Mike's Movie Tips

3/4 Starring: Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Ed Harris, Rachel Weisz Rated R for Strong Graphic War Violence and Some Sexuality In 1999, Jude Law blew my mind with his outstanding performance as the selfish playboy in "The Talented Mr. Ripley."  He was nominated for an Oscar (which he should have won), and Hollywood started paying attention to this young actor.  It's not hard to understand why they took such an interest in him.  He was talented, and more importantly, photogenic.  So popular was he that he had six movies come out in the last four months of 2004, after he got a second Oscar nomination for "Cold Mountain."  Sadly, a slew of lazy performances and bad press caused his star to fall considerably as of late.  Law is still capable of giving good performances, but it's been a long time since he has put any real effort into his acting.  It's a shame really, because "Enemy at the Gates" shows what he is capable of.  Admittedly, it's n...

Because I am not a pessimist, I will do a Top 10 just as I did a Bottom 10.  Fortunately, these were a lot harder to decide on than the Bottom 10 because the majority are 3.5 or 4 stars.  Unfortunately, it must be said that the amount of good movies was highly disappointing.  Here it is...the Top Ten list of 2011! 10.   Bridesmaids .  This was the years most popular and profitable comedy, but not to me.  Don't get me wrong, it's at times very funny, and the romance subplot really works.  But it's too long and inconsistent for it to get any further up on my Top 10 list.  Another raunchy comedy was far funnier. 9.   Bad Teacher .  Cameron Diaz is amazing.  She's gorgeous, and a gifted comic actress.  Consider her most famous role, the title character in the sleeper hit "There's Something About Mary."  Mary was a ray of sunshine with a wild side.  She wasn't a saint, but it wasn't hard to see why every guy with a ...

2/4 Starring: Zac Efron, Christian McKay, Claire Danes Rated PG-13 for Sexual References and Smoking I remember being in middle school and acting in the school plays.  I never got one of the big parts, so I guess you could say that I was a character actor (I was Adolph Gretzel in "Stage Door" and a kid with a few token lines in the controversial play "Big Mary").  Still, a lot of the stuff about putting on a play rang true.  Unfortunately, director Richard Linklater spends most of the running time dealing with the lead character's romantic pursuit of a pencil pusher, and it's not particularly interesting. Richard (Efron) is an average high school student who gets a part in Orson Welles' production of "Julius Caesar" through sheer dumb luck.  It's a bit part, but he gets an insider's look at the going ons of a Broadway production.  There are the egos, the time crunches, the on set disasters...stuff that the cast and crew knows ab...

3/4 Starring (voices): Philip Glasser, Nehemiah Persoff, Amy Green, Erica Yohn, John Finnegan Rated G The pairing of Steven Spielberg and Don Bluth, two of the best filmmakers of family entertainment in the 1980s seems like a match made in heaven.  The truth is that its a little bit of a letdown.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed "An American Tail," and I loved it as a kid.  But compared to some of their other works, it's not as good as it should have been. The Mousekewitz family, Papa (Persoff), Mama (Yohn), Tanya (Green) and Fievel (Glasser) are Russian-Jewish mice living in constant fear.  Due to the political turmoil, and more importantly, the threat of cats, they have made the decision to emigrate to America...the land of the free and no cats.  On the journey, the curious Fievel gets tossed overboard during a storm, and his family believes him to be dead.  But little Fievel is not dead, and he arrives at America and begins to navigate the complex ...

2/4 Starring: Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Tea Leoni, Tcheky Karyo, Joe Pantoliano Rated R for Intense Violent Action and Pervasive Strong Language Call it dumb fun.  It's loud, dumb and filled with gunfire, stunts and things going boom from top to bottom.  The "bad boy" cops constantly trade barbs and insults with each other, and with the lady witness.  And you can feel the summer heat in every frame (in this case, it's Miami).  Summers used to be filled with movies like this.  Now, "Bad Boys" is an artifact. A team of high-tech thieves breaks into a Miami police station and steals $100 million dollars worth of heroin.  Detectives Mike Lowery (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) are on the case.  Soon, there's a girl named Julie (Leoni) who tags along because she witnessed said thieves murder Mike's friend, Max (Karen Alexander in a performance that makes you wish she was onscreen longer).  To make matters worse, Julie thinks Marcus is M...

4/4 Starring: Naomie Harris, Oliver Litondo, Alfred Munyua, Vusi Kunene Rated PG-13 for Some Disturbing Violent Content and Brief Nudity “The First Grader” is easily the most charming movie of the year.  With great storytelling and two lead characters that are impossible not to like, it’s really a must see for those who seek to be inspired.  It’s a formula picture, to be sure, but it’s well told, which is all that matters. Kenya, 2003.  The government has just granted free education to everyone with a birth certificate, which results in a mad dash of enrollments at a primary school in a mountain village.  There is something strange, however.  A frail, old man has arrived, saying that he wants to enroll.  He is rebuffed, but on the first day, he comes back.  Alas, it doesn’t work.  But this man, whose name is Kimani Maruge (Litondo) is persistent, and he soon wears down the teacher, Jane Obinchu (Harris).  As one might expect,...

4/4 Starring: Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, and the voice of Frank Oz Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some intense images With every rise, there is a fall...and in George Lucas' space opera, that fall is guaranteed to be spectacular. With "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," Lucas has finally completed the story that took him six films and twenty-eight years to tell.  It's a grand, epic tale and the most recent chapter is among the finest in the series.  It is also the grimmest. The Clone War is in full swing.  Casualties are catastrophic on both sides, and the Jedi are spread thin across the galaxy trying to lead the Clone troops.  Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor) and his padawan learner, Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) are in the midst of a space battle and are attempting to free Chancellor Palpatine (McDiarmid), who has been captured by the Sith Apprentice Count Dooku (Christopher L...