Reviews: The Place Beyond the Pines + 2 Bonus Reviews

Derek Cianfrance, director of Blue Valentine once again teams up with Ryan Gosling for a three-act snapshot of small town crime and corrupt police in Schenectady, NY entitled The Place Beyond the Pines.  Gosling plays Luke, a loner motorcycle stunt rider who decides to stay in town and quit his job to be with his lover (Eva Mendez) and a son he didn't know he had.  Mendez's character (Romina) has moved on in her life and is ready to marry another man.  Luke tries to win Romina back by doing a series of dangerous bank robberies, using his skills on a motorcycle to help escape the police.  When a final robbery goes terribly wrong, Luke encounters an eager rookie cop named Avery (played by the ever-more-dramatic Bradley Cooper).

Avery and Luke cross paths and throw the plot into a series of follow-up events that expose the corruption of the Schenectady police force (which includes a wonderful cameo performance by Ray Liotta).  Events that unfold in the first act of the film are given dire repercussions throughout the second and third act.  Cooper and Gosling are excellent at portraying troubled characters who are faced with tough decisions.  Mendez is good but not great as a single mom who must weigh her own needs with those of her son.  The chase scenes are spectacularly shot in real-time using POV cameras that put you right in the action.  The drama, sound and speed of these sequences are extremely authentic and help build tension.

This movie is well-acted and superbly shot by Cianfrance.  Throw in some excellent mood music from a satisfying original soundtrack by Mike Patton and all the ingredients are in place for an awesome gripping film.  While the tension did grip me at times, I found myself wishing the movie ended before the third act.  The depiction of teenage life in a small town is spot-on but it seemed a bit forced and there were far too many coincidences throughout to make any of it seem believable.  I also feel that Gosling's portrayal of Luke is too closely mimicked with his work in Drive.  I'd like to see him take a break from playing the loner outlaw type in an upcoming film. I would recommend renting this movie on Bluray but skipping full price in the theater.  3.5 out of 5 JRs for The Place Beyond the Pines, a far-too-long raw and tension-filled police drama.



I saw two other movies over the past month and have a brief review for both of them.  Oz The Great And Powerful is a worthwhile prequel to the classic Wizard of Oz.  Milas Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams all give good performances as the trio of witches and James Franco is OK in his portrayal of Oz.  Bonus points for some pretty solid special effects all around and minus points for Zach Braff's creepy voice-over work for the talking monkey.  My kids enjoyed it but I can't really give it more than 3 JRs.

Last week, I managed to make it to the theater to see the 3D conversion of Jurassic Park.  J Park is one of my all-time favorite films and I had the pleasure of seeing it with my friend Omar who watched it with me on opening night in 1993.  It was great to see it on the big screen again and the 3D conversion was well done, making the dinosaurs seem even more realistic than before.  I would only recommend that the most die-hard J Park fans spend the $16 to go see this.  It was worthwhile but I can only give this 4 JRs since I've seen this film so many times.

Roger Ebert: 1942-2013

Roger Ebert passed away earlier today at the age of 70.

 Ebert has always been one of my favorite movie critics and in a way is partially responsible for me writing my movie blog.  I fondly remember watching Ebert and the late Gene Siskel do their movie reviews every weekend growing up.  Their passion for dissecting film combined with my father's love for the medium helped shape me into the full-fledged movie buff that I am today.  It's truly a sad day for all the critics large and small out there.  Ebert kept on writing his reviews despite his battle with cancer, recently putting out a review for The Host earlier last week.  He will be missed and the industry has lost a legend and an ambassador for film.

If I Picked the 2013 Oscars

Unfortunately I am once again not an eligible voting member of the Academy in 2013.  That won't stop me from posting my personal picks to win this year's awards when they're announced this Sunday evening.  Despite my disdain for host Seth Macfarlane, I am excited about this year's ceremony.  I have seen 8 of the 9 Best Picture nominees (still need to watch Amour) and have witnessed most of the acclaimed acting performances.  While my two favorite films of the year failed to garner a single nomination, I am mostly pleased with the Academy's selections.

