Letters to Juliet

1hr 45min‎‎ – Rated PG‎‎ – Romance/Comedy‎ -
Director: Gary Winick – Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero

When a young American travels to the city of Verona, home of the star-crossed lover Juliet Capulet of Romeo and Juliet fame, she joins a group of volunteers who respond to letters to Juliet seeking advice about love. When she answers one letter dated more »1957, she inspires its author to travel to Italy in search of her long-lost love and sets off a chain of events that will bring a love into both their lives, unlike anything they ever imagined.

It’s a romance.  It’s not surprising with its ending.  There are no government agents, no murders, no gadget-filled cars (although I did love the little red car), no visits by aliens.  It is just a nice movie that I enjoyed—and used a hankie.  Of course I would probably cry when Daisy Duck and  Donald get together. 

Very good movie–Probably for a girl’s night out.  Amanda Seyfried is beautiful and talented.  Christopher Egan – oh yeah! Gael Garcia Bernal- he’s good, Vanessa Redgrave?  A legend.  Franco Nero?  Still a hunk.  This movie is set in Italy and has some of the most gorgeous views.

The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)

 http://www.sonyclassics.com/thesecretintheireyes/

“The Secret in Their Eyes,” this year’s winner of the Oscar for best foreign-language film at the Academy Awards®, is a movie worth seeing.

In Spanish, with English subtitles, “The Secret in Their Eyes,” has it all – a 25-year-old unsolved crime, a story of unrequited love, and one man’s obsession with his young wife’s violent death. A first-class thriller, the movie is also humorous, and very well acted and written. I wasn’t familiar with any of the actors or the writer-director, but the film was stellar and completely absorbing.    

After 25 years, Benjamin Esposito, a retired criminal investigator, can’t get a brutal rape and murder out of his mind and now he wants to write about the case. He returns to his old office where his former boss, Irene, who he also can’t get off his mind, now works as a judge.

The film flashes back and forth in time from 1974 (during the rule of Eva Peron) to 2000 Buenos Aires. The movie is about how Benjamin and Irene work together to solve the case and about their lost chance at love. There is a poignant scene at the train station that is reminiscent of “Casablanca.”

One character, Sandoval, Benjamin’s alcoholic assistant is particularly engaging.   

A typewriter with a broken “A” plays a key comedic role. At times, the film will frighten you and the ending will shock and surprise you.

I highly recommend this film as a “must-see.”

The Bounty Hunter

Jennifer Aniston

Gerard Butler

Comedy, Action

Sony Pictures

Nicole Hurley and Milo Boyd are ex-marriage partners. Nicole is a strong willed, hard-nosed newspaper reporter. Milo is an ex-cop turned bounty hunter, who owes gambling debts.

Milo is assigned to pick up Nicole on a bench warrant because she missed a court date for an issue she considers unimportant. Nicole is following a story about a suicide that involves the police department in something possibly illegal.  When Milo locates Nicole she is digging into her story and soon people are chasing them, trying to kill her. She tells Milo about what she believes and that she suspects one of their good friends of being involved. Nicole and Milo work together to discover who the real killer is and along the way find that they still care for each other. 

They catch the killer, Nicole gets her story, and Milo gets the girl – to court. They decide to give their relationship another chance.

I like Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler but I wasn’t wild about this movie. It had some funny parts but not funny enough to carry the whole movie.  It is worth watching on TV, but for the price of a movie ticket, and especially popcorn and a coke on top of that, there weren’t enough funny scenes.

Movie and Book #1 from the series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Starring:  Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Catherine Keener, Uma Thurman, Pierce Bronson  

Director: Chris Columbus

Writers:

Craig Titley (screenplay)
Rick Riordan (novel)

Studio: Fox 2000 Pictures

Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Book Released: June 28, 2005

Percy Jackson thinks he’s just a troubled kid with really, really bad luck.  After being attacked by his psychotic pre-algebra teacher, he finds himself in a life or death race to the safety of a place called Camp Half-blood.  Once there he discovers this is a camp for children with a parent who is a Greek God and that he is a son of Poseidon.   With this realization, his luck goes from bad to worse. 

He barely has time to take it all in before he has to embark on a quest to save the world from an all out mythological war.  With the help of two fellow campers, Percy has to make his way to the underworld while navigating his way from one side of the United States to the other and through all the monsters in-between.  If he can make it through this alive, he might just save more than humanity.

Mythology, heroes, and boy-meets-girl.  This book/movie/series has it all. 

I LOVED this story.  My son and I started reading The Lightning Thief together and then both found ourselves skipping ahead when the other couldn’t be there to read it.  Rick Riordon did an amazing job of creating Percy’s world.  The way he bounced myths and legends off of each other made me feel like I was coming home to a place I already knew.  It didn’t take us long to read all five books in the series. 

The movie was an excellent adaptation of the first book.  Although there were many differences, I felt they did a good enough job that the differences were not disappointing.  I highly recommend both the movie and the books, but if you want to know how the story ends without having to wait for the next movie to come out, the books are definitely the way to go.     

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It’s Complicated

 Starring:     Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin

 Comedy, Romance written by Nancy Meyers

Rated R

 Jane and Jake divorced.  He married his, then, mistress.  During their son’s college graduation weekend, Jane and Jake are oddly attracted to each other and Jane now  becomes Jake’s mistress even though she is also attracted to her architect, Adam (Steve Martin). 

 The movie does not dwell on what the sad ramifications could be, but sticks to the halarious side of it.  True, it will appeal to a certain sect but I happen to be one of that sect.  It was a laugh-out-loud evening!  I thought the movie was very funny. I highly recommend  you see it.  I certainly plan to again.

Reviewed by:  Maxine Davis

Up In The Air

Starring: George Clooney, Anna Kendrick

Directed by: Jason Reitman (Thank You For Not Smoking, Juno)

Awards: Numerous, including Golden Globe

Running Time: 1 hr. 49 min.

Link to Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3344040473/

Genre: Comedy, Drama and Adaptation

MPAA Rating:  R for language and some sexual content

Blurb: Ryan Bingham (Clooney) is a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he’s met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.

 In terms of flowing water, this movie is more like a steadily moving mountain stream, rather than Niagara Falls, but the acting and characterization are well done. There is no perfect happily ever tied up neatly with a bow, but the viewer is left with the knowledge that Ryan has been forever changed by the events in this glimpse of his life. He’s a man I wasn’t sure I liked at the beginning of the movie, yet I was intrigued by him.

Natalie Keener (Kendrick) has a plan to change the company Ryan works for, thereby threatening his status quo. When he’s charged with showing her why her plan won’t work in the real world, he takes her on the road with him and deeper facets of his personality emerge. It’s as if Clooney peels off layers, getting deeper and deeper into the heart of the man. Kendrick is no slouch in this department either. By the end of the movie, I admired Natalie and not only liked Ryan, but wanted to give him a big hug and a bit of advice.

 Reviewed by: Carol Burnside

I’m going to say it right up front that I’m a fan of Matthew Goode. I’m a member of his fan club. He is my favorite up and coming actor, so this review will be biased because he is the romantic lead in this movie.