, Rowling could rely on this rock to get her and us through it. However, not everything is always perfect in this trio and that is what makes it that much better. In life friends go through issues and this series gives them to us, but it always raises the stakes by throwing life and death at us. What made Buffy, The Vampire Slayer so great was the idea that teenagers were going through typical teenage stuff on top of saving the world from demons and vampires. In HP we get a lot of the same stuff. Ron is jealous of his best friend's school popularity, but he also has to help save the world. Hermione has image issues and jealousy issues and Harry cannot speak to girls. And on top of all of that, he is constantly nearly being killed. However, in the end, it is always Harry, Ron and Hermione. Yes, Harry is the chosen one, but without Ron and Hermione he never could have done any of it. This friendship and the perseverance of it reduced me to tears a few times and is the main reason I read through some of the stuff I hated.

This wizardering world Rowling created is certainly something to be admired. She clearly did exhaustive writing and thinking to create a fully realized world full of nuance, but this attention to detail falters her when the stories get too long winded. A few of these books could have been shorter and there are entire plots that I could have done without. The biggest shining example of too much "world" was Hermione's obsession with house elves. Yes, they turn out to be incredibly important to the world of HP, but so much of book 4 was spent dealing with these creatures and in all honesty, they did nothing to fully advance the story. We needed 3 of them and I understand the character of Hermione fights causes, but I knew that without so much time being spent on the idea of freeing house elves. Rowling also bends the will or personality of her characters to fit what she wants them to do. She is the opposite of the narrator in The Scarlett Letter who cannot control his characters. She has infinite control of them, even if it means having them do something out of character. My biggest example of this is the truly awful fifth book. Most people do not like it because of the angsty Harry, but my issue is why he is angsty. In order to get him angsty, Rowling decides to totally change Dumbledore's personality, just for this book. But worse than that was her easy way of getting out of it, by just having Dumbledore say he made a mistake. Everything he did was way out of the character Rowling had built for 4 books prior and I am just supposed to accept "Oh, well, I am old and some times I do it wrong." No thank you! How am I supposed to trust anything Dumbledore says in book 6 after that?

What this series boils down to is hype vs expectations. I understand why people love it and having read it once does not in any way make me an expert and perhaps some of the problems I have with this series exist because I am not in love with the world. I am distanced so I look at it in a critical sense and not with the sort of reckless abandon most do. I love that people have a true fire and sense of burning love for these books. A burning love for literature is beyond great and to be honest these books have such rich themes about good vs. evil and how love is the greatest magic of all that I would feel comfortable teaching this book to my children and having them find stuff for themselves. There is a certain childlike innocence people get when they start talking about the first time they picked up HP and THAT is more important than anything I have said today. When a book makes you feel something like that, it goes beyond criticism. I may never pick up the series again and yes, I was underwhelmed as a whole, but to be perfectly honest, when I think about these books in the future I am going to remember just all out WEEPING when book 6 came to an end. I am going to remember cheering when Neville stepped up, or feeling comforted knowing Harry was always going to have Hermione and Ron to help him when he needed them. Even as I type this now, I get goosebumps thinking of that feeling I had so many times when Harry and his friends conquered every challenge together, or how Hermione stuck with Harry even after Ron ran out, or how Ron came back knowing what could ultimately happen. Or even better, how Harry truly believed he had to sacrifice himself for the good of the whole world. How many 17 year old boys or girls would be willing to sacrifice a weekend to help people and Harry is being asked to sacrifice his life to save everyone else? And he does it with the calm and understanding of someone at least twice his age!

I think writing this out actually just changed my perspective on the series as a whole. As I sit here with my own words, I find myself warmed to the core by the love people have for these characters and how wonderful I felt reading sections. There is a power the written has always had over me, but here my own words have changed my opinion. This is why writing and reading are so important, but that is a whole other post for a whole other day!

I want to end with just some random thoughts that are mostly twitter style thoughts:

Luna Lovegood makes me happy.

Severus Snape is onomatopoetically perfect.

The predictability of Draco and Harry's conversations got old early on

I want to be a part of Dumbledore's Army

The way she wrote Harry and Ginny together was perfection

The plural of Patronus should be Patroni not Patronuses.

