Category Archives: Movie Reviews

I have to be completely honest about this review.  I seem to be one of only a handful of people worldwide to have not seen this movie yet.  I will admit I was wrong when I thought that this movie looked like any other Hollywood “pet” project, like “Battlefield Earth”, “Ishtar”, “Gigli”, or “Glitter”.  This looked like the kind of movie where the person driving the film is the only one that thinks the movie can be watchable.

Never the less, “Avatar” has gone on to break box office record after record.  Even “Titanic” can not match up to the power of “Avatar”.  Checking the most recent reports from http://www.boxofficemojo, a movie fanatic’s dream site, even accounting for inflation, “Avatar” ranks up with films like “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, and “The Sting”.

I get it.  It is a great film.  Take a chance (and a Dramamine) and watch the movie.  I think I will.  This week in fact.  At an IMAX Theater in Los Angeles while on vacation.  I hope it is worth the money…

Sherlock Holmes was one of the most interesting films I have seen his year.  Robert Downey, Jr. portrays him as a man that is unbelievably brilliant, almost disturbed, in how he interacts with those around him.

I was surprised with the level of fighting and mayhem in this movie.  Not that it was a bad thing, it was not what I expected.  I thought the movie captured the late 1800’s very well, right down to the look of the streets and costumes.  In fact, the streets were so gritty you could almost smell them!

I do not want to give plot away, suffice to say there are surprises and twists.  The love interest and interesting relationship between Holmes and Watson help you to connect with each of the characters in a way that makes you genuinely care for them and what happens to them.

I highly recommend this film and if I had an official rating system, I would give it 5 gears out of 6…

Dan Watkins – Client Care Manager

Movie Review

The Blindside (PG-13)

Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, is taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher’s presence in the Touhys’ lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle.

If a film critic awards four stars to a movie directed by Roland Emmerich — Hollywood’s reigning king of catastrophe, the critically scorned director of “Independence Day” and “Godzilla” — will the world come to an end? That’s a question the ancient Mayans never asked, but it’s the one facing me after the enormously satisfying, astonishingly accomplished, reprehensible-yet-irresistible “2012,” the crowning achievement in Emmerich’s long, profitable career as a destroyer of worlds.

Starting with the long-held misapprehension that the Mayan calendar picks 2012 as the date of humanity’s doom, Emmerich fleshes out that bit of pseudo-history with some pseudo-science — some nonsense about solar flares, and neutrinos heating the Earth’s core — and throws hundreds of millions of dollars and an expertly chosen cast at it. The result is a movie that takes the manifold guilty pleasures of such past Emmerich extravaganzas as “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow” — not to mention the Emmerich-inspired “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact” — and amplifies and expands them until they fill up 2 1/2 overstuffed hours.

Screen siren Cameron Diaz and former X-Man James Marsden star in the supernatural horror picture The Box (2008), directed by Donnie Darko cult fave Richard Kelly. The film’s premise involves a strange and ominous box granted to a young couple by a mysterious stranger (Frank Langella). They are informed that pressing various buttons on the box will grant them riches while killing a person unknown to them in the process. Executive produced by Ted Hamm, the film was adapted by Kelly from Richard Matheson‘s 1970 short story Button, Button. – Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Movie Info

Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella

Theatrical Release Date:  11/06/2009

Rating:  PG-13

MPAA Reasons:  for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images.

Run Time:  116 min.

Distributor(s):  Warner Bros.

Director(s): Richard Kelly

Genre(s): Crime and Mystery

After becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, Amelia was thrust into a new role as America’s sweetheart – the legendary “goddess of light,” known for her bold, larger-than-life charisma. Yet, even with her global fame solidified, her belief in flirting with danger and standing up as her own, outspoken woman never changed. She was an inspiration to people everywhere, from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to the men closest to her heart: her husband, promoter and publishing magnate George P. Putnam, and her long time friend and lover, pilot Gene Vidal. In the summer of 1937, Amelia set off on her most daunting mission yet: a solo flight around the world that she and George both anxiously foresaw as destined, whatever the outcome, to become one of the most talked-about journeys in history.