Nora

I went into this movie with seriously high hopes. An unknown actress who can actually fight, making her action movie debut, Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas this is a combo that I don’t want to miss.

I wish that I had. This movie was so bad that I literally left the theater feeling violated. It just got worse and worse as the movie went on. I know other people have bagged on the new actress Gina Carano saying she is horrible and all that. And her performance in most of the scenes was bad. But I don’t blame her. Because Michael Douglas and Antonio were bad as well. That is the Director. It is a shame that this girl, who obviously has potential, has to have her debut in this truly awful film. Just magnificently awful. Please avoid this film at all costs. It is just an abomination of film making.

Well I kicked off the 2012 season with a dash of one of my favorite actors, Mark Wahlberg! This movie is a stereotypical, I am a reformed badboy -with a family that is now -pulled back into the life to save my family from being killed- type movie.

The only thing that it didn’t have was the eye candy factor. No real action scenes for Mark and no sexy scenes between him and Kate Beckensale. I found the lack of gratuitous sex refreshing but the rest of the story was so lack luster and a little flat that the sexual element may have actually helped the movie a bit.

Over all it was well put together and a good thriller. It just frankly could have been better. Really fantastic cast and they just weren’t used to their full potential. I would see this one on HBO and skip the theater version.

Drive

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Iron Lady

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hugo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

50/50

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Help

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bridesmaids

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crazy Stupid Love

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Descendants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Week With Marilyn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Super 8

 

Moneyball

 

 

 

 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

 

 

 

 

Martha Marcy May Marlene

 

 

 

 

Bad Teacher

 

 

 

 

Abduction

 

 

 

 

The Debt

 

 

 

 

Red Riding Hood

 

 

 

 

New Years Eve

 

 

 

 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

 

 

 

 

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Alright here is the list of every movie I saw in 2011. I will have to add a few more after this weekend. This is just the order I saw them in not how I am ranking them.

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• Country Strong
• I am Number 4
• The Adjustment Bureau
• Battle Los Angeles
• Red Riding Hood
• The Company Men
• Limitless
• The Lincoln Lawyer
• Hop
• Source Code
• Hanna
• Water For Elephants
• Jumping the Broom
• Bridesmaids
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• X-Men First Class
• Thor
• Beginners
• Super 8
• Green Lantern

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• Bad Teacher
• Cars 2
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes
• Larry Crowne
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
• Winnie the Pooh
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Cowboys and Aliens
• Horrible Bosses
• Crazy, Stupid, Love
• The Help
• The Guard
• Drive
• Moneyball
• Abduction
• Dolphin Tale
• Real Steel
• Contagion
• The Debt
• Immortals

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• 50/50
• Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
• The Muppets
• Happy Feet 2
• Hugo
• New Years Eve
• Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
• Sherlock Holmes- A Game of Shadows
• My Week With Marilyn
• Young Adult
• The Ides of March
• The Descendants
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Martha Marcy May Marlene
• J. Edgar
• We Bought A Zoo
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• Warhorse
• The Iron Lady

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There were so many reviews out there saying that, even Meryl Streep couldn’t save this movie. More than 3 that I read before seeing this movie said something to that effect. I thought to myself, “I don’t care what the critics are saying, I LOVE Meryl and I must see this film. It will be good just for her performance.”

Well let me say that these so called “experts” on movies have sincerely lost their collective minds. This was one of the best films of the year, hands down. And not just because of Meryl’s performance of a lifetime, but the entire cast was brilliant from start to finish. This movie takes you on a journey through time and the life of one incredible woman.

Since I am American, I didn’t experience Margret Thatcher first hand. I know many of my English friends grew up loathing her immensely. But watching this movie, I fell in love with her. She was one amazing woman. Talk about sticking to your guns against all odds and making the impossible happen. She did that on more than one occasion.

