The Messenger

Starring:  Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster
Drama, Rated R (2009)

Will Montgomery (Foster) is a war vet recently returned from and injured in Iraq who has only three months remaining in his Army contract.  He is assigned the extremely difficult task of notifying soldier's families that they have died in combat.  He is put under the command of slightly off the wall, lonely, and recovering alcoholic Tony (Harrelson).  The two of them go about their duties and strike up an unexpected friendship in the process.

• This movie gives you an inside look at a job that you know someone has to have but maybe haven't given a whole lot of thought to.  It is certainly a job that I would NEVER want to have.
• The relationship between the two men goes through some ups and downs and they learn a lot more about each other as Will deals with a break up and Tony confronts his alcohol problem. 
• There are some slow moments.  The tone of the movie is very low key and mellow but overall it was good.

4 STARS

Middle Of Nowhere

Starring:  Susan Surandon, Eva Amurri, Anton Yelchin
Drama, Rated R (2010)

Amurri is Grace.  A teenager from a small town with a flaky undependable mom who is planning to go to College if only she can figure out a way to get the $12,000 it will cost to do that.  She spends her summer days working at the local water park but she knows that isn't going to earn her nearly enough.  She meets Dorian (Yelchin) a bad boy from a privileged family who has been sent to live with his disciplinarian uncle.  He approaches her with a business proposition that while illegal could earn her the money she needs.  Will she take the risk or spend the rest of her life in the middle of nowhere.

• This movie turned out better then I originally thought it would be.  The acting was good by all the lead roles.
• I really enjoyed watching the relationship develop between Grace and her sister Taylor.  It was also interesting to watch the relationship among all three grow which is something that I'm sure neither one of them expected.

4 STARS

Love Happens

A man who has made a career out of helping others grieve the loss of loved ones finds out that perhaps he has some work to do of his own to mourn the passing of his wife.  With the help of a woman he just happens to meet in Seattle he is pushed to confront his own issues and is surprised to find that he might even be falling in love.

• This movie was pretty good.  There isn't much else to say.  I enjoyed watching it and found it to be......pretty good.
• I like Jennifer Anniston.  This movie just sort of ......happened.  There just really isn't much else to say on this one.

3 STARS

Chloe

Starring:  Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson
Drama, 2009 (Rated R)

Catherine (Moore ) suspects that her husband David (Neeson) is cheating on her hires Chloe (Seyfried) to play temptress to her husband to see what he will do.   The two women meet up to discuss these encounters with her husband and find that they are somehow drawn to each other.  When Catherine decides that she no longer wants Chloe to pursue her husband she finds out that Chloe had some ulterior motives of her own.

• This movie is very racy and sexual so be prepared.
• I love it how Amanda Seyfried takes on this role so well.  I have only ever seen her play little miss perfect good girl types and even though I have never seen her play the "bad girl" it was totally believable. 
• Great acting as usual by Julianne Moore.
• The storyline kept me wanting to know more and the ending had a twist I didn't anticipate.  It leaves a few unanswered questions without leaving you totally hanging.

5 STARS

Remember Me

Starring:  Robert Pattinson, Emilie De Raven, Pierce Brosnan
Drama, Rated PG 13 (2010)

A young man from a family (Pattinson) tormented by a suicide meets a young woman (De Raven) who herself deals daily with the loss of her mother. Tyler has a great relationship with his little sister but is extremely angry with his father's lack of participation in all of their lives.  Ally and Tyler click and are able to put their troubles aside when they are together.  Just when things seem to be taking  turn for the better something very unexpected and tragic occurs that can take it all away.

• I mainly watched this because I wanted to see Robert Pattinson play someone other then an angst ridden vampire.  In this he is an angsty mortal so perhaps it wasn't much of a stretch but at least in this his teeth are not pointy and his skin is not snow white.
• I was interested in the story as it unfolded but found that the pace was a little slow for me at times.
• Very well acted and a really great deep script overall.  I liked the way most of the main characters were very well developed.
• The ending was the best part.  I won't give it away but it starts with something so subtle that you don't quite get what is about to happen until it does.  As I sat there and watched my eyes widened, my jaw dropped open and I covered it with my hand. 

4 STARS

The Runaways

Starring:  Kristin Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon
Drama, Rated R

Kristin Stewart stars as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning stars as Cherie Currie in the story of the short lived hit teenage all girl band of the 70's called The Runaways.  The band came out of nowhere at a time when rock music was ruled by men.  Their rise to fame was unexpected and the film tells the story of the ups and downs that come along with that sudden popularity and living the rock star lifestyle.

