Lawless

Written by Nick Cave (Proposition) and based on the biography by Matt Bondurant. IMDb writes, "Set in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a bootlegging gang is threatened by a new deputy and other authorities who want a cut of their profits." The brothers are played by Hardy (WHO IS THE NEW MAD MAX!!!!), LaBeouf (Transformers), and Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty). The new special deputy is Guy Pierce. (Proposition) - creepy in every way. The ladies they fall in love with are Chastain (The Help) and Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland). Oldman (The Professional) makes an appearance as well. All in all, I say: SEE IT - you might want to wacth with captions though - even though none are from the south - the southern accents are super thick.

Sahara (1983)

Never realized there were so many movies with this title. Netflix recently put this on their streaming menu - I was having trouble sleeping, so I watched it. Shields is a rich girl that has been helping her wealthy father race cars in the US. When her father dies, she takes his place in a race through the Sahara. At the same time as the race there just happens to be an ethnic war going on which causes problems for the fastest racers. When it is discovered that she is indeed a woman and not a man she is kidnapped, forced to marry a tribal leader, and helps his people fight the other group. In a matter of a couple of days she falls in love with the guy she was forced to marry and they live happily ever after, after she wins the race.All in all, I say: STREAM IT when you get bored like me.

Alice (2009 tv miniseries)

Sci-fi channel original TV mini-series about the return of Alice in wonderland. She is an adult now and Wonderland has been in chaos since she left. Her father was taken to Wonderland and now her fiance. When she arrives the Hatter helps her make her way through to finding her father and helping the resistance overthrow the Queen once and for all. Her fiance turns out to be the Prince. Lots of familiar Canadian actors. Alice is played by Caterina Scorsone recently from Private Practice. Hatter is played by the cute British actor Andrew Lee Potts from Primeval. Below is him in Alice.






Matt Frewer from Eureka, Kathy Bates from Misery, and Harry Dean Stanton from Alien also appear. The Prince is played by Philip Winchester who is American, but has an excellent accent in the movie. He's in Strike Back currently on Showtime.

All in all, I say: STREAM IT on Netflix - I really enjoyed it.

Red Dawn (2012)

A group of mainly teenagers in Spokane, Washington rebel against North Korean and Russian invaders. The girls are not sisters hidden away by their grandparents. The main character is not living in town, but rather a Marine on leave. There is no background given on the bad guy; there was some in the original. There was less killing of towns people in this one. The mayor's son is not killed, but left behind and probably killed later. In the end the fighting continues. In the original, the only 2 survivors make it to the border of Free America. Let's look at some other differences, shall we...Jed original (he's ok)

 The new Jed - UPGRADE!

Both characters die - bummer.

Matt - the original - not bad

 The new one - DOWNGRADE - not only is he not attractive, he can't act. The original dies with his brother - the new one carries on his legacy (barf).

The original Robert - in his youth - not bad.

 The new - EQUAL - not an up or down grade on this one. Good choice I think.

One of a three man team of marines sent to ask the Wolverines for help. The new version of the Col. - Powers Booth character. UPGRADE without question. (sigh)

 Original - pilot that crashed & helps kids for awhile. I like the more modern idea of how to use this character.

SO, which is better....

All in all, I say: SKIP IT and just watch the old one again. The actors don't really make the movie worth it. Totally bummed, by the way.

The Burning Plain

Told completely out of order, but done so the viewer can really get a feel for the passion the characters feel for one another. A man (Brett Cullen from Apollo 13) is not able to have sex with his wife (Kim Basinger from 8 Mile) who recently survived breast cancer, so she has an affair with a married man (Joaquim de Almeida from Fast Five) - they fall in love. Her daughter (Jennifer Lawrence from Hunger Games and Charlize Theron from Monster) angry and wants to scare them by starting a fire; it gets out of control and the lovers die. His son (Danny Pino from Cold Case)and her daughter start meeting and end up falling in love. She freaks out and leaves him after the birth of their daughter. About 7 years later he is in an accident and asks a friend to take his daughter to meet her mother. The ending makes it seem like she is going to stay with her family. All in all, I say: even though it is slow paced, it is a good story RENT IT

Rock of Ages

A musical comprised of some brilliant mash-ups using some of your favorite rock songs from the 80s & 90s. Tom Cruise (Mission Impossible) plays a rock legend & sings his own stuff - not too shabby. The main plot is boy meets girl and both want to be famous. Will they live happily ever after and be famous? Of course, it is a musical. I sang along to the songs, I didn't pay much attention to the plot, and I just kept thinking about Zeta-Jones. She is only like 4 years older than I am, she's younger than Tom Cruise, but she looks so old. All in all, I say: LISTEN to soundtrack, but maybe only RENT IT if you're bored.

The Zookeeper

Kiwi Neill (Jurassic Park) plays an ex-communist who is now a zookeeper. During the Civil War in the former Czechoslovakia all zookeepers have left because of the war, no pay, or they are dead. One man remains as penance for his actions under communist rule. He tries to keep all the animals in the zoo alive while waiting for the UN to rescue them. While he waits a young boy and his mother show up and he finds family again - his last one was lost to him. I hate movies where the animals die because of the actions of horrid humans & this one is no different; the burning of the ape house broke my heart more than the vet being killed. All in all, I say: SKIP IT poor animals- no one ever thinks of them during war.