Right back where we started from.
Teen Beach Movie
2013 3/5 -good
Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, Grace Phillips
Life's a beach for surfers Brady and McKenzie -- until a rogue wave magically transports them inside the classic '60s beach party flick, Wet Side Story, where a full-blown rivalry between bikers and surfers threatens to erupt. There, amidst a sea of surfing, singing and dancing, Brady and Mack accidentally change the storyline, and the film's dreamy hero and heroine fall for them instead of for each other!
--------
I actually liked this. I thought it was really cute and I even laughed out loud a few times. It really depresses me that Disney TV movies can turn out so well, but big budget musical movies turn out so poor.
Looper
2012 3/5 -good
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt
In the year 2044, a man working for a group of killers called "Loopers" (they work for the mob and kill people who are sent blindfolded back in time from the year 2074 by their bosses) recognizes a victim as himself. He hesitates resulting in the escape of his older self.
--------
What a twisty movie, I was not expecting that!
Cast Away
2000 3/5 -good
Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt
A man is marooned on an island after his plane crashes into the ocean. Far away from home, his girlfriend, and any human contact, he engages in a battle of wits with himself as he is tested mentally, physically, and emotionally in order to survive.
--------
I could not accept a 2 1/2 movie about one man stranded on an island. Why did a movie with one character need to be so long? But when I was watching I wasn't bored and I didn't look at the clock once.
Nine
2009 1/5 -bad
Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard
Arrogant, self-centered movie director Guido Contini finds himself struggling to find meaning, purpose, and a script for his latest film endeavor. With only a week left before shooting begins, he desperately searches for answers and inspiration from his wife, his mistress, his muse, and his mother. As his chaotic profession steadily destroys his personal life, Guido must find a balance between creating art and succumbing to its obsessive demands.
--------
I didn't really follow everything. At some point the movie flashed back to the guy's childhood and I'm not sure why. I didn't care either. Half way through this movie I found mysef on pinterest.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
2001 1/5 -bad
1914: Milo Thatch, grandson of the great Thaddeus Thatch works in the boiler room of a museum. He knows that Atlantis was real, and he can get there if he has the mysterious Shephards journal, which can guide him to Atlantis. But he needs someone to fund a voyage. His employer thinks he's dotty, and refuses to fund any crazy idea. He returns home to his apartment and finds a woman there. She takes him to Preston B. Whitmore, an old friend of his Grandfathers. He gives him the shepherds journal, a submarine and a 5 star crew. They travel through the Atlantic ocean, face a large lobster called the Leviathan, and finally get to Atlantis. But does the Atlantis crew have a lust for discovery, or something else?
--------
These characters didn't seem very Disney.
Funny Face
1957 2/5 -nothing special
Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astair, Kay Thompson
Fashion photographer Dick Avery, in search for an intellectual backdrop for an air-headed model, expropriates a Greenwich Village bookstore. When the photo session is over the store is left in a shambles, much to salesgirl Jo Stockton's dismay. Avery stays behind to help her clean up. Later, he examines the photos taken there and sees Jo in the background of one shot. He is intrigued by her unique appearance, as is Maggie Prescott, the editor of a leading fashion magazine. They offer Jo a modeling contract, which she reluctantly accepts only because it includes a trip to Paris. Eventually, her snobbish attitude toward the job softens, and Jo begins to enjoy the work and the company of her handsome photographer.
--------
I don't really like dance numbers. Just can't get into them.
Admission
2013 2/5 -nothing special
Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Wallace Shawn
Straitlaced Princeton University admissions officer Portia Nathan is caught off-guard when she makes a recruiting visit to an alternative high school overseen by her former college classmate, the freewheeling John Pressman. Pressman has surmised that Jeremiah, his gifted yet very unconventional student, might well be the son that Portia secretly gave up for adoption many years ago. Soon, Portia finds herself bending the rules for Jeremiah, putting at risk the life she thought she always wanted -- but in the process finding her way to a surprising and exhilarating life and romance she never dreamed of having.
--------
It was longer than it needed to be.
The Host
2013 2/5 -nothing special
Saoirse Ronan, Jake Abel, Diane Kruger
A race of aliens who are non corporeal go from planet to planet looking for hosts. They come to Earth and basically take over human bodies. Now it's believed that once they take over a body all memories of the previous inhabitant are gone. And there are some humans who have remain hidden from them and are basically a resistance movement. So an alien charged with locating them known as the Seeker captures one of them a girl named Melanie and puts one of them who is known as Wanderer in her body, in hopes of finding out where the humans are. But Melanie for some reason is still there and she convinces Wanderer not to say anything to Seeker. Wanderer feels empathy for the humans. When Seeker is disappointed at her lack of progress, she informs Wanderer that she'll be removed and placed in a new host and she will be placed in Melanie. Melanie knowing she can't convince her the way she convinced Wanderer convinces Wsnderer to run away and they can meet with the humans.
--------
I was really hoping that this wouldn't suck. It did. The book just doesn't translate.
LOL
2012 3/5 -good
Miley Cyrus, Demi Moore, Douglas Booth
n a world connected by YouTube, iTunes, and Facebook, Lola and her friends navigate the peer pressures of high school romance and friendship while dodging their sometimes overbearing and confused parents. When Lola's mom, Anne, "accidentally" reads her teenage daughter's racy journal, she realizes just how wide their communication gap has grown. Through hilarious and heartfelt moments between mother and daughter, LOL is a fresh coming-of-age story for modern times.
--------
Surprisingly decent. I wonder why it hasn't been seen or talked about much. As far as teen movies...it's no Clueless or Mean Girls, but it could be a cult thing.
Oz: The Great and Powerful
2013 4/5 -just wonderful
James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams
Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he's hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora, Evanora, and Glinda, who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.
--------
I was impressed with the visuals in this movie. Even just watching it at home without high def or blue ray or anything.