• Loved it!!!  Kristin Steward and Dakota Fanning are a dynamic duo in this movie if I ever saw one.  They are both so captivating in their performances. 
• Fanning is so amazing I can't even put it into words.  Wasn't it just yesterday that she was a little girl on "I am Sam"?  Now she is all grown up and doing her first on screen kisses-one of them with a girl!  She has this amazing ability to really take on a character and make you believe it.  Fanning was gone and in her place I saw Cherie Currie-the rock star-and nothing else.
• Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) was obnoxious and ridiculous beyond belief.  Shannon did an excellent job playing this neurotic over the top character.
• I find it pretty amazing that this band was so young.  Currie was only 15 when the band got put together.  It seems like a more common trend now that superstars are barely teenagers but that wasn't the case so much back in the 70's.
• Another story about the pitfalls of super stardom but it was gritty, interesting and so well done that nothing about it felt like just another story.

5 STARS

Extraordinary Measures

Starring:  Brendan Frasier, Kerri Russell, Harrison Ford
Drama, 2010 (Rated PG)

Brendan Frasier stars as John Crowley the father to two children with a rare and deadly disease called Pompei.  He feels helpless as he watches his two children become sicker and sicker until one day he decides to take matters in his hand.  He contacts a brilliant rough around the edges scientist (Ford) and teams up with him in a next to impossible attempt to get his research off the ground and into the labs so that a new drug can be developed that might save his children.  There are so many ups and downs along the way.  Is there time to save his children's lives?

• Ford is excellent as a hard nosed, rude, and quite impossible to get along with scientist.  As brilliant as he is he is hopeless at working with others and as the movie goes on I grow to sort of hate him and wish I could reach through the TV myself and give him a kick in the head.
• This is based on a true story and you can't do anything else but root hard for John Crowley as he seriously does everything that is humanly possible to save his children.
• Great story, great acting, great movie.

5 STARS

The Greatest

Starring:  Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, Carey Mulligan, Aaron Johnson
Drama, 2009 (Rated R)

Bennett Brewer (Johnson) is smart and young with his whole life ahead of him.  He looses his life in a tragic car accident.  As his family struggles to recover from this tragedy Rose (Mulligan) shows up on their door step pregnant with Bennett's baby.  Bennett's mother Grace (Sarandon) seems to be having the most difficult time accepting the loss of her son and has a very negative reaction to Rose's presence.  Can this fragmented family pull themselves together and welcome this new gift of life or will they totally buckle under the pain of grief and miss out on the very thing that should bring them together?

• My mom and I walked into blockbuster, took one look at this and agreed we wanted to see it even though we had never heard a thing about it.  I saw Carey Mulligan in An Education and could tell right away that she is one of those actresses who will likely rarely ever have a bad movie so I had a feeling it would be good.  Turns out, it was even better then I expected.
• Mulligan did a great job playing the role of Rose.  Smart, pretty, spunky.  She was likable from the very beginning and it actually made sense that Bennett admired her from afar and never got the courage to speak until the last day of school.
• This is a love story but I didn't really anticipate that it would be.  I love the way the story of Rose and Bennett evolves throughout the story line.  We can guess, but don't find out the nature of their relationship right away.  With a series of flashbacks we finally get the whole story by the end and it's not what you might think.  Great script.  Great storyline and concept.
• Sarandon and Brosnan of course were excellent.  There was a lot of emotion and drama and every actor delivered it well.
• There isn't anything I didn't love about this one.

5 STARS

The Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans

Starring:  Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer
Drama, Rated R (2009)

Terence (Cage) is a police officer who injures himself on the job and partakes in a pill popping, drug dependent, corrupt lifestyle in which he crosses all kinds of lines and stops as nothing to keep up his habit.

• This is indeed the story of a bad Lieutenant.  A very bad Lieutenant indeed.  This guy was dirty and had no qualms about breaking any and every rule in the book.
• From the very beginning you can already tell that this cop is a loose cannon but we see so little of him before his injury that it isnt' clear to me if he was always so corrupt and dirty or if the onset of his injury steered him in that direction.
• He and his "girlfriend" Frankie (Mendes) share some kind of strange co dependent relationship involving the sharing of drugs and a suspect way of keeping up their lifestyle.
• It was interesting to see a metamorphosis of sorts occur in Frankie and equally sad to see that it does not appear that Terence intends to follow suit. 
• If this were a cliche fairy tale movie he and Frankie would end up happily ever after but life unlike movies often is not a fairy tale and this story tells us so.
• Nicolas Cage was amazing of course.  He played the role of this deranged out of control Lieutenant to perfection.  I have always been a huge fan and he did not disappoint.

