The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

A much more confident and realized vision than the original. If you have seen the original then there is definitely a sense that you've seen this all before, albeit much more handsomely produced and acted. Rooney Mara gives us a different take on Lisbeth, and it's much more humane and sympathetic than Noomi Rapace. They are two completely different takes on the character and I don't know that one is particularly better than the other because of the different styles of the films, but both served their individual movies incredibly well. I prefer Rooney Mara because I like emotional characters, but I can see why someone would like Rapace more considering she is alot more fierce and psychotic at times (although because Mara is so much more innocent and sweet looking, it makes it even more shocking when she does the horrific things she does). The comparison between Daniel Craig and the original actor for Blomkvist is no contest for me, though. Craig makes him much more interesting and assured in his ways and because this version spends more more time letting us get to know the characters apart before it brings them together, this is much needed. Blomkvist still isn't as interesting as Lisbeth, but he doesn't fade into the background everytime she shares the screen anymore thanks to Craig. Both versions of this story work for different reasons, but I like this one just slightly more I think. If I want a sophisticated and great looking thriller with good characters, I'd watch this. If I want a B movie thriller that's a little trashy, but great entertainment, then I'd watch the original.

This Means War

A harmless piece of fluff that does nothing substantially well, but offers 2 hours of decent entertainment if you turn your brain off enough and enjoy some popcorn with it. It's fairly predictable (apparently I turned my brain off too much going in because I missed a few things leading up to the "pick" between the two leading men", but I didn't mind too much), but the thing that bothered me was that the best part was Tom hardy and Chris Pine vying for Reese Witherspoon's affection and they had to shoehorn a ridiculously stupid CIA plot to go with it. That plot was boring and stupid. You would rather see Hardy and Pine go back and forth at each other. No one gives an outstanding performance, but I didn't see anything bad either. It's your typical McG action comedy, which means you'll watch it and enjoy a little bit of it in the moment, then forget about it the next day. Nothing that's really wrong with that... I guess.

Hangover Part II

The entire "wolfpack" is back in Hanover Part II but only this time they are off to Thailand so that Stu can marry the girl of his dreams. Only for this group nothing can be that easy and they wake up in Bangkok with no idea how they got there and a whole lot of other questions. Add in a crazy monkey, a strange missing finger, and a tattoo and you know you will be laughing. I actually liked # 2 as well as the first and if you saw the first one you won't be shocked by the language an crude humor.

Bridesmaids

This is a movie that has been called the female version of the Hangover and I can tell you it is just as raunchy and just as funny. Kristen Wiig is hilarious in her role as the best friend of the bride trying hard to be the perfect maid of honor and having trouble doing anything right. When you pair her with a bunch of other bridesmaids, especially Melissa McCarthy you are bound to see a roller coaster of calamities that will make you laugh until you cry.

Kung Fu Panda 2

Jack Black is back as Po The Dragon Warrior whose mission in this second Kung Fu Panda is to save Kung Fu against the evil Lord Shen. In order to be successful he must first achieve the next level of his training and find inner peace. Once again the animation is superb and all the main characters return making this a great sequel enjoyable for the whole family.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

This fourth installment of the Pirates movies puts Captain Jack Sparrow and a lot of the other villains on the quest for the Fountain of Youth. Along the way there are of course various treacherous obstacles to overcome and only one person will actually be able to drink from the fountain so the battle is to see who that person will be. I don't know if I am just getting tired of the series or what but I found myself much more interested in what was happening with the mermaid and Philip than I was the Pirates...maybe I just missed Orlando and Kiera.

Thor

I have to admit I am kind of a sucker for any type of "super hero" movie and this one surprisingly did not disappoint. The special effects were much better than I anticipated and Chris Hemsworth was the perfect choice for the hammer wielding hero. Anthony Hopkins and Tom Hiddleston were also great in their roles of Thor's father and brother. I would have loved to see this film in 3D, but still enjoyed it immensely.