State of Play

I initially heard bad things about State of Play which is why it was so long before I got around to seeing it. Also, because I do not identify with journalists in anyway, even though I decided to choose it for a major, I do not go out of my way to see movies involving journalists, in fact I tend to avoid it. I have a noticeably smaller man-crush on Russell Crowe (Gladiator would’ve been good enough to carry a career but the dude just doesn’t stop making hits) which made me decide to see it. The plot seemed predictable but then they threw one plot twist at you. After that twist though, it was easy to predict the next twist they were about to unleash on the viewer. Still interesting though and while I don’t think a lot of Ben Affleck’s acting skill, he did a solid enough job compared to some movies he’s been in. Robin Wright Penn did an admirable job in a fairly small role and her story line, while unnecessary, does do a decent job to help mask the impending plot twists. And any movie producer smart enough to put Rachel McAdams in their movie, deserves a good rating. Overall, the movie is well cast, well acted, well directed, well written, and like I said, it has Rachel McAdams, verdict: $$$$

Inglourious Basterds

I did not find Inglourious Basterds to be as glorious as a lot of people did. However, I did enjoy it way more than I anticipated. I am not in any way a big Tarantino fan and I rarely ever love a movie Brad Pitt is in. Although, I think he’s a pretty solid actor who just picks movies that don’t appeal to my tastes (see, or rather don’t see Burn After Reading), aside from obvious choices like Fight Club, Snatch, Se7en and Troy (Seven Years in Tibet and Meet Joe Black are also solid). That being said, I could not resist seeing if this movie could live up to the hype- and it did for the most part. Pitt’s performance is so bad that its good and the casting is fairly solid overall (Christoph Waltz is spot-on and Diane Kruger is pretty). It wasn’t too predictable, the action/violence wasn’t too outrageous, and it had a uniqueness to it that I think is largely what makes it a good movie, verdict: $$$$

Public Enemies

Public Enemies was a no-brainer for me to see because of my previously mentioned man-crush on Christian Bale. I like him in everything basically and this movie was no different. He doesn’t play the lead role of John Dillinger but he still manages to steal (get it, steal, about a John Dillinger movie) the scenes he is in. He puts a lot of effort into making his performances as believable as possible and I think he did Melvin Pervis justice in this role. I am hot and cold on the film's lead actor, John Depp. I rarely like his choice of movies but he usually fits the roles he plays in them to the letter. Both actors are believable (although I’m not wild about the female lead, as I find her somewhat annoying) and everything seems to be right with this movie but I couldn’t escape the feeling that it was just one ingredient short (probably an attractive female character, just sayin) of being a great film instead of a really good one. That being said, there is nothing wrong with being a really good film and I would recommend this to just about anyone, verdict: $$$$

I Love You Man

If I were speaking to Paul Rudd, I would gladly say “I Love You Man,” in regards to his work obviously. I think he is one of the most understatedly funny people around. Whether he’s a main character like in Role Models or in a lesser role like in Knocked Up, the dude is just plain funny. And its realistic funny, like when he gets nervous talking to a man-date and invents words. That to me is a lot more likely to be something you’d find funny in everyday life than for example when Jim Carrey sings “Jumper” to a guy in Yes Man to prevent him from being, well, a jumper. Jason Segel is also quite funny here and one might even say, that this movie made me forget Sarah Marshall ("And the award for cheesiest one paragraph movie review goes to..."). Its not as funny as the Hangover but it’s light years better than All About Steve, verdict: $$$$

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a lot like the other X-Men movies. The action is solid, the casting is good, but the acting is typical of a comic book movie. It is hard to imagine anyone else besides Hugh Jackman (another man crush of mine, The Prestige is $$$$$) playing Wolverine but at times his performance is a bit chuckle worthy. I like the Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson selection, well, because I like Ryan Reynolds (I’m looking forward to a Deadpool spin-off starring Reynolds). I actually think the best casting job in the movie, aside from Jackman, was the one I was most confused by originally. I did not think Liev Schreiber made sense to play Sabertooth but he does an admirable job and now I can’t imagine anyone else playing that part, especially not this guy. The rest of the casting is good as whole, even Will.i.am wasn’t too bad. This is just the kind of movie where you enjoy it for its strength and try not to condemn it for its weaknesses; it is what it is, verdict: $$$

The Ugly Truth

The Ugly Truth is about what you’d expect. It’s a romantic comedy that tries to tell the same old story in an only slightly varied way. They’re total opposites, they attract, something almost breaks them apart, but in the end they fall in love in some quirky way. He’s a gruff man’s man. She’s a neurotic control freak. Somehow this leads to a small amount of chemistry. Plus it doesn’t hurt that Gerard Butler’s cool and Katherine Heigl is kinda hot. The ugly truth here is that this is a cute but predictable movie that relies an awful lot on the assets of the two main characters, verdict: $$$

3:10 to Yuma

3:10 to Yuma is a remake of a classic western by the same name. Having extensively studied this genre as a whole, not only is this one of the best westerns of recent times, it is one of the best as a whole. The actors are superb, although I find it mildly ironic that the two main characters (played by Christian Bale and Russell Crowe) are not Americans. The story is still just as dynamic as it was in the original. This movie has good casting (gotta love the Peter Fonda sighting, especially since his father made his name in westerns), good acting, good action, good choreography, good costume work (especially in making it appear Christian Bale has a prosthetic leg), good directing, and this all adds up to a great movie, verdict: $$$$$

Celtic Pride

Celtic Pride is bad but entertaining. It pokes fun at the fanatics that are Celtic fans and even though it takes their exploits to a new level, it still never seems that unbelievable, which adds to the comedy. It’s so absurd that it seems spot on in the way it portrays obsessive fans and the superstars they love, or in this case, love to hate. This, I believe, is a credit to the writing team of Colin Quinn and some guy you may have heard of since, Judd Apatow- I think he's made a few okay movies since this masterpiece. Overall, it has a few good laughs but mostly it is goofy, mindless entertainment. That being said, it has a Larry Bird cameo and it is about basketball, verdict: $$$

Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation is a movie I enjoyed more than most, and I can see why. I have seen it on both the big and small screen and liked it about the same both times. For most, it was a solid sci-fi/action film and nothing more. For Terminator nerds, it wasn’t T2 but at least it was better than T3. But for me, it had one of my favorite established actors, one of my favorite up and coming actors, and a really hot chick with a cool name. Seeing these people interact made a solid movie even more enjoyable for me. While I am not the biggest sci-fi fan alive, I do tend to love movies with giant robots blowing shit up. So what that parts of this movie weren’t perfect, like the CGI recreation of the Governator as a bulky terminator. It still has cool actors, cool special effects, and offers a cool new take on a popular franchise. Verdict: $$$$