It’s a bunch of old, white British dudes walking around smoking cigarettes talking espionage and conspiracy.  It’s also a well crafted story acted out by Who’s Who of old, white British actors.  John Hurt being arguably the best old codger in history.  Love that dude.

Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch.  I’d never heard of Benedict Cumberbatch before but that’s apparently his real name.  And Tom Hardy, you get the coolest freaking roles in Hollywood.  Ultimate Fighter one month, British secret agent the next.

There is very little action, per se, but what there is is quick and graphic.  Lots of talking, sneaking around, thinking then all of a sudden BOOM!  Just as I thought I was gonna get tangled up in the plot something sudden would happen on screen to startle me back into it.  It kept me on the edge of my seat waiting what was going to happen next, what clue we’d find.

Not for the masses.  It’s R rating for sure.  Language, violence, sex, alcohol, a whole lotta cigarette smoking.

On and old, white British guy note, the role Gary Oldman plays in this film was played by Alec Guiness in a TV mini-series from 1979.  Yeah, that’s Obi wan Kenobi.

Brilliant concept that I think they just missed on.  And that’s a shame.  Steven Speilburg teaming up with Iron Man director Jon Favreau shoulda been awesome.  But it was only okay.  Maybe I was too hyped but I thought they missed on this one.

I mean it looks cool and there are some great visuals and some good lines and solid performances from Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford but… blah.  And why do all aliens now have to have exo-skeletons and be subterranean?

Did you know there were more sequels released in 2011 than in any other year?   Ever.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

This film didn’t suck.  It has some of the best action of the year and I really like the ensemble cast they’ve assembled.  Apparently Jeremy Renner is going to be the lead character for this series once Tom Cruise steps away and I don’t know how they could find a better replacement.  Love that dude.

The film is a little long and has a real big cheese ball ending.  I’ll not spoil it for ya.  It was good to see Ving Rhames in there for about 20 seconds.  And how much did he get for that?  13 mil?  My respect for Tom Cruise really did go up when I heard that.  Consider it back payment for all the money Cruise has made with those MI films.

Add it to the collection if your an MI fan.  This one is actually still in theaters but I’d recommend picking it up on DVD so you can pause it and go to the bathroom.  It’s long.

Let’s do another one still in theaters.  And also a sequel.  Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows.

Well, there really wasn’t much of a game of shadows.  There’s not really much of any kind of mystery either.  And somehow Sherlock has developed something similar to “Spidey Sense” as he simply knows the moves the bad guys are going to make without any deducing at all.  I found that to be a bit, tiresome.

Also tiresome was Downey Jr’s prissy British accent.  And boy, does he have lots of lines.

If you like watching Robert Downey Jr. run around with a serious man crush on Watson (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t have a serious man crush on Jude Law) then this film is for you.  Not as good as the first one and they kill Rachel McAdams off in the first 10 minutes.  I just didn’t believe any of it this time around.

But it made, and is making a boat load of cash so we’ll have Sherlock 3 probably Christmas time 2013.

And since I’m on recent films let me talk about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Now, this film has a mystery.  And should be considered for best picture in my opinion.  It’s also very long but moves along a lot better than say MI: Ghost Protocol.

There are some graphic scenes you should be aware of going in.  It’s intense, to be sure.  The opening credits do a great job of setting the mood of the film.  I really liked it.  Daniel Craig is good, Rooney Mara is out of this world.  I’m looking forward to the next couple of these films.  I’ll probably buy the books and read them.  I started to watch the original version of this film, which stars Noomi Rapace as the character Lisbeth Salander who co-stars in the above mentioned Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows.  But it’s subtitled and I fell asleep.

Alright, good for now.  More of the earlier 2011 films next.

i can’t call it the worst movie of the year.  most disappointing, yes.

so what even came out this year?  seems to me even the big movies were disappointing.

there were a bunch of comic book movies out.  Thor.

other than i think i have a bit of a man crush on Chris Hemsworth, i thought the movie was a lil on the lame side.  i do like the Thor character.  i think Hemsworth plays a pretty likable kinda big, beefy, super-powered demigod man hulk.  i buy it.  it’s all the foolishness around him boarders on rediculious to me.  Thor’s comrades from his world are dressed like what i imagine the Banana Republic would have dressed their models in back in ancient Rome/Greece history.

they’re all like super-powered and everything, albeit not to the extent of Thor with his mighty Mjolnir.  (Sorry I don’t know how to make the lil’ .. over the o.  And no, I didn’t bother looking up what the .. is called.  It’s probably go a .. in it anyway.

But really, those guys are worthless.

I’m getting off topic.  Sorry.

I think the success of the Transformers franchise reflect a dulling of the intellect of the American gene pool.  And this last one didn’t even have Megan Fox in it.  I’m not watching Transformers without Megan Fox.  Even though they got a girl looks almost as exactly like her as they could.  I’m not wasting that two and half hours of my life.  I could be playing Bioshock.