What follows are the nominations for the 6 big categories (plus Visual Effects because I have a strong opinion about CGI).  An X next to the nominee means I think that entry will end up taking home the Oscar on Sunday night.  A Y next to a nominee means that I would choose that nominee to win if I actually had a vote.

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln XY Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables Joaquin Phoenix – The Master Denzel Washington – Flight

This is one of the biggest no-brainers of the evening.  Once again, Day-Lewis has delivered a virtuoso performance as he is far and away the best thing about Speilberg's Lincoln.  Cooper and Washington are excellent as well but they just picked the wrong year to be nominated.

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook XY Emmanuelle Riva – Amour Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild Naomi Watts – The Impossible

This race is between Chastain and Lawrence.  While I think Chastain had an edge early on in the Awards season, I'm pretty sure Jen Lawrence is going to win out here after grabbing some late momentum at the Golden Globes.  Lawrence's performance is amazing and far superior to Chastain in my opinion.  I would probably pick Wallis' breakthrough performance over Jessica's actually.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – Argo Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln X Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained Y

Arkin has no business being nominated for Argo, taking a spot away from either DiCaprio or Sam Jackson from Django Unchained.  I would vote for the always interesting Christoph Waltz who lit up every scene he was in throughout Tarantino's western, but I'm thinking the Academy will reward Jones with his first Oscar since The Fugitive.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Master Sally Field – Lincoln Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables XY Helen Hunt – The Sessions Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Another mortal lock here.  Hathaway's incredible single-take performance of I Dreamed a Dream in Les Mis absolutely assured her of winning her first Oscar.  Sally Field may have an outside shot, but Anne will get the recognition she deserves for a brief but amazing embodiment of Fantine.

Best Director
Michael Haneke – Amour Ang Lee – Life of Pi David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook Y Steven Spielberg – Lincoln X Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

The real crime of this category is that Ben Affleck is not one of the five nominees.  While Beasts was a pretty good film, Zeitlin should not have been nominated for his first directorial effort.  I would love to see Russell win for his excellent depiction of suburban family life and football fandom, but in the end I'm betting the Academy gives the award to the greatest director of all-time.  

Best Picture
Amour  Argo X Beasts of the Southern Wild  Django Unchained  Les Misérables  Life of Pi  Lincoln  Silver Linings Playbook Y Zero Dark Thirty

In an attempt to right the wrong of the Affleck directorial snub, the voters will bestow the night's biggest prize to Ben, George Clooney and company for a well-crafted true story of an American intelligence operation.  I would rather see Django or Life of Pi win, but if I had a vote, the splendidly acted and often hilarious Silver Linings Playbook would be the best of this bunch.

Best Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey  Life of Pi XY Marvel's The Avengers  Prometheus  Snow White and the Huntsman

For this final bonus category, I saw four of the five films listed (sorry Snow White).  I think the Avengers is the weakest of the four and while I love seeing a nomination for my second favorite film of 2012 (Prometheus), the shear CGI animal wizardry of Life of Pi is something to behold and I have a feeling it will win this category.

There you have it.  Please feel free to dispute my selections in the comments (both here and on Facebook).  Enjoy the show!

Review: A Good Day to Die Hard

John McClane has been one of my favorite cinematic characters over the years.  The star of the Die Hard franchise, played by the aging Bruce Willis returns to headline the 5th movie of the series in A Good Day to Die Hard.

In the follow-up to the mildly disappointing and extremely unrealistic (standing on the wing of a jet anyone?) Life Free or Die Hard, the setting of the film has shifted overseas to Russia as McClane flies over to try to help out his son Jack (played by Jai Courtney) who is in a bit of political and legal trouble.  Jack is a CIA agent who is trying to infiltrate a Russian crime ring and early on you can tell he wants no help from his father (whom he calls John instead of Dad).  Jack and John eventually work things out and team up together, battling with a rather forgettable group of villains.

