[Movie Ratings are on a scale of 1-5. Anything rated over 3 stars and is in bold, is usually a pretty good rating (5 star ratings are very rare with me)! – Content is listed for those who are careful about what they or their children view (or what to be aware of). I usually rate based on content, plot, photography/direction, and acting.]
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 2012 (w/ Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Sylvester McCoy, Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett, and a million others) – 4 stars - Whenever I see 3 hour-long films, I tend to have to see them in two parts (each a day apart). It is so true. I don’t know if it is a problem with ADD or not, but this is how I am even with my favorite film of all time (which I still haven’t reviewed here). The Hobbit is a book that I could never read all the way through, but I read bits and pieces of it about 3 different times, so I have read it all, just not in order or in the same year. I have a hard time remembering characters that are thrown at me in a whoosh (which is done with the 13 dwarves in this story). My brother has always been obsessed with The Hobbit (and is even nicknamed Bilbo Baggins), so I have always grown up around the animated film and more. The film starts out where Bilbo is old and is writing a story of his life & adventures. It brings us back to the beginning time of the Lord of the Rings movie, which was cleverly done. Then we jump into the past. A happy hobbit who is used to sitting around in his comfy shire making smoke rings with his pipe gets a visit from Gandalf and dwarves. He finds himself gaining courage and friends. The drawves are out to reclaim their kingdom which was overtaken by Smaug the dragon! The film has scene after scene of action which was very well done and kept me entertained because I get sleepy with slow movies! Everything was so beautiful. My favorite character in the film was Radagast, the brown wizard. Sylvester McCoy plays him, who was the 7th Doctor from Doctor Who, and my 3rd favorite Doctor since my childhood, so I loved seeing him act again! I loved how crazy his character was with bird poop all over his face and beard. HAH! He was the best! My one major problem with this film was. . .where are the people of color? It was a white-person film! I like variety. I’ll live though. I loved that they included the songs that the drawves sing from the book! It was perfect. I also adored the dead-on Gollum scene!! Yes, it is long, but they covered so much and still have more to go! I look forward to it! Martin Freeman makes an excellent Bilbo Baggins (and a great Watson in the Sherlock TV show). content: a mention of a man not having “the balls” to do something, many people seen smoking pipes, talk of someone consuming too many mushrooms, many strange creatures in loincloths (goblins, orcs, etc), stealing, gluttony, war violence, heads being chopped off (not the process of it being done), sword fighting, drinking, some blood seen, a creature brutally attacking a creature and wants to eat it, magic
The Dark Knight Rises 2012 (w/ Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway) – 3 stars – After eight years of being in “hiding”, Batman is needed again to fight against Bane. Bruce Wayne wants to know who Bane is and find a way to put an end to his ways. He may need help from other ordinary people like himself. I must say, I was bored with the majority of the film. It was not as strong plot-wise as the other two films. It cleaned up pretty well, but at the same time, there were certain unrealistic situations (I can’t explain without saying a spoiler at the end of the film, but there is scientific and real proof to explain it), but it was very good otherwise. content: fighting, murder (non-graphic), immodesty (very short tight skirt and tight clothing), cleavage, an innuendo, kissing, stealing, couple with blankets wrapped around their bodies next to a fire (assumed sexual intercourse though nothing seen) – woman’s bare shoulders seen, men with exposed chests seen, a person mouthing the s word (but you don’t hear it at all)
It Started in Naples 1960 (w/ Clark Gable, Sophia Loren) – 2 stars - This was Clark Gables’ 2nd to last film, so this was interesting to see, and I had never heard of it before. Mike Hamilton goes to Italy because his brother had been there, but died. He finds out that his brother had an affair, leaving a child in the care of the child’s Aunt Lucia. She works in a nightclub and Mike wants a better life for his nephew. Of course this romantic comedy ends up having a pretty realistic look at how life in Naples would have been like in that time. It was an okay movie, but I wanted to take a brush to Sophia Loren’s hair the whole time. The little kid in it was great. content: a woman is seen in her bra, immodesty, a child smokes and drinks and uses the word hell incorrectly and is exposed to lust and porn, smoking, drinking, women offering themselves to others, kissing, skinny dipping (dark silhouettes seen only)
They Call it Myanmar 2012 (documentary) – 2.5 stars - I have read a bunch of human trafficking books that talks a lot about Burma/Myanmar and the culture there, though not extensively (mainly just the trafficking problems). I wanted to learn more, so I had put this on my que and started to watch it as the first part of my new year movie watching! Apparently Myanmar is the most isolated country ever, and this man documented life there over two years. You will learn a bit about its history and the oppression that has been going on there as well. It was interesting to have a peek into the country and see it through the filming. content: dead bodies seen, children’s bums seen, possibly scary real-life imagery