4 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

The Lovely Bones

Starring:  Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz
Drama, Rated PG 13 (2009)

Susie Salmon (Ronan) is a bright energetic fourteen year old on the cusp of finding her first love.  She has a loving family and dreams of being a photographer.  All of this is taken away from her when an unsuspecting neighbor murders her.  Susie finds herself in the midst of a nightmare that she can't wake up from when she discovers that she has been killed.  She is not ready to let go of her family just as they are not ready to let go of her so she lingers in a mystical in between world and watches with anger and sadness as her family unravels in the wake of her disappearance and her killer goes on with his life as if nothing happened.  She wills her family to discover her murderer as much for herself as for them.

• This movie uses a lot of great imagery and symbolism to make connections between life on earth and the afterlife.  It isn't spelled out for you and sometimes is confusing but leaves you to draw some of your own conclusions about where Susie has gone to after her death and what that means. 
• She remains intangibly connected to her family and people that she knew.  Though her physical presence is no more there are moments where they can sense her.
• This movie really gives voice to victims in a way that I have not ever seen before.  It makes you really think about all of those people in the world who have been viciously taken too soon and the thoughts and feelings that might occur after being murdered, taken from your life, and knowing that there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.
• The story line was very captivating and took us on a journey that showed a unique perspective of everyone involved.
•  I wanted closure, justice, and I wanted to know exactly how Susie died but all of those answers weren't given to us.  They left some things undone in this movie which didn't sit well with me but it was fitting. Murder is messy and raw.  There are no neat little happy endings.
• Ronan is a talented actress which was obvious from her break out role in Atonement. She is clearly one to watch and will likely have a long career in the movie biz.

5 Stars

The Blind Side

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron
Drama, 2009 (Rated PG-13)

A young boy who has just begun attending an upscale private school and has no place to stay is taken in by a wealthy family. Leigh Ann Tuohy (Bullock) just happens to see him walking in the cold one night and one night at their home turns into many many more. Mike is a good kid who just needs someone to give him a chance to succeed and succeed he does. Once he gets his academics under control he is able to play sports and takes it further then he ever imagined possible.

• This is a feel good movie from start to finish. I kept waiting for some horrible drama or indiscretion to arise and spoil this amazing story but it just never happenened-and I'm glad.
• It is a story of an underdog with no where to go and a woman with a huge heart who sees beyond what everyone else does and for totally unselfish reasons just wants to help.
• I love the Tuohy family and I love Leigh Ann Tuohy. She is that amazing, beautiful, kind yet tough mom. She will stand up to anyone just as quick as she will comfort them if the moment requires it.
• She is well to do and lives a comfortable lifestyle but that has not changed her heart in any way. She really does just want to do good. And she does.
• Aaron did a great job portraying this kind hearted gentle giant with very little words.
• It's the kind of movie that makes you feel like anything is possible if even for just a few hours. How could you not like this movie?

5 Stars

Up In The Air

Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga , Anna Kendrick
Drama, 2009 (Rated R)

Clooney is Ryan Bingham a professional employment terminator. A man who spends so much time in airports and on airplanes that he has actually substituted the need for more miles for the need for human interaction and relationships. He is traveling more days then he is home and he likes it that way. He is assigned to train a new young whipper snapper named Natalie Keener (Kendrick). She immediately picks up on his cold and distant ways and has no qualms about challenging him and voicing her total disagreement. He meets the female version of himself (Farmiga) at an airport bar and they strike up the casual relationship he does best but he finds himself questioning his lifestyle and wonders if there just might be more out there for him on the ground then in the air.

• Clooney's character is like a lot of men frequent flyer's or not. I am not against it. It might work for some but it seems so empty. It was not surprising to find him in a field that requires him to do something as cold as firing people all over the nation.
• He really met his match with Natalie. She challenged his lifestyle and spoke up about how cold and empty she felt it was to live that way.
• In the end he reached out a little and got burned. But, at least he took a chance and who knows what that might lead to next.

