Much Ado About Nothing (2012)

Indie, Comedy
5 stars
Loved it.  A modern take on the classic tale spoken in original Shakespearian prose.  Artfully filmed in black and white, an assortment of affluent folks staying together in an estate use manipulation to get people to fall in love as well as suspect infidelity.  Includes many familiar faces such as Clark Gregg (West Wing, New Adventures of Old Christine), Nathan Fillian (Castle), Amy Acker (Person of Interest), and more.  Very well done.

Bling Ring, The

Indie, True Story
3 stars
Interesting to see the mindset of teens so obsessed with certain celebrities that they break into their homes and steal their clothes, shoes, etc.  Sofia Coppola directed and co-wrote the screenplay.  Emma Watson (Harry Potter) and Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story) co-star as obsessed teens, but the main characters are played by Katy Chang as the ring leader and Israel Broussard as the new kid just happy to be included in gang.  It’s fun to watch them raid some homes – Paris Hilton has so much stuff she didn’t even noticed she’d been robbed something like 7 or 8 times!  After a while, it gets a little dull watching home after home get invaded.   I did watch interviews with the real perpetrators on a news program and I have to say Leslie Mann was spot-on as the dippy mom home schooling her juvenile delinquents.  Cute film.

World War Z

Sci-Fi, Action
3.5 stars
Fun zombie film.  Brad Pitt is recruited back into his secret UN job to save the world from zombies – or at least travel to parts of the world where the zombie virus is thought to have originated, in hopes this can lead to an antivirus.  I’ve seen a lot of bad reviews for this film and I say those critics need to chill!  It’s just a zombie film!  It’s not meant to be critically acclaimed!  This is more ambitious (and serious) than most zombie films, but I enjoyed it.  But if you’re looking for a zombie comedy, I recommend Warm Bodies and Zombieland.  Apparently, only for zombie lovers (like me).

Now You See Me

Drama, Magic
3 stars
Very flashy but with a frustrating ending that forces you to rethink the entire film.  Four talented magicians are recruited by a mystery mastermind to magically rob banks and drop the cash onto their audience members (Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, and Jesse Eisenberg as his usual arrogant self).  Other stars include Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent as detectives investigating the burglaries, as well as Michael Cain and Morgan Freeman as more enigmatic characters.  It is fun and entertaining to watch, but it’s the sort of ending that drives me crazy because it seems designed to make you pay to watch the film a second time from a different perspective.  (On principle, I won’t).  Anyways, it’s still a fun film.

Before Midnight

Romance, Drama
3 stars
Good, but not as good as its predecessors, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.  Ethan Hawk and Julie Delpy reprise their roles as lovers who met nearly 20 years ago, then finally got together in the second film; now, nine years after uniting, they are having marital woes.  The first two films were about falling in love, this one spends too much time on an endless argument that they frustratingly never resolve.  The solution to their problem that I had in my head (a bi-continental compromise) never even came up as an option.   There is the lovely backdrop of Greece, and I loved a long dinner conversation they had with three other couples.   Only for those fans of the first two films who feel invested enough to see the end of the trilogy.

Man of Steel

Sci-Fi, Action
3.5 stars
Good rendition of Superman, though I am still biased towards the Christopher Reeves films.  This film alters the original Superman story a little bit, but it was fun to see a different take on a story we’ve seen so many times before.  Henry Cavill is very easy on the eyes, Amy Adams, whom I normally love, seemed a bit too old to play Lois Lane.  Michael Shannon plays a great bad guy - I've loved him since his stand-out performance in Revolutionary Road.  Fun movie.

This is The End

Comedy
4.5 stars
Loved it.  It’s rude, crude, and completely ridiculous, yet I laughed through the entire thing.  James Franco holds an all-star party in LA when an earthquake occurs and total mayhem lets loose.  Franco, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson and Danny McBride try to survive the unknown.  It starts out a little slow, but it just keeps picking up speed to hilarity, though I could have done with a few less ejaculation jokes.  There are no extra scenes once the credits begin, though it feels there should be.  Trust me, I waited till the bitter end with most of the audience.  Loved it.