Mid Month Movie Review

Well. It’s almost the middle of the month, but it occurred to me the other day that I haven’t written anything about the movies I’ve seen recently. I have a few excuses for this…

1. It was a rough holiday season for me. I caught a terrible cold and am only now back to normal (maybe not normal, but as least not sick).
2. My days and weekends have been so busy. When I have time to write I sometimes just fall asleep.
3. Lastly, I have recently gotten sucked into the world of Words With Friends and have had as many as 8 games going at one time. It’s quite time consuming and takes quite a bit of brain power.

However, I do have some movie recommendations for you…

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – I saw the original version of this movie last year (in Swedish with subtitles). Even though it had some pretty difficult subject matter and some very brutally violent scenes, the story telling was pretty good. The “girl” was tough and took care of business. GIRL POWER, Baby! The original was a little slow in spots, but this new version was quicker and slicker. American movie making is better than it’s foreign counterpart, in my opinion. Mara Rooney was good, but I think Noomi Rapace from the original was better – she had more rough edges that suited the story much better. I did enjoy the movie and recommend it as long as you remember that it is pretty violent.

Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol – Recently, I have not been a big fan of Tom Cruise. His couch - jumping silliness and then his nastiness towards Brooke Shields and Matt Lauer a couple years ago really turned me off. However, his religion and his personality aside, he is a good actor. I was drawn to this movie by the previews – seeing him doing amazing stunts on the top of what seems to be the tallest building in the world in Dubai. The story is good stuff and reminded me a lot of the original MI movie and even the TV series back in the old days. I loved the TV series! Anyway, this movie was exciting, clever and fun to watch.Also in this film is Jeremy Renner - a great actor who is going to be someone to watch for a long time.

Young Adult – Charlize Theron plays an emotionally stunted and probably alcoholic 30-something-ish woman named Mavis who is still pining for her high school boyfriend. She is completely self-centered in her motivations as she goes back to her home town to try to rekindle her relationship with her old boyfriend even though he is happily married and a first time father. It’s hard to watch her as she self destructs at the new baby’s naming ceremony. Charlize is fantastic, but even better Patton Oswalt who plays a disabled high school acquaintance who tries to help her see reason and reality. This movie is funny at times and even though Mavis is horrible, I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her and hoping that she would have an awakening (she almost does). It was quite entertaining and I do recommend this movie – she will probably be nominated for an Oscar.

Sherlock Homes: A Games of Shadows - Robert Downey, Jr. is an exceptional actor. He is excellent as the iconic Sherlock Holmes. In this installment of the series ( I can't imagine that there will be less than 4 of these films), he meets Professor Moriarty and goes up against him with the help of Dr. Watson. Director Guy Ritchie does an amazing job with incredible slow motion effects. The movie is clever, funny and suspenseful - Robert Downey, Jr. does a fantastic British accent and his delivery of his lines is perfect. I recommend this movie wholeheartedly. 

Contagion - This movie was on pay-per-view and we watched it last weekend. I predict that if you weren't germophobic before seeing this movie, you will be afterwards! This story follows and outbreak of an unknown virus and tracks how quickly it can cause a global contagion. Very scary but it's a good film. Don't forget to wash your hands!

So that's it for now...but the weekend is almost here and there are so many movies we haven't seen yet...see ya at the movies!