4 Stars

New Moon

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Drama/Fantasy, 2009 (Rated PG 13)

Bella Swan is your typical angst ridden high school teen who has a not so typical boyfriend. The love of her life just so happens to be otherworldly. Bella is crushed when Edward and his entire family leave never to be seen again and even more devastated by his statement that he no longer wants to be with her. To fill the void she begins spending time with her longtime friend Jacob. They not only get closer but he is also there to try to stop an enemy from the past intent on seeing her dead. Then, even he starts to act strangely and abruptly drops out of her life momentarily. Meanwhile Edward has put himself into a precarious position with the Royal family and could use some saving of his own. The two men in her life come from totally opposing worlds. If forced to choose who will Bella pick?

• I hated Twilight and so I didn't expect much from this movie but was pleasantly surprised. I saw Twilight just a month after reading the entire Twilight series back to back and being unable to put it down. When I saw Twilight live and in color it was immediately clear that a movie could not do the book justice and I was incredibly disappointed by what I saw.
• Perhaps I am so far removed from reading the books that my expectations have lowered-but at any rate I feel that New Moon was much better then Twilight. The love between Edward and Bella was palpable and I enjoyed the additional action involving Jacob in his new form. Which was very good by the way. Jacob's form that is. The chest on that kid is perfect and he looked even cuter after the hair cut.
• There is so much angst in this movie. Sometimes I just wished Bella would smile and act like a normal kid for once instead of being so isolated and sullen to the point where she doesn't even want presents for a her B day. Edward usually looks kind of miserable too-but I imagine being a vampire might dampen your mood every once in a while.
• They could all take a lesson from Edward's sister Alice. With her lilting voice and high energy personality she is certainly a breath of fresh air.

4 Stars

An Education

Starring: Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan
Drama, 2009 (PG 13)

Smart and headstrong London teenager Jenny (Mulligan) is bored to tears and exhausted with her regimented schooling. Her dad is pushing her towards Oxford while she hardly sees the point of it all anymore. She would much rather enjoy life then spend days on end with her head buried in Latin books. When a handsome stranger (Sarsgaard) befriends her one rainy day her eyes are opened to a much broader world then her London upbringing has ever shown her. She is fearful yet seduced by this lavish world of grown ups and travel. Should she throw away everything she has worked towards for this new life or stick with the safe route of academia?

• I really loved the bright and plucky character Jenny. She was as bright as she was fearless and never afraid to say what was on her mind. To anyone. She was so smart and overall the classic good girl but always questioning. Always pushing for more.
• One of my favorite lines of Jenny's is when she said "It's not enough to educate us anymore. You've got to tell us why." This is a perfect reflection of the kind of girl she was and the kind of women she was becoming. She wasn't willing to settle for following the masses just because it's what women did.
• The relationship between Jenny and David (Sarsgaard) was just a little bit disturbing to me and it struck me as odd at first that no one protested the age difference before I took into account the era. There were no statutory rape laws in 1961 obviously but it was sort of predator like to me the way that he came onto a 16 year old and the eventual relationship that followed. The age difference was almost a non issue with the adults in her life who just wanted to make sure she was "safe" and stuck to her education.
• Even though it took place in 1961 the message about women's roles and society are still pertinent today.
• Great film. Great acting. Carey Mulligan knocked it out of the park and it's looking like the start of a very successful acting career.

5 Stars

The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee

Starring: Robin Wright Penn, Blake Lively, Maria Bello, Keanu Reaves, Alan Arkin
Drama, 2009 (Rated R)

Meet Pippa Lee (Wright Penn). She tells us the story of how she came to be starting with the effect that her mentally ill mother had on her while she was growing up. When home becomes too much to bear she moves from that chaos and into an artsy drug induced partying lifestyle. She finds comfort and stability with her much older husband and she quickly becomes the perfect wife. The couple moves to a retirement community after her husband Herb (Arkin) goes into semi retirement from a successful publishing business. Over the years she adapts well to her new comfortable and well to do life but is she really happy or just playing the part?

• There was a lot of flashing back between the past and the present throughout the movie but it was done in a way that was not confusing at all and actually kept things interesting.
• The story was very character driven. There was some sort of underlying back story behind everyone and as the story went along it was revealed.
• Great casting for the roles of Pippa, young Pippa (Lively), and Pippa's mother (Bello). The acting of all three was very real and captivating.
• It was a very real and sort of in the moment kind of movie that kept me interested.
• There are some bizarre unexpected things that happen throughout.
• If you crave a big plot and lots of action this movie isn't for you.

