Bangkok Dangerous

Too slow to be an action thriller. Not enough kissing to be a romance. Unlike the main character of this story, this movie pretty much misses the mark on all counts.

Nicolas Cage, whom I usually enjoy, does not appear to be having any fun in this role at all. His narration leaves me flat and his acting here is sub par. He is capable of much better.

If you want to see a better movie about an aging hit man, see The Matador. If you want to see a better movie with Nicolas Cage as a bad guy, see Face/Off, or Cage in a romance, see City of Angels. If you want to see a better movie set in Bangkok, see Man With A Golden Gun.

I suggest you watch one of the above movies instead.

Body of Lies

This is a good story well told. It is also very interesting from a variety of perspectives. If you are not aware of why the war on terrorism is going so slowly, this movie will give you two very good reasons. If you wonder how the CIA operates in a variety of places this movie will give you a bit of an insight into their methods. If you have not kept current on whats going on in the Middle East, this story might help you catch up a little bit.

Leonardo DiCaprio demonstrates once again how capable he is in every film genre he takes on. Teaming him with Russell Crowe as an American CIA desk operative was an interesting choice. Crowe character provides the perfect contrast of the stereotypical DC desk jockey to DiCaprio's character as the also classic perception of a field spook.

Mark Strong does another great job as the cool, smart, winner in this story. If you liked him as Archie in RocknRolla, you will love him as Hani in this movie.

Unless you have read the book you will probably have trouble guessing how this story is going to end, if you can call it an ending.

Watch this one with someone who likes trying to guess what's going to happen next.

The Duchess

Unlike the vast majority of period romance/drama stories, this movie is fairly fast-paced, witty, and guy-friendly. There are no endless painful conversations about topics unrelated to the prime plot. There are not drawn-out sweeping scenic vistas with music designed to induce weeping.

If you are a guy and your girl wants to see this, fear not. Score some points and go along. It'll be worth your time and interest. If you are a girl, take your guy along and give him credit for sticking with this story.

Keira Knightley does her best work to date here. Her range is obvious. Her character has a emotional roller coaster life. Based on actual events, this story is a great peek inside what was going on in England around the time of the American Revolution. We Yanks think we were the center of the universe back then, be this story shows how the colonies were but a side issue to the Crown and court.

Watch this movie with whomever wants you to.

Wanted

This movie was a little bit Star Wars ("Luke, I am your father"), a little bit Kung Fu Panda ("Maybe I should just quit and go back to making noodles"), and a little bit Office Space ("Work sucks"). All in all, those are parts of pop culture we can relate to. All in all it's a very fun movie to watch if you don't know anything about physics. I'm sure Mythbusters will have a special or two about this one.

James McAvoy goes to a whole new level in this movie. His character goes from deep depression to rage to total submission to cunning calculated murder in less than 2 hours.

Angelina Jolie does what she apparently does best, and Morgan Freeman reprises his "God" role yet again, sort of.

If you like the comic-themed action thriller, this is a good one even if you are not familiar with the comic upon which it is based. If you like twisty conspiracy theory stories with quirky characters, this is also a good movie for that. If you have a hard time suspending belief for Hollywood's sake, you may want to skip this one. Oh yeah, and if, like Indiana Jones, rats creep you out, maybe this is not the best movie for you.

I recommend you watch this movie with someone who totally joneses on adrenaline.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

This movie would have been much more impressive if I had not seen LOTR first. Almost every other scene reminds me of a scene or event from I, II, or III. And LOTR did it much better. Sorry Disney.

Don't get me wrong, this episode of Narnia was good, but I'm thinking the writers should have gone further out of their way to do things LOTR and Harry Potter had not already done. No?

Most of the original cast of main characters returns and some new characters, good and bad, make an appearance. My personal fav was the bad King Miraz. Sergio Castellitto does a great job. Hopefully he will become as well known here as he is in Italy now?

Watch this movie with someone who has seen, and liked, the first installment.

