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.