1/8/2010 will bring us Day Breakers and Youth In Revolt, and I'm looking forward to both. Look for reviews of both movies before the weekend is over!

Summary: A worthy story and good for a few laughs - try to see this one

It was hard to tell from the previews if I was walking into a romantic comedy, but I rolled the dice. I have to say I'm happy I did!

So much of the enjoyment of this movie is in the details, so I won't give much away. Suffice it to say that George Clooney's character's journey to achieve the ultimate in frequent flyer status, and his "obstacles" along the way make for an entertaining story that has some true-to-life lessons in it.

Summary: Definitely something to look at, but that's about it.

I've been surprised at how many people LOVE this movie, call it a life changing experience, etc. I have a lot of problems with this movie, but let's start with something positive.

The effects were stunning - no doubt about it. I saw this in 3D and it was impressive. You do feel like you are in the world that James Cameron has created. Having said that...

My first issue is with the characters. There really isn't much in the way of character development, and for spending 2.5 hours in the theater it seems like there should be. You see early on which characters you are expected to like and which you are expected to hate - and the not-so-subtle hints in both directions are too extreme and frankly not believable.

Acting... oh boy the acting. Watching this you can't help but wonder if the writing was just so bad that the actors couldn't do any better or if they just didn't try. The dialog was literally PAINFUL, especially the "love" scenes.

Next comes the plot. You can point out parallels all day long, but the take away here is essentially:

• humans are greedy, ruthless and cruel
• technology is wrong and damaging (I don't see how you could watch this movie and not see the irony in what is little more than a 2.5 hour lecture on the above items using some of the most advanced movie making technology out there today...)
• the military is soulless

Right of the bat, this plot is tired and overdone (I'm thinking of at least 2/6 Star Wars movies right away). More than that though, this is just disappointing. From someone who brought us Terminator, Alien, True Lies and shoot, even Titanic... I would have expected better.

If you want to see a movie that should have just been a video game... maybe take the time (and a considerable amount of it no less) to watch this, otherwise stand at the box office, close your eyes and point. Whatever you pick is bound to be better than this.

Summary: An engaging story with quality acting. This movie is worth seeing, and it's a fun watch in the theater, but waiting for the DVD wouldn't hurt the experience.

First let's start with a disclaimer: If you are a die-hard Sherlock Holmes fan, don't expect this to mirror the book's character.

Without doing a complete analysis of each character, let's just make a couple observations. I'm a Robert Downey Jr. fan, and his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is pretty much what you would expect; he's witty, sarcastic and confident. They managed just the right amount of serious character quality with comic relief - he really works in this character. Jude Law as Dr. Watson was an interesting choice. He's a little too serious at times and almost feels out of place, but his banter with RDJ is believable and entertaining. Finally, Mark Strong as Lord Blackwood is a little creepy, a little devious and a fair "match" for Sherlock Holmes.

You'll immediately notice, and either love or hate, the flashback/forethought style that this movie employs. Without giving away any plot elements, consider an example where Sherlock Holmes is about to enter a fight - before he does the screen will jump to a play-by-play from his perspective of how he intends to win, then we see how it is actually carried out. Similarly, when he recounts how he solves a particular mystery we see a narrated flashback highlighting what we didn't see the first time. Some people don't like this style, but I happen to think it worked pretty well here and was not over done.

All in all, this is worth watching. It has a fast pace and some good dialog. Try to see this one in the theater if you can.

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