The Lovely Bones

Gow told me I needed to see The Lovely Bones, so while Cyndie was out, I did a viewing ...

The Lovely Bones (4.2/5)

This was the story, told from her perspective, of a 14 year old girl who is abducted and murdered. It was a serious movie, but not quite as creepy as that previous sentence may sound.

I think one of the reasons I liked the movie as much as I did is the whole expectations thing. I wasn't expecting much, and so when what I got far exceeded my expectations, it made for a very enjoyable viewing experience. It was directed (and written I believe) by Peter Jackson, the man behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong. It was very different than those movies, and definitely a very nice surprise.

I think much of what I liked about this movie is that it took a hold of you and kept you emotionally involved through the ending, which I thought was excellent. It was very atypical, which I like. And it was satisfying. The bad guy got what was coming to him, but not in a way you'd expect. The protagonists all found their peace, but not in a typical "Hollywood" way.

In summary, I'd call this a very interesting couple of hours. I liked it because it was a) well made, b) different from the Hollywood norm, c) satisfying.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lovely Bones - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
The Book of Eli - 4.0/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Iron Man 2 - 3.8/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Hurt Locker - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
The Blind Side - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
How to Train a Dragon - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
Appoloosa - 3.5/5
Sherlock Holmes - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Stealth - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5

The Backup Plan - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Guys Night

I guess I neglected to mention that on Friday night we had a surprise birthday party for Gow. The pretense was that Laura, Gow, and girls were coming over to have some dinner prior to a group of friends having a "Guys Night". Instead, we got a bunch of friends over, they parked around the corner so no cars were visible, and we surprised the heck out of Uncle Gow*. I think this is one of the first surprise parties I've been involved with where the surprisee was actually surprised.

*Mostly surprised. Emma got a little excited and yelled out "surprise" prior to our group cue. Oh well ;)

So the families all left at about 7p, and then the guys did our thing including watching a movie ... The Book of Eli.

The Book of Eli (4.0/5)
So the setting is watching this flick with four other guys ... this is definitely a guy kind of movie. It had quite a bit of violence (though it wasn't totally over the top), was very bleak in its worldview, and was not a happy movie.

Denzel Washington played the title character, a road hardened traveler on a mission. Mila Kunis was the foil. Gary Oldman played the delightfully vile antagonist. All of these parts of the movie were satisfying and well acted/cast, but were not what set this movie apart. What made this movie work for me were the not so subtle spiritual tones which the movie had and the nice little twists that finished the movie.

The overall summary: A well made post-apocalyptic movie with several satisfying turns at the end.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
The Book of Eli - 4.0/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Iron Man 2 - 3.8/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Hurt Locker - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
The Blind Side - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
How to Train a Dragon - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
Appoloosa - 3.5/5
Sherlock Holmes - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Stealth - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5

The Backup Plan - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

A Movie Review

There's not a whole lot to write about today, so I'll take this opportunity to post a review of the movie we watched down at Dave and Amy's, The Backup Plan.

The Backup Plan (3.1/5)
So, at first glance (i.e. from the cover of the movie and the preview or two I'd seen), this is a standard romantic comedy ... Jennifer Lopez, right? That's all the movies she makes anymore.

So, that wasn't totally right. It was a romantic comedy. And like almost all romantic comedies, they try to spin it differently so it's not exactly like every other romantic comedy ever made. Well this one was spun by having Lopez's character be pregnant the whole movie. So, we were blessed with the standard throwing up at inopportune times gags and gynecologist visit gags, etc.

I'm sitting here thinking about what else to write, but there was nothing remotely good or memorable to take away. I maybe am being a little over generous dropping a 3.1 on this movie, but it seemed to slot in well next to a similar romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You, so there you go.

The overall summary: A very generic RomCom with pregnancy bits added in (which made it worse).

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Iron Man 2 - 3.8/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Hurt Locker - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
The Blind Side - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
How to Train a Dragon - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
Appoloosa - 3.5/5
Sherlock Holmes - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Stealth - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5

The Backup Plan - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Iron Man 2 and How to Train a Dragon

Saw a couple of movies in the theater lately, so I guess I better get those reviews up or the mob will be at my doorstep with pitchforks and torches.

