Inception

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Plot: Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) makes money by interogating prisoners in their dreams and stealing their secrets. He uses drugs and a science-fiction machine to create an elaborate fictional world to convince them into talking. Cobb is himself a fugitive, and becomes involved in a risky corporate espionage scheme involving planting memories. As the movie unfolds, we learn Cobb has emotional problems of his own involving his wife Mal (Marion Cotilliard), and these complicate completing the espionage. He forms a team with Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and Araidne (Ellen Page.)

Review:  Inception is a clever and original movie that mixes action sequences and a spy story with an emotional love story that occurs in flashback. It has a complicated plot, which was easy enough to follow in broad-strokes, but I'd need to see the movie another time to get in detail. I thought that the plot made sense by end of the movie, though I did not follow it as it spooled out.

The relationships between the characters especially Cobb and Araidne carry the movie, and Ellen Page does a nice job. Mal's scenes were played with great intensity by Marion Cotilliard, and they helped carry off the science-fiction premises. I don't usually like Leo, but he was non-objectionable in this movie -- even above average.

I liked the movie. It was fun to watch, and had some clever messages about the realness of life. My wife liked to relate this story to the teachings of mystical religions or The Course in Miracles, which teach that all the world is a dream.

I liked the ambiguous ending. When you have seen the movie, check out the discussion on the meaning of the last scene, here.

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio,

Written and directed by: Christopher Nolan

Rating: 3.0+ flasks; maybe it should be higher certainly others are giving it great reviews. I thought it was strong, more in the range of Kick-Ass, Ironman 2 and Alice in Wonderland -- not as good as Dragon Tatoo or Toy Story 3. I reserve the right to raise this to 3.5 if I see it again, and I am interested in seeing it twice. Just that I want to see it again says something.
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More: Ariadne (the namesake of the Ellen Page character) is a figure in Greek mythology who helped her boyfriend get out of a maze by giving him a thread. It is thus appropriate that she was concerned with mazes and guiding Cobb through the maze.

Obviously, Mal is supposed to be bad -- a little too obvious. I can't figure out the reference to Cobb. His full name is Dom Cobb.

Even More: Check out this comic prequel on the Cobal job, which the movie begins with.

The Girl Who Played With Fire [Flickan som lekte med elden]

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Plot: This is a sequel and the movie spends time rebuilding the story from the previous film including how Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is blackmailing her guardian. This film's complicated story involves a drug/prostitution ring and police corruption. Salander is accused of murdering two and then three people, and the police, her friend Bloomkvist and the criminals are all out to get her.

Review: The first half of the movie was too plot heavy and not very enjoyable, but it led to a dramatic confrontation at the end that was intense and made the whole worthwhile. The scriptwriter (Jonas Frykberg) simplified the story in the novel, but it was too complicated to follow anyway, and the richness of the characters was compromised.  Lisbeth should have been smarter and more troubled. I would like to have seen some Monk-like physical ticks.

If this movie is evaluated as a free-standing work, then it fails as it is too complicated to follow without the novels or at least the first movie as a guide. If it is evaluated as part of the larger whole, then it stands up better. The character development in this movie is not strong enough alone to provide interesting characters. The complex story of the novel is probably unfilmable, but it did provide interesting situations for the characters to enact.

Noomi Rapace had some excellent scenes especially at the end. Michael Nyquist who played Bloomkwist was not interesting and none of his scenes were interesting.

The book was all about the exploitation of the woman in the human trafficking ring, but that was barely a sidelight here. This took away emotional intensity.

Cast:Noomi Raplace, Michael Nyquist

Directed by: Daniel Alfredson

Rating: 2.5 flasks


More: I liked the warpaint makeup Lisbeth wore in this interrogation scene. Great visual. Creepy.

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Winter's Bone

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Plot: Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 17 year-old from an outlaw family in rural America, probably Missouri, and her Dad has skipped bail. The bail bondsman is going to claim the farm, and kick Ree, her two siblings and her mentally-ill Mom on the street. Ree goes in search of her Dad, but instead finds an extended family of strange and scary relatives.

Review: Ree's character is very strong and well-drawn. She is noble in her suffering and tireless in her quest. Her task is so unfair and so hopeless that we are sympathetic with her throughout the movie. All the strengths of this movie come from the Ree Dolly character and its portrayal by Jennifer Lawrence. Jennifer's acting is great -- from the first scene she seems like a real girl with a world of burdens on her.

The rest of the movie is not so good. The other kids are just placeholders. Her creepy uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes) is colorful, but not interesting. He just seems scary and unpredictable to me.

The only other excellent character is villainous matriarch Merab, played by Dale Dickey -- she is practical, tough, complicated and squeezed by her obligations to her even tougher husband.

I saw this movie yesterday, and today I like it better. Even though it was bleak and not fun, the Ree character is so memorable. I wondered why her relatives were not more helpful. In my view outlaw families are usually close, and Ree's Dad would have had friends, but the story demanded the Ree be all alone, and so she was.

I find myself wondering what I would have done in her situation. Her heroism makes the movie worth seeing.

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, John Hawkes

Directed by: Debra Granik

Rating: 2.5 flasks


More: The sound effects were disturbingly poor. One should never notice that the sound of the footsteps are wrong.

Even more: Winter's Bone starts off with kids playing with a lullaby in the background. It is bad sign when a film starts with sleepy music.

