It's Kind of a Funny Story

It's Kind of a Funny Story is about a teenage boy who is suicidal and checks himself into the hospital.  Mainly its about how people with different mental problems are real people too with ups and downs and want to fall in love.  I enjoyed it a lot, especially the interactions between the characters.  They seemed really true to life.

I would recommend this to anyone who is suicidal or knows someone who is suicidal.  Even though the subject matter seems dark, it's actually really hopeful and funny.

Imagine Me and You

A predictable romantic comedy about woman who gets married, but on her wedding day sees the florist and falls in love at first sight. Chaos ensues when she invite the florist over for dinner and her husband urges her to pursue the friendship.  It becomes apparent that both the florist and Rachel are in love, but Rachel doesn't want to hurt Heck and so on.  What makes this romantic comedy stand out is that the florist is a woman and a lesbian.  In addition the supporting cast does a great job making their characters memorable and funny.

Recommendation: If you like romantic comedies, or lesbians, this is a fun movie.

Gattaca

SciFi at it's best: taking an idea and moving it to it's logical end with a compelling story.  In a future where your life is planned out for you based on your genetic profile, a "love child" decides to buck the system to be able to follow his dream into space. He finds a crippled man who has the genetic profile that will get him into space and together they work to outwit every genetic and physical test that is a part of daily life. It is fascinating all the work that goes into making sure no dead skin or hair or sweat or tears get anywhere. Just as Vincent is about to launch, one of his supervisors is killed  and at the same time Vincent falls in love with a fellow scientist both of which cause a lot of questions and investigations to start.

Recommendation: If you like Science Fiction, this movie is worth a watch.

Death Race/Death Race 2

Death Race: Pure action, racing movie. In a future world reality TV, racing, prisons, and the death sentence have collided to form a Pay-per-view race that pits convict vs. convict in a race to the death.  If you win 5 races, you are freed. A man unfairly arrested after the murder of his wife must race in the place of Frankenstein who is dead after winning 4 times.  If Jensen can win, he is free.  


Death Race 2 is pretty much the same except it shows how the death race started.


Recommendation: It is an action and explosion heavy movie, but a good way to waste a few hours.

The Help

Fun movie about the relationship between the black maids and their white employers during the 1960s.  It does a good job showing what it was like during that time without placing too much blame.  It maybe a little too much feel-good and too little call to action.  Service people are still taken for granted too much even if they are not just African American, but Mexican-American, Asian-American, and refugees.

Recommendation: Watch it and then think of who you take for granted, learn their names and at least ask them how they are doing each time you see them.

Drive

Drive is about a getaway driver that gets caught up in mobster money violence after trying to help the girl he is in love with stay safe after her husband cannot pay protection money and gets killed.  The plot isn't nearly as convoluted as it sounds and isn't nearly as interesting.  It's mainly an action/car chase movie, but Ryan Gosling plays it too stoically for me to identify with him or believe that the girl would fall for him.  And once Ryan starts killing people it gets very, very bloody.

Recommendation: If you like bloody action movies, this one isn't too bad.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Very Dark, Very Disturbing.  It's a good adaptation of book.  More violence than the Swedish version, but less sex, which I guess is to be expected. I felt less connected to Lisbeth (and all the other characters too) than in the Swedish version.  This may be one of those movies I only watch once, even if it is a good movie.  i think i'll stick with the Swedish version for watching multiple times.

Recommendation: Be careful who you watch this with, and your emotional state because it is really hard to watch.

Hugo

Cute story about a boy who fixes the clocks in a Parisian train station.  He is trying to fix a machine that his father left him, which gets him into trouble with the station inspector and the toy maker who he steals parts from.  Other characters include the girl who helps him figure out the clue his father left, the flower girl the inspector is in love with, and an early filmmaker.  The plot is fairly slow, but the visuals are great and the 3d is done tastefully.

Recommendation: This movie is framed as a children's movie, but I think certain adults would like it more, especially those who like early silent films or who remember that time.