Gone Girl

Gone Girl directed by David Fincher, starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, and Sela Ward.

David Fincher is one of best directors out there making movies right now.  This movie only further cements his status.  He is a master of using conversation, instead of all out action set pieces, to create tension and build suspense.  I don't find many directors out there who even compare to what he does.  His editing is also some of the best and he doesn't get cared away with quick MTV style of edits or cuts, he actually directs movies - which seems like a rare feat in Hollywood today.  This movie is about 2 and 1/2 hours long but feels like 2 hours, that takes a good director to do that, not to many directors today can get away with this.  I can't say enough about the pacing of this movie, it never slows down nor does the twists and turns of this movie feel cheap or forced, everything flows with an organic speed not found in movies now.

The story itself works with a inner logic that would have made Hitchcock proud.  It is a wonder lust of a good story, with good characters, good acting, and a solid production design to fully back up everything that happens within the movie.  This is a full out, onslaught commentary on marriage and media, which has a no holds barred approach that will either infuriate people or make them happy.  I don't think there will be much of a middle ground here on this movie.  Fincher does a great job of not finding that middle ground with an ending that gut punched everyone but one that is true to the story line and doesn't feel cheap in anyway possible.

I also loved how my perception of characters changed, for good or bad, in this story as certain information was revealed.  This was a bold move that I don't find in a lot movies but one that Fincher has handled well in a lot of his movies: The Social Network and Fight Club being two of them that maneuvered around this shifting of perspective with some great ease.  I'm also glad Fincher isn't afraid to do this and challenge his viewers to think outside of the standard box Hollywood has set up for every movie being some sort of variation of a popcorn movie. 

A perfectly cast, perfectly acted, perfectly directed, and perfectly designed film, well worth seeing, time will not be wasted.  But be warned it is a little disturbing and violent but not in a exploitative or shocking way but one that works within the narrative of the film.

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner directed by Wes Ball, starring Dylan O'Brien, Aml Ameen, Ki Hong Lee, Blake Cooper, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and Kaya Scodelario.

The one thing, for my anyway, that kept me intrigued with this movie was the mystery of what the hell was going on?  This one hook was enough to make this movie good.  Along with a good production design that fully supported the mysterious nature of the story, thus making it a watchable movie that I didn't feel wasted my time.  A way better teen-the-world-is-an-apocalypse type of movie that normally comes out and there isn't some kind of love triangle either, for that it also gets another bonus.  I just wish the characters would have been more interesting and less cliched.

Having said all of that though, I found most of the characters motivations and inner logic completely dumbfounded and stupid.  Their choices seemed based on cliche elements from thrillers and suspense movies than anything from the circumstances surrounding the characters in the movie.  This is a shame though because if these things could have been better ironed out this movie would have been a seriously good movie verging on great where as now it a sub-par movie verging on almost good.  It did interest me enough that I might go out and read the books, such was the pay off the mystery, that I didn't feel let down buy it.  That is saying something in a world where good movie endings are few and far between.     

The Frozen Ground

The Frozen Ground directed by Scott Walker, starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Vanessa Hudgens, Dean Norris, and Radha Mitchell.

I've got admit the trailer for this movie was much better than the movie turned out.  This is one of the worst cop/serial killer movies I've seen.  I would only watch this movie as an example of how not to make a cop/serial killer movie.  The pacing was slow, the detective work was minimum, there didn't seem to be any characterization of anyone which makes these movie hard to get into.  The main character has to be the focal point because it's because of him that we are immersed into this seedy, dark world.  I just didn't get any kind of feel for the main character in this movie nor did I get any kind of psychological feel for the serial killer.  I've seen too many good movies and TV shows of the cop/serial killer genre to know bad ones when I see them.  This one does not hold upon seeing it.

Watchmen

Watchmen written Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons.