How to Train a Dragon (3.5/5)
We saw this with the kids in 3D. First a word about 3D. It was kind of neat, but totally not necessary. I wouldn't go so far as to say it detracted from the experience, but eh, it wasn't required by any means.

Largely, this was a pretty typical kids movie. There was enough in there for the adults to keep me interested (I mean come on, dragons are cool!). It was a bit strange that the Vikings were speaking with Scottish accents. I was also kind of annoyed that after building the dragons up for the first act as these big, menacing foes, that once we got to know them they were more like dogs to be trained instead of equally smart enemies with whom to become friends. The technical quality was good, but the story just average.

The overall summary: A sound kids movie.

Iron Man 2 (3.8/5)
Saw this for my birthday the first weekend it was out. I think my opinion of the movie was hurt slightly by high expectations, but helped by viewing the movie with an excited and passionate audience (going to a big movie on opening weekend is always fun). I felt like this, the sequel, lacked a bit of the good humor or campiness that made the first film so fun, becoming a bit more serious. It got away from the Tony Stark character a bit and focused on the Russian antagonist ... to the detriment of the movie (Robert Downey, Jr. is an infinitely better actor than Mickey Rourke). The relationship with the secretary/CEO (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the undercover agent (Scarlett Johansson) was a bit amorphous and probably un-needed. Despite that, I enjoyed the movie. Gow, Laura, and Cyndie all really liked it, so yeah, I'm probably being a bit hard on the flick.

The overall summary: A strong follow up to Iron Man, but not quite the equal of its predecessor.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Iron Man 2 - 3.8/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Hurt Locker - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
The Blind Side - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
How to Train a Dragon - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
Appoloosa - 3.5/5
Sherlock Holmes - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Stealth - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Blind Side

Did an extended family (adults after the kids went to bed) movie night down at Dave and Amy's last Friday. We all agreed upon the movie with really no dispute ... I think that was a first. We watched Blind Side.

The Blind Side (3.7/5)
This movie was directed by the same guy that directed the Disney movie The Rookie a few years back, and was, in my opinion, basically the same type of movie. Sportsman is faced with huge odds. Only a few people believe in the sportsman. Sportsman is given a chance and makes the most of it. There was nothing really extraordinary above the movie, and quite a few shortcomings. However, on the whole, it was enjoyable. Either I was in the right mood, or I'm just a sucker for feel good sports movies, or something, but this one went down smoothly and was a good viewing experience. Not oscar type material in the least (despite the nominations), but entertaining.

The overall summary: The feel good movie of the year!

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Hurt Locker - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
The Blind Side - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
Appoloosa - 3.5/5
Sherlock Holmes - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Stealth - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Movie Date Night

Cyndie and I had our every other week date night on Tuesday, and during dinner, I realized that Sherlock Holmes was out on DVD. So we swung by the movie place on our way home, picked it up, then settled in for a viewing in the basement ...

Sherlock Holmes (3.5/5)
I'm sure my feelings on this one suffered to some degree by my expectations. The previews for the movie made it look a bit campy, but smart. And it has Robert Downey, Jr, one of my favorite actors in the lead. What resulted, was pretty mediocre. Overall the plot was rather poor, and Downey's Sherlock Holmes turned out to be a pretty unlikeable character. There were some good moments, but they were just that, moments. It was a movie tailor made for turning into a trailer, not one that holds an audience for two hours.

The overall summary: A pretty typical "eh" big budget studio movie.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Hurt Locker - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
Appoloosa - 3.5/5
Sherlock Holmes - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Stealth - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Hurt Locker

Gow and I watched a guy flick the other day over at his place ... it was Academy Award winner "Hurt Locker".

Hurt Locker (3.8/5)
It was an interesting movie. It's about a team of three guys in Iraq who are charged with disarming IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) ... bombs. It started really well with some very gripping and intense scenes. The first act was incredible. However, it kind of quickly went "blah" from there. What could have been a really deep movie looking at the interpersonal relationships between the three soldiers and what the crazy stress of doing this type of job does to that dynamic and to their relationships with their families, became a kind of shallow, episodic non-fulfilling thing that just kind of ran out of gas. The characters weren't really developed at all, and there really wasn't much of a plot, only these hyper intense, and rather long, bomb diffusing scenes. Overall, it was decent, but left me wishing for much more depth.