This movie is a mixed bag.  There are some amazing action sequences (including some excellently choreographed car chases) and enough familiar Die Hard moments to keep this movie in line with its predecessors   However, the plot is not that remarkable and there are some cringe-worthy moments that don't fit in, especially a scene in which Willis inexplicably decides to talk on the phone to his daughter during an intense car chase.  The ringer on his cell phone plays the Beethoven's Fifth notes from the original Die Hard's theme.  Super cheesy.

Willis easily slides right into his comfortable role as McClane.  There are times when it seems as if he'd grown tired of the franchise and there are a few one liners that seem a bit forced.  Courtney really saves the movie though as his brash portrayal of the younger McClane is spot-on and becomes the perfect compliment to the gusto of Willis' performance.  Courtney (an Australian actor) is a relative newcomer to big budget films but I can see a little Tom Hardy in his toughness.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who is a fan of the Die Hard franchise.  This film earns 3 JRs for a mildly entertaining extension of the McClane legacy.  I've heard that apparently this film is not the end of the road for the McClane character.  I would welcome another FINAL chapter involving John and Jack.  To end the series, it might be a good idea to set it another skyscraper as a parallel to the first movie.

The Ten Best Films of 2012

2012 has been an excellent year in film.  Out of the 31 movies I have seen in the theater over the past 12 months, a whopping 12 of them scored a 4.5 rating or better.  The Academy has deemed that 9 movies are worthy of a Best Picture nomination.  I agree with a few of their picks but there are quite a few that they omitted from their list.  I plan on posting an Oscar preview post in a couple of weeks with my own take on the major award categories.  What follows is my personal list in reverse order of my favorite 10 films that were released in 2012.  The final four films on this list were the only movies of the year to achieve a perfect 5 JR rating.

#10 - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Peter Jackson's triumphant return to Middle Earth was a personal joy for me to watch.  Contrary to other critical reviews of this film, I thought the movie went by quickly for a three-hour film.  Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen and the rest of the familiar cast of characters brought life once again to J.R.R. Tolkien's prose.  The delightful cave riddle sequence between Bilbo and Gollum was the highlight of an exciting intro to the Hobbit movies series.  I just wish I didn't see it in 48 FPS.

#9 - Flight

A realistic and revealing look at an airline pilot's struggle with alcoholism, made by an underrated director returning to his live-action roots.  Robert Zemeckis allows Denzel Washington to shine in the lead role as Whip Whittaker, a maligned hero who can't shake his addiction to the bottle despite a horrific plane crash.  This is easily Zemeckis' (Roger Rabbit, Back to the Future, Contact, Cast Away, etc..) most adult movie to-date and he and Denzel knock it out of the park with a raw depiction of the troubles that addiction can bring.

#8 - Argo

The fact that Ben Affleck was snubbed in the Best Director category by the Oscars for this film is ridiculous.  In a growing trend of directing quality films, Affleck has finally found his niche in Hollywood and comes up big in both directing and starring in this true story of a hostage extraction in Iran.  Under the cover of a science fiction film, a group of CIA operatives help lead several US hostages out of a hostile environment.  A great ensemble cast and tight pacing by Affleck combine to make this movie a must-see and just might lead it to Oscar gold for Best Picture.

#7 - The Amazing Spider-Man

This movie was the biggest surprise of the year for me.  I went into it wondering why a Spider-Man reboot was being made at all in Hollywood.  I left the theater absolutely blown away by just how entertaining this version of Spider-Man was.  Thanks to human and engaging performances by Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and excellent oversight from director Mark Webb, Amazing Spider-Man manages to bring the fun back to the web-slinging franchise.  This was sheer popcorn entertainment in fine form.

#6 - Life of Pi

Ang Lee managed to take a novel that was called "un-filmable" by some Hollywood experts and turn it into a visual feast.  The story of a young indian boy and his struggle to survive a shipwreck aboard a lifeboat with a tiger is an enjoyable epic tale of resolve.  Filmed in 3D that helps tell the story rather than detract from it, Life of Pi is a true big-screen theater film.  I found myself amazed at the visual effects used to animate a multitude of wild animals and at the sheer vast land-and-sea scapes used by Lee to tell this amazing story.

