WAR HORSE:  This certainly won’t please those of you who have told me you liked this movie, but I think it’s the most over-rated film I’ve seen in a long, long time.  

From start to finish, all I could think was “sentimental pap.”  It was a nice effort to push all of the right Academy buttons; how they fooled most of the critics, however, I do not know.  I love horses, too, but, please, Mr. Spielberg, the anthropomorphic undertones to this film were simply too much.  

My “favorite” scene was when the star of the film, seeing that his new injured “friend” was about to be used to help pull heavy German artillery up a steep hill, whinnied his way up the line to take its place.  Such a noble beast!

The entire film is in English, so it gets tough to tell the Englishmen from the French and Germans (unless you’ve clever enough to distinguish bad accents - most of which make the dialog difficult to follow).  Although I doubt if subtitles would have improved the film that much.

5 (generous) stars

PLEASE GIVE (2010):  A quirky independent film with plenty of quirky characters, all trying to deal with their own problems and shortcomings: from Oliver Platt, the flirty owner of a used/antique furniture store, to his bleeding-heart wife, Catherine Keener, who feels guilty buying low and selling high, to the cantankerous next-door-neighbor grandmother whom they want to die so they can expand their own apartment/condo.  

And then there are the two grand-daughters, wonderfully portrayed by Rebecca Hall (the care-giver) and Amanda Peet (the pretty, bitchy one).  Even the pimply-faced, bratty daughter of Platt & Keener has her moments.

This is worth a spot on your Netflix queue.

7½ stars

YOUNG ADULT:  Charlize Theron is very believable as a delusional 37-year old, newly divorced young-adult fiction writer (whose book series is losing steam) who returns to her smallish home town (from the Big City of Minneapolis) to woo back her high school boyfriend after getting his e-mail announcement of the birth of his first child.  

As the movie’s tag line says, “Everyone gets old; not everyone grows up.”  And clearly the alcohol-fueled Theron has not grown up.  But she meets her match when she runs into a high school nerd whom she barely remembered, even though their lockers were right next to each other all through high school.  ‘You spent more time looking in your heart-shaped mirror than you spent looking at me.’

Theron has been nominated for a Golden Globe, and it’s easy to see why.  Beautiful, talented and versatile - and one actress who does not mind people seeing her in a bad light (remember 2003’s Monster?)  

This dark comedy is less predictable than you might think.

8 stars

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (English version):  I gotta come clean; I was not looking forward to the English version of this series after having immensely enjoyed the Swedish version - and especially Noomi Rapace’s portrayal of Lisbeth Salander.  But I was pleasantly surprised.

But be warned:  If you have not read the books or seen the Swedish movie version, I think it could be very confusing.  It starts with a creepy opening shown behind the credits, and even it confused me.  The dialog is often slurred (not a problem with English subtitles in the original series), and the movie plot jumpy.

Having said that, Rooney Mara as the complicated Lisbeth Salander and Daniel Craig as the womanizing journalist Mikael Blomkvist both were outstanding.  This series bodes well IF they decide to film the last two in the series.  I guess that will depend on whether or not you decide to buy a ticket to this one!

This is a gruesome, explicit movie, highly deserving of its R rating.

8½ stars

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS:  We’re fans of Robert Downey, Jr. & Jude Law’s first Holmes effort, and this one was about as good as the first (in other words, if you did not like the first one, save your money).

Rachel McAdams and Sweden’s Noomi Rapace (Lisbeth Salander from The Girl series) add to this comedy-drama romp.

8 stars

THE DESCENDANTS:  I was not as enamored as the critics on this one.  George Clooney was his usual good self (we’ve seen his demeanor before) as the lead sibling of a family about to dissolve the major land holdings from the estate of their Hawaiian ancestors - at the same time he’s dealing with the untimely and impending death of his wife (she’s in a coma after a jet ski accident) and the raising of his two teenaged daughters.

Judy Greer and Beau Bridges help this movie along, as well as Clooney’s older, bad girl daughter, Shailene Woodley, all of whom are up for or have won awards.

Perhaps it was the bratty kids or the constant effort to pull tears.  It was good, just not as great as everyone says.  But expect it to be an Academy player.

7½ stars

J EDGAR:  We learn two things from this Clint Eastwood-directed film that we already knew:  1) Leonardo DiCaprio is a mighty fine actor (and likely will be nominated for an Academy award come January), and 2) J. Edgar Hoover had a number of screws loose.