I honestly don't know what more can be said about this book and yes I use the term book because it isn't just a comic.  This comic transcends comics in ways that boggle the mind.  I've read this book about 6 or 7 times and each time I get something new out of it and am completely amazed by the sheer volume and brilliance of what Moore has written. 

It was written in 1985 and is still as powerful now as it was when it came out then.  I can't even imagine having read it in 1985 and having to wait each month for the next issue to come out.  I find myself wondering how that would have been as an experience?  I don't know but for now all I can do is binge read the whole series in about a week or so.  This time around?  The story is as brilliant and amazing as it was each time I read it before.  There has never been a comic since that has compared to the impact of this comic. 

This comic is on my top 10 list of books of all time.  I consider this the best comic ever written, nothing I've read even compares to it.  On my top 10 list of comics ever created it comes in number 2, The Sandman series is number one but if the list is the best comic ever created not a personal basis, this comic will always be number one. 

Characterization on a level I don't think was ever seen before until this book came out and its even better than most books that come out.  Moore made these superheroes real.  He gave them a past, a present, and a future.  Any twists that abound in this book buck the trend of normal twists and turns in superhero books in that they don't feel cheap, they always feel earned.  His heroes act like they would act if they had the kind of powers they do.  They feel like they live in a real world.  Even his world building of an alternate history feels unlike most Marvel and DC universes.

Gibbons art is simplistic when first looked at but upon further watching his art it is the highly complicated details lurking in every panel, on a microscopic scale, that rises his art to a the height of this medium.  This is the perfect marriage of writing and art.  How Gibbons maneuvers through the panel layouts provided by Moore is a lesson unto itself even if you don't read the comic just to see how the panels are laid out then follow the action with the panel.  Even the lettering of the panels have a rhythm that I don't find in comics now-a-days.

I've read a lot Moore since I first read this comic.  This is by far the best thing he's written but even most of the books he writes for now are some of the best the medium has to offer.  He has truly mastered the medium of comics.    








 

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns written and illustrated by Frank Miller.

I haven't read this series in a long time but I  just had a sinking feeling that when reading it this time around I wasn't going to like it as much as I had before.  The main reason is, is that I've read a large volume of comics since then, so I have more to compare this story to than ever before.  I can honestly say the over all story, or more importantly the execution of the story, is over rated.  There are at least five plus books I would put a head of this comic in the over all story line.  But the idea of the story and what it represents to Batman is what keeps this comic holding on strong to its sure influence of the comic medium - that can't be denied and I won't even try to deny that.

I believe the over all execution of this this comic pales in comparison to some other comics out there but when this comic is compared to the superhero genre is stands as a literary masterpiece.  There's certain comics this can be compared to and then there's certain comics this can't be compared to because it fails in comparison.

I just wasn't as impressed with this comic, this time around.  I felt the narrative was stilted and fractured, which hurt the pacing of the story. The news broadcasts woven throughout the story became a hindrance to the pacing, they were more annoying and seemed more in vain with a typical superhero comic than in what Miller was trying to do here. I also felt the characters weren't fully explored like they could have been and Miller leaned too heavily on Batman mythology to earn anything that followed with his story.

The overall theme and arc of Bruce Wayne and Batman in story is what carries this comic from beginning to end but a lot of what happens in the middle gets jumbled.  I did like how this story brought out the grittiness of Batman, something that is truly there in his nature and fits like a glove.  The Batman and Superman fight was epic in all sense of that word.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (comic)

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen written by Allan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neil.

This is the comic series that got me back into collecting comics after about a 10 year hiatus from the world of super heroes.  The only bad thing about this comic series was that I could never find any comic to even compare to the greatness of what Moore and O'Neil did - about 75% of all other comics that came out around the time of this stood in its shadow.

