BradWesley123's Movie Journal- March 2013

Tarantino's most dialogue heavy and only adaptation is one of his weakest films, but even when he's not at his best, he's still pretty damn good. Great cast, script, and direction make this an incredibly entertaining crime flick.

Technically well-made and strongly acted (even if most are miscast), but slow with a hell of a downer ending.

While James' efforts are commendable here, it's all pretty routine with precious few laughs.

Thrillingly made action flick that effectively washes the taste of Sly Stallone's incarnation out of fan's mouths. Urban is well-cast as the title character, bringing a real gravitas to the role, and Headey makes a solid villain.

Amiable romcom that's not particularly romantic or comedic, but likable no less. A lot of it's likability comes from it's cast, especially Olsen; who's radiant here.

There's some fun action and twists, and the cast is having a blast, but writer/director McDonagh's constant attempts to out-clever himself distracts more than adds to the narrative.

More style over substance, but it's still pretty good. Director Wright's choice to shoot most of the action on a theater stage is really distracting at times, but the costumes, score, and cinematography make this a visual marvel. The cast is wonderful too, for the most part; Taylor-Johnson is fairly blank here.

The cast is great, and clearly having a blast, but it's very slight, and the plot is fairly tired.

I suppose all of the behind the scenes drama paid off, because this is a wonderful film. Stongly directed, written, and acted; it's entertaining as hell, and one of the (very) few great movies about the first Iraq war.

While it does eventually veer into cliches, Celeste & Jesse is a smart and funny relationship dramedy, featuring a strong lead turn from star and co-writer Rashida Jones.

Solid sci-fi/mystery that raises a lot of questions, but unfortunately doesn't answer many of them.

Smart financial/mystey. It has so many plot threads that it's muddled at times, but it benefits greatly from one of Richard Gere's best performance ever.

It looses it's focus at times, and the plot is pretty contrived, but this is just a fun movie featuring a great cast, strong direction, and snappy writing.

A strong debut from Scorsese with some great work from De Niro and Keitel. The plot is pretty paper thin though, and much of your enjoyment will stem from seeing a bon-a-fide legend's first film.

Not particularly original, but it's got enough charm to make up for that. Very likable with a couple of well-matched leads.

There are a couple of okay fight scenes. but overall this a pointless, uninspired mess that should have been campy fun.

Dull and lacking any sort of spark, but DiCaprio and Crowe keep it marginally watchable.

P.T. Anderson takes Sandler's usual man-child shtick and applies it too something more considerate, and it works out pretty. Sandler obviously gives his best performance her, with some strong supporting work from Emily Watson and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Visually creative, with a solid score too.

Not as terrible as I had anticipated, but still not very good. Despite some decent action, it's all too contrived and ordinary to really break the mold.

Charmining little indie about an old man and his robot. Langella is great as the title Frank, and Peter Sarsgaard does some solid voice work as the robot. Much of the film hinges on their chemistry and director Jake Schreier does an admirable job of conveying this. It's slight, but very enjoyable.

Aside from strong work by the cast, especially Mary Elizabeth Winstead, this is a pretty mundane alcohol addiction story.

This is an important movie, and director Andrew Dominik never wants you to forget that. Why else would he pound it into your skulls? The self-importance of the flick get's pretty laughable (A Pre-President Obama is seen several times speaking, semi-connecting to the plot) and distracts from Brad Pitt and what could've been a great character.

Fiennes and Weisz are quite good here, and it occasionally manages to thrill. Unfortunately, it's fairly lifeless, with not much to get invested in.

More content with being frothy, amusing fun than an in-depth exploration of a legend, it's semi-successful, but only because the cast is so good; especially Hopkins and Mirren, who really deserve more. Good makeup though.

The cast is great, especially Kidman, but the movie never manages to do more than try to shock, which it only occasionally does. What should've been a fun, pulpy, mystery is instead a mostly odd, thinly written bore.