Silver Linings Playbook

Life doesn't always go according to plan. Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) has lost everything -- his house, his job, and his wife. He now finds himself living back with his mother (Jacki Weaver) and father (Robert De Niro) after spending eight months in a state institution on a plea bargain. Pat is determined to rebuild his life, remain positive and reunite with his wife, despite the challenging circumstances of their separation. All Pat's parents want is for him to get back on his feet - and to share their family's obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles football team. When Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a mysterious girl with problems of her own, things get complicated. Tiffany offers to help Pat reconnect with his wife, but only if he'll do something very important for her in return. As their deal plays out, an unexpected bond begins to form between them, and silver linings appear in both of their lives.

I loved this movie. They made you care about the characters and made it okay to laugh and care at the same time as they dealt with their mental disorders. The chemistry between Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence was amazing. And although it was pretty predictable where it all was going, I enjoyed the ride. The performances of the ecclectic group of supporting characters were equally funny, touching and entertaining.

I would absolutely recommend everyone checking this movie out. It has some of the better performances of the year across the board for the year and it a very entertaining story.

Broken City

Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) has a promising career as a New York City cop until the night he is involved in a controversial shooting. Stripped of his badge, but kept out of jail by New York's popular Mayor (Russell Crowe), he re-makes himself as a private investigator. Times are tough, and when the mayor offers Billy $50,000 to investigate the First Lady's (Catherine Zeta Jones) extra-marital activities, it seems like a straight forward payday. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes apparent that the Mayor is not at all what he seems, and for Billy to achieve redemption he will have to risk everything -- possibly even his freedom.

I was kind of bored in this movie. It's not that it was a bad movie, there just wasn't a quality emotional hook that made me care at all about what the characters were going through. Without that emotional hook, this is one of those movies where you are just kind of watching it play out. And since you are well aware of how it will all turn out - it just made it that much more not too interesting for me.

I wouldn't really recommend people checking this out. Maybe I'm wrong and there just wasn't an emotional connection for me and there might be for others. I was pretty bored though.

The Guilt Trip

The story follows an inventor (Rogen) who invites his mother on a cross-country trip as he tries to sell his new product while also reuniting her with a lost love.

This was a much better watch than I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong. The movie is just as formula as it appeared to be from the trailer, but the pairing of Seth Rogan and Barbara Streisand was surprisingly good. They played really well off of each other and there were a lot of decent laughs and you are interested enough to root for their adventure to work out.

I would somewhat recommend people checking this out. It's not a must see by any stretch of the imagination and there are definitely better movies out there, but this is a somewhat enjoyable movie.

Gangster Squad

Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and--if he has his way--every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It's enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop...except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen's world apart. "The Gangster Squad" is a colorful retelling of events surrounding the LAPD's efforts to take back their nascent city from one of the most dangerous mafia bosses of all time.

This was a very, very fun movie. Sure, it was silly, overdramatic (especially Sean Penn) and total testosterone, but it was still a lot of fun. They did a good job of rounding up the squad, developing the characters and making you get excited about what was happening. This was one of those movies where you can just turn your brain off and enjoy watching the good guys get the bad guys.

I would definitely recommend people checking this movie out. It's easily one of the most simple entertaining movies out there.

A Haunted House

From the creators of Scary Movie comes another horror spoof, a parody of the "Paranormal Activity" franchise. When newlyweds Malcolm (Marlon Wayans) and Kisha (Essence Atkins) move into their dream house, they quickly find they’re not alone. But it’s not the house that’s haunted, but his wife that is possessed with spirits – or as Malcolm calls it – “relationship baggage.” Malcolm hires everyone from a priest to modern day ghost busters to rid her of the demon, determined not to let the evil spirit ruin his marriage... or his sex life for that matter.

This movie was ALOT funnier than I thought it would be. There were good sight gags and the spoofing of the Paranormal Activity movies didn't get played out like I thought it would. The real downer of this movie was the whole Devil Inside spoof with Cedric getting too much play in the commercials. If they would have held that out - I would have been dying watching those parts.

I would surprisingly recommend people checking this out. Those of you with teenagers thinking it would be a soft R because of language or something - there is a ALOT of sexually related humor in this movie. You have been warned.

Promised Land

Promised Land is the new contemporary drama directed by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting). Matt Damon plays Steve Butler, an ace corporate salesman who is sent along with his partner, Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand), to close a key rural town in his company's expansion plans. With the town having been hit hard by the economic decline of recent years, the two outsiders see the local citizens as likely to accept their company's offer, for drilling rights to their properties, as much-needed relief. What seems like an easy job for the duo becomes complicated by the objection of a respected schoolteacher (Hal Holbrook) with support from a grassroots campaign led by another man (John Krasinski), as well as the interest of a local woman (Rosemarie DeWitt). Promised Land explores America at the crossroads where big business and the strength of small-town community converge.

