A Man on a Ledge

This was literally a halfway decent movie – the first 40 min. were engaging, well-written, and actually produced quite nicely. The plot unfolded at a good pace and there was real potential for a top notch movie. But then something happened? The director, the writers, and actors must've had a breakdown of some sort. Suddenly the once cool thieves became "campy" and almost silly with their off-the-cuff remarks and jokes, the villains became obvious and cartoonish, the main actor who was supposed to have a Brooklyn New York background suddenly could not get rid of his Australian accent. The whole film just fell apart in clichés and been there done that screenwriting. What a disappointment! If you got nothing else to watch, going ahead and watch the first 45 min. Then turn it off and let your imagination finish the film.

Eat Drink Man Woman

I was looking for a lighthearted but interesting film to watch when I found this in my Netflix queue. This is an old Taiwanese movie made back in the late 80s I believe. It is subtitled. It's a story of an aging father who is widowed and has three grown-up daughters that have yet to be married. The father is a master chef – the cooking scenes are spectacular, if you like Chinese food. Who doesn't? The daughters are intriguing and interesting characters. The plot and situations are stereotypical Chinese – the emphasis on marriage, the patriarch father figure, the gossiping neighbors. The story runs along quite slowly, but it is interesting and engaging. It wasn't until the end that I was surprised and delighted. I believe that if you have some affinity for Chinese culture you will probably enjoy this movie.

Safe House

This is a super action film, CIA thriller. The plot is rather common – rogue agent out for revenge. But the cinematography, directing and acting are excellent. The action scenes are superb, very similar to "Bourne Identity" style, raw and compelling – no special effects needed. Just good fighting. It is somewhat more violent, thus the R rating. Denzil Washington plays a great role as the tough rogue agent that is out for revenge. A role he has played many times perfectly, and does so once again. This time he does have a heart, but you wouldn't know it from the body count. Some of the CIA stuff is still cliché and we have seen or heard it before. But basically this is a great action movie! Enjoy it.

Rum Diary

Johnny Depp once again reprises his role as the friendly and intelligent drunkard. He really does this role very well... This movie is the story of early 1960s Puerto Rico and the writer Jack Kemp. I was mostly interested in learning more about this writer. The movie showed his adventures in Puerto Rico before he became a well-known journalist. The movie is fun and has an interesting storyline in most places – in others it's over the top and a little bit unbelievable. There are some really interesting characters in the movie. All in all a fair and enjoyable attempt to tell a different kind of story. I'm not sure I would recommend this to everyone, it certainly is not a family movie or an action flick. It's a drama, documentary, a lighthearted look at Puerto Rico in the 1960s.

INCEPTION

Summertime is a great time to dust off those old DVDs that you bought years ago because they were great movies. A lot of times you watch the movie again and think why did I bother spending 20 bucks to buy a copy of this movie – it wasn't that great in the first place! However, some movies on your shelf are truly GREAT! Inception is one of them. I recommend that you watch this one again! I was thoroughly pleased with the plot, story, acting, and action. This is really an exceptional movie. Leonardo DiCaprio does an excellent job, and the other actors are all credible and believable characters. The movie had me engaged from the very beginning and held my attention until the very last scene. Highly recommended!

The Set-up

This movie was absolutely terrible! It seems to me that some friends of the hip-hop artist "50 cent" got together to make a movie for him. Unfortunately, he cannot act and they apparently cannot direct, produce, or write a decent movie. Bruce Willis was even very disappointing in this film – I can't imagine that they paid him enough money to do this. DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!

In Time

A decent futuristic sci-fi thriller if you can get past all of the "time" clichés: "time is money", "just in time", "running out of time", "time well spent", "it's about time"... The writers use them all in this film. Justin Timberlake does a decent job acting. His female counterpart however is rather cartoonish, but pretty. The action is decent. Some parts of the story are a little bit lame however, for example, the so-called "timekeeper" dies in the movie because he runs out of time – sorry, spoiler alert. Anyway this movie is NOT a complete "waste of time." Keep your expectations low and you will probably enjoy it like I did.

Running the Sahara

A documentary about three men who participate in extreme sports, extreme cross-country running. A man from Canada, a man from North Carolina, and a man from Taiwan. They make great team and had participated in many races together. They got the idea to run across the Sahara. After two years of preparation and sponsorship seeking, they began their journey on the West Coast of Africa. They ran every day for 110 days, over 4500 miles until they reached the Red Sea. An amazing documentary and an even more amazing feat of endurance, courage and spirit. Very well filmed to show the actual logistics and difficulty of their journey. No political agenda. No product endorsements. Just three men challenging themselves to do something amazing. I enjoyed this movie even though I've never been a runner.

Puss-n-boots: a waste of time

I often watch animated movies, and I'm usually amazed at the quality of the films from DreamWorks and Pixar. There have been some really great ones in the past. Unfortunately, this one was a total disappointment. The animation itself was pretty good, but the pace of the story and the action sequences were just too fast for anyone to appreciate the artwork. Everything flew by in nanoseconds – making the animators work a total blur. Perhaps a six-year-old's eyes work faster than mine, and they could appreciate the visual aspects of the film. I doubt it. The story was totally unoriginal, when from the trailer last year in looked like it would be a humorous and original film. It was basically a ripoff from "Zorro" "Mother Goose" "Jack and the Beanstalk" "Humpty Dumpty" – you get the picture. In some previous movies like "Shrek" this tactic worked for gags and jokes – but they did not get in the way of the story line. In Puss-N-boots the writers got lazy and the ripped off children's tales became the basis for the entire movie. When I watch an animated movie I don't want to see the retelling and destruction of old children stories that I grew up with – I want to see originality! There was little to be found in this film. Don't bother, watch another movie instead.