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04 Jan

Mama Mia

Grade: B+

I’ve seen the stage show of Mama Mia and I loved it – and I loved the movie even more!  With the movie you get the bonus of beautiful locations including the Greek sea, and a charming inn.  Of course all the great ABBA songs are in there, performed with gusto by Hollywood stars we never knew could sing!  We first see Sophie, (Amanda Seyfried) as she greets her friends who have arrived for her wedding.  Sophie and her mother, Donna (Meryl Streep) own and run a little hotel.  The place is colorful and warm, but falling apart.  The two women clearly need some help, but they manage fine on their own.

Sophie has read her mother’s old diary and discovered that she has three possible fathers.  She decides to secretly invite each of the men to figure out which one is her dad.  And they all show up, all at the same time! Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgaard play the three confused gentlemen who hold their own in the song and dance department.    Also at the hotel for the wedding are Donna’s two BFFs, her former back-up singers (Christine Baranski and Julie Walters).

This is fun summer fare, the kind of “take me away” movie we all need given the heavy alternatives we have to deal with.  It’s like a little Greek vacation.  You’ll walk away with a smile on your face and an ABBA song in your heart!

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04 Jan

Made of Honor

Grade: B-

Made of Honor is a pretty standard romantic comedy.  It’s basically the same story as “My Best Friend’s Wedding” with a different ending.  The twist is that the “maid” in question is the male best friend, Tom, played by Patrick Dempsey to the bride, Hannah, played by Michelle Monaghan.  Tom and Hannah meet cute in college when he accidentally creeps into her dorm room bed expecting a rendezvous with her drunk roommate.  They don’t hook up then, but get to be close friends.  Tom retains his lothario ways over the years, and it looks like Hannah has a little crush on him.

Chronologically, Michelle Monaghan is just the right age for her character, almost 30.  But I don’t buy Patrick Dempsey as 32.  I felt he was a little too old for the role.  But they could have changed the script just a little bit to have it make more sense – I don’t know why they didn’t.

Anyhow, Hannah goes to Scotland on business for six weeks and during this time Tom wakes up to the fact that they are meant to be together.  Unfortunately for him, Hannah comes back engaged to a handsome, rich, sweet Scottish man who has swept her off her feet.  Since Tom is her best friend, Hannah asks him to be her maid of honor.  He reluctantly accepts, thinking he can win her over in the process.  With the help of his buddies, Tom has a plan.  Hilarity ensues.  Nice location shots in Scotland, some over-the-top humor, and an appropriately happy ending.

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04 Jan

Madagascar

Grade: B

Madagascar is the new animated feature from Dreamworks SKG Animation. Starring the voices of Ben Stiller as Alex the Lion, Chris Rock as Marty the Zebra, David Schwimmer as Melvin the Giraffe and Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria the Hippo. This is a buddy movie, a road trip, really, that starts out at the NY zoo and ends up in the wilds of Madagascar. Many of the jokes are sophisticated enough that parents will enjoy the film with their kids. I laughed the most when the group landed in Madagascar and thought they were in San Diego!

The animation is good – not quite as good as Pixar’s. And the story is cute – not nearly as layered or deep as Pixar’s. But it’s a cute movie for a hot afternoon when you need something to do with the kids. I’d say age 5 or 6 and up. There was a little girl sitting next to me, she must have been 3 or 4, and she cried when the lion started to go “bad,” seeing his friends as dinner when he got hungry in the wild. Kids that young don’t understand nuances. They just see this cute and cuddly lion that they’ve grown to love suddenly turn mean and that scares them.

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04 Jan

Mad Money

Grade: C+

Diane Keaton is the mastermind behind a plot to take money from the Federal Reserve.  Her idea is that this is a victimless crime, the money is scheduled to be destroyed anyway, so no one will miss it.  Her husband is out of work, and she’s about to lose her home, so as the Reserve’s new janitor she has access to the cash.  Her accomplices are two equally financially needy women – Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes.  It is refreshing to see women in a movie with the savvy to pull off a comedy crime caper.  And the results are as expected.  Zaniness ensues, the girls get caught, they atone, and live happily ever after.  Fun date movie with lots of laughs, but nothing much new.
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04 Jan

Lust, Caution

Grade: B

Directed by Ang Lee, “Lust, Caution” is set in Japanese occupied China in the 1940’s.  The actors speak primarily in Chinese, and there are English language subtitles.  We meet a group of college students, actors who are looking to do something important to help the Chinese overcome the Japanese oppression.  They end up getting in really deep when, almost on a whim, they decide to become spies to assassinate one of the Chinese leaders who is in cahoots with the Japanese.  Their plan goes awry, and they are separated for years, only to meet up again, this time with government help, to attempt their plan again.

