The Last Song (2010, U.S.)

Much better than Nights in Rodanthe, didn't hold a candle to The Notebook or Message in a Bottle. Then again, this wasn't my favorite Sparks book either.

A very troubled teenage girl and her brother get shipped off to her dad's for the summer. There she finds her first love and reestablishes her relationship with her father.

The casting was pretty good on this one. Miley Cyrus wasn't that bad, Greg Kinnear was good, the boyfriend was sexy, and the kid who played the younger brother was awesome. I've seen some great child actors recently, it seems.

I think this was very true to the novel, because it too tried to take on too much at once. The combination of the dying father-troubled daughter story and the first love story was just too much. I think the movie did a pretty good, maybe better, job of showing how the girl falling in love helped her open her heart to her father more too.

It was sweet and I was sobbing at the end. Nicholas Sparks, what more can I say?

Rating: 3.5

The Hurt Locker (2008, U.S.)

An army bomb removal squadron disenganges a bomb in Baghdad. And then they disengage another. And a few days later they do another. On and on and on, blah blah blah.

This had to be the slowest paced movie I've ever seen in my life. It would be one thing if they tried to make some deep statement about the psychology of war or something like that. What made it worse was that they probably thought that's what they were doing. But no. Characters weren't sympathetic, writing wasn't good, acting was wooden... awful.

I was already doubtful about the Academy Awards in recent years, but the fact that this movie actually won the Best Picture Oscar just completely made me lose faith in the Academy. I've only seen a couple of other nominees, but all of them were better by far.

Rating: 1.0

The Bounty Hunter (2010, U.S.)

Blah, blah, blah. Another romantic comedy with a good idea and a terrible execution.

Milo is a bounty hunter with bad luck, and then he gets an assignment to track down his bail-jumping journalist ex-wife, who's doing a story on a dirty cop murder cover up. They find themselves on the run in a ridiculous, unbelievable adventure.

Look, people. Jennifer Aniston is not a good actress. She never has been, she never will be. She plays the same character over and over again. Rachel Green, Brooke Meyers, Nicole Hurley... they're all the same. (I will say that she was actually excellent in The Good Girl, but that was an exception and not a rule.) Gerard Butler, on the other hand, is a wonderful, wonderful actor. He was the Phantom of the Opera, for crying out loud. And now he's doing crap like The Bounty Hunter and The Ugly Truth. Also he's looking kind of rough. It's just not right.

Rating: 2.5

Remember Me (2010, U.S.)

I was absolutely stunned to discover that most professional critics ripped this film apart. It was absolutely astounding.

Essentially, two young people who have suffered terrible losses find each other and fall in love. Ally saw her mother murdered when she was 10 years old, and Tyler (whose 22nd birthday is approaching) had an older brother who committed suicide on his 22nd birthday. Ally's father has become overly protective while Tyler's parents divorced and his father especially emotionally distanced himself from his surviving children. Tyler is close to his young sister, a shy brainy girl whose classmates torture her.

The characters were so incredibly real. I've always said that Robert Pattinson is a seriously underrated actor (inevitable, due to his roles as Cedric Diggory and especially Edward Cullen). (See The Haunted Airman for further evidence.) He was Tyler in this film—frustrated, lost, alone, a good brother, a bit of a mess, imperfect but still a basically good person. Emilie de Ravin wasn't overwhelming by any means when contrasted with Pattinson, but she is still a fairly strong actress and convincingly portrayed a fragile girl trying to find herself and redefine her identity without hurting her father too much. The rest of the cast was also great, though what else would you expect from the likes of Pierce Brosnan and Lena Olin? The real stunner was the young actress who played Tyler's younger sister. Her performance just defies description; you have to see it to believe it.

Ally had a thing about eating her dessert before her meal, because anything could happen and she might not make it to the main course. The filmmakers seemed to make such a big deal of it that I kept running over it in my mind and found the heart of the story. This is a film about loss and living life as if each day will be your last. About learning from grief and embracing each day and appreciating each person that comes into your life. It's hard to say more without giving away the ending, but a lot of critics said that this film was just a series of tragic things happening to beautiful people. That sounds like the kind of opinion I would be prone to have, and yet I didn't. Even with an ending that was incredibly cliche and, in retrospect, totally obvious, I still thought it worked well.

Aside from fantastic acting, the subtle score, gritty New York scenery, touches of humor, and good writing really made this a stunning film. So take that, Roger Ebert.

Rating: 5.0

Alice in Wonderland (2010, U.S.)

You never can guess how a remake of a classic like Alice in Wonderland will turn out. On the other hand, any project that involves Johnny Depp, HBC, Tim Burton, and Danny Elfman is guaranteed to be a winner.

Having forgotten the adventures of her childhood, the 19-year-old Alice returns through the looking glass and finds her destiny is in stopping the Red Queen, not marrying some pompous ass in England.

Wonderland is definitely a land of wonder. All of the mixed live action and CGI really does something amazing. The bizarre plants and animals, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the Cheshire cat, and above all the Red Queen... wow.

I love HBC and Johnny Depp. They are incredibly talented actors. But I think that Tim Burton just coaxes the absolute best performances out of them. I mean, I could limit this review to one sentence: HBC as the Red Queen and Johnny Depp as the Hatter. End of sentence, end of review.

Amaaaaaazing.

Rating: 4.0

Gray Matters (2006, U.S.)

