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Internet Movie Database
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04 Jan

Les Miserables

Grade: A

Wow!  Les Miserables totally blew me away.  I loved the stage play – and I had high hopes for the film, and my expectations were exceeded.

Hugh Jackman deserves an award nomination or two or three for his role as Jean Valjean, the former prisoner who turns himself into a model citizen.  This is probably one of the toughest roles in all the musical plays, in part because it’s both physically and vocally challenging.  Hugh doesn’t let us down.  He’s totally amazing!

Russell Crowe is a little out of his league vocally for the part of Javert, the policeman who becomes Valjean’s nemesis.  But his acting works for the part, and the relationship between the two men is intense and believable.

Anne Hathaway takes on the role of Fantine, and she is exquisitely fragile and vulnerable.  And her voice is a huge surprise – just beautiful!  Her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” is a show stopper.

Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen provide comic relief as the innkeepers who are supposed to be taking care of Fantine’s daughter, Cosette.

The rest of the cast is fantastic – notably Samantha Barks as Eponine – I think we’ll be seeing a lot more from this girl!

Director Tom Hooper had the actors sing in real time on set rather than looping in their voices in post production.  This was a big risk, and it paid off – it makes the movie very gritty and real.  We’re invested in the characters all the more because their emotions show up right there in the moment.  It’s perfect.

All in all, I think Les Mis was one of my very favorite movies of 2012.  A must-see!
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04 Jan

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

Grade: B-

Very stylized and campy. Jim Carrey chews up the scenery. A little scary for younger kids who might not get the tongue-in-cheek sturm and drang. It’s dark, but it’s supposed to be dark, that’s the gimmick. The kid actors are all darling – we’ll see lots more of them in the future!
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04 Jan

Leatherheads

Grade: B+

Leatherheads stars George Clooney, Renee Zellweger and John Krasinski.  The name comes from the leather helmets that football players used to wear back in the day before the NFL, when the sport was just getting started.  These are the days when alcohol was illegal and working women were rare.  Renee is a smart and sassy reporter ala Barbara Stanwyk to George’s charming and clever con man/football star.  George wants pro football to enjoy the same success that college football has, so he recruits a college star, the Office’s John Krasinski, to help get ticket sales up.  It works, and maybe too well.  George and Renee have a cute banter going on, a throw-back to those snappy “His Girl Friday” type of movies from the ’40s.

Leatherheads works best when it is in romantic comedy mode.  When it gets into slapstick, it feels silly.  Great date movie.  Really fun to watch.
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04 Jan

Last Holiday

Grade: B

I love Queen Latifah – she’s so fun to watch, she’s so comfortable in her own skin – she’s talented and beautiful and real! This movie must have been written just for her, she’s in every scene and she carries it off with ease. In a way “Last Holiday” is kind of a Cinderella story, where Cinderella romances, and finds, herself. It’s over the top, and silly and fun – there are times when I would love it if she would break out in song! You know there’s a happy ending, so there’s no real conflict… it’s all tied up neatly with a bow.
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04 Jan

Last Chance Harvey

Grade: B

Dustin Hoffman plays Harvey, an old-school jingle writer who flies to London for his daughter’s wedding, which is being hosted by his ex-wife and her suave new husband, played by the suave James Brolin.  Harvey is struggling to hang on to his job and struggling to fit in with the wedding party when his daughter breaks the news that she has chosen her step-father to walk her down the aisle.  Devastated, he makes a brief appearance at the wedding, then ducks out to fly home.  At the airport, his flight is cancelled, and he’s fired by phone. That’s when he meets the weary airport employee played by Emma Thompson.  Two lonely people manage to connect, and find a spark of joy amongst the gloom.  It’s an interesting relationship, that grows as they learn about each other, and themselves.  A mature romance is refreshing to see at the movies these days.
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04 Jan

Lars and the Real Girl

Grade: A

Ryan Gosling stars as Lars, a troubled and lonely young man who lives in the garage of his childhood home.  His brother, Gus, and pregnant sister-in-law, Karen, live in the main house.  The two try to engage Lars in activity and conversation, but Lars keeps to himself.  They’re surprised when he brings a girl home to dinner one night, and she happens to be a life-sized mail-order plastic doll.

