To Rome with Love

(If you like Woody Allen, I suggest you not read any further.)

I liked Midnight in Paris and recommend it. I believe it is the only Woody Allen film that I have liked and he maintained that status in To Rome with Love.

This is, without a doubt, one of the worst films I've seen, ever (right up there with Cowboys and Aliens, that not even Harrison Ford could save...).

There are nice performances (I think, and worth a half *) by Ellen Page (Juno) and Penelope Cruz (whom, to my surprise, I've only seen in Captain Corelli's Mandolin) (sorry Joss...). And the brief glimpses of that great city, Rome, were nice.

Otherwise, eminently forgettable.

The Amazing Spiderman

A good action movie with some good acting by Andrew Garfield (Social Network) and Martin Sheen (The West Wing) with an honourable mention to my 'fave' Emma Stone (The Help and Easy A, both of which I highly recommend).

A good story, with 'an edge' rather than what I recall is an 'evil' take in the previous version(s). Not totally sure why a re-make needed to be made so soon (unless it's just $?), but it's an interesting version.

Worth seeing if you like this sort of thing but I'm not sure I'll rush to see again.

Casablanca

Is this a classic photo (by Yousef Karsh), or what? And this is a classic movie which I'd never watched all the way through. Thoroughly entertaining and well acted by Humphrey Bogart (African Queen 1951)(good year!) and Ingrid Bergman (a wide ranging career whom I must have seen in Murder on the Orient Express 1974). My wife and I lost count of the number of phrases that have crept into our everyday vernacular ('Play it again Sam', '...round up the usual suspects...', 'Here's looking at you, kid'  etc). And to my surprise, Claude Rains, who had played the corrupt Senator in Mr. Smith goes to Washington (1939 - a great year for movies), also has a leading role.

Very watchable (with 1/2* deducted, in my opinion, for sets that looked like sets).

People Like Us

I liked this movie very much. It has some uneven situations (and acting) and you wonder where they are going in the first half of the movie. The premise is of a brother and sister who do not know the other exists. Their characters are played by Chris Pine (excellent in the Star Trek re-boot and [this is for my daughter] Princess Diaries 2) and Elizabeth Banks (okay in my type of movie: Definitely, Maybe and the superb Seabiscuit). Pine's 'mother' is Michelle Pfeiffer (Stardust and Batman Returns). All three provide some very good acting throughout.

Olivia Wilde (Cowboys and Aliens, which was a mistake to make & painful to see) is Pine's 'girlfriend' and I cannot figure her out. She has fabulous eyes and is lovely to watch, but can she act? She doesn't really get much of a chance to prove herself in this one. Michael Hall D'Addario, who is new, plays an 11 year old and is great.

Throughout the movie one asks oneself - "What would I do?" and, "How would I react in that situation?" It eventually all comes together. I would like to see again.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Well, this is one weird movie. It sort of has three sections: the first third is weird and somewhat (deliberately) stilted; the middle third is a little less so but perhaps has better pacing; and, the final third is quite lovely.

Performances are good. I'm not a big fan of Steve Carell but he plays a similar role as in Dan in Real Life (which I loved) and I like him in this. And Keira Knightley (Pride & Predjudice), whom I admire, plays a quirky role well.

I guess the topic is strange enough that of course every offbeat and strained joke in the book about the end of the world can be expected. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. The pacing is equally sporadic.

Not sure I'd see it again. It could be an okay rental (with the caveats listed here). Mind you, you might not find it in theatres anyway because it doesn't appear to be staying long (got to get out of the way for Spiderman, Batman et al).

Brave

I liked this movie.  One critic I saw interviewed thought it might be a (future) 'classic'. Not sure I'd go that far. It is well done in terms of telling the tale, pacing and the actual drawing is excellent.

The only actor I could put a name to was Emma Thompson (HP series, Love Actually and many more) and her voice was only occasionally recognizable.

I found the clan gathering intriguing, in that much has been written about similar assemblies in various countries. This one has many of the levels of relationships, role playing and camaraderie that one might expect to see and is fun to watch.

There is a twist in the story that most of the trailers do not allude to, nor show. Parents of young children might want to read a few reviews with 'spoiler alerts' to see if their young person (or they themselves!) can handle it. I would like to see it again.