Movie Micro-Reviews: Edition 65 - Vacation Part 3 & More

Another long list. Movie viewing will slow down now that Sherry & Leah are heading back to school. Second-viewing notes: I liked "Julie & Julia" less this time. First time, I focused on Meryl Streep as Julia Child and she was wonderful. This time, I paid more attention to Julie. She's self-centered and high-maintenance. Good casting, but not as likable as the first time.

Tron: Legacy	71	Glad I saw it. A good adventure. The Light Cycles were cool. Animation has come so far. How they did CLU – a young version of Bridges – as well as the young version of Bridges in the opening scene – is another harbinger of “actorless” action movies. But the story never surprised me, except that the opening boardroom scene seemed to promise Cillian Murphy (who is a new favorite of mine) and he never showed up again. And Bruce Boxleitner (TRON!) got shafted on screen and story time. It all would have been OK if I had liked the main character more.
The Prestige	85	Obsession. Magic. Envy. Magic. Competition. Magic. Science. Magic. Revenge. Magic.
Michael Clayton	76	When you’re a “fixer” for a large law firm, your conscience must be put in mothballs. How far can that go? When your movie is about a long-running court case, you better have good actors. George Clooney and Tilda Swinton are good actors.
North by Northwest	70	Finally I have seen the classic. A bit slow, compared to today’s movies, but only a bit. The tension of the action is as good as most of today’s films. The bad guys just are not as threatening to today’s audiences, so one must really enter the world of the late 50’s to be caught up. Fortunately, Hitchcock was up to the task.
Sister Act 2	69	Fun. Love that music! Predictable, but I still love seeing it – or having it on in the beackground. That last piece is awesome. [Reviewed in Edition 33.]
The Librarian: Quest for the Spear	60	Silly little Indiana Jones-esque camp, which was fun but just video cotton candy.
The Karate Kid (2010)	75	How can you know exactly what the story is going to be about, and then have lines directly from the original, and still make a satisfying movie? It all comes together here. Jaden Smith is a sympathetic hero (and a chip off of Will Smith’s block that is so accurate he might be a clone!) and Jackie Chan truly acted. The China/Kung Fu replacement for California/Karate made a difference and helped this movie, too.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: the Lightning Thief	52	Characters too stereotyped, and story too predictable to be great. Good effects. Wooden directing. Saw it once. That’s enough.
Julie & Julia	78	Julie – our first blogging movie hero. The stories of Julie & Julia intertwined, and we saw both women grow. Meryl Streep channeled Julia Child. And Leah saw a store she walks by All The Time! [Initially reviewed in Edition 43. Dawn wanted to see it.]
Equilibrium	50	Some post-apocalyptic stories seem plausible. This one did not. As a fable, it raises an interesting question – if you got rid of emotion, would you get rid of crime and war? Some cool action. Christian Bale & Taye Diggs are good actors. But they didn’t have much to work with. Pass on this unless you just like having sci-fi to see.