Movie Micro-Reviews: Edition 93

My Sister’s Keeper	70	Heart-wrenching, with interesting ideas.  This might have been the first time I saw Cameron Diaz and thought “OK, she’s actually acting.”  But the best performances are the two young actresses – Abigail Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva, with the wonderful addition of Alec Baldwin.
Brave	79	Excellent!  Strong female characters, funny and visually excellent.  And the music!
Moonrise Kingdom	68	Quirky.  Sweet.  Coming of age and finding your place in the world.  But quirky with a capital Q.
Les Miserables	83	Before the movie, I had heard that the actors were recorded singing while acting throughout.  This approach is highly unusual for a musical, but made the performances so much deeper.  Anne Hathaway’s “I Dreamed a Dream” was the most moving singing performance I’ve seen in a long time.  And the directing and cinematography put us right in, around and over Paris.  The end was beautiful.  Excellent movie!
Hope Springs	63	Some funny bits in the middle of a very real, very poignant story of a marriage threatened by stagnation.  Streep is, of course, superb. Jones surprised me with depth, even in a character who was not all that likable.  Not sure younger people would appreciate it.
Sound of Music	91	The story of a young woman using her strength and conviction to find her life.  The story of a man who needs to remember how to love.  Some of the best stage music ever, and with the wonders of Austria is even more powerful.
Zombieland	58 71	How to rate this?  The gore in the first 15 minutes almost made me turn it off.  The funny bit in the middle was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time.  Then end was satisfying, if predictable. I am revising this rating after a second viewing.  (Watching “The Walking Dead” has helped me get past the gore.) There are so many excellent bits in this, and the Rules are a nice frame for the story.