Iron Man 2

A movie that fails to live up to the hype. There's been a few recent superhero/comic book sequels to surpass an already excellent original (Spider-Man 2 and The Dark Knight come to mind), but Iron Man 2 is not among them. Not only is it worse than the original, it just wasn't all that much fun. Everything awesome about the first Iron Man movie is gone except for Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (who is great again). The villain sucks and his motivations are uninteresting (never a good sign for this kind of movie) and there is a surprisingly large amount of exposition and dialogue (the one-liners can only take it so far). The action scenes are decent, but nothing spectacular and I felt the special effects were worse than the first movie. The plot also features far too much Avengers and not enough Iron Man. They didn't focus on what they needed to, leaving an unsatisfying feeling. I don't know if there will be an Iron Man 3 before the Avengers, but I kind of hope they get this back on track before then. There's lots of potential still left on the floor.

The Lovely Bones

The first 30-45 minutes I enjoyed greatly and was ready to crown this movie one of my favorites of the year, but alas there was still over an hour left in the movie, and that's where things went ugly. As soon as Susie dies and we start getting otherworldly scenes, the movie comes to a grinding halt and I just started having wandering thoughts instead of paying attention. There really was no need for them. I don't feel like anything was gained in terms of plot or character by having them in there. The movie was much more interesting and entertaining when focusing on the killer or the family trauma and the performance given by Stanley Tucci as the killer is chilling and a little mesmerizing. Every time his character was on screen I was riveted. The rest of the cast is solid, if unspectacular. It's really too bad the movie has such tone shifts from family drama, to suspenseful thriller, to outright boringness. There was potential here for greatness, and despite the technical excellence of everything it just doesn't completely satisfy.

The Collector

An incredibly gory horror movie that puts Saw to shame in that particular category. I never flinched while watching those films, but this one got to me several times. It has a cool premise (guy breaks into a house to steal something to pay off loan sharks and finds that someone has booby trapped it and locked everything) and plenty of suspenseful moments, but they could have held back at least some on the copious amounts of gore that will turn off all but the most ardent of horror fans. They will lose certain audience members just from that. I will say that it engaged me the entire running length and the protagonist is easy to root for, even though we know he was trying to steal from the family. It has some a few slight twists too, but the ending is a little on the rough side for anyone who likes a happy ending. You don't get it here, that's for sure. Far from awful, but not quite good, The Collector is a solid rental as long as you like horror movies with more gore than brains.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

A mad, off the wall police movie with Nicolas Cage giving a solid performance. There's plenty of "bad" cop movies, but this is certainly the most ridiculous one I have seen so far. If you are a fan of over-the-top sequences, this movie has them in spades. It's a fairly engaging and interesting movie and Nicolas Cage's descent into madness is effectively done by both his performance and the screenplay/script. There's a few things that didn't work for me, like the drug-induced hallucinations (iguana's and whatnot) and the ending, which was a little too safe, but it is entertaining for its entire running length and worth a visit.

Brothers

A gripping and compelling drama featuring three great performances. There wasn't a single dull moment in the entire film. The characters are well fleshed out and the script/screenplay make them feel like real human beings instead of pawns being manipulated by a story. I have not seen the original movie this is based off of, but I feel like this movie can't be much better than it already is. It is one of the best films I have seen about the toll war can take on people when they get back home. Tobey Maguire's character ends the movie with the perfect line to sum up the film: "I don't know who said 'only the dead have seen the end of war'. I have seen the end of war. The question is: can I live again?" The movie is definitely not a feel good movie, but it at least ends with a glimmer of light.

An Education

An Education is a smart film that shows just how important independence and education can be to success. Would you rather take a shortcut straight to a life of freedom and enjoyability, but have to rely on someone else for everything, or would you rather earn it all yourself that way when the going gets tough you can get through it? These are interesting questions that many people would give different answers to. The film is a little predictable the further you get into it, but it overcomes this with an exuberant performance from Carey Mulligan and a stellar supporting cast. Mulligan carries the film on her shoulders and I can't wait to see more of her work. The film looks great too. It has a very Victorian flavor to it and the beautiful locations only add to it. The ending is quite as good as the movie itself mainly because I felt it was rushed and could have explored a little more deeply the relationship between the two title characters, but it's a small complaint about an otherwise good movie.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Wastes a talented cast in a stupid, unfunny, and sometimes boring comedy. It is rather harmless though. It won't offend anyone I wouldn't think, but there is almost no story to speak of here and the jokes fall flat most of the time. The targets were obvious and the movie rambles quite a bit. Everyone outside of Clooney and McGregor is given little screen time and probably shouldn't be given much of a billing, but they had to get people to watch it. Unless you are looking for a completely un-serious glimpse of men at war that doesn't do much, skip this.