Manuel on Movies #13

Valkyrie - Tom Cruise plays a German officer during World War II who heads a conspiracy to overthrow Hitler. Say what you want about Cruise's personal life, but I enjoy the large majority of his movies. Just in the last 5 or so years, I can think of movies like Collateral, Last Samurai, and Mission Impossible 3 as movies I GREATLY enjoyed. This movie was no different. Mostly a drama with decent amounts of action and suspense, this was a very well made movie with a great ensemble cast. Unless you are totally clueless on history, you know how this plan to overthrow Hitler is going to turn out, but it does not keep you from feeling the suspense of the mission. 8 out of 10

Role Models - This is yet another comedy that I decided to see after everyone in the world said it was the "funniest movie in forever!" Usually when I hear this, we watch the movie and WAY more often than not, we end up pretty disappointed. There are a few exceptions, but comedies just don't seem to appeal to us as much as a lot of other people. Thankfully, this WAS one of those few exceptions. While not overly funny, I enjoyed the story of two guys sentenced to be Big Brothers to some odd children. There were a few parts I laughed out, but more than that, I enjoyed it because of the storyline. I thought it was a really cute movie. I may have also been swayed because I thought the whole make believe Battle Royale at the end looked like a ton of nerdy goodness fun and something I would totally do. In the end, it is your typical fish out water adapting and learning a lesson movie, but I really liked it. 8 out of 10

Yes, Man - Jim Carey comedy in which he decides to change his life by simply saying yes to everything. I almost said yes to seeing this in the theater, but I am glad I didn't. It wasn't bad, in fact, it was pretty decent, but I wouldn't say this was one of his best movies, and yes, I LOVE Jim Carey movies. I would have to say though, it was nowhere near as good as my all time favorites of his - Truman Show, Cable Guy, and Bruce Almighty. More of a romantic comedy than anything else, this had some funny parts and was kind of cute, but I just thought with the concept of the movie, it could have been funnier. See it once if you like Carey, but after that, it is fairly forgettable. 6 out of 10

Lakeview Terrace - What do you do if you buy a new house and then right away, find out you have the absolute neighbor from hell, and oh yeah, he is a cop so forget about calling police on him. That is the basic plot of the movie with Samuel L. Jackson playing the asshole neighbor. And yeah, he played a really big prick. This was a very enjoyable movie, a movie that almost anyone can enjoy because it requires very little thinking and just requires you to sit, watch, and enjoy. A drama that never seems slow, this is one of those movies that you'll end up watching whenever it plays on a channel like TNT for the 50th time. In fact, I watched it 2 times in 2 days, once with Jess and once with company and it never seemed boring the second time around. Plus, Sam Jackson is such a badass. 8.5 out of 10

The Orphanage - This is a Spanish horror film (subtitles for those who it bothers)that just blew me away. It was just creepy as hell. Although, I feel like calling it horror is perhaps a bit too harsh as it was more of a supernatural thriller similar to The Others. If you saw that film with Nicole Kidman, you know what I am talking about. In this film, a couple's adopted son goes missing which leads to a mystery of what happened to him. More of a drawn out mystery with creepiness mixed in, it all leads up to a final act which included one scene that had the absolute creepiest scene I have ever seen in a movie. Rather than the typical jump out of nowhere scare, the scene in question was long and drawn out beautifully to the point where the tension was absolutely unbearable. I looked at my arm and for the first time ever in a movie, I saw my hairs standing up. I will take creepy tension like this over a monster jumping from a closet any day as it had much more of a lasting feel than the one second scare. But this movie was more than just one scene and I really enjoyed this film. Excellent and don't dismiss it simply because you aren't a fan of horror as this is so much more. 9 out of 10

Taken - Very simple - Liam Neeson is a a bad ass, his daughter is kidnapped, and he proceeds to go out to find her and kick the ass of those responsible. Really, that is the whole film and yet, it is full of awesomeness. I mean, it worked for Commando in the 80s so why wouldn't it work here. Liam Neeson shows that you don't have to look like a badass in order to play one (works for Matt Damon), and this movie is simply a 90 minute thrill ride of getting from point A to point B with the only thing in between these two points being ass kicking. 8 out of 10