A good movie, but uneven in places as it moved back and forth from Hoover’s early life, to his devotion to his mother, his #2 man, Clyde Tolson, and his secretary, Helen Gandy, and his desire to create a powerful FBI that was part mythological.  Perhaps the complexity of Hoover makes it near impossible to produce a movie fitting the subject matter, but Eastwood probably came as close as anyone is likely to get.

It can wait for DVD release.

7½ stars

EL SECRETO DE SUS OJOS (THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES) (2009):  An Argentine masterpiece of suspense, love and justice about a former criminal inspector who returns to an old case as the subject matter of his novel only to learn new and startling things about himself, the case and others.

A young, beautiful schoolteacher is brutally raped and murdered, and Benjamin Esposito (wonderfully portrayed by Ricardo Darin) is assigned to investigate.  The film jumps back and forth between the investigation and the writing of the novel, but the suspense only builds to an unlikely climax.  

Easy-to-read subtitles make this an excellent Netflix rental; 81% of imdb.com viewers gave this an 8, 9 or 10 rating.

8½ stars

MOTHER AND CHILD (2009):  Annette Benning turns in yet another powerful performance as a woman who has never gotten over giving up her child for adoption.  She’s at the center of this three-story film about pregnancy, adoption and relationships.  

We follow Benning’s bitter life, her daughter’s (Naomi Watts) empty and manipulative life and another woman’s (Kerry Washington) yearning for a child that she cannot bear on her own.  Samuel L. Jackson and Jimmy Smits complete the all-star cast of this independent film.

Viewer beware:  This is not a happy movie.

7 stars

50/50:  Like most reviewers, I bet, I went into this film wondering, “With so many friends with cancer, how will I be able to write a review about a comedy about cancer?”

Turns out, the review’s not so difficult; the disease, on the other hand...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer, 3rd Rock from the Sun) is outstanding as the young cancer victim, trying to balance his job, friends, love life and parents with his newly-diagnosed disease.  Seth Rogen, on the other hand, attempts to drag the movie into frat-boy territory; eventually, he adds to the comedy-drama, but you gotta wait for it.

The film enjoys a fine ensemble cast, including:  Angelica Huston in her best-ever performance as a self-described “smothering mother”; Anna Kendrick as her usual cutie-pie self (see her role as foil to George Clooney in Up in the Air) as the way-too-young psychologist trying textbook ways to help her new client; and Philip Baker Hall, an iconic character actor, as a fellow chemo-taker at the hospital.

As in life, it turns out that cancer isn’t funny, but people and situations are.  Bring tissue.

8½ stars

MARGIN CALL:  This is a slow-moving, tense, real-life-inspired drama about the start of the 2008 financial meltdown.  It’s triggered by the discovery that an investment bank (Lehman Brothers comes to mind) had become overly leveraged with questionable-mortgage-backed securities.  ‘So now what do we do?,’ the powers that be asked.  I’m sure the answer won’t surprise you.

With all of the Hollywood investment in this film – via an all-star cast worth shouting about – this indie film does not have that Hollywood feel of making stuff up just to fit a pre-packaged script.  It’s less about what’s going on with the rest of world; instead, it zeroes in on the very human carnage and emotions going on inside the collapsing investment firm.  And, eventually, how that carnage affects the rest of us.

While I hardly believe that one (or two) smart traders all of a sudden discovered the root of the problems to come – clearly, there were those in the know who knew what they were doing – it doesn’t lessen the impact of the movie.

The ensemble cast was great.  Stanley Tucci, in a fairly limited role, is the instigator of the bad news, but he’s being downsized, so he passes off his information to a younger trader.  Eventually, the news gets to Kevin Spacey, who rocks in his role as an upper level manager.  Then it gets to Simon Baker – no quick Mentalist smiles or smirks in this understated role – and Demi Moore, the financial officer, which leads to the head honcho, Jeremy Irons, and the rest of the bigwigs being called into the office in the middle of the night.

Worth a look at an independent film house near you.

8 stars

TOWER HEIST:  A comedy-theft caper, much better than one might expect.  Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead a band of employees of a NYC Trump Tower who’ve had their retirement savings embezzled by Alan Alda, who plays the smuggest, most arrogant broker-crook imaginable.  The still-lovely Téa Leoni plays the beguiling FBI agent in charge of the Alda bust - and who leaks to Stiller the fact that Alda has some cash hidden somewhere.  

