The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (2005, U.S.)

I had to do it. Cute little Taylor Lautner! But I have to say, if I was a kid or had kids, I would really like this one.

The characters are really good. The main character is just an average boy with an extraordinary imagination. The heroes aren't the most heroic; they have flaws. Lavagirl is clumsy and Sharkboy alternates between tough, vulnerable, funny and a smartass. (He's even part animal... Jacob Black much?) So adorable.

The characters, adventures, and scenery seemed to come right out of a kid's mind (which in fact it did—it came from the mind of the director's son). I bet it looked really awesome in 3-D.

I can't decide whether to call a lot of the jokes cheesy or corny, because there was definitely a lot of food involved in the scenery especially. Either way, it was fun. And I loved the bad puns, especially the ones from Mr. Electric, the villain (aka Mr. Electricidad, the teacher).

In addition to all the fun and adventure, there was a good message to kids about keeping their dreams and making the important ones into reality. Sweet little movie, good for boys and girls.

Rating: 3.5

Post Grad (2009, U.S.)

This was a cute little movie. Alexis Bledel is a girl who has just graduated with an English degree and wants to get her dream job at her dream publishing house. She doesn't, and she has to deal with unemployment. Meanwhile, her best friend is in love with her and she starts fooling around with her much older Brazilian neighbor. So she loses her friend, another important thing in her life.

I thought it was both laugh-out-loud funny and touching. Michael Keaton as her father and Carol Burnett as her grandmother were especially hilarious. Without the comedy and the romance, her post grad life felt like a mix of my post-college and post-grad school experiences, which is probably part of why I liked it so much. I think any college graduate can relate.

Not many comedies can impress upon the viewer the important things in life—family, love, hard work, being happy with who you are and what you do. All that and a few laughs too. Good stuff.

Rating: 4.0

The Runaways (2010, U.S.)

Color me surprised. I didn't know anything about The Runaways and I've never really liked late '70s/'80s music, but I was curious to see Kristen Stewart in this one. I already thought she was an underrated and quite brilliant actress, but this one really convinced me. I love how she is so unafraid to look ridiculous, wearing silly clothes, rocking the ugliest hairdo, and singing like a fool. And wow, she was Joan Jett. The even bigger surprise was that Dakota Fanning, who I've absolutely loathed in the past, was almost as good as Cherie Currie. Between the two of them and the rest of the cast, there was a great dynamic that lent an excellent sense of realism to the film.

Costumes and makeup were stellar. I was investigating The Runaways' website and some of the costumes matched their tour pictures to a tee. Sets, script, everything made the period come alive.

This was a fascinating biopic that made me enjoy music that I'd never liked and taught me something that I never knew and entertained me all at once. That is a successful film if I ever heard of one. I'd love to see it again. A real cherry bomb!

Rating: 4.0

Death at a Funeral (2007, UK)

This one was different from the opening credits. I absolutely adored the score, which was fun and familiar sounding. It was cheerful and upbeat, yet slightly ominous at the same time.

Death at a Funeral is very British and an interesting ensemble drama. When a large family gathers for a funeral, there are all kind of interesting dynamics going on, from fighting couples to competing brothers to love triangles to hidden secrets that cause all kinds of trouble.

You'll laugh out loud, you might tear up a little, and your jaw will definitely drop multiple times. See it to believe it!

Also, I love Alan Tudyk. Love him.

Rating: 3.5

Salt (2010, U.S.)

I never thought I would see the day that I agreed with Roger Ebert, but I think it has come. He gave it four out of four stars, saying that "It's gloriously absurd. This movie has holes in it big enough to drive the whole movie through." Amen. It's like a super cheesy and preposterous 1950s spy film but with the realism that comes from modern day film techniques, and this is a very disconcerting combination. You could almost say it was so ridiculous it was good.

A lot of the plot devices lacked clarity, but I can't go into without giving away the ending. I did figure out one plot twist thanks to an episode of Lost, which was kind of fun for me.

Of course, I love Angelina Jolie more than anyone else I know. She makes an excellent action hero (see Tomb Raider). Apparently she's been wanting to do a spy franchise, and I wish this had a better script so they could make a franchise out of it. I do have to say thank goodness Tom Cruise dropped out, because this movie would have been ten kinds of awful with him instead of her.

Besides Jolie, the three best parts were the action, the setting, and the music. A lot of the action was based on Salt running and running and running from her pursuers, rather than explosions and shooting (though there was a good share of that too). The filming took place primarily in D.C. and was really well done. And the score (by one of my favorite composers) was perfect. If I had listened to it without the movie, I would have said to myself, "This would make good spy music!"

Don't expect much, and you'll be entertained. Especially if you like Angelina Jolie.

Rating: 3.5

Little Children (2006, U.S.)