Essentially this is just a great adventure story with a collection of late 18th century figures in literary books assembling to defeat an evil that is poised to take over England.  That's it, there's not much more to the story than that.  It's simplicity is something to marvel at and the the execution of that simplicity is even something more to marvel at.  More to the point it's an Avengers style comic - a super hero comic - only written with more grace, wit, and intelligence than anything found in all Marvel and DC super hero comics combined. 

Moore is at some of his best with this comic not just with the writing but with the panel layouts that are simply amazing.  He's not afraid to have characters talking about things for pages up pages.  He doesn't get caught up with the whole "there has to be an action sequence every couple of pages" or some big reveal ever couple pages.  Nothing in the story feels cheap or forced everything is written with the ability of a writer who is easily in command of the comic form - there's  not too many writers out there that I can even compare to what Moore is doing and has done.  One thing I've always liked about Moore is how his comics have a literary feel to them that seems wholly divorced from comic books in general.  His comics seem the perfect balance of comic and book.  I've only found a few comics writers to even compare with him.

Then there is Kevin O'Neil whose art is perfectly married to Moore's writing, creating a beautiful world for the eye to feast on.  He captures the feel of the time period of the story with an uncanny visual sense: from costumes to architecture to just how the people in the story pose - everything seems completely set in that time period.  His small panels details only make the larger panel or full page lay out sparkle and assemble all better when they happen.  Everything in this story is about details from the art to the writing.  Unfortunately this is also the comic that started Moore's decent into the everything has to have a sexual reference or subplot going on somewhere.  Here those sexual parts serve the story but after reading all the League comics I can see the seeds of those sexual scenes in this issue. 

Penny Dreadful Season 1

Penny Dreadful Season1 created by John Logan,  starring Timothy Dalton, Eva Green, Josh Hartnett, Reeve Carney, Rory Kinnear, Bille Piper, and Harry Treadaway.


Not a great show but a very watchable and entertaining show.  It has the production budget and mindset of Game of Thrones in that the world on screen feels very real and all the more believable because of the production.  I liked how the show played around with vampires, Frankenstein, witches, were wolves, and other characters and creatures of that time period.  It's all blended together in a way that is highly entertaining.  The main story line of fighting a daughter drives the story forward then various characters pasts are unearthed with each episode giving more weight and depth to characters and the story as a whole.

I must admit I really like the cable shows over the main network non-cable shows.  I like how a season isn't dependent on the standard 22 episodes but seems to be much more comfortable in the 10 to 13 episode time frame.  Personally I find this more rewarding over all as the stories have a quicker pacing to them and don't feel as strained as a 22 episode season.  Penny Dreadful takes full advantage of this format making a perfect case against non-cable shows long running seasons.  A longer season would not have benefited this show as I'm sure the story would have seemed to be grasping for straws at certain points in a long season, as it stands how each episode of the season builds towards the end game - nothing feels wasted.

The actors in this show also rose to the challenge to flesh out the characters giving them a very believable life and world weariness.  This is by far some of Josh Hartnett's best work.  Eva Green continues to amaze in anything she does, proving once again that with some good scripts she is by far one of the better actresses working out there.  Even with a poor script she can make the story even that much better just by her mere presence but here she is afforded a far better story than normal and rises to the challenge wonderfully.  By the end of this season I was extremely looking forward to the next season. 

Taken

Taken directed by Pierre Morel, starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, and Femka Jessen.

I will admit this movie still holds up over time.  One of the best action movies to be made in a long time and it was so good that it created it's genre much like Die Hard and The Bourne Identity did when they come out.

Simple story line about a father's daughter who gets kidnapped and then what he goes through to find her.  The immediate idea of the story is used to easily connect the viewer to the hero and what happens next.  Then throw in the pacing of the movie which breezes along at a break neck speed but doesn't feel over done or that it's moving to quickly.  It's paced just right which each action scene and detective scene feeling just right and never over done.  The pacing also is handled with great command of communication in that I never once felt lost into what was happening from the detective point of view of the story nor in the fight scenes.