Casey Affleck, Mathew Broderick, Gabourey Sidibe & Judd Hirsch add to the film’s star ensemble.  Reminds me of the Robert Redford-George Segal-Ron Leibman comedy-caper, The Hot Rock (1972), Tracy and my first date (June 17, 1972).

7½ stars

THE BIG YEAR:  Here’s a film we wanted to see, but after it was panned by critics, our enthusiasm was dampened.  Mistake!  As I’ve often said, some of the better films are when you don’t expect much - but are pleasantly surprised.

Owen Wilson, Steve Martin and Jack Black play three very different, dedicated bird watchers who are out to beat the year’s record for the number of North American species seen in one year - set a few years back by Wilson himself.

Wilson puts his wife’s nesting needs on hold, Martin retires from his company that needs him and Black attempts the record while working for an East Coast nuclear power plant.  Each has his own story, and each is affected differently by their year’s effort.

This might mean more to me because of my years as an amateur birder, but if you love to travel, that’s exactly what you do with our band of birders - from the Gulf Coast to the tip of Alaska (where you really can see Russia!).  But it’s an understated comedy that scores more than just bird species.

Rent it when it appears on Netflix.

8 stars

THE RUM DIARY:  If you need your drama-comedies tied up in a neat bow, this one ain’t for you.  The always-talented Johnny Depp plays a young Hunter Thompson, gonzo journalist par excellence, in a 1960 Puerto Rico escapade (Thompson is supposed to be about 20, which makes Depp a bit old to be playing him - but, of course, he pulls it off).

This was very good in places, but it never seemed to build to anything resembling coherence - which is, of course, the way Thompson led his life.  If you’re a fan, you’ll like it far more than if your reaction is “Hunter Who?”

7 stars

ONLY YOU (1994):  Marisa Tomei, two years after her smashing debut in My Cousin Vinny (one of the funnier comedies I recall seeing), plays a cute, romantic high school English teacher who believes there’s only one soulmate in the world for you.  Besides, that’s what the Quija board told her - as well as a carnival psychic - back when she was a kid; in fact they both gave her an actual name!

She travels to Italy believing she’s in search of that guy, and she hooks up with a young Robert Downey, Jr.  It’s a somewhat lame comedy, but Tomei and Downey and scenes from Italy make it worth a watch on DVD on a cold winter’s night.

6½ stars

MONEYBALL:  I thoroughly enjoyed Michael Lewis’ Moneyball when it was published in May 2003.  It chronicled a new way of evaluating baseball player talent as practiced by Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s young general manager.  It drove baseball scouts up the wall - letting nerd-like bean counters evaluate players with a computer rather than through their experienced eyes - but it was the new wave of baseball.

When it was announced that they were going to make a movie of it, I thought, “Cool; but how in the hell are they going to make THIS book a movie?”

Turns out, they turned an excellent non-fiction work into a very good semi-fictional account of Beane’s efforts.  Of course, when you get Brad Pitt to play the lead, it helps.

But to suggest that the success of the 2002 A’s was primarily because of the “moneyball” techniques as practiced by Beane was a bit much.  There was little or no mention of the exploits of MVP Miguel Tejada, Cy Young winner Barry Zito, 3B Eric Chavez or excellent pitchers Tim Hudson or Mark Mulder.  And while I enjoyed Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of a manager, it certainly did not appear to be an accurate one of Art Howe, the soft-spoken A’s manager who led them to 102 & 103 win seasons in 2001 and 2002.  Recent comments by Howe and others confirm this.

But by all means go!  It’s good theatre and deserving of praise.  Just take it with a grain of Hollywood.

8½ stars

DRIVE:  Soft-spoken, part-time stunt race driver, Ryan Gosling (the guy my wife can’t keep her eyes off of), gets in deeper than he expects - both with his apartment neighbor, married cutie-pie Carey Mulligan, and her just-released-from-prison husband - while Ryan’s on one of his moonlighting ventures: get-away driver.  

There’s great, unspoken chemistry between Carey & Ryan, but there’s also plenty that can go wrong as her husband comes out of prison indebted to those who protected him behind bars.  It involves Ryan’s boss, the slimy Bryan Cranston (of Breaking Bad fame, an AMC series worth seeing), his boss, the slimier Albert Brooks, and his boss, the slimiest Ron Perlman.

This is a well done but very violent film that draws you in slowly.  More than half of imdb.com viewers gave it a 10.

