Starting with Star Trek Heart of Darkness. If you are at all a Trek fan, go see this one. It's much better than the trailer made it look. The writing is very very clever, especially if you know all the classic episodes and have seen all the old movies. The new take on Spock is deep and delightful. And the story, though allegorical to some issues in our current times, was quite absorbing, with the bad guys at times being confusing, each as an anti-hero.

Next - Now You See Me This was a clever movie for the popcorn and candy set and those who like movies about magic such as "The Prestige." This film combines slick slight of hand with a neat modern caper scenario. A bit overly long for what it was.

Next - Cloud Atlas. SEE this movie. Don't like it? Didn't get it? See it again, this time, watch every moment without being high. The critic didn't give this movie half the due it earned. It is the most beautiful movie I have seen since Avatar. Beautiful story, beautiful acting, beautiful locales. And the story is one psychedelics have stressed to us, through generations. Our lives are not our own. From Womb Until Tomb we are bound to others . . . and the very strong and repeated stirring message, "I will not be subject to criminal abuse." This is a quintessential movie about the human condition down through time and into the future. It is amazing and gorgeous. I've seen it four times already, which I almost never do with any movie.

Finally for this Entry - Man of Steel. Wow they did good. Dropped everything from the past views except for some basics and created a 3rd Millenium story about First Contact, which of course the Superman story is. . . . I shall leave it at that, but highly recommended.

You got my number, I'm gonna watch this one again.

Great reviews! Thanks for writing these up and keep em coming.

Oblivion OMG. Tom Cruise was never my fave, but unlike a fine wine he's NOT improving with age. This movie is dreadful. The best thing about it is the trailer. Don't waste your money or time. If I were a traditional pencil/paper reviewer I'd be making comments like 15 mins into this POS I felt like jamming my pencil into my eye. Instead I took an extended bathroom break - that's what the movie deserved.

The Purge - Interesting premise set in a too-near dystopian future to be believable. A suspension of disbelief is strongly demanded here.

2022 and America has nearly no unemployment or crime but one day a year, The Purge, for 12 hours, any crimes up to and including murder (except on certain government officials) is legal. Some say it's about "release the beast" and others claim it is a way to get rid of the poor once and for all as they cannot afford to protect themselves.

We focus on a very upper middle class family, where Dad is a security expert and go through their hellish night of The Purge.

This wants to be a tight (it's 85 minutes) edge of your seat thriller and in many ways it is, but it really begins to bog down at the half way point. A violence drenched repetitive theme develops: Violent saves from very close calls.

Ultimately, I found this film to be about whether or not people know what the right thing to do is, when all the rules have been thrown out the window.


Anna Karenina - Gorgeous, arty production of a classic (missing) story. Entire thing is done up like a very sophisticated stage play. Again, it's very beautiful. But, we actually left before it was over, which is rather uncharacteristic for us. I'm sure that there was a movie/story in there somewhere but we did not find it.

Good looks don't do it by themselves. Remember it was Shakespeare who wrote, "It's the play that's the thing," or similar. The thing is missing from this film utterly.

I've been praising this movie since January and finally, in June, people all around me are beginning to talk about it. Cloud Atlas is truly a brilliant movie which deserves more than one viewing.

Go SEE IT!

Okay, you got me... Putting Cloud Atlas in top of the list, I had been discouraged by some comments and maybe I should not have been.

Thanks for the thread, Pandora. I've been having movies for dinner since I was a little kid, I'll follow this. And I will try not to infiltrate it by recommending other movies on my own... OK, maybe just once: one of my favorites of this last year, Beasts of the Southern Wild.

I thought it was not that good but it very much depends on what mood i am in and how i relate to a particular movie, so i will give it another viewing on these recommendations.

Iron Man 3: This movie is fun, has some clever one-liners, but ultimately was a bit disappointing. Each Iron Man movie is a bit worse than the last.

There's a definite Marvel comic book feel to the whole thing, which at a 130 minute run time, overall I felt could have been 30 mins shorter.

A new kind of terrorist is lose, who calls himself The Mandarin and has "lessons" for America. It's up to Tony Stark and all his good guy/gal friends to meet the challenge. Of course, Stark's hubris brings the challenge right to his front door and endangers what he loves most.

But, overall things are a bit muddled. And with what appears to be eight (8!) writers, I guess I'm not surprised.

What really irked me is there are hints of another level of story and they never get developed. I mean to the level of Chekov's gun on the mantlepiece - that thing should be used by the 3rd act, not ignored and allowed to gather dust. We never learn much about the aliens, the wormhole or any of that and how it does or does not relate to the current story.

