The Tourist

As I was walking out of the theater after the movie the thought that came into my head was, "Why? Why and how was this movie even considered for a Golden Globe nomination?" What did they see in this movie? Was it the twist at the end that was supposed to be surprising.
Johnny Depp plays a terrible sexy math teacher, Frank Tupelo. He is so self conscience about his fame, that it makes him seem ignorant and that effects his acting and character. It makes his character awkward when he is supposed to be charming, and makes his character seem stupid when he is supposed to be comedic. Angelina Jolie, on the other hand, is always sexy. But this role is nothing new for her. Elise Clifton-Ward slowly struting around in designer dresses in a foreign country doing something important. Not any characters that you have not seen before.
Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp) is a high school math teacher visiting Italy. Something about his love life fell apart, blah, blah, blah... Elise Clifton-Ward is some sort of spy or something, it wasn't really clear what kind. They first meet on a train (thats an unusual place to meet a love interest in a mystery movie). Elise is trying to protect the man she loves (guess who), he did something bad and now the FBI is after him (original). She trys to distract the agents with Frank, complicating things.
Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes said it best. "It was a big year for 3D movies, Toy Story, Despicable Me, Tron. Seems like everything this year was 3-dimensional. Except the characters in The Tourist. Um, I feel bad about that joke. I, no I’ll tell you what. I’m jumping on the bandwagon cause I haven’t even seen The Tourist. Who has? But no, it must be good cause its nominated so shut up, okay. And I’d like to crush this ridiculous rumor going around that the only reason The Tourist was nominated was so that the Hollywood foreign press could hang out with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. That is, that is rubbish. That is not the only reason, they also accepted bribes."

Ali G Indahouse

A scripted plot based on the original british TV show Da Ali G Show featuring Sacha Baron Cohen. It is nothing like the show, which is made-up of improvisational interviews Cohen's alteregos (Ali G, and occasionly Borat, also made into an Oscar winning movie) with seemingly oblivious people. Sex, drugs (mainly pot), sexism, cussing (basically in every sentence), homosexual jokes, and more! It is not as funny and spontainious as the show. This is definitely one of the worst movies I have ever seen. But if you are into downright stupid comedy, then you will love it, if you are a absolutely no fun at all and cannot take a joke, then you will hate it. With that said...I LOVED IT!

9

Visually, pretty cool (most likely if you have an HD TV). Too bad the movie is lame...
9 is about the future, a future of machines that have destroyed humanity. The thirst for technology that they have created has turned against them. All that is left to stop them are the numbered dolls, created by a mastermind. The characters all have different personalities (if you could call them that) and purposes. It sounds like it could have been a good si-fi movie, but the flatness of the 'dolls' 'personalities ruines it.
No emotion, no matter how hard they actors tried, which obviously was not very much. Almost NONE of the voices seemed to fit their characters. There were stabs at comedy here and there, I guess to show that they were some what human, but it did NOT work...at all.
The only character that seemed to do anything for the movie was #5, voiced by John C. Reilly. He had a voice that fit his character. He was the only one who had any emotion in his voice.
This movie is not worth seeing, unless you have a 3D Imax theatre in your home. To sum up this movie in one word it would be flat...just flat.

The Lovely Bones

Good story, good acting, good movie (for the most part)...except it was ruined! The sad thing is that only a couple of things ruined the entire movie.
A 14 year old suburban girl, Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), kidnapped, raped, and murdered by a disturbed serial killer, George Harvey (Stanley Tucci), who rapes then murders young girls. When she realizes that she has died she goes to a sort of in between world, not reality and not heaven. Her father, Jack Salmon (Mark Wahlberg), is determined to find her killer, with Suzy guiding him from beyond. Susan Sarandon plays Grandma Lynn, who is a sarcastic alcoholic, brings some comedy to this dark story.
It did not stay true to the book, it was too watered down, the director, Peter Jackson, narrowed the character's personalities too much. Especially the murders character, I guess her thought that Stanley Tucci could not handle it, but I dare to disagree. Stanley Tucci is a phenomenal actor when he wants to be and I think he wanted to be this character. I also think he thought that the audience could not handle the characters gruesome mentality.
The thing that slaughtered the film is the in between world. I guess the word for it would be over-done. There were as many special effects as an action movie. This movie was definitely produced for adolescent girls.
I am extremely disappointed in this movie. It could have been well done. I don't blame anyone but the director.

Avatar

Directed by James Cameron, this film is part of the line of what can be imagined and still apply to reality.
The movie is more or less about connecting, or becoming one, with the earth/environment. Deciphering good from bad, right from wrong. When to take sides and why. Seeking the truth. A beautiful race of people, beautiful creatures, a beautiful language, a beautiful environment...but we come into their lives with greed, want, and anger, which ultimately leads to the destruction of beauty and everything pure. Sound familiar...trust me if nothing happens to our planet, it will.
The creatures in this movie move with lifelike grace, it is amazing really. In the beginning of the film the people/creatures were a bit jerky, but as the movie moved along the movements became more clear...and rarely can you make weird, animated sex hot. The art direction and animation were amazing, the setting, the spirits, the environment.
The movie was sort of lame beginning, but as it developed you got into it and wanted to find out what was going to happen next. The plot was a little predictable, but the way it was directed equaled it out.
This is a great excuse for a political movie, because it appeals to a large audience, kids, teens (like me), and adults, and it stills sends a message. It slips the message into your conciseness, without you really realizing it, but it will be there.

Shrink

I actually liked this movie, until I went over it in my head on the drive home. Kevin Spacey plays a Hollywood psychiatrist who is a drug addict. He has a young client who is from "the ghetto". In the story all, or most, of his clients are some how connected with one another.
As you already know, the acting is a huge part of a film, and that is why this movie is not good. I did like a large portion of the acting though. Kevin Spacey, Jesse Plemons, Dallas Roberts, Robin Williams, and Jack Huston are wonderful (but not magnificent). I am very surprised about Robin Williams performance, he usually doesn't do anything worth seeing, I am glad we can see that he has that ability to be a real actor.
The aspects that made the movie stick together (besides the actors above) are the cinematography and the score. Both are beautifully done. The script was O.K.. I actually think that this could have been a good movie.
I am not saying you should not see this movie, in fact I think you should see this movie. If it is on sale at Blockbuster of Target I would recommend you buy it. At times it can be slow but sit through it and chances are there will be a decent scene ahead.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Usually the first movie in a trilogy is the best, and that is also the case for this one. I guess I set the bar a little too high. I liked the first one, never saw the second one, but this one was just bad.
I guess I shouldn't be too hard on it since it is a kids movie, but it should be enjoyable for adults too. The only reason I went is because my little sister wanted to see it. And she didn't even like, which is just plain sad.
What shocked me was there were inappropriate jokes. Jokes about coming out and "privates". Kids are being exposed to much more than they should these days. And it's weird because I don't think that most of them even got the jokes, so why even put something like that in there.
Although, there was an occasional laugh, I did not enjoy it.