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A small-ish comedy featuring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn. These types usually seems very grounded, but this one differs in abnormal human behaviour. Hence it takes a high level of suspension of disbelief, plus another huge leap of faith (considering the deepening dialogue about the characters, but nothing is shown on-screen to relate to it, which has an averse effect), all of which I’m not willing to take.
In essence, the whole movie you’re wondering who does what for whatever strange reason, and it just doesn’t feel right. Coupled with some predictable melo drama, and few real laughs, it’s actually a bit boring.5½.

Obviously, this movie rides on Borat’s coat tail (surprise sleeper hit in 2006), as it follows a similar pattern that actor/writer Sacha Baren Cohen sets out again. A warning though, f you’ve loved Borat, you may feel a bit disappointed with Brüno.
Reasons are clear, as this time, it doesn’t follow a too intricate story. Also, the mix of staged/scripted and interactions with real people seems unbalanced, while also not soliciting enough surprise responses from unknowing participants.
Yes, there are still outrageous scenes. And yes, he still knows how to show people’s ridiculous nature in his funny interview technique. And yes, he puts himself in real grave danger a few times. And yes, you will smile a few times. But no, it’s not as good as Borat.7+.

Sam Raimi returns to his horror roots (at least as a director, he continued producing) after a few Spidey flicks, and he still has it in him. This movie combines low budget scare tactics (most of it works) with dark twisted humor, in a slightly different dosage as what you’ve loved it on the Evil Dead series.
If you don’t go nitpicking about specifics, this is a scary ride from beginning till end. Definitely good for a few dozen tight grabs of the arm from the girl sitting next to you.7½.

It’s definitely true, the mystique and the build up of the original movie is gone. Replaced by more outrageously big war scenes and chaos, this movie is still enjoyable though. Awe-inspiringly big, I might add. Explosions in wide screen shots as you’ve never seen before.
The fast paced action is sometimes hard to follow, and remembering all the characters is a real no-go. Humor, luckily is still there, but not as subtle as before. Story isn’t first grade either, now more leveling off between a cat and mouse race and non-stop war.
The previously spotless visual effects are still there, but in a few scenes, they drop their guard and reveal some sloppiness (with the robots colors, reflectiveness and sharpness standing out). In old school explosion scenes, Michael Bay shines in making it more exiting, with dust and timing the explosions causing those “wow” scenes.
If you’re ready to get a sensory overload (both visually and auditory), this is for you. This time though, the girlfriend can stay at home (Michael Bay used a lot of nice slow-mo shots of Megan Fox, yay).8-.

Director of the intense The Last King of Scotland, follows another gripping story, driven by investigative journalism. While the whole proceedings feels too fantasized, it’s still a thriller worth mentioning. Acting is all well on all fronts, as is the pacing and directing. Most character have those overly defined ticks making them seem stereo typical, but that’s only one of the few minor points against it.7½.

By far the best comedy this year. Memorable in every way, the story just moves along, facing the unknown. As the friend group of well defined characters set out the retrieve their past steps, the many unpredictable scenes are belly-shaking funny, and really far out, while still being grounded enough the be remotely plausible. Must see.9.

With Christian Bale starring as John Connor, I expected something special, almost like the Batman revival. The result is a dark moody film, but nowhere near any Terminator experience (and not counting T3, as the low quality makes it escapes my memory).
This movie outline may be flawed in its roots already, it’s more than just that. The movie takes place in the future already explained in previous movies. That makes all the dots on the lines predictable, with no margin for change.
While the outcome is expected, the build up of the story, and the content of dialogue isn’t something worth to send back in time either. Even with solid acting ,this movie is not a real recommendation.6½.

Fair comedy, with nothing too spectacular to clearly remember, but Paul Rudd and Rashida Jones form a nice charming couple. Basic story is quite simple too, with Paul’s character trying to find a male friend, where he lands in awkward situations. Mostly thought, comedy depends on nonsense dialogue, where characters make up stuff on the spot.
The final result is mellow, and there are small levels of predictability, but entertaining nonetheless.7.