Green Lantern sucked.

Pirates on Stranger Tides wasn’t bad.  Johnny Depp could do Cap’t Jack Sparrow adventure movie every four or five years if he were so inclined.  The score is great, it’s got big, pretty landscapes, exotic locations.  Geoffrey Rush is money.  Love that dude.  Ian McShane stole the freaking show though.  If you don’t know Ian McShane, check out HBO’s Deadwood.  If you can tolerate profane and vulgar language, that is…

Conan was a disappointment.  Nothing against Jason Momoa, he’s much, much better in Game of Thrones.  Which is an HBO series as well.  Hmm.  Interesting.  But Conan shoulda been bigger and spoke less English.

Fast Five was pretty entertaining.  And if you like that franchise then you might say it’s one of the best.  It’s certainly my favorite.  Might be the only one I’ve actually sat through anyway.  The Rock and Vin Diesel work pretty well on screen together.  Those dudes always play likable characters and the action is off the chain.  Loud music, big explosions, pretty girls in skimpy bikinis, fast cars.  What’s not to love, really?

Super 8 might get my vote for best movie of the year.  I really enjoyed that flick.  I am that film’s target audience too.  I grew up watching those 80′s Spielburg movies to which this film pays homage quit nicely.  The kids where great, leaves ya with a good feeling at the end.  I was a lil disappointed in the alien though.  Just had the feeling I had seen him somewhere before…..in Cowboys and Aliens.

But more on that later.

It’s good to be back.  More to follow.

i’m still upset with ‘mater for leaving in the middle of the race to go on a big date.  i mean, yeah, she is a porche, or ferarri or whatever, but come on man.  you the dadgummed crew chief!  you can’t go la-de-da i’m going on my date.  especially when you’re hearing voices in your head telling you to do crazy things like leave the race in the final stretch!  take your headphones off and lay down.

nobody’s that stupid ‘mater.  you make patrick from sponge bob look like that smart kid used to sit by me in science class.

a lot of the plot points didn’t make any sense to me.  although i feel like i’ve seen them all before in some other Pixar film.  this time they are just kinda randomly flung together with larry the cable guy yucking it up between them.

there’s no character development at all.  not that anyone particularly cares about that but i’m a critic, yo.  ’mater’s a dumb ass when they start, ‘mater’s a dumb ass when the movie’s over.  with rockets!

the racing looks really freaking awesome though.  and sounds kinda like you could be next door to an actual Nascar race.

i saw it in 2D, with the majority of the folks at the midnight premiere, but will most def check out the 3D first chance i get.  the environments are almost kinda awing.  it really is impressive.  it makes me want to play the new arcade racing game we have in our game room, actually.  it kinda feels like your in a video game for a while.

i’m more disappointed in the film than i was madagascar 2.  and i didn’t think that was possible.  but this time it’s Pixar.  i guess everyone is due a dud every once and again.

it seemed to get a bit political, but i couldn’t tell what they were trying to say.  like they were being overly politically correct.

some of it was funny.  made me laugh.  but i’m coming to see a Pixar animated feature.  not larry the cable guy plays a semi retarded tow truck.  i got expectations.  and this is a straight to dvd script with some real pretty pictures.  the pictures are really, really pretty.

they’ll still make 200 million dollars but this is the weakest Pixar films by a long shot.

but best picture, i’m not so sure.  neither should the social network for that matter.  but this is a really good movie.  top 5 of the year for sure but for my money and entertainment value inception is the movie of the year.

i did really enjoy the king’s speech but i can’t say it’s better than true grit.  i put it on par with the social network which i really liked too.  but neither of those films i’m rushing out to buy on dvd.

anyway…

the king’s speech centers around king george vi, mostly while he’s prince of wales.  the man has a stutter which is embarrassing for both him and the sitting king of england.  we see him attempting a therapist at the beginning of the film and colin firth does an excellent job of making us think he is at the end of his rope with these therapist.  he’s apparently seen many of them over the preceding years and he is done with it.

ah, but he hasn’t seen lionel logue, crazy austrailian voice therapist played to a tee by Geoffrey Rush.  although i’m thinking the real lionel logue would have been a bit more respectful of the prince of wales…but whatever.  it makes for good cinema.

the actors are all believable, there is a tension built in the film between the older brother who is in line for the kingdom, the father, and the younger brother who is ultimately king george vi.  and also tension seems to build around them with the build up to wwii.  this film is excellent.

if you are a fan of good cinema go check it out.  this is most def one of the top movies of the year.  just probably not the best.

eh, it’s just okay.