#5 - Django Unchained

Tarantino in his element once again in a strong follow-up to Inglorious Basterds.  Django is an epic western set in the south during the height of slavery in America.  With over 100 occurrences of the N-word and a penultimate sequence that features pint after pint of blood, Tarantino pulls no punches in letting Jamie Foxx and the rest of the cast trade lines of bravado through beautifully shot sequences.  The acting in this movie (especially the performances from Christoph Waltz, Leo DiCaprio and Sam Jackson) is amazing and the typically awesome Tarantino movie score does a good job of tying it all together in a very satisfying package.

#4 - The Dark Knight Rises

My favorite director working today is Christopher Nolan and he didn't let me down at all with his epic final chapter of the Batman trilogy.  Not quite as amazing as The Dark Knight but pretty damn close, this movie showcases Bruce Wayne's demise and rebirth as he fights to save the citizens he has always longed to protect.  Anne Hathaway gives a good turn as Catwoman and Bale is solid as usual, but the star of this film is Tom Hardy who gives a steely and intimidating presence to Bane.  Complete with a weird-cool voice over and creepy mask, Hardy dominates every scene he's in.  Nolan demonstrates his command of the pace and scale of this film and gives us a fitting end to one of the best franchises in movie history.

#3 - Silver Linings Playbook

I think it's impossible to see this movie and not feel really good afterwards.  David O. Russell proves he's a master of down-to-earth dialogue in his follow up to The Fighter.  SLP is a very realistic look at how family and friends get together to watch sports.  With an engaging relationship between the two main characters (Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence - both of who deserve serious consideration for winning the top acting awards at the Oscars) as the backbone of the film, the rest of the strong supporting cast (including Robert De Niro, Chris Tucker and Jackie Weaver) is given plenty of good material to work with.  Russell mixes serious themes about mental illness with important family dynamics and throws in a bunch of good laughs to boot.  Overall, this is probably the best-acted movie of the year.

#2 - Prometheus

Ridley Scott returns to his science fiction roots with a quasi-prequel to the Alien film franchise.  While I wasn't quite as satisfied with the connection of this film to Alien/Aliens, I was pleasantly surprised by the direction that Scott took in creating a new world of mythology with Prometheus.  Noomi Rapace and an extra creepy / cool Michael Fassbender lead a group of excellent actors in showcasing the strange unknowns of outer space.  Our creationist roots are questioned by the key characters throuhgout the film but in the end it's the tense action combined with the awesome score from Marc Streitenfeld that make this movie truly engaging.  I thoroughly enjoyed taking another sci-fi ride with Ridley and I hope he's got another Alien-esque film or two left in him before he decides to retire.

#1 - Looper

Joe.... Meet Joe.

Not many people went out to see this one but what they missed was truly a gem of 2012.  Rian Johnson's sci-fi time-bending tale is a totally unique spin on the genre as Joe (a hired assassin) finds himself face-to-face in a battle against his older self.  With amazing performances by Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (the MVP of 2012 in my book), Looper manages to blend plot twists with well crafted characters that are worth rooting for.  Johnson weaves in a multitude of clever moments that make you think about the present and future at the same time to fully understand the ramifications.  The tense climactic ending is perfect in its finality and genius.  If you missed this one, please go rent Looper on DVD.

There you have it.  Notice that Lincoln just missed the list and I'd like to give honorable mention kudos to The Avengers, Les Miserables (ESPECIALLY the amazing Anne Hathaway) and The Raid: Redemption.  Agree?  Disagree?  Let me know via Facebook or in the comments section below.