Ron Howard helms the second Dan Brown’s novel and if you liked The Da Vinci Code you’ll probably like this one too.
For me, it’s just the basic run of the mill, cat & dog, chase the clues type of movie. The clues themselves aren’t that interesting either, mostly consisting of flipping through a book or asking a local about the history of a certain building. If you expect character development, you’re in the wrong place. Actually, it’s might even be a tad boring.
I haven’t exactly lost faith in Ron Howard, but I have with the Dan Brown conversions.5½.

The bar is set high early this year already, with the likes of Transformers and Terminator having to follow THE MOVIE of the year.
Star Trek is by far all that fans have hoped for, while still being enjoyable for first timers. JJ Abrams makes concessions, and transforms a full nerd-core niche to a more accessible franchise with this action packed, but smartly written origin story. The movie is filled with quotes and knick knacks fans will recognise, but has enough fun, testosterone and sexiness for the general public.
It’s a two hour non-stop warping experience, and I sat through 80% of it with a full bladder. In the end, very glad I didn’t went to the toilet, as every second is worth watching.
All in all, just thinking about a second viewing or the DVD release will make anyone’s heart beat faster, it’s just that good. The must-see of this year. One can only hope there will be a sequel,as JJ Abrams smartly evades canon (after much consideration, I’m okay with it, but probably still a lot of hard-core fans will be pulling out their hair), he now has a clear path to do what he wants.9+.

The history of Wolverine is all revealed in this movie, headed by an award winning almost unknown actor/director, with a handful of small South African movies under his belt. Luckily, he delivers an utterly enjoyable Hollywood action flick, having no problems with continuous action shots and wide angles (where most directors take the easy way out with short cut scenes).
Story wise, the revelations feel somewhat strange though, as decades of Wolverine comics left us in the dark about his past (and probably still do), and suddenly all the answers are out in the open. There’s obviously no time to delve into other characters (even Wolverine’s is underlighted, if you ask me), even though it’s cool they jump in and out now and then to show us some screen candy.
Acting is good too, though for Hugh Jackman it’s mostly showing us pure rage. Most surprising is a decent performance by rapper/song writer/music producer Will.I.Am.
So, even without a complicated story, it’s still a ride you don’t want to miss (let alone to prepare yourself for a few spin-offs of this spin-off).7½.

Dreamworks Animation delivers an enjoyable 3D animation (the theater didn’t carry the 3D showing with the new glasses though), where technically speaking, the texture and reflective properties takes another step closer to looking more real. Story is by no means the best, but it moving along at a fine pace. Character design has enough variety, and voice acting was up to par. Not totally surprising, but with not too few 3D animated flicks around, it’s enough to stand out.7+.

This movie is Oscar nominated, but I I thought it was an okay drama at best. The characters keep mostly to themselves, and the driving force behind them has to be guessed most of the time. The ending is heavy, but a mystery to me.
Also, solid acting notwithstanding, some scenes are not totally convincing (Kate Winslet in “old” makeup).7.This movie is Oscar nominated, but I I thought it was an okay drama at best. The characters keep mostly to themselves, and the driving force behind them has to be guessed most of the time. The ending is heavy, but a mystery to me.
Also, solid acting notwithstanding, some scenes are not totally convincing (Kate Winslet in “old” makeup).7.

David S. Goyer made name for himself, delivering excellent screenplays for the Batman revival headed by Christopher Nolan. For his own project though, writing and directing this horror flick, it seems he fails miserably. Directing is shoddy at best, and the writing is amateurishly bad. Even for this genre, a bad script can be forgiven, as long as the scares are sufficient. But here, it’s just shot for shot, unimaginably contrived, like someone pushed him to show the scary kid in the mirror as if he’s earning a million dollar everytime he does it (I hope not, because it looks like a box office flop to me). Same goes for the underwear shots (the only thing I did appreciate). So, yes, Odette Yustman is hot (2 seasons of October Road), and no, Gary Oldman made one of his worst decision joining this movie. Which begs to wonder, how did this movie ever get “born” ? 4-.

A one man show for Nicolas Cage, but he can’t carry a movie that has only one simple outline, with a trailer revealing it all. The (titular) irony that the viewer knows the movie before he has seen it, isn’t very funny in this case. Hence, besides a few big special effects shots, it has nothing to offer, and it easily crosses the much feared BOREDOM border.5.