"Thor" Movie Review

After watching "The Incredible Hulk" and reading negative reviews of this movies, I was dreading watching it. But I am pleased to say that it surpassed my expectations. When Thor is banished from his home world, he lands in New Mexico in the presence of three scientists. They aren't sure what to do with him and as they get to know him, they find that there is more to him than what meets the eye. Meanwhile back home, his father has fallen into a sort of coma and his brother is now the ruler. And not a very good one at that. Chris Hemsworth does a great job in the lead role as does Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Tom Hiddleston as Loki. The movie felt refreshing and although a bit cheesy, it was entertaining. Not as good as "Iron Man"  and "Captain America: The First Avenger", but not bad.

7/10

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"Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" Movie Review

This movie opens with Steve Martin sitting in a meeting bored and ready to leave. He has a plane to catch. He gets to the airport as fast as he can and runs into a friendly but very annoying man who he winds up sitting next to on the plane. Due to a blizzard, the flight isn't about to land in Chicago as planned. The two become stuck in Wichita and from then on we watch this odd couple have misadventure after misadventure in the hope of finding their way home. As this fight between cynical and obnoxious goes on, we get to see Steve Martin and John Candy at their best. I'm sure you can guess which is which. The movie does drag on a bit but the ending is worth waiting for.

7/10

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"Ed Wood" Movie Review

This is definitely a good movie about bad movies. I had seen every Tim Burton film except this and his remake of "Planet of the Apes" so, due to my interest in old movies and in Johnny Depp, I thought I would finally sit down and watch it. And I'm glad I did. Edward D. Wood Jr. was a bizarre filmmaker who movies are legendary for being awful. But he doesn't know. He is happy and optimistic about every penny he can get and every person he can meet. He is especially excited when he sees the no longer acting, Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau, winning him an Academy Award. The movie was shot entirely in black and white, primarily because no one knew how Bela Lugosi would look in color. And it looks incredible. From the promising start with the graves and the lighting, it really feels like an old horror movie. Now, the movie as a whole was good but it there are some questionable aspects of it such as the language, which was unnecessary, and the way Ed's crew disrespected the Baptist church. Other than those and a few other things, the film was a lot of fun to watch and was interesting to see an important piece of Hollywood history. Now, I''m gonna go watch some of Ed Wood's bad movies!

7/10

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"Secret Window" Movie Review

"You stole my story." the mysterious man at the door says. A dazed and confused Mort Rainey looks back at him and hesitantly says that he doesn't know him. "I know that, that doesn't matter, I know you, Mr. Rainey, that's what matters". Then repeating himself for emphasis, this Southerner says again: "You stole my story."

Mort Rainey is a writer who, as you can see from the above conversation, is accused of plagiarism. Now, he is certain he hasn't committed any crime but this strange man named John Shooter is persistent and demands justice. But the more Mort fights back, the more Shooter continues to fight back; harder. This entertaining, if fairly average, thriller is based on a Stephen King short story called, "Secret Window, Secret Garden". Johnny Depp is good in the role of the targeted author and it is fun to see Len Cariou, the original Sweeney Todd, starring alongside him who was to play the same role only three years later in the movie adaptation. The scenery is also quite beautiful. Although it is a fascinating film, no doubt, I am not sure it is worth repeated viewings. I suppose I will decide that when I revisit the movie at a later time.

7/10

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"Dark Shadows" Movie Review

Barnabas Collins is a vampire cursed by a witch who is in love and, unfortunately for him, Barnabas does not return her love. He is left in a casket for more than a century and when released, he finds that he has landed in the year 1972. Johnny Depp can play almost any role that is thrown his way. A pirate, a hatter, and a vampire. The latter is shown here and it is interesting and amusing to see him play a vampire from the 1700s. Tim Burton's macabre and creepy humor comes out throughout, with Johnny Depp definitely helping with that. It is also considerably dark and while trying to maintain the comedy over the course of almost two hours, the movie has its ups and down. The sexual content is a bit much as well and would have been perfectly fine without it. However, I enjoyed it because you develop feelings for the characters and it certainly does grab you and make you want to learn how it all turns out. "Dark Shadows" is also a perfect Halloween movie.

7/10

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"True Grit" 2010 Movie Review

I ain't seen a western 'fore I set my eyes on this 'un. I must say it had some real grit. Some "True Grit". Story is of a darn feisty young'un with the name of Mattie Ross. Her pa was shot and killed by Tom Chaney, a runaway with a mission of not gettin' caught. She hires a drunkard called Rooster to capture and come to see he being properly hanged. With the help of LaBoeuf, they go on a adventurous search fer this criminal. Jeff Bridges does a fine job as Rooster, as does Hailee Steinfeld in the role of Mattie. Only problem I found with this film was much of it was slower than molasses. It's not real easy to get thru at times. That being said, its not a bad movie and if you remain patient, I think you will come to enjoy it like I did.

7/10

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"Anatomy of a Murder" Movie Review

After watching and reviewing more recent films (they are from the 90's, yes, but I still consider those somewhat recent), I thought I would watch an old movie. The one I chose was "Anatomy of a Murder" starring James "Jimmy" Stewart, one of my favorite actors. The plot focuses on lawyer Biegler, played by Stewart, and a new case he has taken on. One night after going to a bar, Laura Manion is raped by Barney Quill, the bartender of that bar. After her husband Lt. Manion learns of this attack, he goes to the bar and calmly shoots and kills Quill. Biegler is hesitant to take the case at first but decides to take it, with Lt. Manion pleading insanity. The plot is straightforward which was nice to see, with spectacular acting by the entire cast. I especially liked the performances by Stewart and George C. Scott and I thought the scenes with them going against each other in court were very good. With all that said however, I felt that the ending was quite weak. After spending more than two hours in the courtroom, I was hoping for a better conclusion to the story. Although that was disappointing, I think that this is a worthwhile film to see, primarily because this is Jimmy Stewart at one of his best.

7/10

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