it’s like this, Vince Vaughn gets all worked up because he sees his bestfriend’s (Kevin James) wife (Winona Ryder) cheating with Channing Tatum and proceeds to lose his freaking mind.  he doesn’t just tell his buddy what he say nor does he just stay the hell out of it.  he sneaks around and approaches everyone except the two ppl he should be telling.

i mean, what kind of fool sleeps at the office instead of just telling uber sexy girlfriend Jennifer Connelly what’s up?  Vince Vaughn, that’s what kind of fool.  and i know, i know, it was in the script.  it’s just redic.  she’d a been the first person i told.  but whatever.

it is pretty funny.  there are at least two laugh out loud parts and Channing Tatum does a really good job.  not like his role is a stretch of acting prowess or anything, but he plays it well.  Vince Vaughn is the same as Vince Vaughn always is, neurotic and barely tolerable….and not that i dislike Vince Vaughn or anything it’s just damn, how much tweaking out can one man do before someone punches him in the face?  and thank you Tatum Channing for punching Vince Vaughn in the face.

but overall this is a pretty decent date flick.  but when i see Ron Howard’s name attached to a film i guess i just expect cinema gold.  this is more like cinema tin….

well of course it is, he’s the first listed co-writer in the credits.  if you said, here Cal, we want you to write the role of the green hornet for youself, it would be a tad bit Cal Reed-y.  only it wouldn’t suck like the Seth Rogan green hornet.  but that’s not fair, this movie doesn’t exactly suck but it certainly isn’t a rush out and buy on dvd.  it’s just a little too much Seth Rogan.

funniest scene is the gas gun.  best character is the bad guy played by Christoph Waltz.  best action sequence is near the end where they absolutely trash the newspaper.

i mean, if it’s on USA or something i’m liable to stop and watch for a minute, but i’m not gonna cross the street for it or anything.

Jay Chou is pretty good as Kato and i can see this becoming a franchise.  i would hope they’d get another writer to come in and polish the script.  sorry Seth, but you really seem to like seeing yourself speak in an elevated, tensed up voice, talking real fast on the verge of yelling.

i do find it interesting to note that at my theater, we have 3 3D screens and one 2D screen of this film, the green hornet.  our 2D screen outperforms the combined 3 3D screens.  either people are catching on to the fact that in most cases 3D is simply a ploy to get 3 extra bucks per ticket, or the target audience for this particular film is too cheap to pay the extra 3 bucks.  probably a little bit of each.

Cameron Diaz actually looks pretty dang good in this flick and she does a pretty good job but it’s not a terribly complicated character she plays.  Edward James Olmos is perhaps the most underdeveloped character in the film.  but really everyone is pretty static.  i’m not sure anyone learned anything except Seth Rogan learned some Kato-vision.  the Kato-vision was pretty cool to see, but what exactly was it?  are they setting up a video game tie in or something, because it looked real video gamey.  but they never explained what was going on, Kato is just a bad ass i guess.

this film gets a box of milk duds and a small popcorn with a snuck in bottle of water.  go see it if you are just bored.  otherwise check out the fighter or the king’s speech.

that’s not to say this isn’t an excellent flick.  it’s hard for me to think of five better movies but i’m still not sure it’d be in my Oscar contenders.  but i don’t have a vote, so there ya go.

Marky Mark was born to play the underdog athlete.  he plays this role so well.  first of all, he is built like a welterweight boxer.  dude is ripped!  but the real star of this movie is Christian Bale.  he dropped like 40 pounds to play the crack addicted, former boxer brother of Marky’s character who is also his trainer.

Bale is awesome.  he quite literally becomes another person.  i’ve seen lots of Christian Bale films, sometimes i think he’s a bit of an over actor like in Terminator: Salvation.  he would have been better as the terminator in that film, but whatever.  he shows his chops in this flick.  it’s an incredible performance.  this movie might not be on my Oscar list, but Christian Bale is.

this is one of those movies that made me want to watch it after seeing just one or two random scenes.  i work at the theater ya know, and part of my job is to do theater checks.  where i go in and check the theater.  making sure the picture is good, the sound is good, there are no disturbances from patrons, etc.  and during a movie check of this film, the scene on screen made me say to myself, dang, i should probably check this thing out.  and i’m glad i did.