Additionally Meryl is mesmerizing throughout the movie. Not for a minute did I not think I was watching Margaret Thatcher. Just simply miraculous.  This movie isn’t just a biopic though, it is the story of the ever tumultuous political climate world wide and the ever changing role of women in politics. Margaret Thatcher changed forever the landscape for women. There was no place that women would not be able to climb after she became Prime Minister. Women could do it all.

I can’t say enough how much I really LOVED this movie. I wanted to immediately see it again with everyone I knew so they could experience this greatness.

As a woman I found her story inspirational. I think you will too. See this movie and be amazed by this exceptional person’s life.

Well Steven Spielberg has done yet another sweepingly beautiful movie. It is epic in the very sense of the word. Awesomely beautiful with great action shots and some gripping drama.

Unfortunately the best actor in the movie is the horse. Truly he was fantastic. Well there were other very excellent performances but too bad it wasn’t from the lead actor. Jeremy Irvine just didn’t do it for me at all as this boy who raises and searches for “Joey”. He was just flat and one note of doey eyed wonder throughout the film. Just too boring.

This movie isn’t even really about the horse per se but more about how the people that he meets are affected by him. How he helps and changes the people that he meets for the better. I didn’t LOVE this movie. I liked it. It isn’t the best horse, or even animal movie of all time. It is a decent, a little too long, beautiful movie showcasing how animals can be better than people and how they can make people be better people.

Definitely see this movie if you love an epic story that is told in the form of picturesque paintings. You will enjoy it.

I went to see this movie with high hopes. I wanted it to move me. I wanted to discover something about that day that I hadn’t before. I thought that seeing a journey of hope through a young persons eyes would be enlightening and uplifting. The ads make this movie look so inspirational. My recommendation, just watch all the ads a few times in a row. That will give you that feeling. The movie, however is a complete debacle. I was infuriated by this movie. It takes 9/11 and because that is the “bad guy” in the movie you are compelled to “feel” for this movie. In fact I felt guilty for HATING this movie so much because it play so hard on the countries overwhelming sympathy for that horrific day. The story is supposed to take you on a journey to discover what a key left by this boys dead father opens. Can he find the door or box or what ever that it goes to? Who will he meet along the way? How will he do it? When he finds it what will it be? Will everything make sense?

Well he looks, and he even finds out what the key goes to. But then when he gets a chance to see what it is, which would actually bring full closure to this incredibly bad story he opts out. WHAT?? What the hell was the point in this movie. Additionally, this kid was just obnoxious. Sorry everyone out there who is just “moved” by him. I hated everything about him. Too many quirks and eccentricities for one kid. As the mother of a “special needs” kid I can tell you that this is just WAY over the top and not a good depiction of anyone. Just a mess really. I found his character and the whole movie offensive. DON’T see this movie. HUGE disappointment.

This is a great movie about life and overcoming tremendous loss. But I think that movie companies have the idea that if you put some animals in a film along with a cute little girl then it is somehow a “kids” movie. This is NOT a kids movie. I took my 6 year old son thinking that he would love it. He saw the previews on TV and insisted on coming. This was our “Christmas” movie. Every Christmas morning we see a movie. It has been a tradition in my family for decades. So there I am bawling my eyes out in this theater with my son and the rest of my family thinking WOW I love this movie but I wonder what he is going to think.

He told me after the movie that he wants to move to a Zoo in Colorado. We live in California and he has never been to Colorado and the Zoo in the movie is in California but he has made up his mind evidently. I am to be a Zookeeper. Sounds exciting.

This movie moved me so many times I can’t pick just one moment in the movie to focus on. Matt Damon delivers yet another amazing performance this year and was just wonderful as this broken father who is making the best of the worst possible situation. The kids in this movie are great. Charming and wonderful. Scarlet Johannson was great as the understated Zookeeper with a MAD crush on Matt Damon’s father character. Both played well off the other and it was a great human story. See this movie it will warm your heart up right after it breaks it.