2012 [* * * * *]

Though this movie has a very poor script, the special effects are stupendous! I bought tickets and saw it on the big screen because I heard so many people talk of it on the net. It was well-worth it just to see entire cities burn down and tidal waves smash up countries and continents drifting.:)

The ethics of the movie are what make you a little disgusted - it's a capitalist, all-american selfishness from beginning to end, with anyone raising a "what about the rest?" question being knocked down with a bullying sneer. In fact, that question never gets answered. So the plot suffers from self-doubt, and everyone's left thinking it's each woman for herself in 3 yrs... but so what: just watch the skyscrapers fall with blinkers on! It's kewl.:p

Vicky Cristina Barcelona, (2008) [* * * *]

A typical Woody Allen take on sex and love. Two women take a long holiday to Barcelona and one finds love and the other sex. Find out what happens. It's pretty steamy and mixed up emotionally - I really dislike Woody Allen for this kind of urbane confusion - all his movies have this unresolved conflict feeling to them. They make me restless to straighten the characters lives with some spiritual direction!:)

It's very interesting - but most of all, it has fantastic scenes of Spain, a country I fell in love with for it's rural idyllic beauty.

He's Just Not That Into You (2009) [* * * * *]

This is a lovely girlie movie - I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the fluffy, yuppie humourous take on modern dating. It was absorbing, like all movies about Love and finding a mate. I think they give us something to compare our own experiences with. Well worth a watch.:)

Coraline, 2009 [* * * * *]

Wow! If you think fairy tales and anime are mild entertainment, you should see Coraline's action-packed adventure!

I confess that I've never seen anything like it and I doubt if I ever will. Here's the fairy tale: Coraline has indifferent and very mundane parents (like we all do ;) and which kid doesn't go through an impatient phase with their everyday parents wishing for two more exciting people instead? Coraline does and she gets what she wished for - and how! Her new parents lives revolve around making her happy and giving her the best of everything ... only, they want something in exchange - her willing participation in a macabre ritual.

I don't want to give any spoilers here, but if you have kids who look at you with disappointment or argue with you all day - this is the movie for them to see and learn to appreciate that your honest best is better than the best dishonesty.:)

17 Again [* * * * *]

This is a feel-good movie that's quite terrific. You know how you lose your way in life, lose focus?

Mike [Matt Perry] goes from being a hot high-school basketball player to a has-been salesman who can't get past the glass ceiling. He's on the verge of a divorce, his kids are out of his reach.

He 'did the right thing' and gave up an opportunity to go to college to marry his high school sweetheart. Now he blames that decision for having held him back all these years.

By magical transformation, he gets a chance to be 17 again [done by Zac Efron]. He gets to do his life over. But ...!!... being the same affectionate and protective guy, he decides it's a chance to put things right for his family.

You should see it for the warmth and affection in it - it could have been so ordinary, but Zac Efron makes being a teen look good. Part of the fun is his friend and his older mind and old-fashioned values coming out of a young mouth. Loved it.

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, 2008 [* * * * *]

This movie got me to start blogging again - I think I grew weary of the ragular Hollywood fare, though there were some good movies along the way. I'll try and blog those reviews in as well some time this week.

Ponyo on the Cliff is a Japanese animation top-boxoffice movie. The story is so unusual as to be amazing after the usual syrupy and tired Disney themes.:)

Let me just outline the whole marvelous fantasy so that you get an idea: Ponyo is the daughter of a sea wizard and is washed up on shore when she goes exploring. A little boy, Sosuke, picks up the creature and takes her with him. Ponyo is so entranced by the child that she magically transforms herself into a little girl to be with him. But in transforming, she unleashes the demonic power of the ocean almost destroying the very world she seeks.

The movie is many layers of humans, magical creatures, small gods and bigger gods. But most of all it's a story of two children bonding in a harsh world - and bringing out the best in themselves in the process.