8½ stars

RABBIT HOLE (2010):  Nicole Kidman & Aaron Eckhart mourn the death of their young son in their own, very different ways; similar in tone to Ordinary People (1980).  Kidman’s performance earned her an Academy nomination.

A slow-moving, intense drama worth a look on dvd if you missed it at the theatre.

8 stars

NO STRINGS ATTACHED:  And yet another sophomoric friends-with-benefits movie (this one much worse than the Timberlake-Kunis one earlier this year), this time with Natalie Portman & Ashton Kutcher.  Surely Portman has proven herself better than this type of film; to Kutcher it’s probably good training for his new role in Two & a Half Men.  

2 stars

CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE:  The best romantic comedies are those that surprise you.  This one did, and it’s worth a look.

I like Steve Carell - although not necessarily all of his movies - but he was very good in this one as the cuckolded husband who’s trying to either become a suave, sophisticated woman-hunter (as his new friend Ryan Gosling is teaching him) or woo back his wife, Julianne Moore.  It depends on the day.  It’s difficult for him (or her at times) to stomach her office affair with Kevin Bacon.

There are a couple of plot twists that surprised me (maybe not you), and it was an enjoyable comedy, complete with the ever-lovely Marisa Tomei!  Gosling and Emma Stone add to the excellent ensemble cast.

[Note the second comma in the title; you finally figure out that “crazy” and “stupid” don’t necessarily modify love!]

8½ stars

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS:  Woody Allen surprises us again, this time with a delightful time travel romantic comedy starring, of all people, Owen Wilson & Rachel McAdams, in what appeared at first to be an odd match-up.  But it worked.

I was reminded of Darryl Brock’s baseball fiction masterpiece, If I Never Get Back (1989), when his protagonist, Sam Fowler, suffering from too much drink, is urged onto a vintage train by men who later turn out to be members of the 1869 Red Stockings Baseball Club.  So it is with Owen Wilson’s character, Gil, who’s walking off too much wine on the streets of Paris when he’s urged to join the revelry inside of a passing town car.  A vintage town car.  Next thing he knows he’s in the company of artistic greatness in Paris in the 1920s: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Cole Porter and others.

This one’s fun and should be high on your movie-going list.  

9 stars

SECRETARIAT (2010):  Though a bit sappy and corny in parts, this is a true story of the victories of a remarkable horse in 1972-73, when he won Horse of the Year as a two year old and the Triple Crown (first in 25 years) as a three year old.

Diane Lane is good as the woman who inherits the foal after the death of her mother and father, and she tries to balance her family in Denver and her horse ranch in Virginia.  John Malkovich is fun as the odd ball trainer.

7½ stars

HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (Part 2):  A fine conclusion to an excellent series of movies based on the J.K. Rowling books.  The actors have grown into their own skins - and only seem to be getting better.  Alan Rickman continues to be one of the most underrated supporting actors on the planet.

9 stars

NEVER LET ME GO (2010):  A quirky little science fiction film based on the lives of three friends - Cary Mulligan, Keira Knightly & Andrew Garfield - who grow up together in an English boarding school.  We soon learn that they are there for a purpose:  To make true the words that we read across the screen at the beginning of the movie...‘Modern science has learned how to sustain peoples’ lives to the age of 100.’

This is a relatively slow-moving film about friendships, love and indoctrination.  All of the actors are good; Mulligan proves her worth as the mellow care giver.

6½ stars

THE GHOST WRITER (2010):  Ewan McGregor is brought in as the new ghost writer for the memoirs of a former British prime minister, Pierce Brosnan.  As McGregor delves into the original manuscript - sorely in need of an editor - he starts to piece together why the first ghost writer drown (or was he killed?).  Roman Polanski directs.  Interesting in places, with an odd ending.

6 stars

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS:  Justin Timberlake & Mila Kunis - I’ve like them both in other roles - are over their heads as the leads in this silly romantic comedy.  Let’s see, two friends decide they can have sex without attachment - and then, wow!, they get attached to each other.  Who figured out this script?  Some good humor here, but not nearly as good as some of the glowing reviews I’ve read.  Save it for Netflix.

5 stars

HORRIBLE BOSSES:  This is simple horrible - bosses or not.  Jennifer Aniston (hardly recognizable at first in her new ‘do) plays an over-sexed dentist who constantly harasses (sexually) her male assistant.  And that’s the best of the three subplots, which are all tied together by three friends who have two things in common: frat boy behavior and horrible bosses.  I guess if you liked the Hangover movies, this might register.  I didn’t like any of them, although this one is worse.

