Movie - Sherlock Holmes

This is a poor adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes business. The filming was done with slow-motion and other effects which just made it crazy to watch. If you are a 10 year old boy you may like it. Otherwise see something else.

We could not really see any cohesive story line. It was basically just a bunch of random scenes spliced together and called a movie!

Rating - 0 out of 5 stars. P.S. We walked out about 3/4 the way through and could not take it anymore.

Movie - Book of Eli

Denzel Washington is perfectly cast in his role of a survivor after a war causes tremendous devastation. Mila Kunis also starred and did a good job too.

Basically, most books in the world were burned but a few survived. Denzel happened to have one and reads it while following a journey that he believes the book is telling him to do.

The barren landscape and grey colors of everything are a bit depressing. Everybody seems to think after some war that everything will be grays and brown. That is not the case and I hope some filmmaker will be brave enough to see the truth.

Go see it. It's a good film.

Rating 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Movie - Extraordinary Measures

We went to the premier of this earlier this week. It opens on 1/22. It is an interesting and heartfelt movie. This is the first film for CBS Films. The basic premise is that Brenden's 2 kids have an incurable disease and that they won't live past the age of 9. Brenden is doing his research on-line trying to find a cure.

I thought that Brendan was miscast. I could not picture him as a caring father looking to help his 2 kids. I just didn't see the passion that was needed. Maybe you can see that but I could not. Harrison Ford was excellent in his role of a rather excentric scientist who works with Brenden to find a solution.

The other problem is typically a movie like this is better suited for a TV movie or a cable movie. Over all it was a good movie and I enjoyed it.

Rating - 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Movie - Leap Year

What a terrific movie! Amy Adams and Matthew Goode had such chemistry and I loved their playful interaction!

The basic premise is that Amy wants to get married and is under the idea that she can go to Ireland where her boyfriend is at a conference and propose on Feb 29, leap year. Due to plane trouble, the plane lands a ways from Dublin and she hires a driver, Matthew Goode, to drive her to Dublin. Their adventures, flirting and fighting are what make this a must see movie.

The scenery, the Irish music, dancing and accents make for good viewing.

Amy did an excellent job and I think this is her best performance ever. While not Oscar calibre, it is a very enjoyable and fun movie.

We did notice one error during the movie and studios are supposed to have a continuity person on staff to review this. When she gets to the train station and has 3 hours to kill, apparently she checked her luggage, but the next scene has her without her purse. What women goes out without her purse, especially since her character is all dolled up with high heels and a dress all the time? Somebody should have caught that!

I'll give Leap Year 4.5 out of 5 stars. Great job!

Movie - Youth in Revolt

It should have been subtitled, "Or Until The Audience Revolts". While I like many teen comedies, this one doesn't do it. I sat next to 3 boys, who appeared to be about 15-16. As I recall, they only laughed once. That about sums it up. This movie is one where the trailer contains all of the best scenes and if you have seen the trailer, there is no reason to spend your hard earned money to see the other 90 minutes of filler junk.

The basic premise is Micheal Cera plays a young man living with his mother and his mother's loser boyfriend. The loser boyfriend gets killed not to far into the movie and it is no big loss. He goes on vacation with them and finds his dream girl. She flirts with him but as with almost all teen movies, she as a jock boyfriend. Anyway, Micheal flirts back and creates this alter-ego bad boy persona. Bad news! Micheal plays dual rolls with both the good boy and the bad boy. Without this alter-ego, the story would have been just as good, if not better. It just messed up the entire movie.

I'm a fan of Micheal Cera and he did do an adequate job here but there was not much of a story to work with. I hope he chooses better rolls in the future.

This movie is aimed at the 15-16 year old audience, but as proven at this showing, even they didn't think it was very funny.

I'll give it 1 out of 5 stars. Straight to DVD would have been better.

TV - The Good Wife

This TV show with Julianna Margulies is probably one of the best shows ever made. It has suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat. In a lot of ways, this is like a Tom Clancy movie rolled into a 1 hour TV drama.

Julianna plays the wife of a convicted politician who goes back into law after leaving it to raise her family. They have riveting cases and the cast of characters is terrific. I hope they keep it straight and not come up with some wildly crazy and unrealistic scenarios, like some other shows did in recent times.

You've got to see it!

Movie - The Lovely Bones

Excellent Movie! Ronan was wonderful in her portrayal of a young girl who was murdered. Mark Walburg was terrific and this is probably his best performance ever as a franic father searching for his daughter and her murderer.

This is the story of a young girl who disappears and the search to find her. It is narrated by Ronan throughout the film. Peter Jackson directed and also did an excellent job. The special effects were just the right amount and not too overwhelming. It is suspenseful and has you on the edge of your seat. It is not widely out at the moment but will be out at more locations soon.

I give it 5 stars!

Movie - Crazy Heart

While I generally don't like movies about losers, this was a great movie. Jeff and Maggie did a great job. It's basically a movie about an aging singer trying to get back on his feet.

It has some great scenes and location shots too.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars!

Delay

Sorry for the delay in new posts. I was in the hospital for the first time in my life. What an experience. Anyway, I am fine and will resume posting.