Mike's Movie Tips

3/4 Starring: Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Lee Pace, Ciaran Hinds, Shirley Henderson, Mark Strong, Tom Payne Rated PG-13 for Some Partial Nudity and Innuendo "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" is an attempt to bring back the classic screwball comedies from the 30's and 40's.  There's nothing raunchy or gross about this movie; it's all timing and lines.  Someone looking for something like "The 40-Year Old Virgin," or (God forbid!) "Anchorman 2," will be surprised (pleasantly, I hope).  Comedies like this have been out of style for decades, and as Miss Pettigrew proves, they can be just as fun, if not more so. The film is based on the book by Winifred Watson that was a massive hit when it was published in 1938.  It was going to be turned into a movie, but the onset of World War II put those plans to a halt.  The project was forgotten until the publisher re-released the book in 2000, at which point it was once again attempted to bring t...

0.5/4 Starring: Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Steve Carrell, Megan Good, Dylan Baker, Christina Applegate, James Marsden, Judah Nelson, Greg Kinnear Rated PG-13 for Crude and Sexual Content, Drug Use, Language and Comic Violence Comedy is subjective.  What one person finds hilarious, the next person finds a torturous bore.  I like to think that I have a widespread sense of humor, although I think everyone says that.  I can laugh at anything from " Tommy Boy " to " Cruel Intentions " to "Death at a Funeral," and plenty in-between.  Apologies to James Berardinelli, who started his review of "Freddy Got Fingered" in a very similar way to this.  James, I swear, I'm not trying to plagiarize you.  I just think that I have to defend myself before I go on some Will Ferrell bashing, and it kind of turned out like the beginning of your review of the Tom Green movie. I can even laugh at Will Ferrell, who stars in this awful sequel to ...

2/4 Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kelly Rowan, Clifton Collins Jr., John Heard, Karina Arroyave Rated R for Violence, Strong Language, Drug Use and Brief Nudity "187" is a depressing movie.  That's to be expected, I guess, from a movie that takes its title from the police code for homicide.  Unfortunately, the film has little to recommend it.  Depressing movies aren't bad per se.  Many are very powerful, in fact ("The War Zone," " Boys Don't Cry ," "Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire" are three examples).  Kevin Reynolds' urban high school drama cannot be placed among those elite films.  Despite some effective performances, the film is largely unfocused and only moderately engaging. At least it has its heart in the right place, which is more than can be said for many films.  "187" has something important to say, but it's presented in an unconvincing and occasionally melodramatic way.  In f...

3/4 Starring: Kate Hudson, Gael Garcia Bernal, Lucy Punch, Rosemarie DeWitt, Romany Malco, Kathy Bates, Treat Williams Rated PG-13 for Sexual Content, including Crude References,  and Language "A Little Bit of Heaven" is a bittersweet comedy about a bubbly woman dying of cancer.  Now that may seem like an oxymoron, since cancer is a painful and traumatic experience for all parties involved, but this is a fantasy.  At no point is this movie meant to be of gut-churning realism.  There are other movies available if that is your thing.  Some may still find this offensive.  I found it to be funny and sweet, mainly due to the terrific performance by Kate Hudson. Marlee Corbett (Hudson) has what many would call the perfect life.  She's beautiful, wealthy, self-confident, and always has a one-night stand on speed dial if she desires.  She doesn't have a boyfriend, but she doesn't want one.  Her friends, which include her co-worker Sarah (Punc...

3/4 Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Eric Christian Olsen, Ulrich Thomsen, Jorgen Langhelle Rated R for Strong Creature Violence and Gore, Disturbing Images, and Language In 1982, John Carpenter, who directed the horror classic "Halloween," released his remake of the 1951 chiller "The Thing From Another World" (which in turn was based on the short story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell).  I haven't seen the 1951 film, but I have seen Carpenter's version, which is by all accounts wildly different.  In 2011, the body-morphing creature returned to the screen. This version is not a remake.  It is a prequel.  As everyone who watched Carpenter's gorefest knows, the movie begins with two Norwegians in a helicopter trying to shoot a dog.  This film is about what happens before that. Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Winstead) is invited by her friend Adam Finch (Olsen) and his boss Dr. Sander Halverson (Thomsen) to come with th...

3/4 Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Ronny Cox, Michael Ironside, Sharon Stone Rated R (probably for Strong Graphic Violence, Language, and Some Sexuality/Nudity) Probably the best way to begin a review of "Total Recall" is to compare it to Len Wiseman's bastard child of a remake .  "Total Recall" has its flaws (weak writing and action scenes that are sometimes more over-the-top than necessary), but it is infinitely better than the wretched disaster that made my Bottom Ten list two years ago. For starters, Paul Verhoeven knows what he's doing.  Verhoeven has skill in crafting stories and action sequences.  This is a visually kinetic movie with adrenaline-generating action scenes.  Len Wiseman, on the other hand, is clueless.  He's the equivalent of a 13 year old boy raised entirely on crappy anime like "Digimon" and "Dragonball Z."  Wiseman's only interest is in what looks cool, which would be okay if his at...

4/4 Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Art Malik, Tia Careere, Bill Paxton, Charlton Heston, Eliza Dushku Rated R for A Lot of Action/Violence and Some Language "True Lies" is a story about saving a dead marriage.  That's not really a good concept for a film, especially one with $115 million price tag.  But while one can call "True Lies" many things (and there are many words that can be used to describe the film), "serious" is not one of them. "True Lies" has been a family favorite ever since I can remember.  It's not hard to understand why.  It's strong in every department: writing, acting and directing (that's to be expected from a James Cameron picture).  It also merges action and comedy with peerless success.  The action scenes are tremendously exciting and the humor is consistently hysterical. Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) is a boring computer salesman.  His life is so dull that his wife ...

3.5/4 Starring: Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Gong Li, You Ge Rated R for Language and Strong Depiction of Thematic Material The great thing about a good character study is that we get to meet new and interesting people and find out what drives them.  What makes them tick, if you will.  In the Chinese classic, "Farewell, My Concubine," we are introduced to three fascinating people: Cheng Dieyi, Duan Xiaolu, and Juxian. After a brief opening that bookmarks the film, we are taken back to 1924, the China's Warlord Era.  A young mother takes her child to an acting troupe.  There, the child, whose name is Douzi (Mingwei Ma as a child, Zhi Yin as a teenager) meets Shitou (Yang Fei as a child, Hailong Zhao as a teenager), a talented and charismatic actor.  Through torture and training, Douzi and Shitou become the most famous actors in Beijing.  Taking the stage names (Douzi becomes Dieyi (Cheung) and Shitou becomes Xiaolu (Zhang)), they play the two most im...

3.5/4 Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Ray Winstone Rated R for Strong Brutal Violence, Pervasive Language, Some Strong Sexual Content and Drug Material Without a doubt, Martin Scorcese is one of cinema's brightest and most enduring stars.  Few filmmakers have had such a profound impact on cinema.  The number of classic films he has created is astounding.  From "Taxi Driver" to " Goodfellas " and more, Scorcese has made one brilliant movie after another. "The Departed" is Scorcese's second remake (he remade "Cape Fear" after his good friend Steven Spielberg turned it down and offered it to him, telling him that directing a hit would give him more clout in Hollywood).  The film is based on a Hong Kong b-movie called "Internal Affairs."  I haven't seen it, but apparently it is miles different from its inspiration.  Regardless, this is stil...