2 stars

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES:  Johnny Depp is still good in his role as Captain Jack Sparrow, although this series (unlike the Harry Potter series) has grown stale.  Penelope Cruz adds a fresh face to this one - and Geoffrey Rush (like Alan Rickman) remains one of the true joys to watch on the screen - but let’s hope this is the last we’ll see of the pirates.

5 stars

MORNING GLORY (2010):  Cutie pie Rachel McAdams is brought in in a desperate effort to revive the ratings of a morning talk show starring Diane Keaton; both are hindered by the assignment of a grizzled television investigative reporter, Harrison Ford, to be Keaton’s co-host.  Ford clearly believes he is beneath his talents and is none-too-friendly to either McAdams, Keaton or the audience.  Disappointing.

5½ stars

WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS (2010):  Young Wall Street trader Shia LaBeouf makes a back-door deal with recently-released-from-a-long-prison-term, former financial icon Michael Douglas, the father of LaBeouf’s fiance, Carey Mulligan -- but he does it just as the nation’s economy melts down in late 2008.   Mulligan’s not happy, but will it work?

This was panned when it first came out and, thus, I wasn’t expecting much and got slightly more than that.  Glad I didn’t see it at the theatre, but it’s not a bad addition to your Netflix queue.  Not as good as the original Wall Street; Charlie Sheen co-starred in the first one and got a classic Sheen cameo in the sequel.  It’s so Charlie.

6½ stars

LIMITLESS:  "One pill makes you larger.  One pill makes you small.  And the ones that Mother gives you don't do anything at all."  But if it's ones your former brother-in-law gives you, and if you're pretty boy Bradley Cooper, they allow you to use 100% of your brain power.  Mind-expanding, if you get the drift.

And that's the premise of the movie.  Take a pill - one that hasn't come close to passing an FDA test - and you're a genius because you can write a novel, learn any language, play the piano and understand complicated financial deals - all in record time, of course.  Isn't that what we've all learned in life, anyway?  Take a pill and save yourself from anything, from high blood sugar to erectile dysfunction?

Robert De Niro comes in on the financial deal - and he's just spooky-scary intimidating.  Nice job, Bob.  I wouldn't want to cross you!  

But, apparently, everyone is out to get poor Bradley, who has something others want: a never-ending supply of the little clear pills.  And he's on top of the world.  Or so he thinks.  

Not a bad science fiction movie, but it can wait for DVD.  Although I do wonder why they didn't get White Rabbit for the soundtrack.

6½ stars

BARNEY'S VERSION (2010):  It makes no sense why lead actor Paul Giamatti was overlooked by the Academy for his neurotic portrayal of Barney Panofsky, who falls in love with the woman of his life -- at his second wedding!  I don't consider this a comedy, but lucky for Giamatti the foreign press did, and he won the Golden Globe best actor award (Colin Firth taking it in the drama category).

This is an excellent movie -- and although Giamatti was the key, he was surrounded by an outstanding support cast, including Dustin Hoffman as his odd duck dad, Rosamund Pike as wife #3 and Minnie Driver as wife #2.

The director (and make-up artists) did a great job of aging Giamatti and others over a 40 year stretch of his life.  Even though the film bounces back and forth, you're always aware of where you are in the story.  Well worth a look -- now or when it comes out on DVD.

9 stars

BIUTIFUL (2010):  A powerful and depressing movie dominated by the Academy-nominated Javier Bardem as a tragic man torn between his family, work and personal health issues.  Filmed in the underbelly of Barcelona, we're glad we saw this long after our daughter Jenna spent five months in this Spanish city on the Mediterranean.

Bardem traffics in illegal immigrants who work in various places in the city's industrial area, and he has a quiet passion for their well-being that contrasts against those who see them as mere work slaves.  But he also has to deal with his hooker-wife and his two mature-beyond-their-years kids, who are forced to move from place to place within the city.

This is not a happy movie.  English subtitles (easy to read).  Catch it at an indie theatre near you.

8½ stars

UNKNOWN:  Liam Neeson stars as Dr, Martin Harris, a biotech scientist on a convention trip to Berlin with his wife (January Jones), when everything seems to go wrong.  He accidentally leaves his briefcase at the airport curb, and on his way back via taxi to retrieve it, he's in a serious accident.  Unconscious for four days in a hospital, Neeson wakes to vague memories about his past.  When he arrives at the hotel, his wife doesn't know who he is, and another Dr. Martin Harris is accompanying her.  (If you've seen the film's trailer, you could deduce all of this from that.)