The overall summary: A lot of promise. Gripping and intense, but lacking in depth and character development.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Hurt Locker - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
Appoloosa - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Stealth - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Vacation - Day 5

Today's big activity was a movie. As has become something of a tradition when we go on vacation, we went to the movies to see the latest kid-flick. We hit a sold out matinee of Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel. Though the adults in the group pined for something a bit more meaty, the kids got to pick, and it was the latest Chipmunks fair.

Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel (3.2/5)

As may be expected of any movie that has a tagline of "the Squeakquel", this was not Hollywood at the height of its powers. Nevertheless, it was fairly entertaining. The kids enjoyed it, there were a few one liners in there that I'm sure flew right over the kids' heads. Mostly it was singing CGI chipmunks, cliches about high school, a silly "villain", and hijinks typical of kids cartoons.

The overall summary: A good movie for young kids, but not much there for teens and adults.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
Appoloosa - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Stealth - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Hit the Library for some videos

We seem to be watching more movies that normal lately. This was an older one, Stealth, that we got at the library.

Stealth (3.4/5)

So this was one of those movies, a rarity, were I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I'm sure it was largely because I went into it expecting it to be horrible, and it was a bit better than horrible. Yes, there was bad dialog. Yes, the concept was a bit far-fetched. Yes, Jessica Biel "acting" as if she is a warrior was painfully bad, especially when she was injured and down behind enemy lines. But all in all, it was fun, mindless schlock. A good way to pass a couple of hours whilst picking burrs out of one's dog's fur. One fascinating element to watch was Jamie Foxx. He really played a secondary character in the movie, but it's amazing how mediocre he looks in a mediocre movie like this, but he can really up his game in other movies like Ray.

The overall summary: Lots of fluff and bad acting with bad dialog, but surprisingly fun to watch.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
Appoloosa - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Stealth - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Latest Flick

This one was another $2 movies, and Gow and I watched this one over the weekend ...

Appaloosa (3.5/5)

I was thinking that this one had a lot of potential. A gritty western with Ed Harris (a "real" actor) and Viggo Mortenson. What a disappointment. It was very slow, which I can deal with if there's a payoff, but there wasn't. They developed these characters of two crusty gunfighters who will go into a town and clean it up for a price, but then didn't keep the characters true to themselves. Instead they introduced this awkward love triangle/square which was lame and which just confused the "lawman cleans up rough western town" part of the movie. I think the movie would have been much more successful as a "straight" western instead of trying to be more than it was. In the end, it was okay, but certainly not memorable.

The overall summary: Slow, overly clever. Should have stuck with being a western.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
Appoloosa - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

He's Just Not That Into You

Amy and I went to Walmart at 6am on Black Friday to grab a few things. I picked up some $2 movies, and Cyndie and I watched one last night while she cut my hair ...

He's Just Not That Into You (3.1/5)

This was a strange one. I'm still not exactly sure what to think about it. At the surface level, it appeared to be, and was (I think), a romantic comedy. Looking a little longer, it was really about relationships amongst 20 and 30 somethings, both married and not. It was fairly realistic in that it showed people getting together and breaking up, as well as couples experiencing both highs and lows. I guess the thing about it was was it was too realistic. It was reality, without the absurdity of reality TV shows. There was nothing really that interesting about it.

The overall summary: Real life. That's it. You could get the same thing by talking to your friends.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Up and (fortunately) Away

Watched this one on Thanksgiving night in the Caspari theater ...

Up (3.7/5)

I know I'm going to catch flak from some of my family because I'm giving this the same rating as Nick and Nora's Ultimate Playlist, but that's life! Overall, I was very disappointed in the movie. A large part of that is because it was a Pixar flick, and as a result, I expected greatness. In that regard, I'd have to (sadly) say that this was the worst Pixar movie that they have made. However, following on that theme, it was also a decent movie. It was no Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull!.

Don't read this next paragraph if you don't want to be exposed to a few spoilers ...

