Admission

I like Tina Fey (Mean Girls) and I liked this movie. Tina and Paul Rudd (Perks of Being a Wallflower) appear to have some good chemistry and the movie flows easily when they are on screen. Lily Tomlin (West Wing, Laugh-In) is great as always and has an off-the-wall character that she plays well. And Michael Sheen (The Queen) continues to show his diversity.

The story is good and flows well. But I'm not sure if I'd see it again.

There are ethical issues that are front and centre - some are addressed and some are just glossed over. And it is those issues that stayed with me - and perhaps that is the point. But I'm still not sure I'd see it again.

Oz the Great and Powerful

This movie didn't work for me. But if you like James Franco (Spider-man), then you might like it. To me he is one of those actors that plays himself - in this case robotic, not very thoughtful, pretty vacuous.

I am realizing that I like Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain & I don't remember her in the delightful The Station Agent 2003). She is sneaking onto my radar with quite solid performances - her films listed on rottentomatoes.com since 2007 have some very impressive and positive reviews. Rachel Weisz (The Bourne Legacy) was okay - perhaps she didn't have much to work with?

The movie drags in a few places, suffers from some poor writing and could be shortened. It's colourful but that's not enough to carry it. It's in 3-D, which once again proves why that it is a 'tool' that the film industry hasn't mastered (except for snowflakes or small bubbles coming out of the screen).

Safe Haven

First of all, this is a Nicholas Sparks movie (based on his book). Enough said (but since I have more space...).

This film just feels disjointed. I'm not sure if Julianne Hough (Footloose) can act - there's not a lot of range shown. And Josh Duhamel (Win a Date with Tad Hamilton) is equally monotonous. I liked Cobie Smulders (whom I don't remember in The Avengers) and newcomer Noah Lomax shows good potential as one of the kids.

My impression is that Sparks is getting edgier in his stories - I'm not sure how the book was, but it doesn't translate to the screen. The cutting back and forth in time leaves a very choppy 'story'.

You might want to rent it or wait til it's on free TV (which is what I might do, if I'm desperate...).