Unable to convince hotel security that the new Dr. Harris must be a fraud, Neeson hunts down the original cab driver, finds a crusty old German military officer to help him, and they embark on an adventure to determine the truth.  From there it gets messy.  Why is he being hunted?

It's a twisted tale that wraps up fairly neatly as the movie reaches a climax -- and, unlike other movies (see Inception), where many things remain a blur, this one makes some sense.  An odd sense, perhaps, but one you can live with.  Not one you'll regret if you miss it at the theatre, but one worth a watch when DVD time rolls around around.

8 stars

127 HOURS (2010):  Didn't really want to see this -- until I was egged on by my younger daughter.  James Franco plays wilderness adventurer Aron Ralston, a young man whose arm becomes trapped beneath a boulder down a crevice in the wilds of Utah.  He has little hope for survival as he runs out of water and slowly loses his sanity, but he's finally able -- five days into his ordeal -- to get the nerve to do something drastic to survive.  

If you know this true story, you can figure out why it wasn't something I wanted to watch.  But we did, and it's now clear why he's up against some of the best for the Best Academy Actor award.  He's likely going to lose to Colin Firth (The King's Speech), but he'll get more face time that night -- because he's co-hosting with Anne Hathaway!

Worth a look before Awards night.

9 stars

WINTER'S BONE (2010):  Another depressing movie, this one about a young (17-year old) backwoods Arkansas girl who's trying to take care of her two younger siblings and her manic-depressed mother while waiting for her drug-arrested dad to resurface for his court date.  If he doesn't appear, they're likely to lose their home and land.  

The casting director must have taken the rejects hanging around The Fighter, because most of the actors in this film are the skankiest you'll ever see.  Jennifer Lawrence is a shining star as the stubborn kid not backing down to anyone. She's up for an Academy award in a tough field -- Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman & Michele Williams -- but don't count her out.

Another one that needs a look; it's already out on DVD.

8½ stars

ANIMAL KINGDOM (2010):  This little watched indie flick is worth a place high on your Netflix queue.  A 17-year old Aussie boy's mother dies of a heroin overdose, and he's made to go live with his estranged grandmother (played by Jacki Weaver in an Oscar-nominated supporting role), the matriarch of a family of thugs and thieves -- and murderers -- where loyalty to the family is paramount.  While he's quickly taken in by the family, he's also mistrusted when things go sideways, his quiet demeanor working against him.  Not a happy movie.

8½ stars

IRON MAN 2 (2010):  An awful follow-up to a pretty good Iron Man (2008).  The acting is lame, and the dialog worse.  Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson & Samuel L. Jackson should keep this one off of their resumes.  Mickey Rourke was almost as bad.  Sam Rockwell was obnoxious.  Yes, I know it's a comic book story brought to the screen, but it's difficult to believe the makers of the first one brought you this sequel.  Good enough visual effects to bring it an Oscar nomination; I agree, thus the generous rating.

4 stars

OCEANS (2009):  An excellent Disney nature film with a minimum of preachiness for those of you who do not want to know what damage humans have done and are doing to our seas.  Exquisite photography.  Pierce Brosnan narrates.  Rent it on DVD only if you have a high-def TV to watch.

8 stars

THE DILEMMA:  It's embarrassing enough to admit that I went to this junker against my own best judgement -- judgement that proved to be right -- but now I have to write about it?  Vince Vaughn, Winona Rider, Jennifer Connelly, Queen Latifeh & Ron Howard (director) should be ashamed for participating in this drivel.  Kevin James?  Isn't drivel what he does for a living?

1 star 

My Best of 2011

    *Midnight in Paris (9)

    Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (9)

    *The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (8½)

    Crazy, Stupid, Love (8½)

    50/50 (8½)

    @Moneyball (8½)

    Drive (8½)

        (*Academy nominees for Best Picture 2011)

My Best of non-2011 films

    **127 Hours (2010) (9)

    Barney’s Version (2010) (9)

   El Secreto de Sus Ojos (2009) (8½)

    Animal Kingdom (2010) (8½)

    **Winter’s Bone (2010) (8½)

    #Biutiful (2010) (8½)

        (**Academy nominees for Best Picture, 2010)

            (#Academy nominated for Best Foreign Film, 2010)