At the psychologist’s urging, Gus and Karen go along with Lars’ delusion, hoping that whatever triggered the need for such will dissipate.  The whole town ends up participating in the charade, and Lars continues his relationship with this doll, “Bianca.”  In the background is Margot, who works with Lars and attends his church.  She’s had a crush on Lars, but he can’t handle it.  Bianca is his girlfriend.  Just when it seems that this might be a permanent situation, something triggers in Lars, and he makes some changes in his life.

This movie says so much about relationships, and the power of community.  It’s about love and healing and getting to know each other, and getting to know ourselves.  I was lucky enough to hear the director, David Gillespie, speak about the movie at a screening.  The whole film was shot in 30 days, and they stuck to the original script without any re-writes.

Lars and the Real Girl is a very sweet movie, and I know we’ll be hearing more about it come awards time.
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04 Jan

Larry Crowne

Grade: B

You can’t really go wrong having Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks star in a movie together.  Larry Crowne is a delight.  It tells the story of Larry, played by Tom Hanks, who loses his job at a “big box” store because he doesn’t have a college degree.  It’s a bit of a stretch, but it is that inciting moment that sets the action into play.  Larry can’t get another job, so he goes to the local community college to take some courses and get a little more employable.

Enter Julia Roberts, the unhappily married public speaking teacher.  While Larry meets some friends, and gets his mojo back – Julia figures out her life, and they end up becoming friends.  They end up teaching each other and finding what out what they really need.

Really cute flick – nice date night movie.
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04 Jan

Kung Fu Panda

Grade: B+

Kung Fu Panda is a Dreamworks animated film.  Jack Black is the panda, Po.  We first see Po working in his dad’s noodle restaurant.  His dad wants him to take over the business, but Po has other dreams, he loves Kung Fu.  When a big competition comes up, Po ends up on the outside looking in, until he literally falls from the sky into the center of the arena.  This qualifies him to be the next “Dragon Warrior!”  He now must be trained, and mentored in the martial arts, so that he can battle the big bad guy who has just escaped from prison.  Cute story about being true to yourself, finding your inner strength, and making your dreams come true.  Good for all ages.  Very family-friendly.  Angelina Jolie voices the Tiger, Dustin Hoffman is the mouse-type animal, the Kung Fu master.
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04 Jan

Kung Fu Hustle

Grade: C-

This parody takes itself a little too seriously. Gotta give Stephen Chow kudos, though – he wrote, directed and starred in this movie, and the guy has got the moves! Sometimes it goes over the top, and comes off like a live action cartoon. Other times the message is a little heavy handed. For chop-socky aficionados, there are several inside jokes. For the rest of us, we’re left shaking our heads. I think I would have liked Kung Fu Hustle a lot more if it were about half an hour shorter.
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04 Jan

Knowing

Grade: C-

Knowing is promoted as a sci-fi thriller, but it’s really more of a horror movie.  Scary – creepy scary.  The story starts out in 1958 when an elementary school buries a time capsule.  The kids all draw pictures of what they think the future will look like.  One little girl is compelled to write a series of numbers in a kind of trance-like state.  Fast forward to the present day when the time capsule is unearthed.  One dad, an astrophysicist, gets this sheet of paper and starts analyzing it.  He finds that the numbers correspond to dates and locations of catastrophes where many people died.  Since the little girl who wrote the numbers is dead, he tracks down her daughter, and the two of them try to solve the mystery of what this all means. Their two young children are now very much involved, so the stakes are high.

Nicolas Cage is the dad, and he is badly miscast.  He’s too old, too sullen, too removed emotionally from the situation.  I usually like Nic Cage, but this performance just didn’t fit.

Knowing is filled with doom and gloom, armageddon, Christian overtones and undertones throughout.  Heavy handed and dark.
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