My 2012 Movie Mini Reviews

I like movies more than most. I enjoy learning about the upcoming films, love the trailers, try and steer clear of the spoilers, and after I have seen a movie I like telling my friends and families about them. For 2012 I am going to attempt to keep a running review-diary; just a paragraph about each movie as I see it. I'm only going to discuss movies that were in theaters as of January 1, 2012, so my Hub does include a movie that came out in December of last year. I invite you to comment below and tell me what you thought. Let's see how the year unfolds on the screen.

I consider myself a bit of an Anglophile. I lived in London for nearly a year and a half in my early 20's, and I have enjoyed many of Guy Ritchie's films. The first Sherlock Holmes movie was so much fun, free, unforced, that I was very excited to learn we'd get another one. Unfortunately for me, and many of the movie going public, this sequel missed its target. The plot was weak, Downey Jr's mumbling British accent was difficult to understand, and the movie was slow - - I even fell asleep a third of the way through for several minutes (this never happens). I'd be interested in a third, but I can't recommend this movie. I hear the BBC has an excellent Young Sherlock series we should all try and catch.

This book sits on my nightstand, still unread, though John le Carre's tail of espionage, double-cross, and intrigue has entertained fans for decades. Gary Oldman plays George Smiley, an ousted senior Master Spy during the Cold War. He is brought back into the fold to help learn the identity of a traitor in the upper rungs of British Intelligence, known as, "The Circus." What the movie lacks in action and pace is more than made up for with tremendous dialogue and solid characters. Many will have a hard time following some of the time-line bending, but keen eyes are rewarded with a smart film with a tempered performance by typically manic Oldman.

Stephen Soderbergh, director of The Ocean's 11 movies, Traffic, and Contagion, among others, supposedly went to a mixed martial arts fight and saw the beautiful and talented Gina Carano fight and decided to make a movie for her. The result was Haywire, a film about a bunch of deplorable people who decide to turn on Carano because there is money to be made. It is cookie cutter shoot-em-up-and chase movie with the twist that the hero is actually a heroine, and she knows how to fight, for real. Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, and Channing Tatum also star, while Michael Douglas shares the screen for less than 10 minutes, too. I recommend this movie if you are a fan of action movies, but as far as revenge flicks go, this movie doesn't come anywhere near close to Soderbergh's 1998 film, The Limey, starring Terence Stamp.

DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE IF YOU THINK IT IS ABOUT LIAM NEESON FIGHTING WOLVES. My sister thinks this movie is terrible because the characters are not drawn out enough and that no woman would like it. I find that both erroneous and sexist. The truth is this that this movie is about facing fears, not just the fear of wolves, but the fear of living. The Grey is the story of a group of Alaskan oil workers whose plane crashes in a snow storm. The surviving men must band together and keep themselves alive and from becoming wolf food. Liam Neeson plays Ottway, a man who at the beginning of the film doesn't want to live anymore and who becomes the de-facto leader of the survivors. Each man who survived the crash had their own reasons to keep fighting for life, but it is a decidedly depressing life that they are fighting for. The previews have painted this movie as man against wolf, but really it is man against man, and man against nature, that just also happens to contain hungry wolves. Each performance is well constructed and it is Ottway's leadership that helps these guys survive, even if for a few more hours longer. The movie ends abruptly, but I think the device works well to engage your mind and come up with the logical conclusion to the film, but stick through the end credits for a hidden scene.

Mark Whalberg is that guy who once was so good at what he did, in this case smuggling, that he decided to hang it up before he got caught, only to be drawn back in for one...last...score. Whalberg plays Chris Farraday, now a family man whose brother-in-law gets caught up with the wrong guys and must come out of retirement in order to keep his family safe. Assisting Farraday is a team of ship transport workers who have obviously helped him smuggle things in the past. Also, Farraday's close friend, Sebastian, played by the always amazingly evil Ben Foster, who may be more involved with the plan than he should be. And the film's heavy played by the incredibly skeevy Giovanni Ribisi, is as unlikable a character as they come. The plot is not new, but Contraband's direction, editing, and pacing of the film really draw you in and keep you on the edge of your seat right up till the end.