Kate Winslet is one of the greatest actresses of her generation, if not all time. And Patrick Wilson is great when the psychologically disturbing and dramatic stuff (see Hard Candy). So a film with such a small cast that revolves around the two of them is sure to be a winner.

In an upper-middle class suburb, the lives of a woman with a porn-addicted husband, a man with a disinterested wife, a disgraced ex-cop, and a convicted sex offender dance around each other. It's hard to tell how they'll align (despite the common neighborhood), but eventually all runs together.

I guess this is supposed to be a film about people who can't control their impulses, but to me it seemed more like a film about people who are trapped in unhappy lives and deal with them in inappropriate ways.

It was sad watching these people pathetically run their lives into the ground. And while it was a powerful film, I think it was just too bleak for me. Still, definitely worth watching.

Rating: 3.5

Inception (2010, U.S.)

I don't even know what to say about this one. I had to make a conscious effort to relax my brow at the end of the film because I was doing some intense thinking the entire time. It is one of the most confusing things I have ever watched. There were essentially four stories nested within each other, plus side plots as flashbacks and goodness knows what else.

The basic premise is that a team is going to make a lot of money by placing an idea into a man's head. To do this, they have to approach him in a dream within a dream, thereby penetrating his subconscious as much as possible. The lead, played by DiCaprio, is slightly broken—mentally because he's gone into the dream world one too many times and emotionally because of what happened to his wife. He's a great actor, and he's complimented by a lot of other great actors. Joseph Gordon Levitt is a personal favorite of mine, and the rest of the cast was strong.

Two of the most important parts of science fiction are the world building and convincing science, and both were wonderful. It's one of those things that has to be seen, not explained, however. In fact, I probably need to see it again so I can remind myself what happened.

There were a couple of inconsistencies, but if you like a good thinker, this is definitely one for you.

Rating: 4.0

The Escapist (2008, UK)

This was a great cerebral drama. It's hard to elaborate on the best points without giving away the ending, but suffice is to say that a lot of the elements that don't feel quite right suddenly make way too much sense in the end.

Frank Perry is more than 10 years into a life sentence without parole, and he decides to escape when his estranged daughter becomes ill. He gets a group of cons together and they arrange an escape. After they leave the prison, the rest of the film takes place in the tunnels, sewers, and underground rivers of subterranean London.

The acting is phenomenal, of course. I've never been a huge fan of Brian Cox, but he was pretty great as Frank Perry. Dominic Cooper is strong as the sexually abused young new con, and Joseph Fiennes is, as always, one of the best actors of all time.

Most of the action seemed to be shot with a hand-held camera, and it made it feel like it was a first-person account of the breakout.

I expected a twist at the end, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what pieces weren't lining up. When the twist came, I was floored. It was one of those endings that made the whole film incredible. Good stuff.

Rating: 4.0

Toy Story 3 (2010, U.S.)

This was the first ever movie I've seen in 3-D. I don't know if I really liked that aspect of it. Mostly it just gave me a headache.

The movie, on the other hand, was great. I didn't think they'd be able to pull another story out of these characters, but they did. Andy's heading off to college and getting rid of his toys; the gang is donated to daycare, and it's a living hell.

Two big highlights were Buzz being set to Spanish-language Buzz, Barbie meeting (a very clothes-obsessed and shallow) Ken, and the aliens from the claw machine following around the Potato Heads ("You have saved our lives, we are eternally grateful!").

I was kind of back and forth about the ending. On one hand it was sweet and on the other hand it was way too sad and disappointing. Overall, it was the mix of funny and touching you'd expect from a Toy Story movie.

Rating: 4.0

Shutter Island (2010, U.S.)

Much better than the last film I saw that was based on a Dennis Lehane novel. DiCaprio plays Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshal who goes to a federal penitentiary for the mentally insane on a tiny island in Boston Harbor. With his partner, his mission is to find an escaped and highly dangerous prisoner. However, the doctors and administrators on the island are less than helpful, hurricane-type weather blows in, and Daniels is plagued by hallucinations/dreams of his deceased wife and experiences during World War II.

This is the kind of slowly building suspense that is all about creepy atmosphere and psychological drama, and it was very well executed. DiCaprio is a stellar actor, of course, and he definitely carried the movie. When it comes time for the big plot twist at the end and the memorable last line, he nails it.

Scorsese made a very interesting choice, and instead of having the film scored, he used a collection of instrumental classics. It worked perfectly. Some of the songs were beautiful, but the best one were creepy and frighteningly suspenseful. They did an especially effective job when Teddy and his partner first drive through the gates of the compound. It made me want to shout, "Turn around, don't go in there!"

You'd have to see this one to believe it. I just can't say much without giving away the ending. Which, I think, is a pretty good recommendation for the film.

Rating: 3.5