Amy Adams also pulls off a really good performance.  this is a different role for her and she nails it.  she’s not the cute little sweet thing she is in most of the stuff i’ve seen her in, she matches the grit, the feel of this movie.  she mixes it up quite well.

the mother, Melissa Leo, is possibly the most obnoxious character of the year.  she is awful.  i wanted to reach through the screen and smack her.  and her little coven of bitches are all very well done.

great flick.  i’ve not seen the King’s Speech yet, but i will in the next few days.  i would assume that the King’s Speech will be nominated for the best picture Oscar as well as the Fighter so i’ll give ya my opinion.  those two films seem to be picking up all the big pre-Oscar awards.  also the Kids Are Alright seems to be popular.  i actually didn’t catch that one while it was at the theater, but i didn’t see a scene in it made me really get too excited about making sure i watched it before it left.  but i don’t know.

anyway, this is a really good, very well done serious human drama film based on a true story.  starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo and Mickey O’Keefe (who by the way is the real life Mickey O’Keefe).  if you like gritty real life drama, this is a film for you.  if you are a fan of any of the above mentioned actors, go check this flick out.  you’ll see something from them you’ve never seen before.

the little girl, pardon me, young woman Hailee Steinfeld is incredible.  she gives an oscar worthy performance no doubt.  i’m trying to think of a better performance from any single actor this last year in movies and i’m drawing a blank.  she delivers the Coen brother’s sharp, often biting dialog both deftly and gracefully.  and the Coen brothers havn’t been this good since o’ brother where are thou.

the dialog is written in a style that feels authentically old western.  whether it is or now, how am i gonna know?  but it sounds like it.  it is very witty and i found myself a couple times having to let the dialog process in my head for a second or two before i got what she was saying.  then i’d giggle out loud.

the whole thing feels authentic to me.  it’s certainly no John Wayne western.  that old west is sterile as an operating room compared to the dirty, grimy, dare i say it, gritty old west we are presented with here.  and it feels right.  much like Clint Eastwood’s western masterpiece, unforgiven.

and Mattie Ross drives the whole thing.

Jeff Bridges seems as if he can do no wrong right now.  Matt Damon is good as LeBoeuf, the uppity texas ranger.  Josh Brolin, is a good villain who is both utterly deplorable and pitiable.  and i didn’t even know Barry Pepper was in this thing til i saw him show up on screen.  and he’s awesome.  he is the perfect western genre villain.  he’s like the perfect graphic novel western villain with his mangled up face and and beedy little eyes and the way he talked to his henchmen and interacted with Hailee Steinfeld’s character.

this has to be up there with inception as best movie of the year.  it was kind of a down year in movies and i’m not even sure what else should be in the running.  prob some indie’s or limited releases i’ve never even heard of.  but as far as films that have come through my theater, true grit is one the best two movies i’ve seen all year.  and Hailee Steinfeld delivers the most powerful performance of any actor i’ve seen all year.  she really steals the thunder from Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon who both bring and show forth their star power.

true grit is a must see.  four and a half large popcorn combos out of five.

******possible spoiler*****

i blame titanic for this but i’m getting really pissed off when they bring the old lady back at the end of the movie in one scene too many.  the final scene doesn’t ruin this movie for my by any stretch of imagination, like Cate Blanchett looking like the crypt keeper in Benjamin Button ruined that movie for me,  but it keeps it from being a five star movie.  after the screen fades to black we shoulda seen end credits rolling and listen to that awesome score take us out.  no need for crusty old Mattie Ross to come trotting back on screen to wrap things up nice and neat for us.  hella lame Coen brothers.

quite possibly the most fun i’ve had at the movies.  ever.  best kid movie of the year.

there are some subtle twist within the fairly straightforward disney princess format that i found to be entertaining.  you’ve the most evil stepmother in history i think.  she reminded me a lot of cruella de ville.  and cher a little bit.  she was creepy.  who keeps rapuntzel captive in a tower so she could use the girl’s magic hair to keep her young.  all the while depriving the child of any kind of life, or adventure most of all.  she is left to her solitude.  at least she has the lizard.  he is funny.

and very aladdinesque, the handsome and cunning prince stumbles upon her lair escaping with the loot he just stole.  then action adventure romantic comedy ensues.  her hair plays a very important role in the film, but at the end a valuable lesson is learned.  or rather can be learned if you give a hoot about anything like that.  i’ll leave it up to you what that lesson is.

the horse is also pretty great.  none of the songs blew me away but some of them are fairly memorable.  that’s all that’s lacking i think with the convergence of disney and pixar.  pixar tells a great story in thought provoking and emotionally investing and just plain entertaining fashion and disney has all the great music.  i realize i’m a big nerd, but i love the music from beauty and the beast, aladdin, the little mermaid, the lion king.  which i understand has actually done quite well as a broadway production.  i do like good broadway.

they do a pretty good job of that here.  the songs are a little too poppy for me.  too taylor swift.  no offense taylor swift, i appreciate what you’re doing, just not my preferred breakfast pastry.

i said earlier i thought it was the best disney flick since wall-e.  then i rembered that was pixar.  then i remembered that pixar is disney.  then i forgot what movie i was watching.

but maybe my favorite animated flick period since wall-e.  i just love that little robot.

up was good.  but prob the weakest of the pixar’s.  then i rembered pixar is disney.  damn you brand marketing!

and i’m sure this is wrong on so many levels, but i’m looking foward to next halloween when girls go as rapuntzel.  totally stoked.

in fact, this film receives a rating of: totally stoked.