Skyfall

Last week I went to see the new James Bond movie, Skyfall.  I am not fond of James Bond movies or that type of action film but I agreed to go because Bonnie really wanted to see it and Judi Densch, one of my favorites, had a good part in it.  Needless to say, I was happily surprised.  I loved it.  Yes there was a lot of noise.  In fact, my only complaint was that the sound seemed extraordinarily loud. (As an aside, I also thought the play that I recently saw at the Pantages, The Book of Mormon, was also extremely loud.  I wonder why that is necessary.)  Yes there was a lot of killing but very little gore.  The special effects were fantastic.  But the big surprise was that there was a story.  So many action movies have no story but this one was very interesting.  The acting was excellent.  This is not a movie to take seriously.  It is clever enough and there is no pretense that much of this could actually happen.  It is a fun action movie and I surprisingly highly recommend it.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

First understand that I like fantasies - mostly.  Second - I think animals are cute even though I never want them and do not really want them near me.  Knowing those facts, I have to say I really liked the first half of the film. And from there it slipped downward for me.  I am not a fan of things constantly blowing up - some is OK but I felt this went overboard.  And I liked the end.  My movie mate thought it was just silly.  See it on Netflix,

Source Code

No matter what type of movie you like, go see “Source Code.”  It is fantastic.  This is a science fiction movie but it is much more than that.  I didn’t move or look at my watch once.  The story is original.  The acting is very good. I even loved the music and special effects. I am not going to tell you anything about the movie because I don’t want to spoil it for the viewer. I found absolutely nothing that I could complain about. Even if you think you don’t like science fiction, see this movie in the movie theater.  It is well worth it.

The Lincoln Lawyer and Win Win

In the past few days I have seen two very nice movies – The Lincoln Lawyer and Win Win.  Although they were different, I enjoyed them both.  Acting in both was very good.  Win Win is called a comedy but it isn’t a funny ha ha movie.  There are plenty of laughs but it really has very serious subjects.  Both of them actually showed how the lines often blur between good and evil.  I think that is one thing that is problematic not with the movies but with our world today.  Too many people see only black and white when really much is in the grey area but that is for another blog.  I recommend both these movies.

Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps

I had seen Wall Street years ago and my recollection is that I really liked it a lot.  So, even though I saw that some of the reviews were less than stellar, I wanted to go and see the movie.  I had a real problem.  I didn’t like even one person in the movie.  Probably because of the recent financial climate, I found every one and about every action obnoxious.  That being said, Michael Douglas was very good, as usual.  The problem for me is that I really think that is exactly the way the world is today and that makes me sick.  I would be interested in hearing what others have thought about the movie.

Lovely, Still

The other night I was fortunate enough to go to a free screening at the Laemmle Theater in Encino to see the most interesting movie, "Lovely, Still." The movie stars Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn.  I am not going to tell much about the movie except to say that it is extremely well-acted.  I was glad we stayed for the Q and A following the movie because the young director cleared up a few things for me in the discussion.  He is really quite amazing and showed such a deep understanding of the subject.  This is a small, independent film that deserves being seen by a large audience of all age groups.  I think the fact that older stars are in it might stop younger people from going and that would be too bad.  Go see the movie or wait until November when it will be out on DVD. I am going to put it on my Netflix list so I can see it again.  I never do that so now it will be clear how much I liked this movie.  See it. You will laugh and you will cry.

Flipped

I wanted to see a nice, pleasant movie so we picked Flipped, the new Rob Reiner coming-of-age film and it turned out to be exactly what I wanted. This is a story takes place in the early 60s and it is about a boy and girl  starting from when they met in second grade. It is done in a very interesting way so that you get both points of view of the same incidents. I was especially impressed with how the girl was portrayed. So often12 – 14 year old females are shown to be so shallow but not in this movie. I would like all young teens, both male and female, to see Flipped. The era was also shown much as I remember and I loved the music. It is funny and poignant and just a real joy to watch for all ages.