I thought the movie started extremely strongly. It started by hinting of some very mature themes (death of a child, death of a spouse, old age). However, from there it dipped to a grumpy main character, a supporting cast of an annoying child, a talking labrador, and a bird that completely lost me. The whole middle of the movie was the boy and the old man dragging this floating house around by a garden hose while trying to help this bizare bird. On top of that, the villian was no good, and his henchment were totally cliche.

I think I'm being a bit harsher than the movie actually deserves. And as the rating I gave it shows, it's not actually a poor film. However, it was certainly a come down from the standard that Pixar has established.

The overall summary: A average to good cartoon, poor by Pixar standards, but good for anyone else.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

TransSiberian

Watched this one on Sunday night with "the guys".

TransSiberian (3.9/5)

A good one, and the type of movie that I often enjoy. It was the story of how a couple of Americans, through their own naivete and goodness, get caught up as Mules in a drug run. It was a suspense/thriller type of movie, not a big budget one, but with some decent actors and production value. It was a bit dark, but that's right down my alley. Overall, there were several moments that were not horribly believable, but those, for me, only came up upon second thought while thinking back over the movie. During the actual viewing, I was pretty captivated, especially after a somewhat slow start. The movie at least met my expectations, making the overall experience an enjoyable one.

The overall summary: A very solid suspense, thriller with good acting, and a fairly well thought out premise.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

The latest flick ...

Wolverine ... saw it at Dave and Amy's in BluRay over the weekend.

Wolverine (3.8/5)
I enjoyed this one ... surprisingly. I think this one was another one that just goes to confirm my theory* about watching movies. The movie didn't try to do too much, just focused on telling the story of Wolverine's origins. It wasn't a great movie, but it had enough depth to hold your attention, while having enough action to keep the popcorn movie crowed engaged. The production values were first rate, the plot decent, acting sufficient, and the special effects well done.

The overall summary: It's not going to win any academy awards, but it was two entertaining hours well spent.

*Neal's First Theory of Movie Enjoyment:
The level of enjoyment a person derives from watching a movie corresponds directly to the difference between that person's expectations of the movie and the actual quality of the movie.

A movie goer enters each movie experience with expectations regarding that movie. These expectations then serve as a baseline against which the movie is weighed. If the movie is better than expectations, the viewer will have a movie experience that is largely positive. Conversely, if the movie is worse than expectations, the viewer's experience will be poor.

For example, I went into Kung Fu Panda with high expectations (call it 4.5 out of 5 for what I expected the movie to be). The actual movie experience was more along the lines of 3.5, and since that is much lower than I expected, my movie experience was not good, even though Kung Fu Panda is actually a pretty good movie.

The FToME applies equally to all kinds of movies. An average movie (3/5 rating) which a view goes into with low expectations (2/5) is therefore an enjoyable experience while a very good movie (4/5 rating) which has very high expectations (5/5) may turn into a poor movie experience.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Caught a flick last week ...

Gow and I caught Inglorious Bastards last week.




Inglorious Bastards (2.9/5)
Interesting ... I think that was the first word out of Gow's mouth as we walked out of the theater. I'd agree. The movie definitely was not for everyone. It was very violent (big surprise from Tarantino). There were some really good characters, and he made me care for them, or at least some of them. Brad Pitt was fun as one of the leads of this ensemble movie. I liked Christoph Waltz as the slightly psychotic Nazi antagonist. But the plot was all over the place. It really was a high budget vanity piece, though this is typically the case for Tarantino movies. You either like them or you don't, I don't suspect there's much middle ground.

The overall summary: It's a deeply flawed movie, with some interesting elements, which is not worth the viewing.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Movies lately

Saw a couple of flicks over the weekend ...

Push (2.8/5)
Watched this one during the Movie night with Casparis and Gowans. From the trailer it looked like a very interesting premise, and after the first 10 - 20 minutes, I was anticipating a pretty good movie. It was all downhill from there. The plot, or what passed as one, fell apart pretty quickly. Numerous characters were added for now apparent reason. And the movie just became very unbelievable. It was very disappointing given what was a fairly unique look at "super heroes" and powers and the like.

The overall summary: Great premise, poor execution.