Liam Neeson is the ultimate star and guiding force of this movie.  This movie is all the better for it. I really liked seeing Liam Neeson kicking ass and taking few names or at least only the names he needed to find his daughter.  He presence dominates every scene he's in and the violence he dolls out is completely justified without there being any sympathy for the villains he kills, in fact there is only empathy for him as tries to find his daughter. 

Good movie, with great pacing, good timing (90 minutes), and with a great action star performance by Liam Neeson.



 

Joe

Joe directed by David Gordon Green, starring Nicolas Cage and Tye Sheridan.

There is many things similar between Joe and two other movies Winter's Bone and Mud.  They all focus on characters and use the setting of the story as a character in the movie.  The budgets for all of these movie are low but that doesn't matter as the characters and their stories move these movies forwards in some marvelous ways.  Characters are what sells these movies and the situations they find themselves in are what connect the viewer to what is happening in their life.  There isn't anything complicated that happens in these movies its just the characters inhabiting  them and their life that is completely compelling.

Joe is one of Nicolas Cage's best performances he's given in a long time.  Granted he is just playing Nic Cage but he does it better here than he's done it in most movies he's starred in.  The setting and production of this movie are as much a character as Joe and Sheridan's character.  Every shot, room, scene feels like it's been shot on location and not on a set, which only adds to the over all effect that film has on the viewer.  Even the characters in the movie don't seem like the typical Hollywood characters.  They seem like everyday people.  All of this adds up to a good film experience.  

The Mistborn Trilogy

The Mistborn Trilogy written by Brandon Sanderson

Book one: The Mistborn
Book two: The Well of Asscention
Book three: Hero of Ages

It took my friend Pat years of whispering in my ear for me to finally sit down and read this trilogy.  I don't like fantasy, which is why it took me a long time to read these books.  But I must admit I started reading Sanderson with this Stormlight Archives books - which is easily some of the best fantasy books I've read in a long time.  By starting there I figured out how he writes so I know that made it easier to get into this series.  I had started it once but lost interest as it started following the normal framing of a fantasy series: chosen one, ultimate evil, destruction of the word, and chosen one sent to save the world.  Those framing devices are all here in this story but Sanderson doesn't stick to the normal workings of a fantasy story.  He does play around with them in some interesting ways.

I read through all three books in about a month as I found them on Amazon Kindle in a bundle price of $5, no matter how you look at that, it's a steal.  3 books for $5, over a thousand pages to read, bargain deal.  Even though I hadn't like the story initially I took it by good faith of Pat that the story was good.  So I bought them and spent a month in the world of a Mistborn.  I will admit it was some good time spent.

If you like fantasy, you've got to give these books a try.  They are a very good read.

Some random thoughts on the trilogy without giving away too many spoilers. 

Magic: Sanderson continues to stroke the imagination with some wildly creative uses of magic.  Metal magic dealing with ingestion, piercing, and stored power, is truly some of the most awesome magic I've read about ever.  How he plays around with it is crazy, cool, and rewarding in all kinds of ways.  Also Sanderson isn't afraid to reveal things, while there are so many people out there seem that keeping things hidden seems to deepen a story line.  Not so with Sanderson.  He knows that revealing things only strengthens the reader's relationship with the book.  He did this with Stormlight Archive and he does it here with Mistborn and I must admit it was quite refreshing to find this in a writer.  The Steel Inquisitors were by far my favorite characters in the story, even though they were bad guys I found them immensely intriguing.  They would use spikes to piece their bodies and eye sockets to give them the power of metals instead of ingesting the metals to burn the power from them.  I just found their presence and history completely fascinating.  I don't know why I'm attracted to the villains of stories like I am but I always find them much more fascinating than anything the heroes normally have.  Personally, over they years, I've come to like the Sith over the Jedi. 