4 STARS

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Starring: Gabourey Sidebe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey
Drama, 2009 (Rated R)

Another gritty and shockingly real film by the producer of Monster's Ball. An illiterate 17 year old is pregnant with her 2ND child by her father, abused by her welfare dependent mother and among other problems is struggling in school. This teenager is essentially alone in the world. She is lost in the shuffle with little options or hope for escape. She is as strong as she is alone. Resilient even in the face of such misery her escape is a fantasy world where she is exactly what she wishes she could be. Her second pregnancy turns out to be a blessing in disguise as it leads her to a set of people who actually seem to care.

• I knew that this movie was going to be heavy and so I prepared myself for that.
• It has sort of a documentary type feel about it which I think added to the realness of the story.
• I can't even imagine such suffering and pain that this young girl has endured.
• Some of the scenes were so ugly that it was kind of hard to watch. It is just so sad and unimaginable that there are people in the world who could do such horrible and ugly things to an innocent person who has done nothing except be born and didn't even have an actual choice in that.
• Instead of giving up Precious chose to just keep moving forward and fighting for what she wanted. Her kids and her life.
• Sidebe did an amazing job acting. It's hard to believe that acting was just something she tried just because.
• I hated Precious's mom (Mo'Nique). She was ugly and hateful. Even when she felt remorse I still hated her because her actions are unforgivable. Mo'Nique did an excellent job playing this role.
• Mariah Carey as a plain jane social worker was an interesting sight. Glamour girl be gone. I think it's good that she stepped outside of her usual role of playing a glamorous singer and took on something different. In all of those other movies her acting was awful but I feel that stripped down to the bare basics served her well. The acting was a huge improvement.

5 Stars

A Serious Man

Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg
Drama, 2009 (Rated R)

A College Professor named Larry (Stuhlbarg) in a small town suddenly finds his life crumbling around him. His wife wants a divorce, his socially awkward brother has camped out on his couch, his children are constantly fighting and his tenure status at the college is in question. To help him navigate this tough time in his life he seeks out the guidance of 3 rabbi's.

• This movie started out weird. When it starts out back in the 1800's and there are subtitles do not be alarmed. It is the right movie.
• The title is A Serious Man and I must say this was a serious movie. Almost too serious. To the point of being boring.
• I got really tired of seeing Larry being such a push over. I wanted to yell at him to just get a back bone already and maybe that alone would solve half of his problems.
• There were some interesting moments but overall this movie was just dry and serious and weird.

1 STAR

Whip It

Starring: Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden
Drama, 2009

Bliss (Page) is a 17 year old reluctant pageant girl in a small town. She stumbles upon a roller derby league, likes what she sees, and tries out. Turns out she's pretty darn good at it but the only problem is that her parents will never approve. She has finally found something that she loves to do for herself and not just to please her mother. As she works on her Roller Derby skills she not only finds her passion but she finds out she's a whole lot tougher then she ever thought.

• This movie bumped around my house for a couple of weeks and I kept putting off watching it in favor of others. I shouldn't have waited so long! This movie was good...and fun to watch.
• Drew Barrymore was the director and she herself had just a small role in the move. I read somewhere that she wanted to be able to identify with the actors and what they were going through on skates so she could direct them better. I think she's done another excellent movie about women. The roller derby girls had heart and character. They were more then just tatted tough girls on skates. I felt like I wanted to know more about them.
• I have liked Page ever since I saw her in her break out role Hard Candy.
• It was great to see Bliss find herself so unexpectedly in roller derby. It may not be a typical pursuit but she loved it. Skating gave her a purpose and something to look forward to beyond the limiting barriers her small podunk town.
• It made me want to go roller skating again despite the fact that I have not thought about nor wanted to roller skate in a long time. I am hoping there is still a place in my city where I can do it!

5 Stars

The Girl In The Park

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Kate Bosworth, Keri Russell
Drama, 2007

The young daughter of Julia (Weaver) and her husband disappears from the park one day. After such a terrible loss Julia sort of checks out of life and never quite recovers. One day she meets a homeless young girl names Louise (Bosworth) and she forms an emotional attachment to her. She finds herself fixating on Louise and blurring the lines between her long disappeared daughter and this troubled young girl.

• I liked this movie.
• It didn't have a real plot or story line but I found it very interesting and enjoyed watching what unfolded.
• If you want action you will not find it here. It just isn't that type of movie.
• Great interesting characters and wonderful acting to go along with it.
• The hubby was on the internet during most of the movie but I was interested enough to focus on it.

3 STARS