R.E.D.

Four former CIA agents, each living out their golden years have been suddenly targeted by their former employer as retired and extremely dangerous.  In an effort to understand the madness and to stay alive the four come out of retirement to set the record straight.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by this movie.  It is funny.  Not overly memorable, but it made me laugh.  The casting is what really clinches it.  John Malkovich is brilliant.  Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, and Helen Mirren are great too.  They all just bring something really fun to the story.

Speaking of story.... this one does tend to drag.  Like most action films it has a lull at about the 90 minute mark only to pick up and then go on for about 25 minutes longer than needed.

Nevertheless, it was still kind of a fun night at the movies.

** 1/2 Worth Seeing


Rated PG-13 (for language and violence)

Buried

Paul Conroy wakes up to find himself tied up and locked in a coffin. Buried underground, he doesn't know where he is or how he got there.  Armed with only a cell phone and lighter he tries to piece together clues of his location and how he might be able to escape.

This was a very interesting movie.  Interesting in that I was totally frustrated the entire time and struggled watching it.  The entire movie is one man in a box, keep that in mind as it makes the movie seem much longer than it actually is.

There are a few holes in the script which is ironic as they are literal holes... I won't say anymore on that in the event that one decides to see this.  Still it is worth watching I suppose just to see the camera angels and the editing. If you are prone to claustrophobia you may want to avoid this all together.

** Rentable

Rated R (for language and violence)

It's Kind of a Funny Story

A 16 year old boy stressed out from the complexities of being a teenager checks himself into a mental health hospital fearing that he may commit suicide. Inside he meets a random group of people that all suffer from different mental health issues.

Sooooo, kind of funny.... Yeah, I guess that adequately describes this show.  As it was neither dark enough to take seriously nor comedic enough to be memorable.

The casting looks intriguing but isn't really.  They kind of force, the kind of funny stuff,  if you know what I mean and struggle to gel as a cast as a whole.  The dream sequences however are really well done and could have been used as a real attempt to understand what those with depression deal with, but again, this film deliberately avoids getting too real and/or too serious about the issues.

It was only an hour and forty minutes and yet hits some grave lulls that make it feel so much longer.

Overall totally forgettable.

** Kind of Rentable


Rated PG-13 (for sexual content and language)

Secretariat

In 1973,  Secretariat won the Triple Crown.  Penny Chenery was the owner of this horse and managed to make her way through a male dominated business to become the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and Secretariat is considered by many to be the greatest racehorse of all time.

This however, is in my opinion, not the greatest horse movie of all time.  This movie is in fact about Penny Chenery, not Secretariat.  It is a sweet, feel good type flick that is missing any sense of wonder. Which is sad as I think it could have been so much better.

It drags and my friends that accompanied me all fell asleep.  It also doesn't have enough of the horse in it to really appeal to children.  If you are looking for an amazing horse racing movie try Seabiscuit or even better- The Black Stallion, both are much more entertaining.

** Rentable

Rated PG (for language)

The Social Network

Once upon a time... a Harvard undergrad in a fit of fury began blogging and programing a site that was only the beginning of an idea.  An idea that would change the world.

I know it all sounds so dramatic, and the fact of the matter is that his brilliant idea has yet to change my world, but I still humbly acknowledge that for better or worse, Facebook has in fact changed the way people communicate.  Pathetic -- OK so onto the movie.

This whole movie is in fact two depositions that are inter cut with flashbacks telling the story of how it all came to pass.  The dialogue, written by Aaron Sorkin, is very stylized and fun.  Truth be told, it makes the movie as the story itself is a tad sluggish and isn't that engaging.  The casting is amazing.  Truly.  Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zukerberg, the face behind facebook and he is so good.  I can't tell you how unlikeable and unsympathetic of a character he is and Eisenberg plays this perfectly.  Oh and lets also give credit to Justin Timberlake who is just as equally sleazy -- well done.

I have to admit that as I am not a facebookee, I may have missed out on some of the excitement that was portrayed in the film when little nuances were added to the site that somehow defined what it is today, but I suppose I still kind of appreciated it.  The movie was long though, and by the time it was over it was somewhat anticlimactic, but I liked it -- still not enough to join Facebook however.

** 1/2 See it

Rated PG-13 (for language and sexual content)

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

After being released from a long prison sentence, Gordon Geko again scratches and claws his way back to the top.  This time with the help of his estranged daughters ambitious fiance.

This was really boring. Extremely slow and straight forward.  There aren't any twists or surprises -- well OK there was one, but I will not say anything for those of you that still opt to see this movie.  Nevertheless, the movie is pretty blah.

I'm not exactly sure what I expected, but when you are coming from something as heart warming as "greed is good" I suppose I was surprised when the follow up wasn't exactly prickles and stings.

Really long,  really generic, really boring,..... really.

*1/2  Not really rentable

Rated PG-13 (for language)