Moofies in 2010 - January (17 / 17)

Attempted to watch In The Name of the King - A Dungeon Siege Tale - and gave up an hour into it. It was absolutely awful but I was hoping so awful it was good, but that was not to be. I was just amazed that so many known actors would actually go for this tripe - the production values were quite high but the acting and script were just appalling. 0.1/5 (for some OK CGI and costumes)

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - meh, so-so. 1.5/5

Funny People - actually rather engaging and interesting. 3.5/5

Zombieland - absolutely FREAKIN' HILARIOUS!!! 5/5

Bottle Shock - good fun if predictable drama about a father and son trying to produce quality wine in Claifornia in the late 70s and a British wine snob who wnats to pit the US against the Frenchies to get on the good side of the Frenchies, little does he know... Exceptionally good performances from Bill Pullman and Freddie Rodriguez. 4/5

The Soloist - Robert Downey Jr plays a reporter who discovers a Julliard trained cellist who lives on the streets of LA battling with his schizophrenia. Actually quite good in the end with a real pathos given to the story by RDJ's great mumble/off the cuff acting style. 3.5/5

Sherlock Holmes - good fun with Downey saving what could have been a very dull flim. His banter with Jude Law worked wonderfully and apart from some very dreary greyness the film looked great as well. 3/5

The Blind Side - meh, it was OK. Really dunno why people are going all crazy over it. It was an interesting story but ultimately rather pedestrian. 2.5/5

Punisher War Zone - ultra violent, average story line, but lots f good fun at the same time. Shame no Thomas Jane as Frank Castle but at least there was no John Travolta. 2.5/5

I Love You Beth Cooper - average teen comedy that had a few laughs but was nothing special. Did get to see Hayden Paniterre side boob, so extra half point for that. 1.5/5

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies - rather dull and short cartoon with a fairly pedestrian story and some middling animation. 1/5

Angels & Demons - I haven't seen The Davinci Code or read any of the books but this was easy to jump into and had quite an interesting story to it. I figured out who was the bad guy pretty early on (the Red Herrings were just way too obvious) but it was still an interesting and fun ride. 3/5

Into The Wild - fascinating tale about a guy who, really, was totally nuts. Obviously some was overly dramatised but it worked quite well. A standout performance from Emile Hirsch and features the always luminous Catherine Keener. 4/5

Gone Baby Gone - sad and interesting tale, well directed by Ben Affleck and with Casey Affleck really proving his acting chops. 4/5

*A.I. - Artificial Intelligence - the effects stand up really well, the story is interesting and the acting by Frances O'Connor and Haley Joel Osment was quite great. The ending is a bit hit and miss with some people but I've always liked it. 3.5/5

Lions For Lambs - I like films that have multiple story lines like this one but there was just something missing from this. Robert Redford seemed a little too preachy maybe, but the scenes with Cruise and Streep worked perfectly. 3/5

In The Valley Of Elah - Tommy Lee Jones is just marvelous in what turns out to be a very sad and depressing story. His controlled fury mixed with soul destroying sadness is just perfect. Sarandon's relatively small role was also played to perfection. Not the happiest of films but certainly a good one. 4.5/5