The Last 10 Movies

Very brief reviews of the last ten movies I have seen.

Buck: I'd had this on my Netflix queue for a while and just didn't think I was interested in a documentary about the man who inspired Robert Redford's movie The Horse Whisperer.  I ended up liking this movie a lot and now I'm thinking about trading in my cats for some horses.  Is it possible that Buck is as cool in real life as he is in the movie?  The only miss in this film was not using Paula Cole's "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" at any point on the soundtrack. (4 out of 5)

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol: I saw the first Mission: Impossible movie literally half a lifetime ago when it came out during the summer I spent at The Young Scholars Program.  (Engineering camp for extra-awesome teens.  Jealous?)  I have found each subsequent Mission: Impossible movie to be pretty difficult to follow.  I fell asleep while watching this one and then finished it on try two.  It was decent enough, though I am already fuzzy on the details after less than a week.  You've probably heard, but there were some impressive stunts performed by Tom Cruise on the world's tallest building. (3 out of 5)

The Hunger Games: I read the books over the course of several vacation days last summer and had been looking forward to the film adaptation.  I liked Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of Katniss, but I'm still not sold on Josh Hutcherson's Peeta.  The Reaping at the start of the movie was well done and quite emotional.  The Hunger Games themselves were cooler and scarier in my mind, as they should have been. (4 out of 5)

Monte Carlo: I watched this for free on The Dude's HBO Go account.  I don't know how the filmmakers went wrong with a movie starring Justin Bieber's girlfriend, Blair and Juliet from Gossip Girl, and Finn from Glee. . .  in Europe!  Not good. (2 out of 5)

The Descendants: The Dude told me that this movie was boring and I didn't believe him.  Alexander Payne movies are generally interesting, I like George Clooney, and this won the Oscar for Best Film.  Well, I am agreeing with The Dude rather than The Academy.  This wasn't a bad movie, but maybe it was just too built up.  It was pretty slow.  And unless they are Ricky Bobby's sons in Talledega Nights, I tend not to like jerky movie kids like the daughters in this. (3 out of 5)

In Time: This was a forgettable futuristic Justin Timberlake movie.  People stop aging in their mid-20s, time is money, etc.  Ehh.  (3 out of 5)

The Thin Blue Line: Famous documentary from the '80s.  I knew the story but still found it to be interesting.  And scary.  Worth checking out.  (4 out of 5)

Tower Heist: A decent enough comedy until there was a car dangling from a skyscraper and Ferris Bueller dangling from the car.  I don't know why insane scenes like that take me out of a movie or TV show, but the same thing happened on the last season of Bored to Death when Jason Schwartzman was hanging from a huge clock very high above the ground.  That one scene totally spoiled the episode for me.  The only movie to pull something like that off was Back to the Future.  And seriously, no one is going to out-awesome Back to the Future.  (3 out of 5)

Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement:  Wow, three out of my ten are documentaries (or as my mother calls them, "documentatrees.")  It was sweet to watch these two ladies who were still so very in love after 40+ years together.  (4 out of 5)

The Muppets: This movie may as well have been created especially for me.  I love the Muppets and have tremendous nostalgia for watching their show and movies in the '80s.  The songs in this movie were written by Brett McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords and were awesome.  This movie was genuinely funny.  The Dude initially had no interest in watching this movie, but even he was pulled in.  He absolutely died laughing at Fozzie Bear's fart shoes (patent pending) which made an okay joke seem hilarious.  Loved it.  (5 out of 5)