Definitely, maybe (3.7/5)
This was an interesting flick. We went into it thinking it would be a fairly standard romantic comedy, but it really turned into more of a light drama. The premise was a newly divorced father explaining to his daughter how he and her mom got together. It started slow, and with some fairly explicit, though clinical, sex talk which was largely un-needed. However, once the movie got moving it was pretty good and entertaining. It even had a bit of a twist at the end that, while not exactly realistic, made for a bit of variety from the standard romantic comedy fare.

The overall summary: A surprisingly good romantic comedy/drama with some faults.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Push - 2.8/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Meet Bill, Lars and the Real Girl

Saw a couple of flicks on vacation ...

Lars and the Real Girl (4.1/5)
Pretty darn good movie about a topic, mental illness/delusions, that would never, ever, be addressed in a studio movie. This was light most of the time, while getting serious occasionally. Definitely not a feel good movie per se, but also not so heavy you want to go jump off a bridge. Ryan Gosler did an excellent job portraying the earnest, lovable, but struggling protagonist ... quite a different turn than his star creating roll in the Notebook. All in all, it was an interesting look at something that doesn't turn up much in the movies, and was worth the watch.

Meet Bill (2.1/5)
This was a pretty stupid movie about a guy having what was essentially a midlife crisis. There wasn't anything really redeeming about it. The acting was "eh", the story kind of lame, and in the end it was really kind of pointless. Initially I was thinking 2.8, but dropped it after I wrote this ... steer well clear!

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Star Trek, a review

Gow and I hit the fabulous Showboat Theater on Saturday for a view of Star Trek. Here's the take:

Star Trek (3.9/5)
I very much liked this movie. Not being a Trekkie (my Star Trek exposure is limited to The Wrath of Kahn and watching the Next Generation on TV), I didn't have much in the way of expectations, at least in regards to who the cast should be and how they should behave. That said, I expected a "big", "summer" movie, lots of explosions, action based plot.

The movie delivered on that, plus more. Now it was no Oscar type film, but it was a tight, well told story with more depth than 90% of the summer flicks. The acting was good, the effects top notch, and the team was able to tell the "origins" story for this iteration of the Enterprise while also giving us an interesting adventure/story.

Kudos all around, I recommend this movie.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

New in Town

Last Friday we watched New in Town during the Movie Night extravaganza at the Casparis, and I've already had wild fans clamoring for the review here at The Life and Times of the Wildwood DeVries. So here, to prevent rioting in the streets, is the write up.

New in Town (3.2/5)
I was pretty disappointed in this flick. I think part of the problem was not the movie, but my expectations. I was not expecting a classic, but thought it looked like a good romantic comedy, which I typically enjoy. It turned out to be an average romantic comedy, thereby not meeting my expectations.

The movie was a bit cliched: fish out of water woman meets beer guzzling, oafish man, initially they conflict, but during a poignant moment, they overcome their differences and form a bond. Said couple then conquers all the problems of the world. Granted, it's a pretty successful formula, but that's about it. On the upside, I really enjoyed some of the "Minnesota" moments, and particularly loved how the producers/director "kept it real" and showed what a northern winter is really like. On the downside, Renee Zellwiger looked horrible ... she didn't even look like herself at times. I don't think she'll have too many leading roles after this flick.

So the summary? Decent movie, fairly enjoyable, but probably not too different than any other romantic comedy you've seen over the last 10 years.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Recent movies ...

Saw a couple of movies lately, here's the scoop ...

Juno (4.8/5)
An excellent movie, one of the best I can remember watching. My favorite part of it was the dialog which was tight, understated, but witty, and just very memorable. It was a serious movie ... it was well made and addressed real world issues ... but managed to do so while keeping a light atmosphere. It was offbeat and quirky, but not weird. I love Michael Cera ... he's so subtle and real, but not boring. It left me feeling good and uplifted and wishing the movie would keep going and going. Definitely one of my all time favorites.

Nick and Nora's Infinte Play List (3.7/5)
Kind of a fun, strange movie about an evening out for a group of high school kids. It was interesting and entertaining. It had some fun dialog. It wasn't quite tight enough to merit a higher school, but was a fun watch. My new favorite actor, Michael Cera, of Arresting Development fame, was the lead. I guess I don't have a lot to say about it, but it was a nice, if a little vulgar, movie.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5