The Big Year

This is something of an odd movie.  Well, maybe it's just an odd topic.  Evidently there is a bird watching competition.  Birders (bird watchers) try to see and identify as many different specie of bird in a single year. Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson) owns the world record, 730 some.  He's a little neurotic about it, fearful that someone will beat his record and decides he needs to go follow the birds to make sure no one is close to breaking his record.  His wife would prefer he stay around and help start a family.  Stu (Steve Martin) is a wealthy, retired executive, or at least he's trying to retire, who has always wanted to do a "Big Year" and finally decides to go for it, with the total support of his loving family. Brad (Jack Black) is a bumbling computer geek who has always loved birding and decides he must to a Big Year, with the support of his mother, moral and financial.  Dad isn't so supportive and thinks he is a loser.  So the story is about these three guys and what they'll do, and won't do to be the Birder of the Year.  A whole new world I never knew about.  It was okay, I give it a two.  It's perfect for a good, clean family movie.

Footloose

I enjoyed this one.  Of course, it's my kind of movie, a little sappy, but really, all the characters were very lovable.  I knew Julianne Hough could dance, so the question was, could she act.  I thought she did terrific!  It was hard to believe it was her first big movie.  She did great.  Kenny Wormald, who played the "Kevin Bacon" part, can really dance as well.  Great dancing, good acting, fun all around.  Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell played Julianne's parents.  It makes me feel old to see stars of  "my day" relegated to playing the parents, but it was good to see them both.  Go see this to have fun.  It's a must see if you're a Dancing with the Stars fan!

Dream House

I liked this one. It was pretty suspenseful and had a nice twist. It reminded me of another movie with a similar plot but the ending was completely different, so I forgive it for the "sameness". The story is of a family (Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig) that moves into a house and then find out that the mother and two young girls of the last family that lived there was murdered in the house.  And so they try to learn more about the past and what really happened in the house.  There are some surprises!  I give it a 2 and 1/2, I think you should see it, if you don't mind some violence and a lot of suspense.

What's Your Number?

This is not a must see.  It's not great but would be okay to rent, for something light and sort of funny.  It's about a girl, Ally Darling (Anna Faris) who realizes she's "been around" a lot.  She's read a magazine article that says the average woman has had 12 1/2 sexual partners (yes, I wonder about that 1/2 too!).  She's had way more than that.  She doesn't want her number to go higher, so she comes up with the great idea to hunt down her ex-boyfriends to see if one of them could have been "the one".  She cute neighbor (Chris Evans) offers to help her out.  It's silly at times, there are a lot of crude sex references.  Nothing real gross.  I give it 1 1/2 stars.

50/50

I liked this movie a lot. It's about a guy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who finds out he has cancer.  His best friend, Seth Rogen, tries to help him during his battle to fight the disease.  I love both these guys.  Anna Kendrick is a young therapist just starting out who is his therapist.  It's a funny heart warming story of these two relationships.  It's a must see, very well done.  I give it three stars!

Columbiana

This is not a must see, but it'd be a good one to rent some weekend.  But beware, there is a lot of violence.  It's about a young girl who sees her parents killed by the local drug lords men.  She gets away, and goes to America to stay with her uncle.  As she grows up, (played by Zoe Saldana - I like her) she prepares herself to be a killer so she can seek revenge for her parents killings.  There is a lot of action, and I think they did an okay job develop her character.  I give it 2 stars.

One Day

This movie is a lot like Same Time Next Year with Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn.  This version stars Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.  It's about two college kids who meet and have a relationship that is told by showing us one day, the same day, each year, for 20 years.  It's an interesting concept and story, but it was a little depressing to me, to see someone making a mess of their life.  I don't like movies about sad, stupid people.  I give this one 2 stars, mostly cuz I like these two actors.