The plan centers around a young girl who must go undercover to befriend this man’s wife, and then seduce the man to earn his confidence and trust.  The girl is amazingly good at what she does, for being so naive and scared, she is absolutely committed to the cause.

The movie is rated NC-17.  There are lots of graphic, violent sex scenes.  This is not a movie for the faint of heart.  But the story is solid, and compelling.  We care about these people, and we learn a little bit about what was going on during that time in history.  This is more than a drama, it’s a tragedy, and it will stay in your mind for days.

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04 Jan

Lucky Number Slevin

Grade: C

Josh Hartnett… quite the heartthrob!  I saw him on Jay Leno one time when we went to a live taping.  He was promoting the movie “O” in which he played a high school kid.  He’s all grown up now, and quite the hunk.  A very good actor, too, by the way!  Slevin is a great role for him.  He gets to be smart and sassy and cool and vulnerable all at the same time.

The whole story reminded me of something Quentin Tarantino would do – you’ve got two bad guys feuding, and then this Slevin is put in the middle of the action, throw in Bruce Willis’ mysterious stranger for more intrigue, and a cute Lucy Liu for love interest.  Not bad, just not totally compelling. Some violence, but more a guessing game than anything.  Appropriately quirky and offbeat.  Teens might like it – especially girls who want to see Josh running around in a towel.

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04 Jan

Love and Other Drugs

Grade: B+

Love and Other Drugs is a romantic comedy with lots of heart.  Jake Gyllenhall plays Jamie, an ambitious pharmaceutical rep who after lots of determination gets the Viagra account finally finds the success that has alluded him.  Anne Hathaway plays Maggie, a free-spirited young woman who is struggling with early onset Parkinson’s disease.  They meet cute and sparks fly.  Their chemistry jumps off the screen.  The conflict in their relationship is the illness.  Can the playboy commit?  Can the free spirit allow someone to be close to her?  The story has us hooked, there’s nothing like love!
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04 Jan

Looper

Grade: B+

Sci-fi fans will love Looper, a futuristic thriller that is completely original.  Joseph Gordon Leavitt and Bruce Willis star as the same character at different stages of his life – and when they end up in the same time and space, worlds collide.  There are some big moral statements – as assassins who are raised and trained to be almost robotic learn what it means to be human.  Lots of action sequences, chase scenes, and stunts.  Definitely worth seeing.
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04 Jan

Live Free or Die Hard

Grade: B

Bruce Willis is back!  I don’t even know what number this would be in the Die Hard series… 4 maybe?  It’s been a long time between movies.  But for Bruce it seems like only yesterday – he’s as cool as ever.  There’s lots of humor in this movie, most of it aimed at Bruce’s age, and he plays it off really well.  This is a guys movie – I couldn’t even tell you how many explosions or chase scenes there were – it was a little ridiculous.  And it got to be silly how many times Bruce falls from the sky and comes out unscathed – but you just have to go with it – he’s the man, after all!

The plot is all about a former government employee’s plot to take over the world via the internet.  Justin Long is the computer geek who starts out as Bruce’s assignment and ends up being his sidekick.  They’re a cute team.

Fun movie, a little over the top, a little loud, but a good night’s entertainment.

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04 Jan

Little Miss Sunshine

Grade: Loved it!  What can I say?  I haven’t laughed so much in a movie in a

Loved it!  What can I say?  I haven’t laughed so much in a movie in a long time.  Wonderful script, brilliant characters, so much charm and warmth – and fabulous acting!  What more could you ask for?  Everyone who has a family will be able to recognize at least one of these characters.  The title “Little Miss Sunshine” refers to the beauty pageant that little Olive has gotten herself a place in as a contestant.  To get there, the family must take a road trip, driving from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach in their run down VW bus.  It would seem like spending so much “quality” time trapped together would be enough to drive them over the edge, but in this case it’s just what they need.  There are some painful realities that must be faced, but as they do so they learn a lot about themselves, and each other.  Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell.
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