Jun

20

Gran Torino (2009)

Posted by Movie_Maven

June 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Clint Eastwood is a master storyteller.  His direction, particularly as of late with such films as “Million Dollar Baby” and “Mystic River” and, (from what I’ve heard but haven’t seen yet) “Changeling” offer an insight into storytelling lost in many contemporary directors. 
He does it again in “Gran Torino.“ Playing war vet Walt Kowalski, an embittered old man [...]

Jun

16

Angels & Demons (2009)

Posted by Movie_Maven

June 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment

I put off writing this for a while because I wasn’t sure exactly what to write.  Even now, after thinking about it for a couple of weeks I am still a bit out of sorts.  The prequel to “The DaVinci Code” (which I loved AND read the book), A&D was cinematically less satisfying.  I’m not sure if [...]

Jun

15

“The Uninvited” (2009)

Posted by Movie_Maven

June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment

And yet another Asian horror remake, along the lines of “The Ring“, “The Grudge” and “Shutter“; however, I enjoyed this one, based on the original “A Tale of Two Sisters.”
Espousing the prototypical psychological thriller genre, the movie revolves around Anna (Emily Browning) who returns home to her father (David Strathairn), her sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel), and [...]

Jun

15

“Defiance” (2008)

Posted by Movie_Maven

June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Oh those blue eyes of Daniel Craig…wow.  I’m not particularly a fan of him as James Bond but in “Defiance” he was amazing as one of the three Jewish Bielski brothers (the other two played by Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell) who, during WWII, rescued several Jews,  maintained a forest-based camp in German-occupied Belarussia, and taught them to [...]

Jun

15

A nice gem of a film

Posted by Movie_Maven

June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Recommended by our local Hollywood Video buddies, Mr_Movie_Maven and I rented “Passengers” (2008) starring Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wilson, Dianne Wiest, and David Morse.  To be honest, I never heard about it before and the plot was interesting.  Counselor Hathaway works with plane crash survivors to overcome their emotions.  Sounds simple enough, right?  But that’s only the beginning.
The [...]

Jun

15

The International (2009)

Posted by Movie_Maven

June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment

I missed this in the theatre and being a big Clive Owen fan, Mr_Movie_Maven and I rented it this week (I just had surgery so we rented a LOT of movies.)  While the story had a unique and intelligent premise, the acting, in my opinion (and despite a nice cast) was lacking (even from Mr. Owen [...]

Jun

4

“Terminator Salvation”

Posted by Movie_Maven

June 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Since I’m having surgery next week, Mr_Movie_Maven and I continued our week o’movies with “Terminator Salvation” - the 4th installment in the franchise.  (According to imdb.com, “Terminator 5” is in the works already with McG (”We are Marshall” and “Charlie’s Angels - Full Throttle“) slated to direct again.  (Can you say overkill???) 
Anyway, I went into the [...]

Jun

3

Drag Me To Hell…seriously, please do

Posted by Movie_Maven

June 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Since I’m having surgery next week, Mr_Movie_Maven and I have been going to the movies a lot since I’ll be out of commission for a while.  Today we saw “Drag Me To Hell” (2009) a spoofish film that combined elements from several other horror films into a poorly acted film with  so-so special effects, not [...]