Review: Zero Dark Thirty

Kathryn Bigelow's follow-up to her 2008 Best Picture winning film The Hurt Locker is a snapshot of the US war on terrorism which features a blow-by-blow reenactment of the raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound and the years of CIA research that led to the mission.  Zero Dark Thirty is a well crafted look at the inner workings of the intelligence agency that blends some genuine authentic excitement and intrigue with some slow and tedious bureaucratic scenes.  You can clearly see that Bigelow feels at home in documenting American wartime conflict.

As with The Hurt Locker, the bulk of the action in this film is set in the Middle East.  The film opens with a black screen while we hear about a minute of various voicemail recordings from 9/11.  This serves as an appropriate catalyst for making sure we understand the drive to catch and serve justice against the most notorious terrorist in US history.  Throughout the first two-thirds of the movie, we are bombarded with a slew of Arab names who are all part of a giant interconnected web of terror that eventually lead the CIA to Bin Laden's courier in Pakistan.  Some of the plot gets confusing but in the end, none of the findings and leads uncovered are all that interesting considering we know that Bin Laden will be found and killed in the end.  The bulk of this movie is tailor-made for CIA/terrorism junkies and I'm just not that type of person.

Jessica Chastain is excellent as Maya, the lead analyst in the film.  She gives a very confident performance with some mixed in vulnerability when she encounters some unexpected bumps and roadblocks in her plight to catch Bin Laden.  She is without a doubt one of the best up and coming young actresses in Hollywood, but I just don't think she was nearly as strong as Jennifer Lawrence was in Silver Linings Playbook.  Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke and Jennifer Ehle round out a strong supporting cast.   (Bonus kudos to Chandler who managed to star in two of the most critically praised films of the year - Argo being the other)

I wasn't blown away by this film.  Bigelow does a great job of putting the audience directly in the squad during the raid on the compound.  The final third of this movie is extremely intense and engaging.  The realism of the squad chatter and the pop-ping-cracks of gunfire mixed with spent shell casings are some of the best I've ever seen on film.  It's clear that Bigelow knows how to stage and shoot extremely realistic combat scenes.  The problem I have with the movie is that everything leading up to the raid is plodding and frankly boring at times.  I believe this movie could have been cut down to two hours with a little better overall pacing.  I find myself feeling nearly exactly the same way about this movie as I felt about The Hurt Locker when I saw it.  Both movies are authentic snapshots of war but both films just didn't engross me that much from start to finish.  I know others (especially publications like Entertainment Weekly) believe this is the best film of 2012.  I can't say the same as I felt disappointed in the full body of work that Bigelow delivers.  I can't give Zero Dark Thirty any more than 3.5 out of 5 JRs.  This is definitely worth seeing, but mostly for the last 40 minutes of the movie.

Review: Django Unchained

Say what you will about Quentin Tarantino, you either usually love or hate his films but even his detractors can't say his movie aren't unique and interesting.  I am a Tarantino fan (Pulp Fiction being my favorite of his films) but even his movies that I wasn't so crazy about (Jackie Brown for example) were still "different" and always succeeded to break the cinematic mold.  With his 8th and latest film just released in time for Christmas, Tarantino gives us his spin on the Western genre with Django Unchained, an epic sweeping spaghetti western blended with a frank depiction of slavery in the 1800's.

Jaime Foxx stars in the titular role of Django who is a slave in the deep south that gets purchased by Dr. King Schultz (played wonderfully by the always-on Christoph Waltz).  The former dentist and the former slave join forces on a sweeping bounty-hunting mission across the south that takes them to a plantation in Mississippi where they attempt to re-unite Django with his slave wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington in a role that mostly asks her to look pretty).  The plantation is owned by a wealthy slaver named Calvin Candie (Leo DiCaprio in a rare turn as a villain).  Tarantino regular Samuel L. Jackson shows up in the second half of the film as a stubborn old house slave at Candie's plantation.  Throughout the film (which seems a tad bit long at over 2 hours and 40 minutes of run-time) we see Foxx's Django go through the process of embracing his freedom and mastering the art of gun-slinging.  With over a 100 uses of the word "nigger" throughout, the brutality and hardship of slavery comes across loud and clear.  In the end, we witness Django as he rises above all of the evils around him in an attempt to rescue his true love.  The arc of Django becomes the pulse of the entire film and Jaime Foxx gives his best performance since Ray in completely embodying the legend of his character.   

