Devil

      Devil (2010) is the first movie in The Night Chronicles trilogy.  It is written, but not directed, by M. Night Shyamalan (Signs, Lady in the Water, Unbreakable, The Village) Shyamalan wanted to try his hand at producing some of his ideas, the supernatural in a modern urban society.  You could actually find yourself in the particular situation.  I really enjoy M. Night Shyamalan films; I love his writing style, his directing style, all of it!
     The opening shot is awesome! It is your typical helicopter shot of a city, however the whole thing is upside down as it takes you through the city.  I don’t want to say to much about the movie because, in the style of Shyamalan, it would give the twists away.  The story of Devil comes from a folktale called “The Devils Meeting” in which the Devil roams the earth in human form torturing the living before he kills them. The folktale is told in the movie in a creative way.  I know it may not sound very good from that story, but it really is.  It is a fascinating story with an intriguing ending. 

Super 8

      As much as I don’t like to say it, Super 8 (2011) was a disappointment to me.  Maybe I just had really high expectations. I followed it for a long time and bought into all of the hype and secrecy about it. I am a huge fan of Steven Spielberg (Hook, Jurassic Park, E.T., Saving Private Ryan). I have also grown to like J.J. Abrams (Lost, Fringe, Alias). He is doing some interesting stuff and I kind of like his style.  All of that being said I had very high expectations.  That may be why I was so let down.
      Super 8 takes place during the summer of 1979, Abrams, and Spielberg wanted to recapture the thriller movies of the 70’s and 80’s.  They succeed in that.  It has a very old feel and even though it has new CGI and such it is still very much a 70’s or 80’s thriller.
       Joel Courtney plays Joe Lamb, the main character.  This was his first role.  He did a good job. He has a few other projects coming out in the next two years.  Elle Fanning (Déjà Vu, Phoebe in Wonderland, The Door in the floor) on the other hand has been acting since 1988. She did a wonderful job and I enjoy watching her almost as much as I enjoy watching her sister. Yes, that is right, she is Dakota Fanning’s (The Runaways, Push, The Secret Life of Bees, Coraline) little sister.
       I am sure there are people who will enjoy this movie and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up having a cult like following.  It just didn’t grab me.

The Secret Life of Bees

      How did I miss this movie? I really don’t know how this one slipped passed me.  With a cast full of some of my favorite actors The Secret Life of Bees (2008) was so fun to watch.  Maybe fun isn’t the right word?  The Secret Life of Bees takes place in South Carolina in 1964, and isn’t really an uplifting movie.
      Dakota Fanning (Dreamer, I am Sam, Push, The Runaways) plays 14 year old Lily.  She is an only child trying to come to terms with her mother’s death and an emotionally detached father.  Paul Bettany (Priest, A Beautiful Mind, The Tourist) plays T. Ray, Lily’s father.  As much as I like him I have to say he was pretty frightening and hard to watch. This means he did an excellent job!  Lily and her caretaker Rosaleen end up running away from home.  They go to South Carolina where they stay with three sisters who own a bee farm and make honey.
      Queen Latifah (Chicago, Just Wright, Mad Money) plays August, the main beekeeper who lets Lily and Rosaleen stay with them.  This movie is full of wonderful life lessons that Lily learns while staying with August and her sisters.  Even though The Secret Life of Bees deals with difficult subject matter and a difficult time in the United States of America it is a very well written story and worth watching. 

