Katy Perry A part of Me
As docudramas go this one feels more real to the audience than some recent ones. This is produced by the same directors who did Justin Beiber's recent movie Never Say Never. While both of these pop icons have the same theme running throughout their movies, ( believe in your dreams and work hard) I believe the Cotton Candy Queen Perry has shown a more realistic backdrop to the craziness that is a celebrity life. Born into a family of Pentecostal preachers, Katy shows some of the transformation she made to go from protected gospel girl to coming out loud pop queen. The thing that makes this one more sincere and personal is we see the love story between her and her then husband , Russel Brand, and we experience her heartache as she learns her marriage is breaking up while on her tour. We experience her pain too as she goes from soaring heights to the deepest depths of agony and she, like her theme, will come out on top.
Go see it.

Brave
The Disney Pixar movie Brave has some of the best animation yet! The scenery is amazing and the detail involved in animating Merida's unruly red curls will amaze you. It is a new concept for the animators to project Merida as being an independant and feisty princess living life on her own terms. There is an interesting storyline involving Merida's stubborn decision to make her own choices and what her Queenly mother expects of her. While the animation is outstanding, I found the story a surprising and unexpected tale of a selfish princess, not so much an independant one, who rights her wrong in the end. I give it a B-.

The Latest Reviews

New out in theatres lately........
Snow White and The Huntsman
This movie is not as bad as the critics claimed, but it's pretty close. The storyline is fine, the costumes for Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen are great, but what drags it down is the sophmorish acting of Kristen Stewart. Really? Could'nt they have found someone better for the part...like someone who can  act?
Men in Black III
Josh Brolin does a spot on imitation of Tommy Lee Jones. If nothing else, see it for that. This reboot of the franchise has a sparkle   from the first movie that the second one was missing. Fun for all and look for Lady Gaga in a background appearance.
Rock of Ages
You could go see this for the amazing line up of stars in this picture like Catherine Zeta Jones and Alec Baldwin. You could go see it to see Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand sing a love song.. to each other!
You can go see it to hear the awesome music from bands of the 80's, but if you go for nothing else, go see Tom Cruise become a rock god!!!!!!! He is amazing , he sings his own songs, and it doesn't hurt that he looks great with his shirt off!!!!! Rock on Tom!

Recently Reviewed

 The Lorax is the environmentally conscious tale from Dr Suess that warns us not to take our natural resources for granted. This story comes complete with music and songs and while other Suess stories have had great memorable music, this one is only so so. The movie has been stretched to make it long enough to be movie length, but even your toddlers will be bored at some points in this story. It could have done without so many songs and too much filler. Rent the original animated feature instead.

John Carter has receieved alot of undeserved bad press. I went expecting it to be a disaster after reported reviews that the story was too difficult to understand and the special effects were ho hum.
I don't know what critics found so difficult to follow in this story. After all it was the inspiration to Star Wars and many other current sci fi movies. You will notice alot of similarities in the stories. As for the special effects, maybe we have become too jaded expecting over the top productions. You will find them adequate for the story.

The recent fervor over the recently released Hunger Games is puzzling to decipher. What can be so compelling about a book series that glorifies children killing children? Maybe too many violent video games can probably be blamed for it, but I see no redeeming story in this even if Katniss Everdeen is the new heroine. Regardless of the outcome of the series, I can't recommend this one.

And the Oscar goes to......

What a great night for Oscar! We saw the welcome return of Billy Crystal hosting the show and he was great! Humor, music, great fashion; it was everything we expected and more. Thank goodness the idiotic antics of Sacha Baron Cohen didn't overshadow the rest of the show. Just when I was starting to appreciate him in Hugo, he pulls his usual insanity. Don't waste your hard earned dollars on his "movie". Congrats to The Artist for all their well deserved wins for best picture and best actor among them. A few disappointing surprises including best makeup...Iron Lady over Harry Potter? Seriously? Some fake teeth and pearls and that wins over the amazing talents of  Harry Potter? Also, who chose "Man or Muppet" over "Rio"? Not to mention that there was only two songs nominated out of all the worthy movies from last year. Meryl Streep is truly one of our best actresses ever but I thought her performance was dull compared to Viola Davis in The Help. As for the winners, Hugo got many well deserved Oscars for technical and The Artist for making history with a black and white silent movie. 
Time to start over and look forward to next year.

OSCAR SUNDAY!!!!!

The Oscars are here! Who are you voting for? Here are my picks for the movies.
Best Actor.. Jean Dujardin
Best Actress...Viola Davis
Best Supporting Actor...Christopher Plummer
Best Supporting Actress...Octavia Spencer
Best Director...Michael Hazanavicius
Best Picture... The Artist
There are so many great pictures this year that it's hard to choose! The Descendants and The Help were great as was George Clooney in his role, but I think these are the odds on favorites to win. Have fun watching todays broadcast!

Golden Globes

Tonight is the night for the beginning of the award show rush. Who do you think will win? There are some great movies up for nominations this year. The latest reviewed have been WAR HORSE which is a great addition from Steven Spielberg, It's a moving and visual experience about a horse sent off to World War I and then reunited with his devoted owner. THE DESCENDANTS,   the coming of age story for a whole family dealing with life's unexpected tradgedies. And out on DVD is MONEYBALL a sports story about
Billy Beane, the GM for the Oakland A's and his attempt to change the way baseball is played. And my favorite, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, Woody Allen's poignant and fantasy themed rom com. Countdown to Oscars!