December 08, 2011

Inception, The Social Network, Salt----

---and other recent films I watched:

The Ultimate Gift (2006) Abigail Breslin, James Garner, Drew Fuller, Ali Hillis. Dysfunctional family of tycoon gathers to finds out who gets what. Only to learn the wastrel youngest son may get it all. But he discovers there are problems, and instructions by video, that he must overcome. Along the way he meets a little girl and her mother and they are his saviors. And he tries to be a good guy and help them. Nice Hallmark family film which is loaded with heartstrings pulls. Abigail is such a good little actress she does it easily. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482629/

Inception (2010) Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Joseph-Gorden Levitt. When did the 3 name fad start? So sick of it. Doesn't make them more memorable, just annoying. Now that off my chest, the movie itself is pretentious nonsense. Takes itself way too seriously. Dreams and deep sleep and rapid eye movement and all that and getting back and - not - or something. It was a slog, but I stayed awake and got to The End and will stick it into my "never see again" list. Cinematography interesting but we never know what is amazing anymore, cause it can all be done on the computer. 6/10 cause they're all soooo earnest. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/

Due Date (2010) Robert Downey, Jr., Zach Galifianakis. Peter and Ethan's excellent adventure. Not! I won't even list Michelle Monaghan because her only reason to be in this disaster is to grunt and scream in a fake birthing scene. I only wanted to slap both these nuts about every five minutes. I guess I'm just not into guy humor because this and Hangover are so lame I can hardly remember any of either. Jeez, who writes this stuff? Some of the scenery is pretty. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1231583/

Salt (2010) Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber. Extreme action in the mode of the Bourne films. But the heroine is the agent and we don't know for whom she works and if any of it is real until the last few minutes. The stunts are spectacular with our girl jumping from the tops of moving semi's on the freeway. Too silly, but why quibble - so are lots of action films. And is there some item in a contract for action films that says "car must be shown flipping over, end over end, and causing multiple other crashes?"  Every darn film where there is a chase. Anyway, Angie babe is gorgeous, can pull off the mean and bad persona, and the film is fairly well put together. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944835/

The Social Network (2010) Jesse Eisenberg. Is this one of the best of 2010? Why? It is annoying and the star is more so. I'm not that thrilled to know how Facebook began or who ended up screwing who out of how much money. And while my tribe do all belong to FB and show each other pictures, and plan holiday gatherings, I can go weeks without ever logging on. Knowing the little snots that began the whole thing does not make me love it. Hard to make geeks at keyboards interesting but they did a pretty good job. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/

Unknown (2011) Liam Neeson, January Jones, Diane Kruger, Aiden Quinn. A biochemist and his wife arrive at the Berlin airport and take a cab to their hotel, where said Dr. Harris discovers he has left his briefcase with their passports, on the cart. So he jumps in a cab to return to fetch it, leaving his wife to register for their room. There is a terrible accident and he wakes up in a hospital after a few days and has trouble remembering things. And he has no identification. But he does know who he is and who his wife is. Proving it is difficult. Eventually, he gets the cab driver - Gina - to help him remember what happened from the hotel on, and why people want him dead. Very interesting action film and Neeson is good as usual. The usual car tricks and unbelievable accidents in which the actors characters survive. But it is fun and so --- 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1401152/

Lucas Davenport: Certain Prey (2011/TV) Mark Harmon as Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief, Lucas Davenport goes after a couple of very bad ladies who murder and think they have gotten away with it. I love Mark as 'the boss' Jethro Gibbs in NCIS and watch and rewatch the series. If this is Marks new series it will be another that I will watch. His world weary Lucas is just the ticket. I thought the two female leads were very good, and were evil enough. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1864461/

The Adjustment Bureau (2011) Matt Damon, Emily Blunt. A politician and a ballerina find each other and through mysterious forces are pulled apart. Then are reunited but it was not supposed to happen. This is something about fate, predestination or whatever. Love story was sweet, but the rest is mishmash of religion, sci/fi, etc. Can't say I would ever want to see it again. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1385826/

Finally caught up on commenting on films I have watched from the middle to November to December 6th.  Now for my Holiday list and just relaxing with the ones I love.
Remember, we are the 99%.  At least, I am!

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