I bet Ron and Hermione's angry sex is amazing.

Dumbledore is, in my opinion, one of the best literary creations in years.

Quidditch did not really do anything for me. I did not miss it one bit when it was gone.

Most of the humor fell flat for me. However, George and Fred were constantly hilarious.

I could have done without Hagrid. I am not sure the Hagrid pay off was worth all the amount of time spent with him.

Lastly, I would have expected Rowling to create Wizard Holidays instead of using existing ones.

Top 10 list: Movie Soundtracks

I am ready for this to be a bit controversial of a list, but here we go. Also, movie musicals were left off of this list.

10. The Wedding Singer: I almost did not include this because it has some movie musical like properties, but ultimately decided on it. It has great 80s songs, first of all, but each song also serves a nice purpose in the film, especially when Sandler sings them. When you throw in the two great Sandler original songs, it really takes shape. There are actually two volumes of this soundtrack and both have stellar songs from this decade that gets mocked so often.

9. Garden State: I feel this soundtrack was a precursor to all of these indie movies with pretentious soundtracks. Of course, I like a certain amount of pretension, so it works for me. The soundtrack is a perfect mood setter for this moody, melancholy movie. It gives the film atmosphere and when you listen to the songs you can actually remember in what scene they appeared. It is a wonderful meshing of sound and picture.

8. Do The Right Thing: First of all, this soundtrack features the brilliant Public Enemy song "Fight the Power" and it does not need to have any other song on it to be amazing because that is just how amazing that song is. However, it also has a ton of other great songs that have deep meaning for a powerful movie. The movie integrates these songs in exceptional ways, which is really the true testament to a good movie soundtrack and Spike Lee loved Public Enemy so much he let them do the entire soundtrack to a movie later in his career.

7. Romeo and Juliet: To be honest, I am not sure this is a soundtrack featuring music I would normally find appealing, but in the context of the film and with the idea of the film in my head, it totally works. I almost feel like I have to take this soundtrack as 1 big piece of work instead of individual songs. I know there was a second volume of this one released as well, which is just how popular the music of this film became. The movie, which was a daring version of a classic story is helped out by this weird, eclectic soundtrack.

6. Friday: With a perfect blend of contemporary hip-hop cuts and classic funk/soul jams, Friday is the perfect soundtrack for a day of smoking weed and longing in the hood. What more can you ask for from a movie about smoking weed and lounging in the hood? You get Rick James, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and The Isley brothers, but you also get Cypress Hill and 2 Live Crew providing music for this stoner comedy. Because the movie gets violent, it is good to have some harder hitting music, but it is also to have those grooved out songs during the weed smoking sections of the movie.

5. Superfly: Curtis Mayfield did the entire soundtrack and while the movie spends a lot of time glorifying the drug trade, Mayfields gorgeous songs often counteract that. I found the film to be mostly forgettable when I saw it, but the music stays with you, man does it stay with you. With insane grooves, smooth vocals and socially aware lyrics, Mayfield soars over the exploitation trappings of the film this soundtrack serves.

4. The Graduate: This is one of those obvious choices when it comes to movie soundtracks, but what are you going to do? It is a great soundtrack. It is a great album, and it is a great way to service a great movie. I cannot say anything else about this soundtrack that has not been said on any list like this, but damn, whether you are watching the movie or just listening to it, you undoubtedly feel something.

3. (500) Days of Summer: You may question this choice, or at least how high it is, but this is my list and not yours. First of all, it services the movie exquisitely. From there, it just has insanely great music. A lot stuff from artists I had never heard of, but such great songs. What makes a great soundtrack may be different to different people, but I think this list makes it clear that the way a song is used in a movie helps elevate a soundtrack and is there a more perfectly placed song that Hall and Oates' "You Make my Dreams"? I think not. This is album I can listen to and let it transport right back to this movie.

2. 8 Mile: This might be the most controversial choice on my list, but if you know me, it should make perfect sense. There are two different soundtracks to this film, 1 with contemporary songs, many dealing with issues talked about in the movie and of course the soundtrack of songs used in the film. My choice is the one used in the film because this movie features the most brilliant collection of 1990s hip hop music. It hits on every level. It works as background music to a wonderfully 1990s hip-hop story, but it also hits hard as a compilation of hip-hop's golden era. It almost acts as a hip-hop starter kit.