Fight scenes: Sanderson does write some of the best fight scenes dealing with his magic that I've read.  He doesn't get to descriptive but says just enough to what is going on that there is little confusion.  His confidence in what is going on with the fight scenes is what really helps to stabilize the moves and actions of the characters.  Writers who get over descriptive in a fight scene seem more unsure of themselves - Sanderson is not that way.  I also like how when he wants to go completely crazy with a fight, he goes completely crazy and it's extremely cool when he does as he just lets the magic of his world take over a fight scene.  When he does this, I can honestly say, I want to be a Mistborn using those powers because they just seem like it would be so much fun.  Fun is a good word to describe a lot of this book.

Marriage: Sanderson does something not found in fantasy, hell not found in many books, he creates a loving relationship between a man and woman and then does the unthinkable - he has them get married.  That really shocked me and when Pat told me about that part of the story, that was the one part that intrigued me the most of the story.  Not the magic part but the relationship between the man and the woman because I don't read many stories that explore that kind of relationship.  Normally it's all about the build up the relationship then the story ends.  Sanderson chose to go beyond that and explore the relationship after the build up.  I found that exploration one of the greatest aspects of this story as it expanded on the two characters in some glorious ways, helping them become two characters with such depth not found in many stories.  There were moments in this book where Sanderson used some of Jane Austen's witty conversation techniques and use of mannerisms and etiquette to explore not just characters but a world and society he was building.  I applaud him for being brave enough to do this, not too many writers of sci-fi or fantasy would have added those sequences into a their story.  One good thing about Sanderson is that he understands that characters move a story and he builds some great characters throughout this story.

World building: easily one of the best world building I've read.  What continually amazes me with Sanderson is that he does it so many books.  He creates a world and then starts putting the blocks in place one piece at a time until the world he's created is completely believable and populated with some great characters.  Like I said above Sanderson isn't afraid to reveal things about anything in the story and by the stories end there won't be too many threads left hanging.

Perspective: Sanderson continued at different points in this story to reshape my perspective of things that happened either earlier or later in the story.  I won't go into further detail on this but I will just say that he has a complete command on the story he's telling.  When a twist or some more information is giving as a shock - they don't feel cheap.  They feel completely planned out and when further thought about they fit in with either things that happened before or things that will happen later.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug directed by Peter Jackson, starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloom, and Evangeline Lilly.

I've got to say I liked this movie better than the first movie even though this movie had its pacing problems (as the first one did) and it also had scenes that made no sense (as the first one did).

It was better but still wasn't anywhere as good as the original trilogy.  Like the previous movie the production design trumps any form of characterization and story, as they get lost in the gloss and glamor of set design, costumes, make-up, and special effects.  Then (as in the first movie) there are scenes that completely hinder the pacing and flow of the movie - grinding it to a halt which it then takes a good amount of time for that momentum to get built back up and for a two hour plus movie that is not a good thing as it makes the movie seems much longer than it is. 

I lost all faith in Jackson as a director with the King Kong remake, than the first Hobbit further built on that faith, this movie only adds more building blocks to what was already there.  I can honestly say I'm not looking forward to any more movies from Jackson and hope he just sticks with producing and says away from behind in the camera.

National Treasure Book of Secrets

National Treasure Book of Secrets directed by John Turtletaub, Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, John Voight, Helen Mirren, Ed Harris, Harvey Keitel, and Bruce Greenwood.

A sequel I don't think that lived up to the first one.  This movie was missing some of the charm that gave the first one such a good viewing.  They even added Helen Mirren and Ed Harris, neither couldn't bring anything to the table to elevate this movie from being just normal.