The Bad Mother's Handbook

      In my post about the Green Lantern I talked about how many super hero movies deal with father son issues.  Well, here is a movie all about mother daughter issues.  The whole movie is about the relationship between a mother and her child, most specifically her daughter.  Wow! I am just now realizing this has been on my mind quite a bit lately.  I have been very focused on the musical Little Women for the last few weeks, which is also about a mother and her daughters.  As I have mentioned I have three daughters of my own and come from a family of four daughters, no brothers.  Just last week I was talking to my mom about watching my daughters grow into young women and she asked "Have you thought about what it is like to watch your daughters go through child birth. And then raise their own daughters." That really hit me because to be perfectly honest, no I haven't thought that far ahead.  My oldest is 18; it isn't as far away as it used to be.
       After that conversation I just happened to watch The Bad Mother's Handbook (2007). This movie deals with all of that, really. It is three generations of women all living under one roof. Catherine Tate (Starter for 10, Doctor Who (2005), Love and other Disasters) stars as Karen Cooper, a single mom trying to raise her teenage daughter and take care of her elderly mother who isn't really all there these days.  Nancy, the elderly mother, is played beautifully by Anne Reid (Coronation Street, Hot Fuzz). She was wonderful to watch. Holliday Grainger (Bel Ami, Daddy Fox, The Illustrated Mum) plays Charlie. Charlie is a straight "A" student who does everything she should, for the most part.  She is also a 17 year old girl trying to find her place in the world and figure out who she is. 
      The Bad Mother's Handbook is a made for TV British movie. It isn't a "Hollywood Blockbuster".  There are no car chases, no explosions, no computer graphics. It is just a beautifully written film about being a mom. There are some interesting twists to the storyline, Karen finds out about a huge family secret her mother has been keeping and Charlotte, who goes by Charlie, finds out she is pregnant. Charlie's mother, Karen, doesn't deal with either of these things very well.  Charlie's pregnancy is a reminder of her "mistake", she wanted more for her daughter then to be a single teenage mother.  Enter Daniel, played by Robert Pattinson (Remember Me, Bel Ami, Water for Elephants) Daniel is a new transfer student, Charlie is asked to help him adjust to the new school, you know, show him around and such.  When Charlie finds out that Daniel's dad is a doctor she begins to ask him a lot of questions about pregnancy and Daniel ends up being a huge support for her over the next nine months. 
      This is a very different kind of movie but I really enjoyed it.  It is a very touching story with well written characters.
     
     

Priest

      There is a huge debate these days about what a “good” vampire movie is.  There is also a lot of competition out there, even some spoofs.  If you look on line there are a variety of lists about what the best vampire films of all time are.  There are duplicates on these lists of course and they really don’t vary a whole lot.  This happens to be a genre I really enjoy and I have seen my share of vampire movies, most of the ones on those lists as well. 
      Priest (2011) is just another vampire movie; I guess that is what some would say. Like Van Helsing (2004) Priest is an adaptation of a comic book character.  Boy we love those comic book movies these days don’t we? It even starts out with very comic looking drawing to tell us how the story began and bring us up to the present. 
      Paul Bettany (A beautiful mind, A Knight’s tale, The Tourist, Firewall) plays the Priest, his character doesn’t even have a name, he is just Priest.  The movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic world.  After centuries of war between the humans and vampires the humans feel they have finally won and there is peace.  The Priests were the warriors during war time.  Once there is peace they are of no use any more and kind of become the outcasts of society, not to be spoken to.  Well, of course, the peace doesn’t last or there wouldn’t be a movie. Paul Bettany, the warrior priest, has a brother who is living a happy life with his wife and daughter.  That is until the vampire’s come and his daughter is kidnapped.  Hicks, played by Cam Gigandet (Never back down, Easy A, Pandorum) comes to the Priest for help in rescuing Lucy, the Priests niece. 
      I loved this movie! There are so many reasons I enjoyed.  The script was really good.  There are twists and turns and a few surprises in the storyline.  The CGI (Computer-generated imagery) or special effects, are very cool.  There are some awesome fight scenes and even a few unusual characters. I love the different ways movies portray vampires this one was pretty unique.  The setting reminded me of the Mad Max (1979) movies, futuristic and old west at the same time.  There is even a huge train scene at the end!
       In short, Priest may be just another vampire movie but if you like dark, exciting, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, vampire, comic book movies. Which I happen to love.  You just may like Priest.

