“Dan in Real Life” -
Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, John Mahoney

Finally, a feel good movie! While Carell will never have the depth and comic genius of Tom Hanks or Jim Carrey, his is sort of a reality version. His humor is less expected and less quirky. This was wonderful and Binoche is always a delight. Widowed Dad to three girls is home for a reunion when he meets gorgeous mystery woman in the bookstore; he returns to the house to be introduced to the same woman (who completely captivated his heart) as his brother’s new and best girlfriend. Torture for the week as he sees the object of his affection romping with his brother, but can’t lay a glove. Even his daughter see the sparks fly. This is a fun take on guy meets girl, guy loses girl, guy gets girl back. The best line in the whole show is spoken by the teenage daughter’s boyfriend “Love isn’t a feeling, it’s an ability.” Brilliant, now if we could just live our relationships like that, it would be significant.

“No Country for Old Men” -
Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson

This was more like no movie for the audience. And this won Oscars? The Coen Brothers have found their new ghoulish muse in Bardem, he is like a Vampirish version of Bandera, and needs a new hair cut badly. Jones has seen better days, he isn’t aging gracefully and as much as I’ve always enjoyed his talent, it is now painful to see him on the screen. Brolin still can’t carry a movie and they seem to keep expecting him to. I know they are saying he is truly hitting his stride, unless that is his stride off the screen, I don’t see it. Harrelson was the light point in this. He always delivers unexpected performances and this was no exception even for a cameo. I grant you that the plains of Texas, windswept, littered with bodies, lawless in a world of drug smuggling and lies is No Country for Old Men, but clearly it isn’t a country for young men or women either as evidenced by the demise of Brolin and his screen wife. This was dark, bleak, and not entertaining in the least. Fargo is still their best and most creative, at least they gave Bardem a nail gun instead of a gun through half of this as an original weapon of choice.

“Vantage Point” -
Matthew Fox, William Hurt, Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver

This was Memento meets Ground Hog Day but not as mind twisting or as funny. I think I could have lived with 3-5 vantage points but felt more like 17 and that was too many. I actually left the theatre laughing out loud at the absurdity and I don’t think that was the reaction the makers wanted. The cast was all star, Hurt aging well looking more and more translucent in his own skin; Whitaker playing the innocent bystander and hero; Weaver has definitely had work done and looked fantastic sans makeup as the mobile newsroom director; Quaid looked rode hard and put away wet, he needs to have work done! He also was the superhero and that was the laughable part. This was disjointed, lots of gaps, and I didn’t recognize any of the bad guys so I never got attached.

“The Brave One” -
Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Nicky Katt, Naveen Andrews

I struggled with this as I know Foster is capable of so much more depth. This felt like the tip of her iceberg. Her fiancé is killed and she is beaten to comatose by thugs in Central Park one night. When she comes to and starts to grapple with the grief, she suddenly becomes acutely aware of the ever darker side of Manhattan. She is a talk radio host focusing on street life, but no longer separate from it, she becomes a night time vigilante. The confusing part is when the cops seem to back her up. While she is anonymous and taking out bad guys, they turn the other cheek, and we are left wondering if because she is getting the bad guys, while illegal, is it okay?

“Eastern Promises” -
Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl

While I do enjoy Viggo, this sort of film, fraught with what I deem to be senseless violence, simply seems to be the most popular genre these days. The best part about this was the title and it held far more promise than the movie shared. In a nutshell this is the incredibly desperate story of a young girl who dies in child birth but leaves behind her diary including the dark secrets of being prostituted by the Russian mafia. In getting the diary translated from Russian to English it falls into the hands of the “godfather” and his full fury is unleashed in quelching it and much more. Viggo is the driver of the family and clean up man whose loyalties become divided by his attraction to the midwife who is seeking justice. Mueller-Stahl and Cassel both turn in terrific performances making the film tolerable, but it simply left me with a bleak feeling of incompleteness.