Don Jon

Comedy, Raunchy
4.5 stars
Oh my God so funny; dating from a guy's point of view - with an addiction to porn and much emphasis on masturbation, so it's pretty crude but so funny! Go see it!  Starring Joseph Gordon Levitt (500 Days of Summer and Looper), along with Scarlett Jonhasson as his love interest.  Julianne Moore co-stars.  Loved it!  Go see it now! 

Prisoners

Drama
4.5 stars
Very dark, very intense, very long (2.5 hours).  Hugh Jackman holds captive and tortures the man he believes has kidnapped his and his friends' daughters. Great cast: Jake Gyllenhall as the cop investigating the case, Maria Bello as Jackman's wife, as well as Terrence Howard and Viola Davis as their friends and parents of the other kidnapped girl. Really good and very clever at how all the seemingly meaningless pieces all tie in together.

The Family

Violent Comedy
3 stars
Extremely violent.  Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer are in witness protection in small-town France with their 2 teenage kids.  The previews make it seem like a light comedy.  I liked this movie, but the comic turns weren't funny at all.  It's more like Good Fellas with a lame attempt at humor.  Like I said, I liked it, but don't in thinking it's a comedy.

Pacific Rim

Sci-Fi, Action
4 stars
Fun!  Giant Godzilla-like creatures emerge from the sea to wreak havoc, while the earthlings created mega-sized Ironmen to combat them – how fun is that?!?!  Add in some eye candy – pilot Charlie Hunnam,  officer Idris Elba, among others - as well as comic relief – scientists Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) & Burn Gorman (TV’s Revenge) and you have a hit!  Also Ron Perlman (Hellboy) has a plum role as a shifty character.  Funny, because at first I wasn’t interested in this film until I saw the Godzilla-type monsters and then I was sold.  Fun action flick for nerds like me.

 

I’m So Excited

Foreign, Comedy-Raunchy
3 stars
Funny but raunchy film from Spain (with English subtitles) taking place on a doomed flight.  The landing gear is malfunctioning so the flamboyant crew tries to make the best of it by entertaining the business class – coach class has been drugged to sleep though the flight.  They entertain themselves by drinking, taking drugs and having sex as well as a great dance number to the Pointer Sisters hit song.  It’s cute, but not as funny as I’d hoped.

White House Down

Action
3.5 stars
Yet a third film this year showing a White House takeover.  This time, Channing Tatum saves the day and Jamie Foxx is miscast as the president.  Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Woods star as trusted Secret Service, and the talented Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, Lawless, Great Gatsby) plays one of the bad guys.  Also, Joey King (Crazy, Supid, Love) plays Tatum’s little girl who is also endangered in the takeover.   This film is pretty similar, but not as well done as Olympus Has Fallen but it sure beats G.I. Joe: Retaliation as far as White House takeovers.  Some fun, mindless violence and action.

Despicable Me, 2

Animation, Comedy
3 stars
Cute, but I liked the first film better.  Gru (Steve Carell) is back, now fully domesticated and proud father of three girls, though tempted to work for the Anti-Villain League (Sorry, but the “AVL” here just reminded me of the Tru Blood organization with the same abbreviation).  Lots of minion antics including a beach scene that didn’t seem to belong in the film at all, aside from just being cute.  I liked the first film where we saw the villain Gru slowly melt over the three little girls, and the minions were something new and original.  This film just feels like more of the same.  But it is cute.