We Bought a Zoo 1 star

Ouch!  This movie is painful to watch.  The story and the acting have the look and feel of a bad made for TV movie so please don't waste your money.  Matt Damon trudges on even though the words that come out of his mouth must make him cringe inside. This movie had a great cast (Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, and Maggie Elizabeth Jones) but it's script is a bunch of tripe that wasted all that screen talent.

Perhaps if you needed to take a child under 10 years old, they may enjoy seeing the animals.  They also might laugh a the dimwitted adults who seem to have the combined intelligence of a 10 year old.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 3.5 stars

If you read all 3 of the Stieg Larsson novels then you'll really enjoy this movie.  If you didn't read them, you might find it confusing but you'll still like the movie.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first of the trilogy that will be released in the coming years.   Daniel Craig does a great job playing Mikael Blomkvist the magazine editor who is convicted of slander at the beginning of the movie.  An even better job is done by Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. This is a difficult and intense role that would have spoiled the movie if not done well.  In the Swedish version of this movie Lisbeth was played by Noomi Rapace who did a phenomenal job in that role.  I didn't think anyone could do it better but I actually think Rooney is the better Lisbeth.  Noomi's american film preview is in Sherlock Holmes where she is in a minor role and gives a very forgettable performance.

I would definitely like to see this movie again in the theater because it is very well done and enjoyable to watch.  Even though I've read the books and have seen the Swedish version of the movie I still had a hard time keeping up with the plot and characters.  For those of you who are purists, they did deviate from the book but only to keep the movie from running three hours.  The only thing that they changed that I didn't agree with is at the end of the film.  The overall ending was the same but they did one extra thing that I didn't think enhanced the film.  This movie is definitely in my top 5 of the year.

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol 3 stars

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back and once again battling international terrorists.  This movie is done like all the other Mission Impossible movies with a crazy plot and lots of tension.  It's by the numbers and that's actually a good thing.  A lot of "on the edge of your seat" action with a little bit of humor thrown in makes this movie worthy of your movie dollar.   So sit down and strap yourself in for the ride.  His team of Paula Patton (Deja Vu and Precious), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, comic relief) and Jeremy Renner (The Town and Hurt Locker) are great in their roles and a pleasure to watch on the screen.

Movie Review: The Adventures of TinTin 2 stars

Steven Spielberg is directing again, that's the good news.  The bad news is that he directed a just okay movie.  Tintin is a cartoon character from Europe that is much loved in the old world.  It is not as well received over here.  The movie was just okay.  Some the action sequence made me feel as if I were watching someone play a video game.   I'm not sure if it was the freaky animation that I didn't like or the ho-hum story.  In either case it definitely wasn't work the $12 for 3D.  I thought that being an animated feature, the 3D would enhance the movie.  Like all the 3D movies I've watched so far this year, the added dimension did do anything for me.  Throw this one on the pile of movies in 2012 that were not worth the price of a ticket.

Movie Review: My Week with Marilyn 3.5 stars

This is another great movie on my "Great Movies that most people won't see" list.   Please put this on your Netflix cue or your Redbox watch list.    This is the type of movie that inspires me to see movies each week.  Michelle Williams does an academy award winning performance as Marilyn Monroe.   Newcomer Eddie Redmayne give a great performance as the young man fortunate enough to spend a week on the set with temperamental star.  In fact, every actor from the stars down to the bit actors all do such a great job you'll want to watch it over and over again.  I know that I do.

Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows 2.5 stars

This is a very easy review for me to write.  If you liked the first Sherlock Holmes then you are sure to like this movie.  I didn't like the first one nor this one.  My problem is with the story.  You are taken along with Sherlock and Watson on an adventure trying to solve a crime.  That's fine, but you are never given enough information to try and figure it out on your own as the story progresses.   You simply have to wait until the end of the film where they provide you all the clues you didn't get throughout the movie and must marvel how smart Sherlock is in figuring everything else.   Even with my unhappiness with the movie it was very well done.  Robert Downey Jr, and Jude Law give fine performances.

Movie Review: Descendants 3 1/2 stars

George Clooney stars in this independent film about a absentee father who must become the main parent when his wife is in a coma due to a boating accident.   Clooney has a poor track record with independent films.  They tend to be quirky but not very good.   This is an exception to that rule.  This is a very touching film.  You'll love all the characters in it and be hoping that everything turns out okay for this dysfunctional family.  All the characters seem real and you really feel sorry for the state the family is in and hope they can overcome it all.

This movie will be a contender for best picture this year and I recommend you watch it before it disappears.  Unfortunately, it is playing in only a few theaters.   Seems theaters want to show tripe like The Sitter and Tower Heist rather than truly well made movies.

Movie Review: Hugo 3 stars

Hugo is an excellent move and one that will be loved by all ages.  I watched the 3D version but I think that it would be just as good in 2D.  Directed by Martin Scorsese, this fantasy story takes place in a railway station in Paris.  A young orphan is the clock winder for the station and lives in the inner workings of the clock mechanism.  The only link he has with his deceased father (Jude Law) is a primitive robot that doesn't work.  The boy hopes that if he can get the robot the to work it will contain a message from his father.    He is caught stealing pieces of toys that he wants to use for the robot by a railway toy store owner (Ben Kingsley).

The movie starts slow but once Ben Kingsley and his daughter's characters are introduced the movie takes off.   If you want to take your family to a fun, family oriented movie this is the one to see.  I was sorry to see it end because the story was that good.