The one thing that didn't quite gel with this movie is the motivation to get the treasure hunting going strong.  In the first movie the motivation was believable but in this movie it seemed the writers just threw something together when there was a more believable route right at their finger tips.  Ed Harris' character easily provided the motivation: his families history that would have been a perfect fit with Cage's character.  I could see Cage's character buying into helping out Harris' character versus what the story line force fed the audience with this movie.  I also didn't buy how Cage and Kruger's characters just seemed to break-up after the first movie.  Their banter and conversation were some of the high lights of the first movie, along with their chemistry.  It just felt like the writers didn't have enough faith in their own characters and had to manufacture motivations when in reality those motivations were already there.  There is a much better movie lurking under the surface of this one that wasn't let out - which is a shame because it would have been a good companion to piece to the first movie instead of being just the ho hum sequel it is.

Hannibal Season 2

Hannibal Season 2 created by Bryan Fuller, starring Mads Middelsen, Hugh Dancy, Caroline Dhavernas, Laurence Fishburne, Gillian Anderson, Hettienne Park, Eddie Izzard, Katharine Isabelle, Cynthia Nixon, Gina Torres, and Michael Pitt.

I will not say this is a perfect show but it is one of the most watchable shows I've seen.  It's very easy on the eyes from the production, costumes, and camera movements and placement - it all makes for a viewing experience not normally found in TV shows.

But make no mistake this is a show about serial killers in all definition of that word.  It explores their world.  Their mental state and how their thought processes differ greatly from that of a normal person.  It shows their perspective on the world, people, and choices they make.  This show is not afraid to explore a serial killer's mentality and to ask some serious questions about the state of mind of a serial killer.  In doing so it goes down some dark passageways and penetrates into some uncomfortable areas of morality and perspective.  This isn't killers killing for the sake of killing - there's a reason behind it, there's a reason behind the violence.  Thus the violence and gore on display aren't there for just shock (don't get me wrong though they are shockingly disturbing without a doubt).  This show is very violent, very gory, and the color red is one of the primary colors on the palate for this show.  I watched the producer's cut of certain episodes so I don't know what made it on TV and what didn't but the level of violence and gore even shocked me at times.

This is a pitch perfect cast show with not one person miscast.  Who would have thought anyone could have done a better Hannibal Lector than Anthony Hopkins?  I didn't.  But Mads Middelsen is electric, enticing, and completely mesmerizing as Lector.

This season picks up right where the last season ended and just continues to run with a confident sense of continuity I don't find in a lot TV shows now-a-days.  By the end of this season I'm really looking forward to next season, so much so that I might end up watching it on TV - which is something I haven't done in many years.  




 

National Treasure

National Treasure directed by Jon Turtletaub, starring Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean, Jon Voight, Christopher Plummer, and Harvey Keitel.

Over the years this movie has become a guilty pleasure of mine.  I like this movie.  One of the reasons I like this movie is that it knows exactly what it is and doesn't try to be something it's not.  It's just a good old adventure movie and all the actors in it don't try to do anything other than make it that adventure movie.  This is the kind of story Dan Brown was trying to tell in his The Da Vinci Code and failed - but I will leave that for another critique. 

I like the characters in this story and I like the fact they aren't talking down the audience.  Nicolas Cage does a good job with his explorer/treasure hunter.  This movie works well - in the story line department - as a sort of modern version of Indiana Jones.  Though this movie no where compares with that movie, story line wise or direction wise.  Spielberg nailed the pacing and direction of Jones to a degree that was staggering.  National Treasure is more light weight and fun with everything, as it has a more playful tone but it knows this and doesn't shy away from it just rolling with what happens in the movie. Also it's a good family movie and I would consider this one of Jerry Bruckheimer best produced movies. 

Maleficent

Maleficent directed by Robert Stormberg, starring, Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Lesley Manville, Juno Temple, and Imelda Staunton.

I've got to admit this movie was visually stunning but didn't have much else going for it.  And was completely forgettable after I saw it.  It seemed like everything was put into the production design while things like plot, character, motivations, and dialogue got left stranded in whatever warehouse Hollywood keeps those things.  I sure hope they find that ware house sometime because it's been lost for decades.

