Love is All You Need 2012

     Ida is a hairdresser in Denmark, she comes home and discovers her husband with a woman co-worker.  Ida and her husband Leif are supposed to fly to Italy for their daughter’s wedding.  Ida decides to fly alone and she backs into Philip’s car in the parking garage.  He’s also heading to the same wedding and his son is getting married to Ida’s daughter.  Philip doesn’t care for living in Denmark but he’s a stern businessman fully involved in his job.  In the beginning, Ida and Philip seem to have nothing in common but the shared festivities for the wedding start to bring them together.

     This film is too predictable, following the formula, full of fluff and forgettable.  The only bright side is the scenery in Italy.  Most of the cast speaks Dutch and English but Brosnan speaks English and never Dutch?  He must be able to understand or he’s just following the script?  3* (This movie is OK)

116, Drama directed by Susanne Bier with Pierce Brosnan, Sebastian Jessen, Trine Dyrholm, Kim Bodnia, Molly Blixt Egelind, Paprika Steen.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 6.5 out of 10, 74% critic 61% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Safe 2012

     Mei is 10 years old and she lives with her sick mother in Nanjing, China.  She is a numbers genius and her unusual memory has caused her to be kidnapped by Triad boss Han Jaio.  He sends her to America to keep track of his incoming payments and losses.  As his personal bookkeeper, she doesn’t leave a records like a computer or ledger book.  She follows her new “father” Chang on his many extortion collections.  Luke Wright is running from the Russian mafiz after botching a rigged fight.  When he sees Mei being followed on the train, he intervenes. 

     There is plenty of action in this film and the body count is very high.  The mafia and the mafiz are battling it out with each other and the NYPD.  A frantic pace but you can count on Statham to do a good job in his films.  3* (This movie is OK) 

  

95 min, Action directed by Boaz Yakin with Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, Robert John Burke, James Hong, Anson Mount, Chris Sarandon, Sandor Tecsy, Joseph Sikora, Igor Jijikine, Reggie Lee, James Colby.

Note:  Blockbuster 3 ½*, imdb 6.5 out of 10,  57% critic 60% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Epic 2013:

      Mary Katherine returns to her family’s home to see her father.  She’s really surprised to see the dog is still there and her room is exactly as she left it.  Her father is an eccentric scientist who believes tiny creatures live in the neighboring forest.  His quest to have others see this civilization has driven away his unbelieving colleagues and also pushes his daughter away.  Mary goes into the forest to find the dog, she is soon shrunken down to a tiny size and charged by the Queen to deliver a flower pod to safety.

     The backgrounds and the characters are very different and beautiful with vivid colors.  A forest fantasy that is magical, sweet and full of wonders.  The story is somewhat predictable and isn’t as compelling as the animation.  Slightly overlong on the battle scenes.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

102 min, Animated directed by Chris Wedge with the voices of Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Blake Anderson, Aziz Ansari, Allison Bills, Jim Conroy, Todd Cummings.

Note:  Blockbuster 3 ½*, imdb 6.7 out of 10, 64% critic 66% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Man of Steel 2013

     General Zod stages a coup on Krypton as the planet starts to crumble.  Jor-El and his wife Lara deliver a son instead of using the pod system normally used for children.  They prepare a spacecraft to send Kal-El to Earth in order to save his life.  General Zod vows to track him down wherever he goes.  Jonathan and Martha Kent in Kansas raise Clark as their own son.  He knows he’s different but his father tries to shield him from letting people discover how different.  As he grows, he gains more power and strength.  He determines he will try to help mankind but he needs to guard against their fear of him.

     There is plenty of action in this film.  Slightly long on the battle scenes between General Zod, female Captain Fajora-Ul and Superman.  You do wonder if Superman can match their out-of-this world strength and stamina.  3* (This movie is OK)

143 min, Action directed by Zack Snyder with Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Julia Ormond Harry J. Lennix, Laurence Fishburne, Richard Schiff.

Note:  Blockbuster 3 ½*, imdb 7.4 out of 10, 55% critic 77% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Internship 2013

     Billy and Nick are salesmen for a watch company.  They go to meet with a client to make a sale and they learn the business is closing.  Billy pitches the idea to Nick that they can compete in a Google internship.  Not only are they the oldest two in the competition, they are very behind on their Internet skills.  Teams are formed and they are part of the unpicked misfit group.  How will they compete with the brilliant tech savvy genius college students?

     This is very predictable and you wonder the entire movie, how accurate is this presentation of Google and the internship program?  I very much disliked the fake accent assumed by Max Minghella in his role as the “elite one” of the students.  I wanted to yell, “Knock it off already!”  3* (This movie is OK)

119 min, Comedy directed by Shawn Levy with Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne, Aasif Mandvi, Max Minghella, Josh Brener, Dylan O’Brien, Tiya Sircar, Tobit Raphael, Josh Gad, Jessica Szohr, Rob Riggle.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 6.3 out of 10, 35% critic 55% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Children of the Stones 1977

     This is a min-series originally airing in England.  The story takes place in a British village called Milbury.  This village has a Stone Henge type megalithic stone circle.  Matthew Brake bought a painting depicting the stone circle and he follows his father Adam Brake to the village for scientific experiments.  Adam is an astrophysicist and he has brought his equipment to test the properties of the stones.

     Maybe one of the most ridiculous films I’ve seen!  The creepy music and singing are enough to make you want to turn it off immediately but you become fascinated by the hairstyles of 1977 and the mannerisms of the people.  3* (This movie is OK)

174 min, Drama directed by Peter Graham Scott with Iain Cuthbertson, Freddie Jones, John Woodnut, Veronica Stron, Gareth Thomas, June Barrie, Peter Denim, Darren Hatch.

Note:  Blockbuster 3*, imdb 7.2 out of 10, 100% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.

Special Note:  There are stone circles, standing stones, stone rows and dolemans in England but I didn't see any listed for Milbury.  There is a Milbury Heath in South Gloucestershire.

Leaving Limbo 2013

     This film is adapted from the stage play My Wonderful Coma.  The year is 1989, Monica is riding in a car with her teenage friends and they have an accident.  She is in a coma and her boyfriend Ben has both his legs crushed.  Ben was a football player and now he is doing physical therapy just to be able to walk again.  Monica remains in her coma for 19 years until she suddenly wakes up.  She has received mysterious flowers once a week for the entire time and her father has spend countless hours at the hospital with her.  She is emotionally devastated when she learns 19 years have gone by and she has missed a huge chunk of her life.  She is also distressed to find out Ben has moved on with his life. 

     This seems like a filmed for television movie.  The ideals of the characters are shoved down your throat and the acting is not very good.  I didn’t know if I could continue watching.  The dialogue, clothing and hairstyles are supposed to be funny but I didn’t think so?  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

93 Min, Drama directed by Sandy Bolian with Mandy Brown, Elias Cecil, David Fruechting, Luke Barnett, Amy Mathieson, Noelle Perris.

Note:  Imdb 7.1 out of 10, 79% critic 80% audience on Rotten Tomatoes.