Vertigo (1958)

I recently watched "Vertigo" again with my husband.  "Vertigo" is the first Hitchcock film I ever saw, and it still remains one of my favorites.  James Stewart plays a detective who has been afraid of heights since one of his police colleagues fell to his death.  He retired from duty and was hired by a friend to follow his wife.  The friend is convinced that the wife is possessed by a dead woman.  As the detective follows the wife around San Francisco, the plot thickens and the details get weirder.  The film has a lot of plot twists and deals with tricks of the mind.  This psychological thriller always leaves you guessing until the very end.  I recommend this film for anyone, especially Hitchcock fans.

It gets 4 ½ out of 5 stars.

Tower Heist (2011)

"Tower Heist" is an action comedy that stars Ben Stiller as the manager of a luxury high-rise and Eddie Murphy as his criminal neighbor.  In this film, a wealthy investor accused of a Ponzi scheme lives in a luxury complex and is put under house arrest by the Feds, led by Tea Leoni.  The employees of this building had their retirement savings swindled by him and are looking to get even instead of continuing to cater to his luxurious ways.  The cast of crooks includes Stiller, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, and Gabourey Sidibe.  Sidibe was one of the funniest characters in the film, playing a Jamaican maid in the tower.  Murphy was funny as the hired "real criminal" to lead the team, and his training methods were funny.
The film was funny and entertaining.  The action scenes were a lot of fun.  However, I felt like the comedic talents of Broderick and Stiller were underutilized throughout this film.  I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Footloose (2011)

The original "Footloose" was released in 1984 and starred Kevin Bacon as the new kid in town going up against the pastor, played by John Lithgow.  "Footloose" was remade with Dennis Quaid as the small town pastor and two young stars as Ren and Ariel.  The updated version followed pretty much the same storyline, and even featured the same speech to city council.  The update was a little more light-hearted due to Willard's comedic relief.  The update also featured different music, including some hip-hop.  Incorporation of the football team into the new plot and having lots of other teenagers dance at a drive-in made for a better story.  However, the film dragged at times and I didn't find the new stars as captivating as Bacon and Singer in the original film.
The remake gets 3 out of 5 stars.

The original gets 3 ½ out of 5 stars.

Puss in Boots (2011)

"Puss in Boots" is a spin-off starring the cat character voiced by Antonio Banderas in the Shrek series.  If you are a cat person, you will enjoy a lot of the jokes.  If you a are a dog person, you probably won't watch the film.  The story follows Puss as he tries to steal magic beans from the legendary Jack and the Beanstalk and Golden Goose tales.  Overall, the storyline was interesting, but the film got slow during a long flashback scene involving Humpty Dumpty, Puss's childhood friend from his troubled past.  The female cat character voiced by Salma Hayek added a little romantic interest to the tale.  The film was very funny at times when it had cat jokes, was pretty entertaining, but could be slow.
The film gets 3 out of 5 stars.  It was fun to watch, but probably not necessary to see in 3D.

Eat Pray Love (2010)

"Eat Pray Love" was so hyped up when it came out last year.  Even the star power of Julia Roberts couldn't save this film.  It was dull and boring and way too long.  The supporting cast was underutilized (Javier Bardem, James Franco) so you spent two hours watching Julia play a selfish woman.   The main character travels around the world to find herself after she decides to divorce her husband one day without warning.  I was really taken aback by the premise of the film when I discovered that this woman never really had a fight with her husband, never tried therapy, and just asked for a divorce out of the blue one day to "find herself."  She immediately starts cohabitating with a young actor played by Franco.  She then decides she needs to abandon her loyal friends in NYC to go travel to Italy to eat, India to pray, and Bali to love.  Italy was interesting to watch for a while, and the segment in India was way too long and it didn't seem like she found religion or peace while there.  She did find herself and love in Bali, and that part of the film was cute to watch.  However, the film was too long and too self-absorbed to really keep your interest.
It gets 3 out of 5 stars.

Horrible Bosses (2011)

My family went to see "Horrible Bosses" and loved the movie.  My parents, my husband, and I were laughing out loud at several points throughout the film.  The film follows three buddies who each hate their bosses.  Jason Bateman works at an investment company run by Kevin Spacey.  He works overtime and gets in at 6 AM because he has been promised a promotion.  Jason Sudeikis works at a chemical company and his boss, played by Colin Farrel, is a cokehead.  Charlie Day is a dental hygienist whose boss, played by Jennifer Aniston, keeps sexually harassing him at work.  These guys decide to hire a thug, played by Jamie Foxx, to kill their bosses.  Things go hilariously awry while they scheme.  There were so many funny moments.  Jason Bateman has become one of my favorite leading men lately.
This film gets 4 out of 5 stars.  Go see it.

Marie Antoinette (2006)

"Marie Antoinette" was a strange film that didn't seem to be completely historically accurate.  Kirsten Dunst played the namesake while Jason Schwartzman played the king of France.  Sofia Coppola's film mixed modern music in with this period piece, which was interesting, but probably not the best choice.  If I could use one word to describe this film, it would be "indulgent."  I suppose that was what they were going for, but the film felt like such a fluff piece.  There were so many images of Dunst prancing around in various gowns and eating various desserts.  There wasn't much substance to the film except the constant story about sex and the lack thereof between the various couples.  The film did include the "let them eat cake" quote, but didn't include the famous ending to the story.
Overall, it was a disappointment.  It gets 3 out of 5 stars.

Friends with Benefits (2011)

I went and watched "Friends with Benefits" with my husband at the theatre today.  Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake star in a film about two friends who decide they can have sex without romantic involvement.  The movie is much more crude than you would expect, even with that title.  Both friends come from broken families and have personal issues that keep them from lasting romantic relationships with other people.  As expected, the two cannot have sex without it getting messy emotionally, and the ending you would expect eventually happens.  The movie is very cliche, has some cute moments, but overall was just okay.  For a romantic comedy, it is average.  Save your money and watch it on DVD.
This film gets 3 out of 5 stars.

Conviction (2010)

"Conviction" is based on a true story about a woman who didn't graduate from high school but then works her way through law school in order to get her brother out of prison.  She believes that her brother was wrongly accused and ultimately convicted of the brutal murder of an elderly woman in a small town in Massachusetts.  This woman devotes her entire life to her brother's cause, which causes her marriage to fail and causes her kids to leave her.  However, you are truly inspired by her conviction to finish law school just so she can become her brother's lawyer and work on getting him out of jail where he is serving a life sentence without parole.  The movie was gritty and touching, and sometimes depressing.  The corruption in the legal system was appalling and the destruction of lives shown in the film was sad.
The movie was well done and you really connect with the main character, played by Oscar winner Hilary Swank.  This film gets 4 out of 5 stars.

 

The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

"The Importance of Being Earnest" is an odd movie adapted from an Oscar Wilde play with a cast that includes Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Judi Dench.  In this film, Firth and Everett both use the pseudonym Ernest while trying to court separate ladies.  However, their lies catch up with them and their mistaken identities cause several hangups in their engagements.  The beginning of the film is hard to follow, the middle can be slow at times, but the ending is spectacular.  There were lots of clever twists and manipulations toward the end of the film.  The movie was comical bordering on silly even though it took place at the turn of the 20th century.  Overall, the movie was pleasant, but not my favorite.
It gets 3 out of 5 stars.