THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

This was a greatly entertaining fun movie. I rated it a 10 and Bill gave it a 9. Even though it was almost 3 hours long, i didn't get bored or restless; no slow spots or scenes that were stuffed with boring dialogue instead of action.

The only small criticism i have is that Bain, the wonderfully evil foe of Batman wore a thick fingered iron mask (this was to stop the pain from having his face torn into when he was imprisoned in the pit dungeon). However, this metal covering made some of his speech unintelligible.

the acting was superb. Christian Bale, of course, was perfect and Anne Hathaway as the Catwoman was magnificent. None of the characters annoyed me. There was a totally unexpected twist at the end which only increased the fun. The plot involved Bain trying to take control of this clean energy fusion machine Bruce Wayne had developed and turn it into a nuclear bomb so he could destroy the world.

The very end of the film answered some questions and also left the trilogy open for another movie. Oh and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was fantastic as a policeman.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

This movie wasn't as amazing as i was expecting. Bill and i gave it a 7.

Andrew Garfield was a better spider-man than Tobey. but Emma Stone and he didn't click at all. I didnt' like her faux coquettishness and that 'little innocent girl' sashay she would do with her sweater sleeves pulled down to cover her hands. Plus she talked like she had marbles in her mouth.

The ending after the ending which came after some of the credits rolled was a cheap lead-in for the next spider flick. it will involve the way and the why of the demise of spidey's parents.

The movie was too long and the humor was missing; it moved too slowly and there were way too many minutes of the repetitive swinging from building to building.

BLUE WILLOW - TUCSON, AZ

I am always disappointed with this restaurant; i keep expecting the food to have improved. I've eaten here for all 3 meals and have been dissatisfied each time.

My high hopes are based on its popularity and the kitschy gift shop and the excellent service and the eclectic warm atmosphere. But the food begs for a better chef and lower prices.

I had a so-so chicken salad sandwich on slightly stale 12 grain bread accompanied by 2 sad slices of melon and a tasteless strawberry. (however, this being the desert - a tasteless berry is the norm.) Bill had an avocado filled with dry tuna salad and he got 4 grapes and a small bowl of cottage cheese. this repast came to $24.

I probably will eat here again in a year or so hoping for a change and will again be left wanting.

THE HUNTER

I don't think this movie was released in the theaters. It stars Willem Dafoe as a hunter of the rare and possibly extinct Tasmanian tiger who is hired by a company who wants to extract some precious bodily fluids from the animal to use in warfare? drugs? as currency? A lot of the story line was murky.

I don't understand why Dafoe doesn't appear in better movies because he has a very interesting and mobile face and is a good actor.

The scenery was wonderful and the film kept both of us interested but it isn't exciting or suspenseful at all and the main reason is that its never clear who wants what and characters seemed to change from the evil-doers to just dumb shits in mid-sentence. Besides the hunting of the tiger scenes, there was also a plot involving Dafoe's emotional involvement with the family he was staying with. this was the more interesting and believable part of the movie.

We both rated it a 6.

ROCK OF AGES

This movie/musical went to our discount theaters in only a couple of weeks after being released. I think it was usurped by spiderman. And in my opinion, i can understand that but Bill disagrees.

He gave this movie a 9 and i gave it  a tepid 6.

there was TOO much music and singing and not enough dialogue which was quite funny. also the songs cut into time that could have been better spent with more scenes starring Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand. They were the 2 best characters in the film. My favorite part was their duet.

Tom Cruise disappointed. His acting was absolutely nil and his pointy little girl nipples were an unpleasant and distasteful distraction. All he did was slouch and shuffle and mumble. He really overdid the stoned and ego-puffed rock star. His singing, however, was good. I liked all the songs in the movie though the choreography could have used some inspiration.

I disliked the 'sex' scene with Cruise and the Rolling Stone reporter on the pool table. It didn't seem to fit the tone of the film which was nostalgic oldies but goodies moments and innocence. Oh, and i really got annoyed with Cruise's monkey gorilla partner. I'm not a fan of cute and "clever" animal friends in movies. Though I have to confess that the movie Ted starring Mark Wahlberg and a teddy bear has some appeal.

THE GREY

I shouldn't have expected more from this film since it stars Liam Neeson and has grey in the title (and not brilliant fuchsia neon pink).

It was the story of man against animals and in this case - wolves (which looked like a hybrid of a wolf, rottweiler, coyote, and grizzly bear.) A plane crash landed Liam and his fellow employees in the middle of an Alaskan wilderness and throughout their journey to safety - which never came - they were hunted and stalked by a pack of wolves.

Very predictable with the requisite characters - studious and slightly religious and rational; quiet and just plain nice; a minority member; a rebellious pain in the ass; etc.  etc.

Towards the end of the movie there was way too much talking and utterances about life and goals that was supposed to be profound. I did enjoy the scenery and the part where they traversed over a river canyon - swinging high in the air relying on knotted together fabric pieces.

Both of us gave the movie a 5.

SAVAGES

This is Oliver Stone's latest film about a successful pot enterprise in Laguna Beach and the rival bigger Mexican pot enterprises wanting to take it over. Nothing new. and naturally there is lots of violence (a suspected informer is burnt to death after being tortured is one example and a former drug cartel lawyer has his knees shot out) and lots of glitz and beautiful people and shows of wealth and luxury surroundings and gorgeous clothes and svelte unclothed bodies and exotic beach locales. This is one of the only 2 things that kept me watching the movie and one of the reasons why we gave it a 4 instead of a 1.