I didn't understand why Maleficent even cared about what happened to Sleeping Beauty after she cursed her.  That whole plot point was utterly confusing like much everything else in this movie that sacrificed anything and everything for visuals.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes directed by Matt Reeves, starring Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Andy Serkis, and Jason Clarke.

An equally entertaining but ultimately forgettable movie.  I can't quite pin down what made it forgettable but something just didn't quite gel together with the whole movie.  I had a good time watching it but the over all effect of the movie when it was over was shrug of the shoulders.  I haven't really thought about it much since I saw it.  The original movies - even though they were cheesey (except the first one) still got there first and still laid the ground work for this movie.  I'm getting so sick of reboots and remakes.  Where is the original material?

Thanos: Infinity Gauntlet

Thanos: Infinity Gauntlet written by Jim Starlin and illustrated by George Perez and Ron Lim.

This is easily one of the best Marvel comics I've read in a long time. Considering it's based in the world of superheroes I found the storyline actually developed with an actual beginning, middle, and end with none of the soap opera stuff that seems to conflict with continuity in superhero comics.  The only parts of this story to drag are when the Marvel superheroes are in panel because this is not a story about them.  This is a story about Thanos.  When the story focuses on him, it really soars.  His mere presence in a panel or on a page just commands attention, even if he isn't doing anything but standing listening or just staring off towards the universe. I was wholly sold on the simplicity of this story: it's about a man trying to win a woman.  Thanos is trying to woe the lady Death by accumulating all of the powerful infinity gems and then using them to win her hand.  Simple stories work best.  Despite the fact the story revolves around cosmic beings by having them have the same instincts and desires as mere humans helps to make everything that happens very relate able.   

Automata

Automata directed by Gabe Ibanez, starring Antonio Banderas and Dylan McDermott.

This movie was boring from beginning to end but the central mystery of the movie - who is tampering with the robots - did have me interested enough to finish the movie.  But the big reveal was more of whimper and fell into the nothingness as fast as it was revealed, which really aggravated me because the story went to great pains to point out about the tinkering of the robots.  So the build up to it did entice me but the ending of it was severely lacking, considering the build up.  Characters motivations seemed left to cliche instead of being grounded in any form of reality, even their decisions were out right confusing.  Honestly there just wasn't a lot to like in this movie.  I am very forgiving to sci-fi movies but then I'm also very critical of them if they seem lost in their own self righteous at the expense of characters or story line.  

The Equalizer

The Equalizer directed by Antonie Fuqua, starring Denzel Washington, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Marton Csokas.

There's not much to say about this film other than if you like seeing Denzel Washington shoot people and for the most part be a bad ass - then this is the film for you.  I don't think this film is better than Man on Fire.  I thought the pacing in this film was rather slow especially when compared to the masterfully paced Taken, which also had a huge emotional connection with the main character's story and push into the action sequences that took place. None of that is here this movie, for that, this movie seriously lags instead of being action filled. 

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day directed by Bharat Nalluri, starring Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciaran Hinds, Lee Pace, Mark Strong, and Shirley Henderson.

This is a little gem of a movie that I'd never heard of but Jess - through her friend - introduced me to it and initially I wouldn't have really cared about it until I read who was in it.  Based on the actors and actresses in this movie is the only reason I watched it and was hugely rewarded from that.

This is a subtly built romantic movie that doesn't go all overboard as most romantic movies do.  This movie is more concerned with characters and the gimmick of the one day set up than solely focusing the normal romantic cliches that seem to dominate most romantic movies.  This movie is very focused and paced like a play, which is not a bad thing because it means every scene matters and isn't just thrown in there for sake of being funny, witty, or flashy.  Every scene matters in this movie, every line of dialogue is there for a reason, nothing is wasted.  And the chemistry between the love interests is believable and is what helps to elevate this movie into a truly great romantic movie.  The actors and actresses completely buy into and sell their characters making this movie a very underrated and little seen movie that needs to be seen and talked about more.