Valentine's Day

Starring:  Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Emma Roberts, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Garner, Jamie Foxx, Ashton Kutcher...to name a few.
Romantic Comedy, 2010

A series of interwoven stories plays out on Valentine's Day.  This day means something different to everyone.  There are affairs, new love, lonely hearts, and broken hearts as everyone attempts to find their way on Valentine's Day.

• This is a classic case of a movie that tried way too hard to be good. 
• I'm not going to say it was bad but it really just didn't "Do" anything for me.  The characters were mostly shallow and one dimensional.  I found that I really didn't connect or care all too much about what happened to any of them.
• I did like the way the stories wove together in unexpected ways but other then that this movie just sort of fell flat for me.  I can't quite put my finger on it.  There was just something missing.
• You certainly can't criticize the cast.  That's for sure.  With an all star cast of a huge variety of established and new actors there was likely a favorite in there for everyone.
• It was nice to see Taylor Swift take her first stab at acting.  She played the ditz and I don't know if was because the movie itself was so flat to me but her acting kind of felt that way too. 

3 Stars

Iron Man 2

Starring:  Morton Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johanssen, John Favreau
Action, 2010 (Rated PG 13)

Tony Stark (Downey) the front man of Stark Enterprises finds that his revolutionary Iron Man suit technology has been duplicated by the son of a prominent Russian Scientist who defected to the United States and was later deported.  Not only is he on thin ice with the US Government who rails against his refusal to release the suit into government custody he is also being slowly killed by the very device that has been keeping him alive.  He must figure out a way to stay alive and fight against not only his rival who would do anything to one up the ever popular Stark Enterprises, but also his newest sidekick who just so happens to be a rouge scientist intent on seeing Stark dead.

• Tony Stark is just so cool.  He is like a rock star without a guitar or a band.  So incredibly flashy, devilish, and extremely narcissistic that you can't figure out if you should love him or hate him.
• The special effects in the movie were amazing as was the tiny 23" waist on Natalie (Johansson) so wonderfully cinched in by her equally sexy and functional combat body suit. 
• Natalie's extreme fighting acrobatics were a little over the top but if you don't like it then you probably don't like the movie either because it's all over the top in one way or another but I think that's what's made it such a box office success. 

5 STARS

The Young Victoria

Starring:  Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend
Drama, Romance-2009 (Rated PG)

Emily Blunt plays Queen Victoria who began her reign of England at the young age of 18.  As the only child of three uncles she was as protected as she was the object of a power play among many who would try to manipulate their way into her good graces as a means to exact some type of control over the crown.  When she finally does take the crown she insisted she was not too young to handle it does not go as smoothly as she had hoped.  The Queen is feisty, stubborn, and independent which is likely a direct result of her isolated, and controlled upbringing.  Finally free of the clutches of her mother and her hated advisor she is reluctant to take on a husband. Prince Albert courts her from Germany at the request of his family and waits patiently for her to make her decision.

• It was really interesting to take a look inside the world of Royalty with it's ladies in waiting, petty coats, formal dinners and familial obligations of marriage and gender roles.
• I loved it that Queen Victoria refused to sign over her crown and was her own woman at a time when woman were kept and considered the inferior sex.  She was a feminist at a time when the meaning of that word was not known.
• It was also interesting to see what it might look like when the roles are reversed and it is the woman who is the leader and the man who is relegated to the ruler's spouse.  She was so adamant that her role not be usurped by her husband just because she was female.  So intent was she on keeping him in his place that she overlooked the possibility that he might have something of value to contribute.
• The acting was great.  This was basically a love story and although there really wasn't too much of a plot or storyline I still found myself engaged throughout.

4 Stars