Tarantino is in top form with this picture.  From his whip-smart dialogue to his clever use of over-the-top blood and quick-zoom camera work, he has his fingerprints all over this production.  You can tell that he is very comfortable with Waltz who owns the first half of the film.  The Oscar-winning actor has mastered the art of delivering Tarantino's sharp dialogue with a hint of glee and panache.  DiCaprio gives yet another reliably excellent performance as Candie, spouting lines of bravado while maintaining a sense of southern cool only to lose his temper towards the end of the film in an effective fit of rage.  Tarantino wraps all of the action up in an authentic southern setting that includes vast open landscapes, genuine plantation houses and rustic old-time western towns.

The big surprise for me in this film was the performance of Jackson who has a history of mailing in some over-the-top bombastic efforts over the years.  Here he is right at home with his frequent collaborator in Tarantino and you can tell he is putting his heart and soul into his portrayal of Stephen (the right-hand 'bad guy' to DiCaprio's Candie).  I hadn't seen Sam Jackson give such a quality performance since probably Pulp Fiction.  Jackson's final-act showdown with Foxx contains by-far the best line in the film.  I hope the Academy will recognize him but I'm betting that the trio of Waltz/DiCaprio/Fox will overshadow him.

This was one of the better films I've seen from 2012.  I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as Inglorious Basterds (my #2 overall movie of 2009), but it definitely ranks up there in Tarantino's top 5.  I recommend seeing it on the big screen to take in the wonderful wide-angle cinematography and excellent soundtrack.  If the Academy can get past all the language and violence, I hope they decide to give this film a Best Picture nod.  4.5 out of 5 JRs for Django Unchained which leaves Zero Dark Thirty as the last movie I NEED to see from 2012 (until Oscar nominations come out later this week).

Review: Les Misérables

I've been looking forward to the big-screen adaptation of my favorite musical of all-time since the announcement was made that Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) would be directing.  One-by-one, the casting announcements for Les Miserables only peaked my interest.  I finally got to see the movie over the weekend and I must say that I was a bit disappointed   While most of the movie was excellent and true to the play, I felt that a few added scenes and songs were unnecessary and helped bloat the movie to it's 2.5-hour runtime.  Most of the cast sings their hearts out and Hooper's unique directorial choices help make this film a must-see holiday movie.

For those (few) of you who haven't seen the award-winning Broadway musical, the story of Les Mis takes place during the French Revolution and chronicles former prisoner Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) as he redeems himself from past crimes and tries to avoid the clutches of his arch nemesis Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe).  Several side-stories are intertwined featuring a love triangle between Valjean's adopted daughter Cossette (Amanda Seyfried), a revolutionist named Marius (Eddie Redmayne) and his friend Eponine (the powerful Samantha Banks in her first ever movie role).  Cossette's mother Fantine, featured earlier in the story, is played by the movie's brightest star, Anne Hathaway.

Throughout the musical/film, a variety of amazing sweeping songs are performed.  I believe that the music of Les Mis is by-far the best collection of songs featured in a single musical.  Hooper made the decision to film his actors with live music playing in an earpiece so they could sing their lines live on film to the music.  In the past, musicals were shot with vocals recorded on separate tracks and synched to the actors mouths during the filmed scenes.  Hooper's method results in a truly unique and powerful performance that allows Jackman, Hathaway and company to deliver raw emotion during the songs.  Two numbers in particular stand out.  Valjean's opening song in the church is totally raw and amazingly performed by Jackman.  His face convey's the mental dilemma that his character is facing and it's hard to believe that most of the song occurs in one single take.  Hathaway's "I Dreamed a Dream" is even BETTER as you get a totally uninterrupted single shot that zooms in on her face during  one of the low points of Fantine's story.  The pain and suffering she emits in 4 minutes of film are enough to make her a virtual shoe-in for Best Supporting Actress.  I was blown away at how effective the close-up singing was at immersing the audience in the story and songs.

