Oh, I am SO excited for Hobbit.

Caught a few over the break so far.

Beginners (2011) 5/5 / A
Mike Mills has written and directed a beautiful film in the shape of Beginners. Ewan McGregor plays Oliver, a quiet, somewhat detached thirty-something who has yet to find love. The story centers around Oliver's life after his father Hal (Christopher Plummer) comes out of the closet and after he dies of cancer. Simultaneously, the film follows Oliver's budding relationship with quirky French actress Anna (Melanie Laurent). And then there's Arthur, a lovable Jack Russell Terrier who speaks in subtitles. The plot is somewhat difficult to describe, but bear with me. The film is just terrific, thoroughly human and deeply moving. It's funny and it made me choke up more than once. McGregor is subtle and superb, about as un-showy as possible. It's a very lived-in, natural performance. Laurent is very good herself, giving the proper amount of humanity to the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. In an all-too-brief role, Mary Page Keller as Oliver's mother, seen only in childhood flashbacks, leaves a huge emotional imprint on the film. Best in show, however, is Christopher Plummer as Hal. Plummer is deservedly gaining serious Oscar momentum for this film, and it's easy to see why: he's a respected veteran who has been consistently working for decades, and here he is, in his 80s, stretching himself in a role most actors his age wouldn't touch. He is simply brilliant. Overall, this is an amazing film and one of the best of the year.
Dir: Mike Mills

Great Expectations (1946) 4.5/5 / A-
David Lean's handsomely directed and crafted adaptation of Dicken's novel is surprisingly entertaining. Made with a heightened sense of reality, Great Expectations plays like a warm and good-humored fantasy. Marked with solid performances all around from the likes of John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Jean Simmons, Bernard Miles, Finlay Currie, Alec Guinness, and Matita Hunt, Great Expectations is a very, very good film, even for those who didn't necessarily enjoy the novel.
Dir: David Lean

Zodiac (2007) 5/5 / A
David Fincher and James Vanderbilt tackle the forensic labyrinth of the unsolved case of the Zodiac killer, a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco area in the late 60s and mid-70s. The film opens on the second attack from the Zodiac, on two teenagers on the 4th of July, 1969. The sequence is unbearably tense in buildup and bloody in payoff, but the film establishes quickly afterward that the entire film is not like this: the Zodiac is shown doing his (bloody) job in the beginning, and the rest is devoted to the work of the men who try to capture him. The film runs long, and feels long, but a film of this scope needs nothing less. Fincher secured three solid leads with Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Robert Downey, Jr. They are all very good, as always, but this is not a film about performances (also Downey Jr.'s scenery-chewing may make you think otherwise). The tension is palpable and the suspense is taut. Zodiac is a thoroughly engrossing crime thriller and will follow you after the credits roll.
Dir: David Fincher

The Descendants (2011) 3.5/5 / B-
Alexander Payne has a keen sense of direction, and he captures the Hawaiian landscape with a great eye, but The Descendants is, overall, a disappointment. The set-up: Matt King (George Clooney) is trying to reconnect with his estranged daughters Scottie (Amara Miller) and Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) after his wife goes into a coma after a brutal boating accident. At the same time, he and his cousins are trying to settle on whether or not to sell 22 acres of unadulterated Hawaiian land which they have inherited. The daughters plotline is fairly fleshed out; the land one is not. Matt's decision in the land sale is so predictable, the film would have been fine without it. Regarding the daughters, Payne (and fellow screenwriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash) start out fine, but the plot quickly degenerates to a quirky game of stalking of the man with whom Matt's wife was cheating. The dialogue is well-written enough, but there are a few huge qualms I have with this.
For starters, everything in the film felt phony. Nothing felt genuine in the slightest. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I never once believed there were any stakes. Matt's a static character. He is more or less the same man before his wife's accident as we was before, and nothing in the film changes him. As I already said, the land plotline was predictable and nearly skeletal in its ideas. Then there's the character of Sid, Alexandra's boyfriend--played with what appears to be very little effort from Nick Krause, Sid is the token stoner-with-the-heart-of-gold character. He is quickly established as an insensitive, rude young man, but in a "touching" conversation with Matt, the audience learns his dad died a couple months earlier. This is the indication for the audience to feel bad for him, but it's hard to feel bad for a character so cardboard and who has already been established as a pretty terrible person.
Regarding the performances, only four people are worth mentioning. Clooney is more or less the best part about the film, giving a sensitive performance to a character who is easy to dislike. Woodley, previously known to most as the main character in The Secret Life of the American Teenager, gives a rather brave performance here, cussing up a storm and holding her own opposite a seasoned vet such as Clooney. There's a raw talent here, as Woodley nails the complex emotions teenagers experience upon the serious illness of a parent (there is a particularly powerful scene in a swimming pool), and if she gets an Oscar nomination as many predict, it will be a deserved one. And third, in a very brief role, Judy Greer as (follow me on this) the wife of the man with whom Matt's wife was sleeping is unexpectedly good. She delivers arguably the most authentic-feeling moment in the film. Then there's unknown Amara Miller, who can't be more than ten years old, but is good at acting her age. The performances outside of those four, however, are nothing worth mentioning, and range from stilted but serviceable (Beau Bridges) to terrible (Nick Krause). The direction is strong but the screenplay is a mess.
Dir: Alexander Payne

Sherlock Holmes 2....easily one of the boringest movies I've been to in a long time. The characters aren't lovable at all. 40/100

The Sitter...I can see why this movie took so long to be released (this is the fattest jonah hill ever was, he is now skinny). 45/100

Mission Impossible 4...this was really entertaining and I look forward to the next installment. 84/100

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was amazing! I cannot beileve I never saw this as a kid!

I saw the movie over the holiday break. While I wasn't wowed by it I found it to be a touching tribute to early movie making. I didn't see it in 3D because I find that 3D usually detracts from movie experiences for me. I did some Wikipedia research on Georges Méliès was an actual person and a pioneering filmmaker who in his later years ran a magic shop in the Montparnasse train station. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s It was also interesting to note how many character actors from the Harry Potter series were present in this film.

Saw The Adventures of Tintin. I still cannot believe I am gonna say this but....This was the first CG animated movie I actually loved. The story is solid, the acting was awesome, and I enjoyed the action quite a lot. Definlty go check it out.

Shutter Island. Not a bad film but my god it was pretty predicable.

This is a film where the 3D is actually used to help tell the story, unlike 90% of other films. The opening sequence in the clocks was amazing!

This film will be one of those good but forgotten films I believe, which is sad, because it's a great family film.

Saw it on Christmas Day, Mission Impossible 4. Was highly entertaining, almost like 3 movies in one, since the plot kept going and going... Was happy for Simon Pegg to get more exposure in a 'blockbuster' sort of film as well. Now I just want to know if the vending machine-style car park truly exists.

They do, just not here in the US

Out of interest, what do you mean by 'vending machine-style car park'?

They do here actually. Saw one in the theatre district in NYC last week.

War Horse. Didn't really care for it to be honest, but the cinematography looked nice.