Lifted

      We were just sitting around on Sunday afternoon with my family of ten.  Just spending the day at my parents with my sister and her two boys. We were flipping through Netflix trying to find something to watch.  We came across this movie called Lifted (2010) I knew it was one I was interested in watching but couldn’t remember why.  The description it gave read “The chance to shine in a singing competition offers much-needed hope for a Southern middle-schooler who's drowning in worries, from bullies in the halls to turmoil at home -- and the news that his reservist father has been called back to Afghanistan.” 
      Somehow the Afghanistan thing didn’t stand out to much, the name Trace Adkins (Then they do, Chrome, Arlington, Songs about me)  did stand out though.  I am a Trace Adkins fan, for those who don’t know he is a country singer. So, we decided to watch Lifted.  Just a side note.  If you look on IMDB it has Trace Adkins listed very first.  You don’t see him until the last half hour and then not even that much.  Still, you do get to see him punch a guy, that was pretty cool.
       Well …… two hours later everyone is in tears and yelling at me that I am not aloud to pick the movie any more! I swear if I had any idea what it would be like I would have watched alone. My sister says we should have realized what it would be like as soon as we knew Trace Adkins was in it. (Just listen to any of his patriotic songs)
      Lifted is one of those “straight to DVD” movies.  Uriah Shelton (The Glades, Alabama moon, The Nanny Express) plays Henry Matthews.  Henry is a very talented R&B singer who really enjoys free styling.  The opening scene is his mom, dad and him in the kitchen at breakfast and Henry and his dad start singing to mom as she is heading out the door, they do a very fun version of Ain’t no Sunshine by Bill Withers but it sounds more like the Lenny Kravitz version.
       When Henry’s father is deployed to Afghanistan his mom and him are left to deal with things at home.  There are some tough themes in this movie and that may be offensive to some people.  Such as Henry’s grandfather who doesn’t like him or approve of his type of music.
       By the end you forget about all of that.  In my opinion it is worth watching just to see the end.  I think it was so beautifully done and has an amazing message.  In reading about it on Netflix it says “This movie is: Emotional” That is very true.  Have the kleenex ready. 

Green Lantern

      As much as I enjoy comic books and the movies based on those comic books Green Lantern (2011) is not one that I am very familiar with at all.  So watching the movie was really my first introduction to this particular super hero. Knowing that, I can’t say how well it follows the comic book or the legends of the Green Lantern. 
      The introduction was really interesting.  I didn’t know anything about the Guardians or that there were like 3,600 Green Lanterns. Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal, Smokin’ Aces, Buried) plays the Green Lantern.  I really like him and enjoyed his performance. The story line is interesting and entertaining.  It is fast paced with a lot of action, but still tries to focus on the emotional side of the story as well. 
      There is a very interesting story about what exactly the Green Lantern is and what the ring is.  Hal, Ryan’s character, learns that the color yellow is the power of fear and green is the power of will.  The ring is connected to all of the will in the universe that the guardians have collected.  The guardians are the keepers of peace, order and justice throughout the universe.  One of the guardians tried to harness the power of fear and it turned him evil.  What an interesting concept.  Hal is told that, “Your will turns thought into reality, the rings limits are only what you can imagine ….. Your constructs are only as strong as your will”  There is so much you could analyze and read into with all of that! Fascinating!
      Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile, Armageddon, Sin City) provides the voice for Kilowog.  He is a very funny character who is going to “train” Hal. Love his voice! It made me chuckle when he said “welcome to ring slinging one oh one or as I like to call it the worst day of your worthless life.” The soundtrack is really good and so is the score.  James Newton Howard (The Sixth Sense, The Fugitive, Unbreakable) wrote the score.  It is really beautiful.
      I find it interesting how many super hero movies deal with father son issues.  I don’t have a son or a brother so I am not familiar with that dynamic but it is repeated over and over in comic books. Just kind of an interesting thought.  The Green Lantern has two different aspects of this dynamic. It is interesting to see those stories unfold and they way in which they chose to tell them.