Mixed in with the amazing performances of Hathaway, Jackman, Redmayne and others are a few songs that miss the mark.  Crowe is just simply outclassed in this film.  He may be a good lead singer of his side-gig band but here his voice is not powerful enough to carry some of the epic songs that Javert needs to sing.  "Stars" in particular (one of my favorite songs) becomes a meek and unimpressive number when in the care of Crowe's voice.  Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen play the mischevious Thenardier couple as if they are fresh out of Sweeney Todd and the rest of the supporting cast is adequate enough.  Visually, Hooper's team does a great job with set design and cinemtography as well in painting a vivid picture of revolutionary France.

I saw this movie with my lovely girlfriend who hadn't been exposed to the play before.  She absolutely loved the movie and I think the primary reason was that she had no prior play experience to compare it to.  Since I was comparing every song to the original London cast version on stage, some of the songs were underwhelming to me.  I also noticed that extra lines of dialogue were added to add context to the story.  These extra verses were sung throughout to the tune of songs that had been performed already.  I think the movie would have felt tighter and better paced if some of the added content was removed.  I also would have liked to see another actor in the role of Javert.  Crowe is still a quality actor but this just isn't the role for him in my opinion.

All this being said, Les Mis on the big screen is worth the price of admission and it really is a unique and rewarding experience to be able to see the actors deliver intense performances by singing live to the camera.  This movie will deservedly win a few Oscars in 2013 and I think Tom Hooper definitely did the musical justice, but I can only give this movie 4 JRs out of 5.

NOTE:  I will not be able to give my annual year-end top 10 movie list until AFTER I have had a chance to see Zero Dark Thirty.  Katherine Bigelow's film opens nationwide on January 11th and I will see it shortly thereafter.  

Review: This is 40

In a somewhat-sequel to Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, This is 40 gives us a realistic (and sometimes hilarious) look at what it's like to reach mid-life.  The movie is a bit too long and has a few jokes that fall flat, but contains enough signature Apatow moments and some solid performances from an excellent ensemble cast to make it slightly worth seeing.  However, Paul Rudd delivers yet another solid comedic effort and that-alone makes it worthwhile for me (slightly upping my JR rating).

Rudd and Leslie Mann play Pete and Debbie, the troubled couple from Knocked Up (Debbie is Katherine Heigl's sister in that film) that both find themselves approaching the big 4-0.  Finances, careers and kids all combine to through extra pressure on their marriage.  Through a sea of curse words and some solid adult humor, we get to see Rudd and Mann play off each other and embody what it's like to go through mid-life problems.  As a late thirty-something myself with kids, I can relate to a lot of the situations that they go through.  The problem with the movie is that the rest of what made Knocked Up such a good movie is completely removed.  Seth Rogan and company made that movie so funny and there just isn't enough LOL moments in this film to raise the comedic bar.  Rudd and Mann do what they can though and really do have some chemistry together.

John Lithgow shows up mid-way through the film as Mann's father.  I haven't seen him in a film in a long time and is a welcome addition to this cast.  He gives a muted and genuine performance as a reclusive parent who isn't really sure how to connect with his daughter or grandkids.  After Rudd, Lithgow is the highlight of this movie for me.  Albert Brooks and Jason Seigel chip in as well to bolster a talented cast. Apatow and Mann use their own kids in the movie once again and it really adds to the authenticity of watching Debbie interact with her actual children.

Surprisingly this is only the third major film that Judd Apatow has directed (After Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin).  It is definitely the weakest of the three and makes me start to consider the revelation that Apatow is a better producer/writer than he is a director.  Despite some slow parts, This is 40 is still a relevant movie for someone my age and is quite enjoyable at times.  A lukewarm 3 out of 5 JRs for this movie.  I would recommend waiting for DVD on this one.