Movie Micro-Reviews Edition 104

Snow White and the Huntsman	67	This was better than most people said it was. Filled with imagery and atmosphere.  Some very clever fantasy elements.  The dark magic looked really dark.
Star Wars Episode 1: the Phantom Menace	78 71	Very pretty, and the strong female lead is welcome.  Jar-Jar was a mistake, as were “midichlorians”.  But a fun film. Revision: clearly all the adult actors are capable of much more than they showed here. Direction, then, is at fault. Though exciting to see when it first came out, it is more disappointing with subsequent viewing.
Star Wars	99	Simply the best.
Warm Bodies	70	Trust me – it’s better than its premise sounds. Clever. Derivative?  Well, sure, but that’s part of the point, and part of the cleverness.
Winter’s Tale	70	A fantasy that doesn’t go quite where you think it will. Very well told.
Fifth Estate (The)	65	The Wikileaks story. Quite surprising how tense a story about a computer topic can be.  Benedict Cumberbatch was very well suited to the role of Julian Assange.
Inkheart	61	A fun fantasy with a cool concept – What if certain people possessed the power to bring fictional characters into our world simply by reading their story aloud, but the reader was unaware of this power?
Secret Life of Walter Mitty	62	It kept me guessing until the end, though Sherry had it all figured out.  It’s not a typical Ben Stiller movie, but I like Stiller’s non-Stiller movies.  Worth a viewing.
X-Men: Days of Future Past	80	I didn’t believe they could have so many heroes and villains in one movie and still make the movie flow.  They did it!  The time travel aspect was well done, the key actors got good work, and the action and story were quite comic-book fun!