First Word

Rating: ***** Best movie of the year and best movie I have seen in years. The incomparable writer, producer, director Christopher Nolan delivers (again) in this mind-bending and exceedingly intelligent film (not movie ... movies are popcorn flicks and this is plain and simply film). The premise is complex while at the same time simple: a plague is turning crops to dust and the atmosphere is declining with eminent extinction of the human race at stake. Now comes the complex: pilot Copper, who has two adoring children, is "called" to navigate a space ship through a worm hole to investigate several viable planets to relocate the human race and/or colonize the surface (Plan A and Plan B). Leaving his beloved daughter Murphy (named after Murphy's Law) and his son, Cooper faces the epic challenge of getting through the worm hole to the other side and battling time shifts (Einstein's Theory of Relativity) and other very real situations on foreign planets. What I LOVE...

Rating: **1/2 Set in 2154, the movie Elysium is another future doom's day movie where the Earth is over-populated, trashed, and in ruins. Only the very rich get to live in luxury on a space station aka a "habitat" called Elysium. The movie takes an extreme look at a world full of have-nots whose populace gazes upon another world full of the "haves" who have abandoned them. Not only does Elysium offer its "citizens" nothing but the very best, but also they have the best medical technology that saves lives -- and here is where the plot falls apart for me. It made zero sense that Elysium politicians would not share this revolutionary technology with the rest of the planet below. But it then again, without this plot device the movie would simply become, "I want to live there not here." And who wouldn't want to live in paradise compared to what Earth has become. I kept wondering, where did they find such great sets? The squalor was well d...

I saw the trailer for this movie in the theaters and was interested to see it. Since it's not easy to get out to the movies, I waited for it to come out on DVD. This movie is worth the rental price and more. It seems like most movies these days that are made for an adult audience just aren't that great. I only occasionally run into one I would give a perfect four-star rating -- and Contagion is one of them. As a writer, I was struck with the enormous amount of research that had to go into getting the science and math right. I was impressed with the knowledge that went into the writing. Movies like Contagion can easily get bogged down in the science or just the opposite get bogged down in the focus on the gore and sickness. Contagion walked a fine line between the story, science and conspiracy. It managed multiple story lines with seamless and adept ease, and it kept me interested to the very end. When I can stay engaged for an entire two-hour film then it's a great movie...

I went to the movie We Bought a Zoo , and I was pleased discover this movie was another film that is about a writer turned zookeeper. Anything about a writer who takes an adventure is a great premise for me. Before I launch into the guts of my thoughts here, I want to say I thought this was a children's movie. It contains children, yes, but I would not call it a children's movie. It had adult themes about loss, love and family, but it was not like a viewing of Toy Story . At specific parts, I had some tears welling up in my eyes. I don't know that children will be moved in the same emotional way since they may not fully understand what is being expressed in those scenes. The good news, older children will appreciate the kids and animals. Matt Damon gives a nice performance as a dad left widowed after his wife is presumably taken by cancer (they never say, but it seems obvious). He and his children (a seven-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy) are still grieving and coping. ...