Movies 2012: Weeks 23-28

My goodness! I can't even tell you how I got so behind in posting these!

Week 23: June 3-9, 2012
84) The Facts of Life. Lucille Ball and Bob Hope star in this 1960 film about a couple having an affair when they're both married to other people. Funny at times but mostly meh. 3.3 stars
85) The Full Monty. A group of unemployed British men decide to raise money by baring all in a revue for their town. Cute and amusing if at times unnecessarily round about. 3.6 stars
86) Le Divorce. A young American (Kate Hudson) travels to Paris to visit her expat sister (Naomi Watts), who's in the midst of a messy divorce. It floats back and forth between French and English. Horrible, horrible acting all around. Matthew Modine makes an appearance as a distraught man in a role that makes absolutely no sense. Just a horrible mess. The cap was the floating purse scene at the end. Horrid. 2 stars
87) We Were Here. A documentary film about how the AIDS epidemic ransacked San Francisco's gay community with interviews from leading activists, clinicians and gays. Some really heart-wrenching stories of people losing all of the friends they'd made in their first years in the city. It went back to back from riveting to dragging. The beginning was one of those dragging times. It also felt like a "very special episode" at times, something that was exacerbated by poor musical choices. There were moments where they pulled back on the emotion or cut off emotional moments in a way that truncated some of the power. I'm sure it was a conscious decision on the part of the filmmakers. Maybe so it didn't feel like one endless crying jag but it was a detriment at times. There was also extreme overuse of fade outs, dissolves and slowing of frames as a transition between stories. There were some great characters hampered at times by the storytelling and editing. 2.5 stars

Week 24: June 10-16, 2012
88) Man on Fire. Denzel Washington stars as the bodyguard for a Mexico City girl (Dakota Fanning) who gets kidnapped, sparking his crazy revenge plot. Pretty awesome! I love crazy, honey badger don't care Denzel. 3.7 stars
89) A Little Bit of Heaven. Is the opening credits too soon to declare a movie stupid? Kate Hudson stars a movie that shoves a whole whole lot of cliches before the credits fully began to roll. Maybe it's not so much the number but the eye-rolling nature. The voice over as you lay in bed. The OMG I'M LATE jump from bed. The best friend who's probably too hot to be anything but gay. The bumbling mess. It's not like I went into this expecting a masterpiece but being able to predict lines? AND it was way, way, WAY too long! Aye. 2 stars
90) The Debt. Helen Mirren stars as the female member of a trio who took down a vicious Nazi scientist and the debt she was forced to pay decades later. Kind of interesting but far too long. 3.2 stars

Week 25: June 17-23, 2012
91) Jeff Who Lives at Home. Jason Segel and Ed Helms star in this comedy about two brothers, one who's slightly successful and the other who lives at home. The stay-at-home brother (LOL) spends this movie on his date with destiny, searching for meaning behind a seemingly insignificant event. Very fun watch. It was a bit ridiculous at times but I was okay with that. 4 stars
92) Cinema Verité. This film is a fictional take on the PBS documentary "An American Family," widely recognized as the first reality tv family. It covers the messy struggle between the filmmaker and the family and the aftermath of the show's airing. That struggle and the aftermath really made this film. 4 stars
93) Red Tails. The fictionalized story of the all-black WWII air escort pilots who had to fight racism at home, then abroad just to get into the air. Horrible, HORRIBLE acting. So horrible and over the top that it was impossible to watch for enjoyment. A true disappointment in telling a great story. 2 stars
94) The Grey. Liam Neesson stars in this film about a group of oil riggers who survive a crash in the Alaskan wilderness only to be attacked by a band of huge wolves who see them as a threat. Ugh. Way way too long and worst of all, the least satisfying end I've seen in months. 2 stars
95) New Year's Eve. Let's throw 900 stars in one film. The most cliché film to come out this year. You could predict the end of the film from the beginning of each character group's scene. The only "surprises" were which stars were connected to each other in the film. 2 stars

Week 26: June 24-30, 2012
96) Teen Witch. Horrrrrible 1989 film about a girl who finds out she's a teenage witch and uses that to get the star athlete. Wow. I wondered if I would've liked this as a kid but it was really, REALLY bad. 2 stars

Week 27: July 1-7, 2012
97) Flipped. Rob Reiner directs the story of a kiddie love story set in the mid-20th century. Boring. Devoid of color in the roles of its actors. 2 stars

Week 28: July 8-14, 2012
98) The Help. Emma Stone plays the author of a book about domestic help in Jackson, Mississippi. I could not believe her as a Southerner because of her other roles and distraction from that awful wig. Viola Davis stars as the first maid to join the book in an Oscar-nominated role. Though Davis showed a "quiet strength," I can see why she didn't win. I thought throughout, she's getting typecast. The strong, matronly, long-suffering mother. I can see more of why Octavia Spencer won a best supporting actress award for her role as the cantankerous maid but still a rather stereotypical role. I enjoyed the book. The movie was fine. 3 stars
99) Safe House. Denzel Washington stars as a rogue former CIA agent who shows up at the U.S. consulate in South Africa after a decade off the grid. Ryan Reynolds becomes the man who has to guard him. Oh Reynolds. So laughable in this role. At no moment did I believe he was a capable or even really passable match. Not even when he was somewhat of a match in the script. I couldn't stop seeing him in "Just Friends." If you've seen this movie, where he fat suits it up in his love for a girl, you understand why the idea of him as a match for bad Denzel is hilarious. Rashan said he could only thing of his show, "Two Guys." LOL Poor Ryan. This film was too long at nearly two hours. There were too many action scenes with little to advance the plot. I know what you're saying, "Too many action scenes in an action movie???" Just make something happen with the plot during or afterwards. 3 stars