Get Smart - This is the movie version remake of the old tv show. I never saw the show, but rented it because it had Steve Carrell who I think is funny, Dwayne Johnson who I think is awesome in everything he seems to do, and Anne Hathaway who I think is hot. This was a fairly amusing slapstick type comedy. It did the job in that it kept me amused for a couple of hours. Once again, I think Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) steals pretty much every scene he is in and I really feel he is coming into his own as an actor. If you like him, it is worth it enough for his scenes, but Carrell fans should be pretty pleased. 7 out of 10

Let the Right One In - This is a Swedish film that you can watch (at least on BluRay) with English subtitles or a dubbed English track. As we don't mind subtitles and in fact, find dubbed movies distracting, we went with the subtitles. This is a vampire film that really isn't a horror movie. This is a about a boy who is picked on at school by bullies and befriends a new girl in his apartment complex who turns out to be a vampire. The film is mainly about their relationship with the fact that she is a vampire being the backdrop. Sure, their are vampire elements, but there is nothing really scary about this film. It sounds good, but the problem was, the buildup was just SO slow and there were even a few WTF moments, I just don't think I can recommend this film. This was disappointing as I had such high hopes for it. Usually, if I don't like a vampire film, it was because I thought it was just too stupid. This wasn't a stupid movie, just too drawn out. 3.5 out of 10

Vacancy - Couple checks into a hotel, realizes that people are videotaped being killed there and they are next, and they spend the next 86 minutes trying to figure out how to escape the sadistic people outside their hotel room. Normally, a thriller like this would be something that would keep me entertained, but I just didn't think this was very good. I don't know, it just seemed stupid, not the stupid that is unbelievable, but the stupid that is just kind of dumb. I never wanted to turn it off, but it was the kind of movie you could watch while doing laundry, cooking, reading a book, and talking on the phone - all at the same time. 5 out of 10

Taking of Pelham 123 - When I first saw this trailer, I had no idea this was a remake. In this movie, John Travolta hijacks a subway train for money while Denzel Washington plays the metro worker who doubles as hostage negotiator. This was a very simple, but enjoyable movie. I think part of this is because Travolta plays such an excellent crazy bad guy. Denzel was his usual cool, well acted self, but it is Travolta that really makes this an enjoyable movie. A movie that keeps you on your seat, this is another one of those movies that falls into the category of just sit back and be entertained, but with great actors and a great director, it just elevates this movie from mindless fun to mindless and actually good. 8 out of 10

Transformers 2 - Where do I begin? As you know, I LOVED Transformers as a kid and I LOVED the first movie. Save for a few minor things, I think that this first film was pretty flawless for a movie about alien transforming robots. So what about the sequel? Well, it was good, but I just didn't think it captured the magic of the first one. I won't say the novelty of seeing these childhood toys on the big screen had worn off, but it just had issues. First, it had some really dumb, over the top humor I could have done without. I don't know, I thought some of the humor and sex jokes just didn't seem to belong. I like them in other movies, but in this film, they just seemed out of place. Even though almost all of these moments were so brief, they just seemed to take me out of the movie for a bit as I had to recover from rolling my eyes. I think if these parts had been taken out, I might have enjoyed it as much as the first. Maybe upon repeat viewings, once I get over the parts I didn't like, maybe I will grow to appreciate this movie more for what it really is - a movie simply about gigantic alien robots blowing shit up. 8.0 out of 10

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - These films are just getting better and better, just like the books. The penultimate book in the series, this is actually the penultimate to the penultimate movie as they are splitting the final book into 2 movies due to its length. As truthfully, this movie played out like a story that was leading up to something big. Although it didn't feel like it quite as much in the book, the movie adaptation really had the feel of a stepping stone to the end rather than a stand alone movie. Of course, this doesn't take anything away from the movie itself. It got the majority of things from the book that I felt were important, and the acting keeps getting better and better. The three main cast have really come into their own as actors and just step right back in to their roles as if the characters are really their own persona. The supporting cast is super strong too with Draco, Dumbledore, and Snape being at their best. In fact, I think Tom Felton, who plays Draco, really owns this movie as you could really feel the tension and problems he goes through. It is going to be a LONG wait until next year's sequel. 9 out of 10