Anyway, I'd recommend waiting for this to come out on video rather than investing hard earned money and time at the theaters.

Uncle Knucles's movie review:

Cloud Atlas is ass.

A succinct appraisal!

I don't like to waste words (especially on Cloud Atlas, which already stole nearly three hours of my life that I will in all likelihood never get back).

What's another 3? Heck I've probably wasted 2x that with the crappy movies here. Try again? Maybe rent a copy and read the closed captions?

has anyone seen - we steal secrets .......its about julian assange , i guess some of you may like it

Has anyone seen "this is the end"? A few people have told me its the funniest movie they've ever seen

I watched the Cloud Atlas again and i have to say i agree with Art. It still didn"t work for me. It had a few interesting (if not a little hackneyed) concepts put together in a cheesey package.
You"ve got to be a rampant hippy to enjoy that sort of tripe. Maybe those sorts of films just arn"t my thing, cos that film with a bald headed Hugh Jackman floating around space in the lotus position was as dull as dishwater awell.
I might use is as a soporific, as i fell asleep twice while watching it the second time round.
Just to be sure i am going to give it a third viewing later in the week.

Argo - I didn't want to like this movie, put off watching it for a very long time. It's a fantastic story about getting six Americans out of Revolutionary Iran in 1980 with the help of Canadians and of all things a CIA funded Hollywood venture. This movie was really really good. This movie is built on very strong and distinct characterizations, with of course, the folks back home in America standing out most. I suspect anyone who lived through this turbulent time in America's history and/or anyone who knows the ways of Hollywood will love this movie. This means you Art,

PS: Thank You Canada!

World War Z - This is a fun Summertime popcorn and candy flick. Funny seeing Brad Pitt saying, "But he's just a kid!"

Basic premise is that the zombie apocalypse is upon us. Brad Pitt is an ex U.N. bad boy called back in to help find "patient zero." What ensues is a romp around the world, the solving of a halfway interesting mystery and lots of visual zombie juggernaut insanity. Not bad for what it was, had a few novel ideas and didn't waste any time.

It's not going to win any awards for acting, screenplay, editing, videography, technicals, etc., yet nothing was overtly wrong with any of these. I think the key to enjoying this one is to not take it too seriously and just have some good ole' zombie fun.

Life of Pi - I had been wanting to see this Ang Lee masterpiece for awhile and am glad I finally did. This was a feel good movie that I would recommend for the entire family, young, old, innocent and cynical alike. There were many pleasant and surprising moments that brought real feelings from me, especially laughter.

Basically it is a beautifully told, filmed and edited coming of age tale about a young man who loses everything and yet finds himself and more. Our primary character, Piscine, or Pi, is involved in a ship sinking and winds up on a lifeboat with some interesting compatriots. I love it when movies with a mystical or even religious theme are gentle and don't shove it down my throat. Mission accomplished here.

The ending came close to disappointing me, but they pulled it out by the very end. Hang in there - it is more than worth it. What a truly magical tale that defies no laws of physics, ocean growth phenomena or animal behavior patterns that I am aware of. Take it literally or view it as allegory, it's a wonderful tale beautifully told.

Pusher - A 2012, UK production, this is the story of one crappy week in Frank's life. Frank is our primary character, being a small to mid level cocaine or heroin dealer in London, I wasn't precisely sure which the "gear" was, though there was a scene of his girl shooting H. Frank sets some balls rolling and they soon turn into dookey which rapidly hits the fan. Things spiral down relentlessly for our main character, especially once he has the hardcore Yugoslav mafia dudes after him. This movie is more violent than the typical UK fare, with a goodly amount of gunplay.

Basically this movie obeys all the (unwritten) laws when you film a story about drug users or dealers. They cannot be shown doing things right to succeeding, at least not too often. Finally, the sound editing is dreadful in this film, which as always is a drag. Nothing like feeling like the characters are whispering as explosions or music blasts in the movies. Though not overly long, this film felt like a real waste of time to me.

^ The book "life of pi" was great, from what i remember reading it as a kid. I still haven't seen the movie yet though

OK,

I had a weird experience with cloud atlas, because I don't remember the first time I watched it, I must have been dissociated or too high on cannabis or something.

I think its an ok movie, but the whole time I was watching it the deja-vu was seriously eating me from the inside out.

It was like being 3 seconds ahead of the entire movie the entire time but not really knowing it at the same time