Up In The Air

RuthAnn and Audrey saw this movie and gave it luke-warm reviews. They said it was timely and relevant, and that George Clooney did a good job. They would not buy the dvd and gave only moderate recommendations to others to see it.

Invictus

RuthAnn and Audrey loved this movie. They both commented that it was good to learn more about that time in history and some of the events and forces involved.

Steve had trouble staying awake and felt frustrated by the slow and plodding place, and the deliberate style that seems to be a characteristic of movies directed by Eastwood.

Sherlock Holmes

Steve thought this movie was good for special effects with excellent cinematography. Robert Downy was great to watch, and the relationship between Holmes and Watson was well portrayed and humorous. But the plot seemed forced, overly complicated, and difficult to follow. The writers tried to cram too many meanings into the movie and the audience was left to not care much in order to keep watching. Although they did tie up all the loose ends in the concluding act (somewhat like a House episode), by that time the audience has pretty much given up caring.

RuthAnn and Audrey both enjoyed the movie well enough and did not have the same complaints that Steve had, but did say that the movie seemed long to them.

Young Victoria

RuthAnn and Audrey both loved this Jane Austen-esque movie. They liked watching it and will probably buy the dvd to watch it again and again.

Courtney and Belle (the younger crowd) did not like the show nearly as much. In fact, they had trouble staying awake.

The Princess and the Frog

RuthAnn kicked off her seven-movies-in-eight-days marathon with this animated show. It served as a good start to her week of entertainment. She said it was good enough to recommend to others to see, but that it was a little bit slow for her.

Audrey says that it is a very cute movie with a good message and the music and characters were fun, but the plot was nothing special.

Belle and Rachel (the young audience) seemed to love the show very much.

The Informant

We went to see The Informant, after having seen movie trailers that made it look like a comedy. I guess that what was most intriguing in the short clips was seeing Matt Damon acting like such a geeky, nerdy guy. It turns out that that is indeed the only interesting thing in the whole movie. My wife and I agreed that this movie is not a comedy. It is not a drama, either. What it would best be is a made-for-tv Sunday night movie. I guess that the story is based an actual events, but there is little in this movie that draws the audience in and makes them care for any of the characters. It was also hard to escape the feeling that one was watching Jason Bourne in disguise.

UP

It has been some time since I first saw this movie, accompanying my eight-year-old daughter and my wife. I was expecting good production quality because it was a Pixar-Disney film. What I was pleasantly surprised to find out was that the movie was also humorous, psychologically savvy, and inspirational. I watched UP another time with other relatives and found it to be equally delightful the second time.

I highly recommend this movie for the whole family. I already know that it will be a permanent addition to my own personal DVD collection.