The Kid 1921 (w/ Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance) – 3.25 stars - A man finds a baby on the street and decides to raise it up as his own even though he hasn’t much money or anything. There are other issues involved that create some problems for the man and his adopted son. This was really a spectacular movie. I have seen a lot of Chaplin’s films, but never saw this one (and always wanted to). The dream sequence was awesome too. The little kid really did a great acting job! I watched this with my sons and they both learned a lot about the time back then and really liked it! content: smoking, a kid causing mischief, improper use of the word ass, fighting, kissing
Courage Mountain 1990 (w/ Charlie Sheen, Leslie Caron, Juliette Caton, Jan Rubes) – 2.25 stars - If you are unfamiliar with the beginning story of Heidi, that’s okay. You don’t need to know it, but this is a sequel story of it (which I had started reading the 2nd book when I was 10 but never finished it, oh well). Heidi lives with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. It is now WWI era and she is accepted to a boarding school in Italy. She’s always had a liking for the goat herder Peter who is now enlisting in the military. Leslie Caron aged so nicely and hardly looks changed from the films of the 50s & 60s (She was 60 in this film! I know she has since aged though). Some of this movie was pretty bad (one girl just was a bad actress. . .her crying wasn’t very convincing) but the story was pretty good. I think the worst part of the film was the terrible synchronized “flute” sound coming out of the pan flute Heidi would play throughout the film. haha. content: naked statues, girls getting into baths with white clothing on, a decaying body (nearly skeletal) is seen, cleavage, kissing, body falling and hitting rocks pretty hard
Machine Gun Preacher 2011 (w/ Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Kathy Baker) - 3 stars - A man gets out of prison and expects his wife to be living their old worldly lifestyle and he is mad because she found Jesus! In time the man finds his life changing and finds a love for work and longs to go to Uganda to help build and fix up homes as he learns about the LRA and the problems there. There is a lot of bad stuff in this movie (beginning mainly – reminded me a little of The Cross & the Switchblade) to show how dangerous it can be to be involved in drugs and violence, etc. Some things they really didn’t need to put in. I cried in the first scene of this movie, because I read a lot about the problems in the LRA and child soldiers in general, so this made me break immediately. Although the movie is quite long, it is based on a true story. I really liked how it started to get in time. I don’t believe in “curing” violence with more violence though, which in a way, this movie seems to be about. You can go to the website to learn more about the actual man in which this movie was based from. He has the largest orphanage in South Sudan! content: a human trafficking child soldier abduction (shooting, murder, bullets seen being put in a man though not very graphic), a married couple is seen having sex in a car (woman has a full top on but she is straddled on the man in the car as she makes out while moving on his body – you see them from their elbows up), drug use (heroin a few times), drinking, smoking, bad language (several uses of the F word, S word, B word, d word), a man is repeatedly stabbed (they show his arm moving on the man), a woman is seen in her underwear (lower half only), immodesty, kissing, man grabs his wife’s bum, gore seen because of what the LRA does (is frightening and sad), a woman is punched
The Age of Innocence 1993 (w/ Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Michelle Pfeiffer, Geraldine Chaplin, Joanne Woodward) – 2.75 stars- A man gets engaged and meets a countess, the cousin of his fiancee. He starts fighting his feelings growing for the woman, who has been contemplating divorce but he advises against it. The narration of this film actually bothered me. I would have enjoyed it more without it. Usually when you see movies today, they make a love affair an acceptable and wonderfully romanticized situation, but in this movie, they kept a moral ground, which is rare. I appreciated that. content: 2 “classic” naked paintings of a women (1 has her lower half exposed, while the other showed the upper half), kissing, cleavage, one misuse of the word hell, kissing a person when they are married to another, the ba word
The Adventures of Tintin 2011 (animated w/ voices of Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Andy Serkis) – 3.25 stars stars – Tintin and his dog Snowy are on an adventure together. Tintin bought a model boat that has a secret within it. He goes looking for answers and has many people after him because of it. I had never read the comics, though my husband had. I did watch a couple episodes of the TV show in the past though. The animation for this was incredibly done. My husband said it was the best digital animation he’s seen. There were great action scene throughout the movie. We watched it with our sons and they loved it (if your kids act out what they see, I don’t recommend this movie for them). content: murder (non-graphic/gore), shooting, stealing, punching, drinking (drunkenness), calling people “stupid” and “idiot”, sword fighting
