Truly, An Education wasn’t what I expected it would be going in.

To be fair, it was probably my fault. Concerned about sexual content, I looked it up on some family-oriented movie review sites. The kind of sites that warn parents about inappropriate material in films, and tell you which to stay far away from.

This particular website described An Education as pretty terrible. In not so many words, it said that the film was about a young girl being seduced by an older man who wanted to have sex with her. It said that the majority of the film surrounded this attempt, by the older man, to get the younger girl to have intercourse with him. It said that that was essentially the point of the film. I had my own reservations as well. Having recently seen Crazy Heart, I was still smarting from the classic Hollywood older man is swooned by much younger woman fantasy that that film let play out. An Education seemed like it would be much the same. But, as I’d find out, it wasn’t all about sex and it wasn’t just that same old Hollywood story.

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I haven’t seen one of the new 3D movies. We didn’t go watch Avatar when it was in theatres, and personally I think the technology seems pretty hokey. But what about choose your own adventure?

The clip below, from a company called 13th Street is advertising a new kind of cinema, one in which the viewer can interact with the film and change the outcome. In this case, it’s done by phoning different viewers in the audience and changing the outcome of the film based on recognized voice commands. Is this the new step in immersive horror films or just another hokey Hollywood breakthrough?

What do you think? Leave a comment.

Those that know me well know that I love everything about the British royals—the Monarchy—so I approach a cinematic offering like The Young Victoria ready to just devour it. I’m happy to say that this film is a feast that doesn’t disappoint.

I should clarify. I do love the royals, but more than that, I love a good historical biopic film. The Young Victoria is exactly that: a dramatization of just what the name implies—the life of the young Queen Victoria. The beginning of the film covers Victoria’s growing up, her aging uncle, the King, and the power struggle that surrounded her eventual rise to the throne. Once she assumes the throne—and I hope I’m not spoiling this for anyone but she does become Queen—the rest of the film follows her settling into power, her mistakes and missteps, her personal life and, of course, her falling in love.

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Invictus is a movie about the end of apartheid in South Africa and the early part of the presidency of Nelson Mandela, disguised as a sports film. It’s interesting and engaging and Morgan Freeman’s portrayal of Nelson Mandela would’ve easily won an Oscar if he were not pitted against Jeff Bridge’s inspiring performance in Crazy Heart.

The first thing that surprised me about Invictus is that it was directed by Clint Eastwood. I didn’t know that going in, didn’t notice that while I was watching, and was surprised only to learn it later. It didn’t feel like an Eastwood film, not in the least, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just didn’t have the tone of the movies he usually makes. It’s a good movie, but not the kind of cinema that we’re used to from Eastwood. I can’t quite put my finger on what’s missing, but I can try.

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Crazy Heart is one of those rarer films in which you can easily separate performances from plot. In this case, a Best Actor from a less-than-best film.

Crazy Heart is a film about a washed-up country singer and the choices and changes he makes and the challenges he faces. It’s got great atmosphere, in dark and seedy little bars, and it really takes you to the edge of a life, the life of Bad Blake, played by Jeff Bridges, but it is, in the end, really a film made up of actors and not story.

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I may get some flack for saying this but please read the whole review, and maybe you’ll understand: The Lovely Bones, the latest offering from famed director Peter Jackson, is one-half a good movie. The other half I could’ve done without.

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My wife, Maria, described Up in the Air as a very well put-together movie. That about sums it up. And she’s totally right, of course.

Up in the Air is essentially a film about a traveling salesman. Ryan Bingham, played expertly by George Clooney, is a businessman who’s job it is to travel around the world firing people. He’s hired to fire, and he makes a living doing it. In fact, he loves doing it. Bingham loves the experience of flying, staying in hotels, eating out, and wracking up air miles. It’s his passion; living alone, isolated, is his credo. His philosophy. It’s interesting, seeing someone living their life like that. It is. Up in the Air is a movie about Ryan Bingham, and it’s very well done.

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