The Tourist

The Tourist follows the story of Frank and Elise. Elise (Angelina Jolie) is a mysterious woman followed doggedly by the police and Frank (Johnny Depp) is an erratic, fool-in-love tourist that Elis picks from a crowd. The story is mysterious, roundabout and certainly clever.

The movie opens with the police watching Elis during her morning routine at a cafe. And I really truly can't give you any more than that without giving away much of the story and you really truly must go into it without knowing more than what I've just given you.

My only complaint about this 103 minute movie is that there is only so much they can do with the plot line and so it will occasionally seem a bit lagging. Not enough that I was counting minutes, but certainly noticeable. Other than that, the movie is intriguing and beguiling and certainly worth seeing.

You could wait for the DVD and not lose anything to the story, however, but it's not a waste of money by any stretch if you do see it in theaters. Pick a rainy weekend afternoon or as an outing to break up the stress of this lovely holiday season and catch it in theaters.

To be perfectly honest, I feel like I cannot give you any more of a review than that without ruining the movie for you. Good luck and enjoy!

Morning Glory

Morning Glory was unexpected. What I expected what a cute, tidy rom-com that would have me and my fellow movie-goers warm and fuzzy at the end. What I got was just as good...perhaps better.

Morning Glory, starring a nifty headline of big names — Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams — follows the story of Becky Fuller (McAdams) a spunky, determined 28-year-old in the television business whose job is her life. She's beat down when she's unexpectedly fired from her job, and her oh-so-(not)- supportive mother tells her, "It was cute when you were twelve, inspiring when you were twenty, but now, at twenty-eight, it's just plain embarrassing. Give up now before it becomes just plain sad."

But Becky refuses to give up, even when making a fool of herself and manages to claw her way onto a show through sheer tenacity. Things spiral from there, she rises to the occasion, yadda yadda yadda.

It's a story of success and of finding the perfect work-life balance, a totally different storyline than the expected "my life is complete now that I've found a man." She does find a man, and a damned good one at that considering, but after the initial bloom, the relationship is shunted to the sidelines of the script and the story focuses on Becky's interactions with a cantankerous, over-the-hill news anchor (Ford). Ford plays his part to a tee as the once-illustrious, now egomaniac Mike Pomeroy ("I will not say 'fluffy.'").

Bottom line: Harrison Ford's still got it (and Diane Keaton is his perfect foil in this movie...two superstars matching egos), the story's not another syrupy-sweet rom-com but has enough spunk to tickle your enjoyment, and while the plotline waffles a bit and stays in the shallow end of the pool rather than braving the deep end, it's a cute movie to catch — and I'd even pay theater prices for it. Just maybe not an evening show, shoot for the matinee.

Yours,
The Movie-ist

Megamind

Megamind is a movie about a villain who accidentally succeeds in doing away with his arch-nemesis, Metro Man. After reveling in his glory for a while, he starts to feel something strange: he misses Metroman. Inspiration strikes with a dastardly (and bound-to-fail) plot, and Megamind creates a new arch-nemesis, Titan. However, instead of using his powers for good, Titan sets out to destroy the world, putting Megamind in the position to be good and save it (and get the girl) for the first time in his life.

I went into this movie without knowing the synopsis, which I think is better. It made the movie unpredictable for me, which was great. The downside to many superhero movies these days is the plot is usually cut and dry. Evil guy bad. Evil guy trying to rule/kill the world. Good guy destroys/prevails over evil guy. Good guy gets girl. The end.

Armed with a pretty awesome soundtrack, Megamind does the unpredictable (that is, unless you know the plot, but it's still not your average superhero movie). There are twists and turns that don't show up in many of these movies but of course, the hero gets the girl. However, it's in a really really good way.

I can't tell you or it would ruin it.


Megamind is not particularly inspired or even very deep. It doesn't address any big issues or solve any world problems. It just is what it is. Some of its twisty bits aren't very original, and it doesn't always have a lot of momentum, but it makes up for it with clever scenes and moving moments — or just plain funny ones. It never becomes unbearably slow and it does keep it's slower moments to a minimum time-wise. It won't have you rolling on the floor laughing until your sides ache (for the wrong reasons or the right ones), but it will incite more than a few chuckles.

It may not become movie of the year, but it's a fun movie and worth seeing.

The Losers (2010)

"Pretend you're this really evil guy..." actor Chris Evans (Jensen) deadpans, much to my delight.

It was a good movie, even though it was called "The Losers." Unfortunately for it — and me — it had one of those really dumb cliffhanger endings that just makes you not want to see the second one ("Push" anyone?). Where you're not really sure what happened, but it's over and they're rolling those wrap up clips during the credits.

And the bad guy is still alive. What the hell?

"The Losers" follows five, well, for lack of a better term, losers who were CIA black-ops who end up getting screwed over (and 25 children killed on top of that, talk about rubbing salt into open wounds) and left for dead. Along traipses a sultry, Lara-Croft-esque Zoe Saldana (Aisha) from god-knows-where-or-why (though we later discover) with an itchy trigger finger for the guy who betrayed the squad of losers. Classic one-liners and appropriate gunfire ensues.

What I loved was the artsy, comic-book camera cuts, angles, and shots. It took the "we're taking ourselves too seriously" completely out of the picture. The movie recognized the fact that it is made by a comic book corporation (and I think it's also based on a comic book). Instead of overly-serious, not-very-talented actors who wouldn't know a bad script if it bit them in the face, "The Losers" presents us with a decent, if not particularly deep script, demi-talented actors, and enough arty shots that the movie is taken away from the laugh-out-loud ridiculous and safely into the realm of "okay, I like this movie."

That is, until they ruin it at the end.

Luckily, the script is peppered with enough witty remarks, only a very few overblown action scenes, and a snide swipe at American government in the form of a very bad guy to almost make up for the fact that you will, in fact, have to pay more money to see if they get the bad guy or not. Doubly lucky that it's also out on DVD, so you can order it conveniently on your Netflix and pay very little to see it.

Ergo, it's worth seeing. Good for a giggle and entertaining enough to be worth the time spent watching it. Just prepare yourself for the unfortunate ending.

Yours,
The Movie-ist