2010 Movie Reviews

January

Sherlock Holmes * * * * *
I really loved this movie. I mean really loved it. It is possible that I only loved it because it was the first even halfway decent movie Michael and I have seen in a long time, but I don't think so. The writing is really good - Michael and I found ourselves laughing several times. The plot is good - keeps you engaged and guessing. The story is good - no loose ends, no dangling plot lines, fully developed characters... The acting is EXCELLENT - I think Robert Downey, Jr. is fast becoming one of my favorite actors. I highly recommend this movie, although I must say it is possible you may not agree with me on all points. My mom was disappointed, because Sherlock's character was a little too "modernized" for her taste. She wanted to see him portrayed exactly how he was in the books. For me, I loved the update!

A Christmas Carol * *
Another one of those disappointing movies Michael and I found ourselves wasting money on. We went for tw reasons: 1) We love Jim Carrey. 2) We wanted to get into the "Christmas spirit." Don't waste your time. I should have known. I hated Polar Express, too.
A note to Robert Zemekis:
Just do live action movies for Pete's sake, and stop with all the weird-looking action capture. It's very distracting. And actually seeing the actors would be much better.
And don't make a movie just to show off your 3-D effects. Because those of us seeing it in 2-D will find it rather LAME and TEDIOUS!

Angels and Demons * * * 1/2
Liked this adaption better than the book. Although I still had to wait for it to come out on DVD before I would watch it, so that Michael could fast-forward through all the violent parts. (Really didn't want to see all those priests dying, you know?!) Ewan McGregor is great. So is Tom Hanks, although I know a lot of you are boycotting him these days. And Ron Howard is a lot more respectful of the Catholic Church than Dan Brown will ever be. The movie was a lot more adventurous, a lot less controversial than the book. Thank goodness!

Night at the Museum 2 * *
Ok, I would give the first one a half star, so 2 stars is an improvement. But not worth seeing. Some funny one-liners. And Amy Adams is adorable, as usual. And Michael and I now like to say crazy things like "rigamorams" and "highfolutan" with a 1940's Hollywood accent, followed by the other person saying, "I have no idea what you just said!" But that's about all we got from the movie.

Elf * * *
A holiday necessity, right? Cute, simple, Will Farrell, and Santa - great combo for killing some time (and some brain cells). Although I dare you not to laugh out loud at that 30 second burp, no matter how many times you've seen it. Or Will Farrell dancing in the mail room.

Up *
Please, I beg of you, don't ever see this movie. Or if you have, don't talk to me about how much you love it. I seriously didn't even want to give it a single star. More like negative stars. Maybe I should just change my rating right now. You bawl within the first 5 minutes of the movie with their little dialog-less montage, then are utterly confused the rest of the movie. Talking dogs? Annoying tag-along kids? Weird do-do birds? Were the writers high when they wrote this? Hallucinating? I'm telling you, it is a crazy movie that doesn't even make any sense. And kind of violent, too - especially for a kid's movie. (No, I did not let Shaelyn see this.) And what is the moral? Environmental consciousness? Don't give dogs talking dog collars? Dead-beat dads ruin lives? (Now, that's a good moral!)

February

Avatar * * *
A friend offered to watch our kids so we could go on a date. Another friend gave me a gift certificate for Christmas that I have now used twice to see movies IN THE THEATER! So Michael had been wanting to see this, and I agreed to tag along. I have to admit, I went into it skeptical and figuring I would hate it. I told Michael I didn't want to be brainwashed by some environmental liberal agenda, so of course I went into the movie looking for it.
It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was kinda like "Dances with Wolves." So if you can stomach that one-sided story telling, you can stomach this. Plus the indigenous people (I can't remember what they're called) on the planet are really pretty to look at. But it has a one-dimensional character, more like a caricature, that drove me nuts the whole movie. I couldn't get past him.
However, I did cry. Of course.

Pink Panther * * * 1/2
Ok, I love Steve Martin. But I was afraid this movie would be cheesy and ridiculous. It turned out to be quite funny. I laughed out loud several times. Plus it has Beyoncé. Which makes Michael happy. However, I was surprised at the inuendos they allowed, especially with the PG rating. But it's definitely nothing worse than you would see on TV, so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised.

Pink Panther 2 - a 1/2 star
A 1/2 star. Maybe even a 1/4 star. Why Michael and I actually finished this movie and wasted that 90 minutes of our life is beyond me.

Julie & Julia * * * * 1/2
This is my BF's favorite movie. So I had to watch it to find out why. She is obsessed with cooking, food, and Julia Child. Oh, and France. And she writes about it. So basically she is Julie. Luckily, I read "My Life in France" before I saw the movie. And I think it made it that much better for me. Not being a foodie, I never knew much or cared much about Julia Child. But I grew to love her in the book. So I could appreciate that story line. And had I not read reviews of Julie's book before seeing the movie, I would have probably loved Julie's story line too. But unfortunately the reviews of Julie's book don't paint Julie in such a nice light. Luckily, Amy Adams portrays her to be sweet and lost - a lot like I feel sometimes. I just couldn't stop myself from picturing the Julie I had read about in the reviews, no matter how good Amy's acting was.
I think I liked it the most though, because it was like getting to see into my BF's soul - to understand her better than I did before.

The Proposal * * 1/2
A rom/com with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. I swear, Sandra Bullock never ages. She'll just be cast as a 30-something single woman forever. There were some funny one-liners, and part of the story was sweet, but I just feel like every movie out there these days is trying to shove immorality down my throat. Ugh!