1. Reservoir Dogs: Honestly, this spot could just be reserved for any Tarantino film because no one puts together songs the way he does. He is an artist at it, but it is not just his song choice, it is knowing exactly at what moment to cue up the song. I went with this one because, well the music is directly mentioned repeatedly and called to because of Steven Wright's wonderful deadpan DJing. You get the classic "Little Green Bag" moment, the perfect use of "Stuck in the Middle with you" and of course, my favorite, "Hooked on a feeling." Movie Soundtracks just do not come any better than this right here.

Feel free to leave some of your favorites in the comments and feel free to trash any of my selections as well.

I do want to make it known, I clearly went with soundtracks of songs, not just movies with a score, or orchestra music. It was a personal choice I made. Also, I decided O Brother Where Art Thou was too much of a movie Musical to be included, otherwise it would have been very high on my list.

Paranormal Activity 2

The Hollywood cash grab annoys me. It is the reason the Saw movies keep getting produced, or why there are so many sequels, remakes, spin offs and other vanity projects. Paranormal Activity was the biggest surprise of last year and it possibly may have been the biggest surprise in movie history. If that sounds like hyperbole, go run a check on how much it cost to make and how much it ended up raking in. The movie just kept gaining attention and gaining a fan base and when it went to a wide release, the movie just exploded. Naturally, Hollywood wanted to cash in and got a sequel into production as soon as possible. The director of the original stayed on as a producer only and the franchise was handed to the director of Door in the Floor, which was not a horror movie. My interest in Paranormal Activity 2 (PA2) was minimal, but I found myself there at a midnight screening nonetheless.

After coming home to a house that looks like it got broken into, the family of Kristi, Dan, Ali, Hunter, Martine(the housekeeper) and Abby(The German Shepard) decide to install surveillance cameras. Strange spooky stuff starts going on and Kristi gets a bit rattled. Doors slowly open, gusts of wind where there is not wind, doors slamming shut, pots and pans rattling and other sorts of shenanigans start to spook out Ali as well. martine believes the house is cursed with demons but Dan does not believe her and fires her. There is something in the house though, something that drags Hunter(a newborn) out of his crib and down the stairs. Something causes the Ouija board to spell out Hunter's name. Clearly something is wrong. Kristi has a chat with her sister, Katie(From Paranormal Activity)about the freaky things and the sisters both remember things from their youth like this, but Katie reminds Kristi that whatever it is feeds off of attention and it needs your fear to thrive. Kristi and her family then try to ignore it until it goes away.

The thing that made Paranormal Activity such a fun movie going experience was the tension it built. There are people out there who complain about the lack of pay off and there is something legitimate in that complaint, but no one could complain about the slow building tension brought more dramatic by the slow bass sound every time it was about to get ugly. In PA2 the tension is just a bit lackluster, but the pay off, oh the sweet scary pay off is too delicious. I should say pay offs because this movie delivers nice big juicy jumps over and over again. Your eyes still dart all over the screen looking for the faintest of movements of anything. The movie is made creepier by adding a baby to the mix and for making the baby the prime target for the demon. There are pay offs in broad daylight (my favorite one) and there are a variety of pay offs in the final 15 minutes that more than make up for the lack of tension built.

The film takes place roughly 2 months before the first film. yes, this is prequel and we also get a bit of mythology built into PA2. I liked it. I liked that the writers appeared to be doing more than just grabbing cash, they were building a franchise to grab cash. I do typically love franchises if they have interesting mythologies and this one does. Even though the budget was massively larger in this movie, the movie does not feel any bigger and that is a plus when it comes to these Cinema Verite style movies. There is certainly going to be a third movie and most likely a 4th and 5th to follow if they keep making the kind of money the first one made and this one is currently making. Horror movies are cheap to produce and the return on the investment can be astronomical and so far, this budding franchise is absolutely worth it. The hype is delivered on and a great time is had!