The Karate Kid

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Plot: A boy, Dre (Jaden Smith), and his Mom (Tariji Henson) move from Detroit to Beijing, where Dre is picked on by the local kids, and where he meets a girl, Meiying (Wen Wen Han). After he gets beaten up, a local man, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), teaches him Kung Fu. After he learns Kung Fu, he fights in a big tournment.

Review:  You really can't trust movie reviews for kid's movies. This film had great reviews, and it was bad.

The beginning was like an afterschool special; everything was so stereotypic and so unlikely that I couldn't bear to watch. The first hour was especially bad. The ending was especially predictable.

The flirty romance and the Chinese travelogue made the movie bearable. The training scenes dragged on forever. Mr Han (Jackie Chan) was unrealistic and odd. I suppose they were attempting to make him quirky and tormented, but that did not work for me.

I liked Jaden Smith and the smiley young girl Wen Wen Han. All the other child actors were wooden.

I can't figure why the rest of the audience liked this movie. There were some good songs though.

Cast: Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan

Directed by:  Harald Zwart

Rating: 1.5 flasks. Some scenes aspire to be 2 flasks, but they did not overcome the unbearable parts.


More:  Karate is Japanese (Okinawan) not Chinese. It should be the Kung Fu Kid. The film was partially produced by Sony, so I am sure they thought it was OK. Apparently, the first syllable of Karate means Chinese.

Even more:  I liked the Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers T-shirts

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Toy Story 3

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Plot: Andy has grown up, and is packing for college. The toys end up at the local daycare, wherethey are oppressed by the other toys especially by Latso the bear. The toys want to break out, and get back to Andy. 

Review: The writers (Arndt and Lasseter) have written a clever screen play about growing up, and loss, and hurt feelings and friendship. This provides purpose and emotional weight to the various scenes where the toys trek from bedroom to trashbin to daycare and so on.

There are several cute and funny gags especially between Ken and Barbie. Ken was as gender-bendingly fabulous as he was smitten with Barbie.

I loved the Chuckles the Clown, who has led a sad life -- I'd buy one of collectable figures. It was clever to put a sad clown in the story to spin the villian's backstory.

Chuckles the Clown is probably based on the a character of the same name on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. 

I loved the Spanish language Buzz too.

When we get to the last scene, I was caught up in the movie and felt sad.

Directed by: Lee Unkrich
Written by: Michael Ardnt and John Lasseter

Rating: 3.5 flasks; So why isn't this a 4.0?  It was fun, but not fun enough. The characters were emotive, but not consistently. Unlike most summer movies, this movie was about something substantive. This will be on my ten-best list in the fall.


More:I loved the Spanish language Buzz Lightyear too.

Even more: I like to see kids movies in the evening when there are at least a few other adults, but the kids in the audience really added to the experience because they laughed at the sight-gags -- like the Spanish-language Buzz dancing with Jesse.
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Get Him to the Greek

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Plot:  Aldus Snow, (Russell Brand) is a washed up British rock star who makes some ridiculous rock music. Music execs Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) and Sergio (Sean Combs/P. Diddy) decide to stage a comeback concert at The Greek Theater. Aaron goes to London to bring the Aldus to the US and then to the theater. Aldus is a nightmare, and drags Jonah to bars and parties, as they travel from London to the Today Show in New York to Las Vegas to LA's Greek Theater. There is a major subplot with Aaron and his girlfriend Daphne (Elizabeth Moss) whose relationship gets a makeover from Aldus.

Review: This is a showcase for Russell Brand who owns this film with his confidence and attitude. He is perfect as a conceited, self-absorbed, drug-addicted rock star. The film is a road movie as Aldus and Aaron move from place to place through wild situations. The fun is watching Russell Brand.

This is a sequel to "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," focussing on Aldus Snow, but this is not a romantic-comedy instead it is a road picture or buddy picture.

I loved Aldus' opening song African Child, which is so awful and funny and over-the-top. The funniness of the movie comes from the absurd situations and absurd people. This is an R-rated movie, so it can be pretty crude.

Like Hot Tube Time Machine guys will like this more than women. Daphne is the only sympathetic female character, and there are a lot of body-part and sex jokes.

The Today Show scenes are funny. 

Cast: Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Elizabeth Moss, Rose Byrne

Written and directed by: Nicholas Stroller

Rating: 2.5 flasks


More: Albus says I am an "African, White Jesus from Outer Space."

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An Education

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Plot: Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a smart high school girl, is distracted from her studies by an affair with a thirty-something man, Jack (Alfred Molina.)

Review:  The first three-fourths of the movie are cringe-worthy as Jack seduces Jenny, and we see what a creep he is. Jenny seems oblivious -- although maybe 16 year olds are like that. I really did not like the movie, and I ultimately decided to work on my blog why the movie played. At the climax of the movie, the Jenny/Jack relationship let's say changes, and the movie becomes a lot more interesting.

I thought the parents were funny, and they lighted up the mood.

Carey Mulligan's performance was good through-out. I don't know that it was Oscar quality.

Cast: Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina

Directed by: Lone Scherfig based on the memoir of Lynn Barber

Rating: 1.5 flasks; almost 1 flask since the beginning was so hard to watch. Redeemed by a likeable ending.


More:  Here is a profile on Lynn Barber upon whom the movie is based. The book comes down even harder on her parents than the movie does.

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