Marley and me

Cute. Cute. Cute. It is hard to say anything else about a movie centered on a mischievous, and lovable golden labrador that also stars Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. Marley initially comes into John Grogan and his wife Jen’s lives to divert Jen’s attention from her ticking biological clock. Due to his impish antics, he soon becomes the emotional center of their family, working his way into John’s newspaper columns, earning John a devoted fan base and the success he has always craved, and eventually becoming a loyal friend to the Grogan children. And for those who are not in the least bit moved by this film, to use a quote originally leveled at the character of Chandler in the sitcom Friends; “You are dead inside.”

Wolverine

Ever been kept awake at night wondering what happened to the Wolverine to strip him of his memory? This film will answer all your deep seated and burning questions about his origins and what motivates Wolverine to combat the forces of oppression. In yet another fad set off by Star Wars, this fourth installment in the X Men series is actually chronologically the 1st in the series. It starts with James Logan’s recognition of his powers and subsequently troubled childhood in the company of his similarly gifted half brother Victor. The film journeys through time with Logan increasingly acting as a check on Victor’ growing violence and bloodthirstiness, until the two are declared mortal enemies, and Logan assumes the identity of the Wolverine. Liev Shrieber puts in a fang-tastically scary performance as the depraved killing machine Victor, and Hugh Jackman is unnecessarily shirtless (and even once in a full birthday suit) often enough to draw in female audience members and skeptics who don’t normally gravitate to comic book adaptations.

The Cake Eaters

Kristen Stewart, of vampire girlfriend fame (Twilight), stars as Georgia, a chronically ill young woman suffering from a debilitating neural disorder, a stiflingly overprotective mother, and the small town blues. Like any normal teenager, Georgia yearns for freedom and yearns to experience life, and the joys that have evaded her, before it is too late. The Cake Eaters is the story of how she finds Beagle, a local boy, who is thawing emotionally after having spent years devotedly caring for his ailing mother, and how the two deal with with their blossoming sexuality and struggle to be accepted as adults by their families.

Sadly, unlike in Kristen Stewart starrer Twilight, the romance in The Cake Eaters is often hurried, making it lack the agonizingly built up tension of the former film, and instead feel half-baked. And since it is tough to identify with the characters and understand why they come to care for each other so quickly, the film feels rather like a metaphorical bundt cake with a collapsed emotional center. However the film is worth watching for Kristen Stewart’s transformative performance alone; she is surprising, nuanced and utterly convincing- slurring her speech and artfully managing to make the simple act of walking seem an unimaginably difficult feat.

Movie Reviews With An Attitude

I LOVE movies- Action, Indie, Animated, Foreign, Comedy, Horror (ok...not so much the horror).. But movie reviews tend to be loooong (clicking NEXT to another page is exhausting), wishy washy (should I stay home or should I go?), and uh ...sometimes pompous (there are some NY Times reviews you would need a PHD to understand). So here are some Movie Reviews with an Attitude- honest, to the point, and with a bit of sass.