What if there was another you somewhere in space? Would you want to meet them? I was fascinated with the concept as I viewed this DVD. On the day a new planet is discovered, Rhoda Williams played by Brit Marling (Sound of My Voice, Political Disasters) was the cause of a horrific car accident. You can say, there is this common theme that with death there comes birth through the movie. I loved this motion picture: the way it was filmed made it more believable for me, the parallel story of a romance, the cerebral mindset; added a fresh, some may say twisted, take on the story line. William Mapother (The Grudge, In the Bedroom) as John Burroughs did a believable job as a man in pain. This is not your typical science fiction movie, could easily be classified as a romance. Either way, I feel the viewer will either love this movie or hate it. If one is able to keep an open mind, I feel this movie will be a worthwhile watch for you.

3 stars — DVD

A new standard in his acting career, the role of Sam Bell played by Sam Rockwell (Frost/Nixon, Iron Man 2) was a subtle, mesmerizing performance. An astronaut who is the lone worker on a moon base, Sam is nearing his 3 year contract, when he begins to hear and see something unusual. His only companion on the base is Gertie, a robot voiced by Kevin Spacey (Horrible Bosses, American Beauty)–think an updated version of Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The story captivated me, holding my attention as I marveled at the way the tension was being built up. It is funny, when I hear a movie is a thriller, the first thing that flashes through my mind, is a fast paced movie, filled with action. And here, this movie was exactly opposite but was just as much a thriller as, let us say, Independence Day. This BAFTA winner is a mind bender of a movie that is worth adding to your must see list.

3 1/2 stars — DVD

If you take the wonder from E.T., mix it with the excitement from Jaws, you would then get this exciting movie.  What a simple, pure filmed movie that is fun to watch. For me, this film showed Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment production company coming full circle, in creating a story driven movie with innocent kids becoming involved in extraordinary events. A group of friends, making a movie by the local train station, happen to catch a horrific train crash on film and discover something is not right. Have I piqued your interest? I hope so.  Another revelation was seeing Elle Fanning acting and looking the part so well. I believe she will have a long career in the movies. And I have to admit, I found it cute having her character being  the female lead for the group’s film. When you want to just sit back and watch a movie for the sheer joy of it, this is one movie you certainly want to experience.

3 stars — DVD

With this movie, we finally see how Santa delivers presents to every household in one single night: a massive underground, hi-tech, quasi-military operation, headed by his eldest son, Steve. Looking the part of a military commander, Steve is tall, handsome and muscular. His younger brother, Arthur, is the exact opposite: clumsy, non-muscular and goofy in appearance. He has been placed in the mail room to answer Santa’s letters and stay out of trouble. So, we have the dynamics of the family set up with the prodigal 1st son and the disappointing 2nd son. We all are familiar with this scenario, nothing new here, except these are Santa’s children. The base story line is the dilemma of what to do when a little girl’s house is accidently passed over, during the delivery of presents. This movie had a little of everything–some slapstick, some jokes, some action, some humor. I had a bit of difficultly understanding some of the accented, rapid fire speech and found the story predictable. For children over 7 years old, maybe it would be more of a fun movie. And as an exrra bonus, before the movie, they show Justin Bieber’s holiday video of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” What more do you need for the holidays?

2 1/2 stars 

Captain America was never part of my comic book realm; so, I will have to take the movie for face value on its version of how Captain America came to be. The movie was slow in the beginning as we watched Steve Rogers, the future Captain America, being rejected repeatedly from military service. However, the special effects to create a scrawny Chris Evans, to portray Steve Rogers, was impressive. It wasn’t until Steve was turned into Captain America that the movie became fun for me. The time was 1942 and Nazi Germany’s secret Hydra department was determined to create the ultimate weapon to take over the world. Led by Hugo Weaving as Johann Schmidt/Red Skull, he was a perfect comic book villain. Like me however, how many of you see Hugo and immediately remember him strolling down the street in his flip flop dress from the movie “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert?” I got a kick out of the good vs evil thing; though, Hydra had all the cool looking weapons and over sized machinery. If you are in the mood for some kitschy, comic book fare, then this would be a movie to watch. And make sure you stay through the credits.

2 1/2 stars — DVD 

What were they thinking when they made this movie? Nothing original in the story, I found this film to be simply boring. Evidently, Mickey Rourke reached the pinnacle of his resurrected career with The Wrestler. His performance here was the formula he used in Iron Man–limited dialogue, stone faced expression, with no acting talent on display. Mickey portrays King Hyperion who is in search of a weapon that could aid him in destroying humanity. Will the Gods above put there faith in one man to stop the King, as he leaves a trail of destruction across the land? I did not care nor do I believe you would either. Take a pass on this movie.

1 star

Give yourself a real movie treat, let the kid in you come out and if you do not see any other movie this year, do yourself a favor and see this magical movie.  Martin Scorsese has made a truly classic film. I am not a fan of 3D but in Martin’s hands, the 3D was like an invited guest at the dinner table, instead of the drunken neighbor who intruded on your dinner party and wouldn’t go home. If you do not see this movie in 3D, I don’t believe it will make the experience for you any less; but if you can, see how Martin uses it to complement a scene by not making it the main focus, such as objects coming out of the screen to poke you in the eye or fly over your head.  Because I want you to go into this movie with as little information as possible, let me just say it is about an orphan who lives in the Paris train station. Asa Butterfield, who portrays the orphan, has some of the most expressive eyes I have seen on a young actor. By the way, of the entire audience I was with, there was only one child. Please make the time to see this movie and get lost in its enchanting story.

4 stars

I am not Team Edward nor Team Jacob; though, I do have the unread 1st book sitting on a shelf. And after seeing this movie I may never read the book. This movie was so boring–I cannot remember being at a wedding this long since my nephew’s wedding.  At least his was amazing and I was eating and dancing the nights away.  So little action in this film, opposite from some of the trailers I previewed.  And do you know what was the worst part of this film? It was the soundtrack, absolutely annoying. There seemed to be music in every single frame–swelling up and slipping back, trying desperately to inject some drama into this dull story. Now as a side note here, I did my own informal polling and discovered that most women enjoyed this film, where men did not. No statement here, just an observation. I consider myself an old-fashioned romantic but I am telling you, this was not my idea of romance. For those of you who have seen the previous movies and will see this one, make sure you do not leave when the credits begin.

1 1/4 stars