The Longshots

Fred Durst, yeah the one from Limp Bizkut, does a surprisingly nice job a directing this bio-pic. If you have daughters, they should see this. If you have sons, they should see this too. As of the real-life characters says in one Special Features shorts, "If this story was not true, nobody would believe it." I recommend watch all the Special Features. This is one DVD that has some very good stuff in there that will add to your enjoyment of the movie.

Ice Cube is building an impressive acting resume. This movie is a positive addition to that list. Keke Palmer is also building a healthy portfolio of work despite her age. I expect we'll see a bunch more of her in future features. and where did Tasha Smith come from? She is wonderful as the Mom in this story.

While this movie is about a young woman who makes history playing football, it is NOT a football movie. Like many sports-centric pictures, it is about a group of people, a team, a community, and especially individuals linked to the team, who go from hopelessness to walking with that swagger than comes from confidence.

Watch this movie with someone who needs a little girl-power, or just a little kick in the pants.

Horton Hears a Who

If you grew up a Seuss fan, you will probably enjoy this movie. It stays true to the story and the concept set forth in the book way back when. At times there are so many things going on you have to pause it or use the slo-mo to catch it all. Fun. I believe the good Dr. Seuss would have been happy with this production.

More than just being faithful to the vision or Dr. Seuss, this movie goes a bit beyond and pokes fun at pop culture and even other movies along the way. How many references to hit movies can YOU spot? And how many references to other Seuss books can you spot?

Jim Carrey is as good as Horton as he was as the Grinch a few years ago. I know the family personally approved of his work. I concur and I hope you enjoy it too. Steve Carell is the erstwhile Mayor of Whoville and Carol Burnett is the know-it-all who tries to stop Horton. Many other great voices are part of this cast including Charles Osgood as the Narrator.

Watch this with a kindred Seuss-sa-fan.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Not quite as fun as the first, but still well worth the watch. More direct poking fun at Disney and just about everything else. Some new voices and some very familiar old ones.

Making it both a prequel and a sequel was a good idea. That gets all of the audience on the same page at the same time. Plus it sets up the rest of the movie. As with the first there are musical bits, slapstick bits, and a few great one-liners. But I cannot pick a personal favorite from among them.

Watch this movie with someone who knows a little bit about dance and it will be a little bit funnier.

RocknRolla

This is the best work of Writer/Director Guy Ritchie thus far. Smarter and funnier than Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels or Revolver, this story is fast moving and very interesting. And, although the accents are strictly London underbelly, this movie is far more understandable than Snatch.

Tom Wilkinson plays a street thug who made it big doing real estate scams in one of the world's hottest markets. He is a con's con and you should love hating this character. Mark Strong plays his right hand man and doer of dirty work.

The plot is pretty basic. A fast-moving scam puts millions up for grabs and thugs of all types come out of the woodwork to get their share. Toss is a couple of very clever plot twists and the story gets interesting fast. As soon as you think you know what to expect, the movie goes a very different direction. I loved it.

Watch this roller coaster with plenty of popcorn and the subtitles on.

Toby Kebbell is the true star of the story. I can't say much without giving it all away, but I hope Mr. Kebbell is seen in more than the promised sequel.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

This is a pretty good monster movie. Some monsters win and other lose. The good guys are not totally good and the bad guys are not totally without merit. I like that. As super hero movies go, this was not quite up to par, but Hellboy is not really a super hero. He is more of outlaw hero, somewhere on the lines of Hancock of late.

Ron Perlman is a lot of fun to watch and listen to. The rest of the cast is fun, but one can't help make comparisons with"Fishstick" and C3PO of Star Wars fame for instance.

And I always appreciate an unexpected ending which leaves room for yet another sequel. No spoilers here, but I really didn't see the scripted ending coming. And by that I don't mean the final fight scene. That is totally predictable, but its the last 30 seconds of the movie that surprised me.

Watch this movie with someone who will not go all oogey on you when the flesh-eating tooth fairies show up.