PA2 works in a different way than PA, but like the original the acting is pretty bad and there are times when you wonder why they keep running around with a camera, but on the flip side, the hand held camera idea makes the basement scene so damn freaky that most people were watching it crouched down trying to find relief before we even saw or heard what we were scared of. If the movie fails to built tension throughout, it gets it right in the basement. If you enjoyed PA there is a great chance you will also enjoy PA2, but if you thought PA was ridiculous, this movie will not change your mind. They created this film with the audience in mind and kudos to them for understanding their fans.

Final Grade: B

it's Kind of a Funny Story

it has always been my belief that stand up comics can make great dramatic actors if they are given the chance to play characters that tap into the stand up comedians inherent issues, because all comics have issues. Zach Galifinakis is what one might call an "it" guy in comedy right now. he has tremendous heat from The Hangover, he has great on-line buzz with his weirdly perfect mock talk show Between two Ferns and Due Date is one of the most buzzworthy movies of the upcoming fall. He has comedy in his clutches, so what better way to try and expand than a comedy with some serious tints to it. And what better way to make that happen than playing a man in a psych ward of a hospital. It honestly felt like the best possible career move for a guy with as unlikely a career as Mr. Galifinakis.

Stressed out from a life that is far more complicated than it should be for a teenager, Craig(Keir Gilchrist) starts to have suicidal dreams. What is more is he wants to kill himself. He chickens out and rides his bike to the hospital instead. He thinks he can just be given a quick pill or something and be on his way, but he talks himself into getting committed to the psych ward. Craig is not sure how he is going to last five days in the hospital because he needs to get to school, but he is told he has to be there a minimum of 5 days. His family is as supportive as possible and he finds support from the outside in the form of his best friend's girlfriend. But, mostly he has to just live with the people in the hospital. He meets a damaged, but adorable girl, Noelle(Emma Roberts) and a few other eccentric patients, but he forges his closest bond with Bobby(Galifinakis). Bobby is a very depressed man who sees no real way out for himself, but in their talks, he helps shape Craig and helps Craig to try and work through his issues. The main issues for Craig are feelings of not being good enough. He is constantly stressed about school because his father puts pressure on him and Craig never relaxes. He believes he is a loser. Through art, music and just learning to relax, the psych ward helps Craig to realize what is and what is not important.

Told with a nice blend of sweetness, humor and a certain level of crazy, It's kind of a Funny Story is a nice movie with a more interesting movie somewhere inside of it. As far as psych ward movies go, it is by far the most tame and far too calm to elicit any hardcore reaction, but it is a genuinely sweet, moving picture with depth of character and it has some great laughs and the message is wonderful. I think I just hoped it would get just a bit darker, or delve just a bit deeper into the twisted side of the characters. it comes off as just a bit too safe, like it was trying hard to not offend any one's sensibilities. I do not inherently think a PG-13 movie has to be safe (See The Social Network), but this one is hindered by the rating, or it hindered itself to get the rating.

That being said, Galifinakis is remarkable. He is hilarious, twisted, and unafraid to let himself "go there." Bobby tries so hard to come off as a guy okay with his crazy, but the more we learn and the longer we see Bobby on the screen, the more we realize, this is a deeply tortured man. His breakdown is beautifully raw and Galifinakis goes all in. His chemistry with Gilchrist works throughout the whole picture and you really believe Bobby wants to help someone else because he believes he is beyond the ability to help himself. For his part, Gilchrist plays the tortured teenager pretty well. I wish he had a bit more chemistry with Zoe Kravitz who played the seriously sexy girlfriend of the best friend, but he and Emma Roberts are totally charming together in some tortured way. Roberts is probably a star in the making and she is very winning as Noelle. We never do find out what she is so tortured over, but it kind of makes their relationship feel more real, more tangible.