The other reason was the fantastic acting of primal creepy-evil all around bad guy Benicio Del Toro, sleek and imperious Salma Hayek and wonderfully droll and funny John Travolta.

Other than that, this movie was annoying because so many parts were unbelievable and i didn't like at all the 2 guys who ran the independent :and oh so mellow with everyone getting along and no violence or double crossing because all the distributors were content with their section of the business and they all radiated serenity: (or were they just too high to really care?). California pot biz. One of the guys was an eco greenhead buddha and the other was a brute force former military goon. They shared a girl; who was the essence of bimbo-hood. and the sharing was done without any jealousy or competition. sure right!!

The movie was narrated by her and i don't like this technique. She announced that just because we were hearing her tell the story didn't mean she was alive and this heralded the endings which were horrid; both versions were unbelievable. and naturally were polar opposites; in one the pot triumvirate all died and in the other they escaped without consequences but with loads of money to an unknown 3rd world country where they were last seen helping the natives with their water system and planting trees.

Bill and I had to work out of our bad moods after seeing this film because it was so worthless and a waste of our precious remaining senior moments.

96 MINUTES

A good compelling story about the trajectory of events which resulted in a tragedy for  4 young people. A carjacking was planned by Kevin a kid with no parenting mentors at all (he's 16) and this act was going to get him accepted into the local gang. Dre a black teen who was soon to graduate from high school and get accepted into college who had stayed away from drugs and criminal activity tries to get Kevin to change his mind about belonging to this gang.

This of course doesn't work. The car belonged to a girl who was going to start college to become a lawyer and a friend who wanted to go home and mourn the loss of her relationship with a guy who she discovered was cheating on her.

The movie flashed back and forth between the events leading up to the carjacking and shooting and the actual crime and what happened as Dre tried to figure out what to do. this technique really added to the suspense plus i never knew just HOW tragic the consequences would be.

It was a really sad movie when viewed as the small seemingly inconsequential actions of one's life leads to unforeseen disaster. also the film addressed the issue of a lack of role models in one's life and also did a great job illustrating the racial profiling by the cops. the movie takes place in georgia.

I gave it a 7 because the dialogue was wooden and the acting was nil by the 2 female characters. Plus both of them especially the one whose boyfriend lied to her (i could sort of sympathize with him) acted bimbo-ish. Also scenes that showed Dre interacting with the gang that Kevin wanted to get in didn't jive with his attempts at escaping the gang life. and the movie ended without any further mention of Kevin; whereas you knew what happened to the other 3.

ALBERT NOBBS

I didn't expect to enjoy this movie as much as i did. glenn Close is Albert Nobbs and she is a phenomenal actress. Mr. Nobbs is a woman disguised as a man and working as a butler in 19th Century Ireland in a hotel.  Besides this film being about class distinctions and social status and being a lesbian and employment, it is also a love story but one without any gooey sentimentality.

Albert is saving money to buy a shop. He is a very withdrawn, isolated, emotionless person; in large part, to make sure she/he is not 'discovered.' The hotel's owner hires a painter, Mr. Page, who shares a room with Nobbs. Lo and behold! Mr. Page is a woman also and through that relationship, Nobbs finds out about actually living in the world as a lesbian and having a lover and mate.

This results in Nobbs pursuing a maid (not a disguised female but a 'real' girl) so they can be married and live together. But the maid, Helen, is attracted to a less than ethical and moral character who is the maintenance man at the hotel.

The plot twists and turns and certainly did not end up the way i thought it would. There was no predictability in it at all. A lot of the hotel scenes where the staff would eat together or prepare food for the guests (all insufferably pompous) reminded me a lot of that great movie by Robert Altman - Gosford Park starring Clive Owens).

Bill gave this movie a 9 (and he really really did NOT want to see it) and i gave it an 8.5.

MOONRISE KINGDOM

I usually don't see 'coming of age' movies so rating this film was sort of difficult. Bill gave it an 8 and i think i'll go with a 7.

The story line is really simple. A khaki scout (the scout leader is Edward Norton) falls in love with a girl who lives near the campground where he is staying with the rest of his troop. The kids are in early puberty. Sam and Suzy run away together though they can't get very far since they live/camp on an island off of Rhode Island. The scenery is breath-taking.

So the movie follows Sam and Suzy's adventure and growing bond and also the search for them by the adults. This was the disappointing part of the movie. The adult roles though all played by excellent actors (Bruce Willis as the island police chief was the best) were superfluous to the storyline and their dialogue was forced and unbelievable. Every time they entered the scene it took away from the lovely and magical tale of Sam and Suzy.

Their was a lot of music in this movie and most of it was symphonic or operatic. There were no laugh out loud moments for me at all (i thought there would be as soon as i saw the movie advertisement with Bill Murray in the ad.); just smiles at the innocence and lightness of the friendship between Sam and Suzy and how the rest of the khaki scout troop rallied around them to help their adventure along. It had a nice and cute ending. That's probably a good word to describe the entire movie; cute.

June 2012 Colorado trip pictures

here are the photos from our recent colorado trip.


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