This was a very well written down to earth feeling movie. Simple town life vs corporate america and all the lines of thinking that come with that. All the characters were well developed and played great off of each other. It was very well played out how Matt Damon's emotions about what his job was went up and down and all over the place and you find yourself really rooting for him to figure it all out.

I would definiely recommend people checking this one out. It's not in a wide release at all so you will probably have to wait, but I think it's worth the time.

The Impossible

Based on the true story of one family's survival of the 2004 tsunami . . . .

Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her. The Impossible is the powerful and unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, "The Impossible" is a journey to the core of the human heart.

This movie was a very tough one to watch. The tsunami portion of the movie made me look away numerous times. The violence, the injuries/hazards that you don't even think about and the working through the aftermath were simply gut wrenching. The performance by the little boy really stole the show and this movie give you a whole new appreciation of areas that are ravaged by natural disasters like this. For the most part, you get lots and lots of coverage of the area but then everyone's short term memory kicks in and it's left alone. This movie really shows you what it's like after these types of world changing events.

I would definitely recommend that everyone check this movie out. It was very well done across the board but be warned that there are some really tough to see scenes.

Django Unchained

Set in the South two years before the Civil War, Django Unchained stars Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. The unorthodox Schultz acquires Django with a promise to free him upon the capture of the Brittles - dead or alive. Success leads Schultz to free Django, though the two men choose not to go their separate ways. Instead, Schultz seeks out the South's most wanted criminals with Django by his side. Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago. Django and Schultz's search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), the proprietor of "Candyland," an infamous plantation where slaves are groomed by trainer Ace Woody to battle each other for sport. Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz arouse the suspicion of Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), Candie's trusted house slave. Their moves are marked, and a treacherous organization closes in on them. If Django and Schultz are to escape with Broomhilda, they must choose between independence and solidarity, between sacrifice and survival...

This was one of Tarantino's better movies. I like that he finally told a story in actual time instead of the going back and forth in the timeline sutff he usually does. The character development was awesome and his direction of Christoph Waltz just makes both of thier talents better. He was easily the best part of the movie. The quick and proper dialogue from him and the back and forth with Jaimie Foxx was awesome. I was loving the movie and couldn't wait to see where it would go and then we got to meet Leonardo DiCaprio's character and the setting of Candyland and the movie honestly got even better. The violence was waaaaaaaaay extreme at times and didn't really have to be, but outside of that - this was a very excellent movie.

I would definitely recommend people checking this out. It's a textbook example of amazing character development.

The Haunting In Connecticut 2: Ghosts Of Georgia

Building on the terror of A Haunting in Connecticut, this horrifying tale traces a young family’s nightmarish descent into a centuries-old Southern hell. When Andy Wyrick moves his wife Lisa and daughter Heidi to an historic home in Georgia, they quickly discover they are not the house’s only inhabitants. Joined by Lisa’s free-spirited sister, Joyce, the family soon comes face-to-face with a bone-chilling mystery born of a deranged desire…a haunting secret rising from underground and threatening to bring down anyone in its path.

This movie was pretty much garbage because it has NOTHING to do with The Haunting In Connecticut. Seriously. No story connection. No ghost connection. The movie doesn't even take place there. It's in Georgia. Besides the fact that the story and the "frights" were lame as hell, I just sat there the whole time yelling "what does this have to do with The Haunting In Connecticut!?!

This movie was total garbage. I have never seen a more senseless use of the number 2 on a sequel. Unless they were just trying to warn us that this movie is a steaming pile of number 2?

Hyde Park On Hudson

In June 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and his wife Eleanor (Olivia Williams) host the King and Queen of England (Samuel West, Olivia Colman) for a weekend at the Roosevelt home at Hyde Park on Hudson, in upstate New York - the first-ever visit of a reigning English monarch to America. With Britain facing imminent war with Germany, the Royals are desperately looking to FDR for support. But international affairs must be juggled with the complexities of FDR's domestic establishment, as wife, mother, and mistresses all conspire to make the royal weekend an unforgettable one. Seen through the eyes of Daisy (Laura Linney), Franklin's distant cousin, neighbor, and intimate, the weekend will produce not only a special relationship between two great nations, but, for Daisy - and through her, for us all - a deeper understanding of the mysteries of love and friendship.

This movie was one of the biggest snoozefests I've seen in a long long time.  I had absolutely zero interest 30 minutes in and was nodding off so I turned it off.  It kills me to see how much Bill Murray sucks in his movies now.  Can he please go back to just making a comedy or playing a regular acting role?

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting one minute watching this movie.  Unless you are having trouble sleeping.  If that's the case - you should put this on.  Better than Nyquil.