I previewed this one to decide whether to add it to the library collection. It's a romantic comedy about Gray and Sam, a brother and sister who are best friends, so in sync that people think they're dating. They decided she'll find a girl for him and he'll find a guy for her. Then they meet Charlie, a girl who's perfect—for both of them. When Sam and Charlie get engaged, Gray eventually realizes that she might be in love with Charlie too.

At one point, Gray is feeling lonely, as she says, "Because I'm never going to be able to walk down the street, holding hands with my partner without the rest of the world giving us a look. And me never have the wedding that I once dreamed of and I may never have children. And one day when I die people will never give as much respect to my grieving lover as if she were my husband." Profound and beautiful words from the lips of Heather Graham in a film billed as a romantic comedy? Incredible.

This was a sweet, touching film; not quite as good as Imagine Me & You, but not bad... What is it about adding the element of homosexuality that makes a romance more realistic? Perhaps it's because it isn't just a case of man and woman doing stupid things before finding each other, but instead women dealing with issues of identity as well. (Side note: why do gay men get the serious movies and gay women get the romantic comedies? Realism versus chick lit?)

I really like this one. It would have been better if they'd gone a bit farther, giving Gray and Charlie the opportunity to have the big conversation so Gray could move on with her life and accept her identity a bit more. But I guess it wouldn't be a romantic comedy then.

Rating: 4.0

Prime (2005, U.S.)

Well, this movie had a great premise. A 37-year-old woman meets and falls in love with a 23-year-old man, which is bad enough. The man turns out to be the son of her therapist, who has unwittingly been encouraging the woman to pursue something with the man in order to work through her intimacy problems.

The execution was terrible. It took the comedy right out of romantic comedy. In fact, it took the romance right out of romantic comedy too. Not even the bloopers were funny, even though I'd had several glasses of wine first. Terrible.

Rating: 2.0

Scoop (2006, UK)

Here I am, nearly two years after starting blog, saying the same thing. What the hell, Woody Allen? You think you know what's going on and then he just tosses in the most random twists and turns in the plot.

A famous British journalist dies before he can reveal his big scoop, the identity of the tarot card serial killer of London. He cheats the Reaper and appears to American journalism student Sondra, passing his scoop on to her. She's on stage at a magic show featuring magician Sidney. Sidney and Sondra embark on an investigation to verify the dead journalist's story, which has a wealth aristocrat pegged as the murderer. Things are complicated when Sondra falls in love with the prime suspect.

It's hard to say much without giving the ending away, but I will say that the acting was top notch. Allen himself stole the show. He was very funny with his stutter and repetitive phrases and odd mannerisms/demeanor. Johannson was the perfect nerdy co-ed, while Jackman was a perfect suave aristocrat. (I love Hugh Jackman. He is so yummy and such a good actor!) The plot takes all kinds of unpredictable twists and turns, and it is very laugh-out-loud funny. I read one review that called it a "top-notch 'Woody-Lite,'" which is a perfect description. And as always, Allen chose a fascinating soundtrack that completely set the tone of the film. Wonderful.

Rating: 3.5

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010, U.S.)

You should never judge a book by its movie. One of my mantras, and that definitely goes for this one too.

I will say there were some great things about it, namely Logan Lerman. Ever since I saw him in The Patriot, Riding in Cars with Boys, Jack & Bobby, and The Butterfly Effect when he was kid, I've loved him. If you can act that well when you're 8, you can only get better. He was great in this as Percy. (Although he was actually a bit old to be playing Percy, who's supposed to be about 12 or 13 in the first book. And wow, Lerman's sexy 18-year-old muscles should not be allowed!) His sidekicks were also pretty good. His centaur mentor, played by Pierce Brosnan, was pretty awful—although that could have been partially due to some pretty awful CGI.

The film did capture the adventure and humor of the books to some extent, although a lot of it would be lost if you weren't able to fill in plot holes with knowledge of the book. On the other hand, it also brought some of the settings more alive than I was able to with my imagination when reading the book—namely the Lotus Hotel (wow!), and to a lesser extent Medusa's lair and Hades. And speaking of the Lotus Hotel... Brandon T. Jackson as Grover the Satyr dancing to Lady Gaga was puh-riceless.

It's hard for me to judge whether it could stand alone as a movie since I read the book first, but it was pretty entertaining. Toward the end I found myself glancing at my watch quite a bit, but hey. It wasn't any worse of an adaptation than the later Harry Potter films.

Wonder if it was successful enough to finish the series or whether it will die a painful death like the His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass).

Rating: 3.5

It's Complicated (2009, U.S.)

Jake and Jane, a couple that's been divorced for a decade really reunites at their son's graduation, despite the fact that the man is remarried to a younger woman. Surprisingly, the affair goes on. Meanwhile, Jane also finds herself attracted to Adam, an architect who's remodeling her kitchen and is very passionate about his work.

This has to be the most unique romantic comedy of all time, and it was absolutely hilarious. Not only were Baldwin and Streep funny, but the rest of the cast, especially the daughter's husband Harley (John Krasinski), was funny too.

It has a kind of amusing suspense as you wait to see whether the children will find out, whether Jake or Adam will find out about each other, and ultimately who Jane will pick.

I loved the ending, and I loved having a romantic comedy that said you don't need a man to be happy. What an interesting breath of fresh air.

Rating: 4.0