The film utilizes a few nice tricks, such as animation and dream sequences, most of which are pretty effective. In the scene where Craig has to sing lead during music time, the entire scene becomes a wonderfully charming and funny rock show with Craig singing. The song choice, Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure" is what you would call "too on the nose" but it is done in such a fun way it avoids being an eye roll moment. During art time, Craig creates these complex and gorgeous brain maps. It relaxes him completely and they show the art being drawn as animation and it is effective as it gives us an idea of how Craig sees the world. He narrates sections of the movie and at times flashes back at moments that led him to this very moment. These sort of narrative tricks, or gimmicks can be obnoxious, but in this film they mostly work. A few of the flashbacks did nothing for me and honestly, anytime the film jumped to his out of the psych ward friends, I lost all interest.

Even though It's Kind of a Funny Story is too safe to be totally effective, it is definitely worth viewing. Galifinakis is the most unlikely Hollywood star, but he is making all of the right moves and in this movie he exudes a sort of Robin Williams in The Fisher King persona. He does not have to completely lose his Galifinakisness, but he stretches himself and makes the movie more than it would have been, I think. The overly tame, or white-washing of the psych ward in undoubtedly rub people the wrong way, as it did me, but there is enough in the cast to make the movie good.

Final Grade: C+

Red

Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren in the same movie lends itself to a lot of jokes about retirement homes, or at the very least bad old person jokes. The fact of the matter is, all four of these actors have a lot left in the tank, and honestly, Malkovich seems to just be having more fun as he gets older. While, I am not familiar with the source material, it is tailor made for Bruce Willis. If ever there was an old man who we had to believe could still beat people up while keeping his wits about him, it is Willis. If you want an all out action dude, go to Stallone, but if you need an old dude to kick ass, crack wise and be smart, Bruce Willis is your man. You need Freeman because he does the wily veteran thing so well and since every movie needs eye candy, we have Helen Mirren, sexy sexy Helen Mirren.

Frank Moses(Willis) has a secret. He is getting his social security checks, but he is ripping them up so he can call the office and tell the lady he is not getting them. He does this because he has a crush on the call operator, Sarah Ross(Mary Louise Parker) and he does not know how else to talk to her. Now that is not really his big secret, his big secret is that he used to be an American spy and now someone is coming after him with murderous intent. In order to find out how, Moses enlists the help of his old friends, Joe(Freeman), Marvin(Malkovich) and Victoria(Mirren). Joe is good with plans, Marvin has information and Victoria is a weapons goddess. Moses is not sure what is happening, but soon he is put in touch with the notes of a recently killed reporter and learns that in the 1980s the vice president went crazy with killing in the army and Moses and his crew may have been privy to that information. However, these old timers also have a ruthless Secret Service agent on their tail. William Cooper(the wonderful Karl Urban) is smart, savvy and brutal, but he also has ethics and to him, Moses is the man behind a bunch of serious crimes.

This year has seen more than its fair share of action comedies and a majority of them have failed more than they have succeeded. Red succeeds more than it fails, but not by the best of margins. The pacing is totally wonky, the constant freeze frames that are "wink wink, nudge nudge" moments of "HEY THIS IS A COMIC BOOK MOVIE" but it is also so much fun and the action is very much top notch. Willis and Co are clearly having a blast as the old people still shooting guns, punching people out and running from the bad guys. Malkovich has perfected this crazy guy routine that Christopher Walken used to have on lock, Willis looks more invested in a movie than he has in years, Freeman cannot wipe the giant smile off of his face and no one has ever looked like they were having more fun shooting a Gatling Gun than Helen Mirren. Mary Louise Parker is merely along for the ride but even she is having a blast playing this girl who is in for the ride of her life and finds herself very turned on by a guy in action.

the script has some nice jokes and a few great gags, but I think, on the page it probably is a bit lackluster. It is one of those movies fully brought out by the cast and because they have all bought into the movie, the movie gets a nice boost. Red starts strong, and finishes incredibly strong, but it lags big time in the middle. I think the film was hoping introducing the crazy Malkovich character half way through would allow them to slow the movie down without losing the punch, but it nearly derails the movie, not because Malkovich does not work, but because they put it all on him and do not keep the forward momentum going. As the group tries to figure out the plot, the movie lingers in this limbo between action and comedy, but neither gets much to do. I did enjoy the little action sequence at the airport, including the absolutely ridiculous climax to that scene, but other than that, the movie loses its way.

