The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Christmas is obviously the best time for movies to come out, and I'm a little behind, so I'm lumping them all together.
First up, Black Swan. Here's a surprise: it was a really freaking good movie. I will go ahead and reiterate what everyone else in the world has said, and say it was an amazing film. Natalie Portman went insanely deep into that role, and I'm amazed that she has followed up this performance with the light and airy piece with Ashton Kutcher. The dancing was phenomenal, especially since she did a lot of it herself. Also, being the sport nerd I am, the film made me think more in depth about super involved parents and their obsession with their kids success. It was great to see Mila Kunis in a serious role, and she does the bad girl part exceedingly well.
Next up, The King's Speech.
Holy guacamole. Colin Firth was a badass. It was a great story with great acting, telling a generally unknown facet of the royal family. It also portrayed, for an American, the different side of what the Royal family is and how they live that is so different than the way we do. The attention to detail with the set, script, and general aura was fabulous. highly recommend it!
True Grit
I've never seen the original, so I can't compare it to that, but it was very good. I felt that it was rather slow, but I also think that was the goal of the Cohen brothers. Jeff Bridges was mad legit, also very entertaining even though it doesn't seem like much of a stretch for him to be a drunk old codger.

NARNIA!!

A little late...but the Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader was absolutely wonderful!! I'm not surprised, but the 3D job was excellent, and the transition of the current characters to the new humans in Narnia was fabulous. As usual, Edmund was a sex pot, even if he was only 17. The story was fabulously told and continues the series seamlessly. I can't wait for the next one, except I'm quite sad that Peter and Edmund will no longer be gracing the screen with their dastardly good looks. For sure a DVD purchase, no worries there.

The *yawn* Tourist

The Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie was a new release this week, and it was a complete snooze. The plotline was grossly exaggerated and the plot twist at the end was pretty blatant if you ask me. Johhny Depp as a bumbling American Math teacher was completely unbelievable, and insulting to my memory of him as the hottie pirate. Angelina was looking quite hott, and had some fabulous clothes no doubt. The scenery was fun, but it lacked the excitement of an action movie and the storyline of a drama. Basically it was lame, and dragged on forever and ever. Good try guys, but no thumbs here.

Tangled Up

Well, looks like the "kid in me" vibe was strong this week. Tangled 3D was up right after Megaming 3D, and it did not dissappoint. First interesting point, it was Disney's 50th animated feature, which had me all excited to begin with. The story was the story of Repunzel, and after the fact I realized I'm not sure that I ever heard the Repunzel story as a child.
The story was creative and different, and I really enjoyed a new Disney Princess. In keeping with the Disney theme of never having a strong/positive mother character, another evil mother was born. I won't even begin to explain my conspiracy theory that Disney dislikes mothers (but think about it....name a Disney princess with an awesome mom....didn't think so!) The only part about the movie that seriously concerned me was the way in which they told the story, kids of this generation, in general, suck at watching movies. They want all the answers and info at the get-go, no sense of adventure. The beginning of the movie definitely addressed that in order to explain to the little chitlin what was about to happen.
Regardless it was a cute movie, with some catchy songs!!!

What's up next?

Some movies I'm looking forward to this holiday season:

Tangled 3D
Fighter (featuring that fox Markie Mark Wahlberg)
Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Black Swan
Rabbit Hole (nicole kidman as a tortured mother? never...)
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (looks terrifying)
The Tourist
TRON Legacy
True Grit
Blue Valentine (I'm sorry...Blake Lively AND Ryan Gosling. too much hotness)

More to come, let's hope I can get through these!!
Happy Viewing!

MegaMind!!

Sometimes, I need to just sit back, relax and enjoy a kids movie.
Megamind 3D was my pick this week, and it was a good choice!! The movie was very cute, told the classic story of good vs evil, evil wins, then doesn't want to be evil anymore because of feelings. The star of the show by far was Megamind's minion, named "Minion" but was a precious fish? Oh animators, the things you come up with.

The animation was by far the coolest thing-the people looked insanely real at some points I sort of lost my head. Definitely a keeper once we all have 3D tvs and such.

Whe World According to Who?

"The World According to Garp" (let me preface this by saying it was a mom recommendation, and if you know her, she is strange) from 1982 features a young Robin Williams in a seriously strange role. The film chronicles the life of T.S. Garp and his wacky feminist mother. Completely riddled with symbolism and parallels, it was interesting to see Williams as a young babe.
The movie left you guessing the entire time, made me say "what theeeee?" on several occasions and generally left me a little concerned for humanity.
Don't put it on the top of your list, but definitely a good throwback if you are just killing time. And Robin Williams was a little fox back in the day.

2.5 hours of 127 hours

sorry for being a slacker. after "due date" I had several failed attempts at classic movies. I won't even validate those by mentioning the titles. Next up, "127 Hours"

Holy. Sweet. Baby. Jesus was this movie good. James Franco should definitely be up for awards in the next few months. Based on a true story, and directed by Danny Boyle (the Slumdog Millionaire genius) it was a raw and almost uncomfortable at times connection with an actor. You are literally watching a person at the worst possible time in their life, and it made me ask myself "am I strong enough to do that"? I think the answer is honestly no, the entire situation he went through was mind boggling and put me on edge. The cinematography left a little to be desired, but by the end I understood how it related to the entire story. It was also good to see Amber Tamblyn do something that wasn't cheesy as hell.

GO SEE THIS MOVIE. One thumb way, way up.