Luckily Red gets back on track and in a major way. The climatic action sequence is absolutely phenomenal. It gives us wonderful stunts, seriously awesome gun play, a little emotion, sexy Helen Mirren and then, while the twist is not much of a twist, it gives us a satisfying conclusion. It is a well paced, well thought out and excellently executed conclusion to an up and down film. It is such a good action sequence that it pushed the movie into that realm of succeeding more than failing. Red does not set the genre on fire, nor will I really remember much of it in a few months, but it was an entertaining distraction and it is fun to watch a group of people having such a good damn time at work.

Final Grade: C+

Life as We know it

There is no good reason for me wanting to see this movie, but I want to. There was something in the trailer that made me think, maybe, just maybe, this would not be exactly what you think it is going to be. There is something about a movie that has a character pushing a baby down that makes you wonder what else might be in there. I am not opposed to Katherine Heigl or her movies, even if they all look the same and the director, Greg Berlanti, has done some great stuff on television. My biggest concern was that this movie would bring out my desire to be a father. I call it the Definitely, Maybe syndrome. I see a movie where the father child relationship is totally adorable and it fills me with the desire to be a father. it makes me fall in love with the movie for no good reason and leaves me feeling all sentimental and gushy. Who wants that??

Holly(Heigl) and Messer(Josh Duhamel)went on one blind date 5 years ago and it was a disaster. They were so incompatible that they did not even make it to dinner. Holly hoped they would never see each other again, but seeing as they were set up by a couple who happened to be the best friend of both Holly and Messer, that was never going to happen. Holly was the maid of honor and Messer was the best man at this couple's wedding and, yes they turn out to be the God Parents of this couple's baby girl, Sophie. After a car accident claims Sophie's parents, Holly and Messer are left Sophie to raise as their kid. Holly, of course, wants a family at some point, but never imagined it this way and Messer is stuck in frat boy mode, hence going by Messer. The arrangement goes Holly and Messer live in this couple's house and raise Sophie together, but since they hate each other, they maintain their single life, by taking days off and alternating weekends off. This arrangement will only be full time if they can pull it off and get a pass from Child Protective Services which will stop by at, of course, the most inopportune times for check ups.

I am not sure exactly how many of her movies begin with her getting ready for a date, but Katherine Heigl must choose movies based on whether or not the movie begins with her dressing for, or getting ready to go on a first date. Also, she excels in playing women who succeed in business, but are uptight, clumsy and in desperate need of a night of great sex. Duhamel is going to be constantly playing guys who were awesome in college and never want to grow up. So, it makes to put these two actors in this movie where they can play perfectly within their comfort zone and even without the trailer or the poster, or having nay knowledge of what the movie was about, you knew from the first frame these two would eventually sleep together. There movies where everything goes exactly the way you expect/want and it feels comforting. That is the reason romantic comedies are so popular, they deliver on everything you hope it will and you will be left feeling warm and fuzzy in the end. In some ways Life as We know it is exactly that movie, except, I was hoping it would not be. I was hoping the baby pushing scene would be indicative of the whole tone of this movie, not just a funny moment in a muddled mess of cliches.

There are some nice moments in the movie to be sure. I enjoyed a lot of the baby stuff, even if it is not entirely original and I thought that Heigl and Dumahel were great with the baby stuff and their chemistry towards each other was pretty good. Their first kiss is pretty hot for a PG-13 movie and even though it led to exactly what I knew it would, I thought they kept the tension at a reasonable level for a while. There is some great comedy, but it all comes within the first hour or so of the movie as this ridiculous non-couple goes through trying to figure out how to raise a baby. The movie peppers scenes with wacky neighbors, like the gay couple who pretends to like sports, the liar neighbor with the hot wife, the gossipy lady with a ton of kids, those generic types of movie neighbors.

Life as We Know it, I think, does what it set out to do, I just wish it had set out to be a bit more ambitious. I feel like at some point the script had more bite to it. I think somewhere in that film is a stronger, more subversive movie that just got its teeth knocked out by a studio, or a producer or something. I could be wrong, but it feels like something got lost in this movie. There are these great, sort of biting moments that made me perk up, but they were so short lived that the script felt like a cut and paste job from a few different writers. I cannot really back this opinion with too much evidence, it is just a feeling I have from watching so many movies. Somewhere in the world is a script with this title that is better than the one that ended up on the screen.

Final Grade: C-

Buried

Movies with a specific gimmick intrigue me. I remember watching a movie that was split into four screens and the whole movie was showing the action from four different perspectives the entire time, or the hand-held camera gimmick, or a movie called Look which is shot in all security cameras. There are movies where the whole thing takes place in one room, or one set, or almost all one set. I love Phone Booth for that reason. I am also interested in movies that essentially ask us to watch 1 actor the entire time. Castaway is pretty much just us and Tom Hanks and to a certain extent, I am Legend is just us and Will Smith. It takes a pretty specific kind of actor to hold the screen without anyone else. When I first heard of Buried it was already cast. Ryan Reynolds buried alive in a casket and we see no one else. That was all I needed to be hooked into the idea. I have been a fan of Reynolds since Two Guys a girl and a Pizza Place, and am happy to see his recent success, but also happy he makes interesting project choices to feed his artistic soul along with the commercial projects.

Paul Conroy(Reynolds) wakes up in pitch black, completely unsure of where he is. He cannot move much, but he can get to his pockets and in his pocket is a lighter. He gets the lighter lit and realizes he has been buried alive. A phone rings. He does not get to it in time, but he has a phone and he calls his wife, and gets the machine. Next he tries to remember the special number he was given in case of emergency. The phone rings again and he answers. It is a man who says he wants 5 million dollars or Paul will be killed. Paul gets in touch with the F.B.I and tells him his name and that he is a civilian truck driver in Iraq. His pockets also have a pencil in them to write phone numbers on the inside of his coffin. The kidnapper wants him to make a hostage video with the phone and provides Paul with a script and lights. The man Paul is in contact with at the F.B.I thinks it is a bad idea, but Paul does not want to die and he wants to stall in hopes he will, somehow, he found.

Not only is Buried set in one location, the location is a coffin just a little bit longer, wider and deeper than Ryan Reynolds frame. In order to pull this off and not have it come off as just a gimmick or to even have it be a good movie, everyone involved has to be in top shape. Ridrigo Cortes directs and edits the movie from his own script and in his second feature length film, Cortes proves to be quite a talent. Buried is an intense thrill ride that manages to have twists and turns all without leaving a coffin. His script does a great job of giving the story an arc, but it really boils down to how the movie was made. It was very clever to give the audience different kinds of lights. It added this dimension to the film when we see the coffin lit at different times with a cell phone, the lighter, a flashlight that only occasionally worked and two of those neon green light sticks. Instead of needing to constantly edit and switch angles to keep things fresh, using these different lighting techniques really added that. Of course, the editing and camera angles and zooms in and out are important because, again, we are seeing a movie shot in basically a 7ft x 6ft x 5ft movie set.

Ryan Reynolds does a wonderful job as well. He clearly has no vanity in him as he is not afraid to totally lose his cool and go places that might come off as cheesy or over the top by an actor too afraid to fully commit, but he commits 100% and he rewards the audience with wonderfully claustrophobic performance that is all over the emotional map. He does not get to be too nuanced in the character, but he does get sympathy from the audience and there was never a time where I thought he was not literally trapped in a coffin. The voice acting from the various other people was all top notch as well and it really helped keep the tension moving to have the voices from these unseen people. Many movies would cut away to these other places, but because we only ever saw Reynolds reactions, it made the film seem smaller and that kind of feeling is absolutely necessary for this film to work.

Buried features the most intense scene involving a snake I have seen in a movie and that is saying something. it also left me exhausted, frustrated, tense and outright angry. It goes on longer than I thought it would, but it actually worked. I figured a movie with such a small scope should run about 80 minutes and if you take away the trailers, the movie still ran closer to 95 minutes. 15 minutes may not appear to be much, but trust me, many movies would be better if they shaved 15 minutes off. Yet this movie that should have felt bloated at 95 minutes, actually felt exactly right. Roger Ebert says a good movie can never be too long and a bad movie can never be too short and while I am not sure I agree with him, Buried makes every second of its run time count.

Final Grade: B+