Contagion: B

Contagion Movie Poster, originally uploaded by nxusco.

We saw Contagion last month. I liked the movie, but I wouldn't call it "entertaining" with as with a story. It's more similar to a bleak documentary about how bad a swine-flu epidemic could be. Soderbergh did try to keep the movie fast paced and with a bass-beat soundtrack (which Scott hated) that tried to animate scenes of what otherwise are folks in talking on cellphones, blogging, working in labs, and getting sick.

I was mainly interested in the movie after hearing a NPR interview with the author Laurie Garrett. She wanted to make a realistic movie that didn't have silly science like the Dustin Hoffman movie Outbreak. A ridiculous helicopter chase with the heroes saving the day with a monologue and magic monkey serum probably would have made Contagion a bit more entertaining.

Florence Henderson: Getting crabs was 'karma'

I could have gone my whole life -- or at least this morning -- without hearing that "Mrs. Brady" got "critters". TMI

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Captain America: The First Avenger: B

CAPTAIN AMERICA THE FIRST AVENGER, originally uploaded by ARMYRANGER1.

Well, I'm slipping behind on my little movie review. Ma, Scott, and I saw decided to see Captain America: The First Avenger a few weekends ago during a hot weekend (well, hot for Portland). Maybe I'm just not a comic book fan, but nothing of this movie stood out to me as compelling or different from all of the other comic book movies. Worse, the movie once again reminisces about World War II.

I will say Capt. 'merica was well-paced with no lulls and it even managed to tone-down the mindless patriotic flag waving. There was even a nearly sensible explanation for Captain America's silly uniform. However, it overall, stuck to the Marvel comics movie formula.

When we gave the ticket taker our tickets, he told us to make sure we waited until after the credits to leave the theater. The after the-credits-shtick is getting old. Instead of appreciating the hundreds of names slowly scrolling by, I think, "wow, with all these people, no wonder it seems like corporate mediocrity". Anyways, a trailer for next year's The Avengers -- the Marvel ensemble movie which somewhat explains why all of these comic book movies had to come-out to explain the characters' origins.

Cowboys & Aliens: C

Cowboys & Aliens, originally uploaded by Daniel Norris.

Scott and I saw Cowboys & Aliens a few weeks ago. It was a good summer movie. It was well-paced and it was nice seeing Harrison Ford back in an action movie. The story was relatively straight forward. However, over the weeks, my impression of the movie has dimmed at bit.

I wanted to like this movie because it was one of the few original, non-sequel movies. Although it is based on a comic book like this summer's other movies (Green Latern, Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, etc.), Cowboys & Aliens was a relatively unknown comic novel. The notion of mixing action genres sounds attractive. However, the movie's story seemed a bit too simple with too many cowboy and alien movie cliches tossed in.

Daniel Craig stars as the mysterious cowboy with an unknown past; however at times he seems more like super agent 007. Harrison Ford's old, crotchety cattleman reminded me of True Grit's Rooster Cogburn -- especially when it unsurprisingly revealed that he has a kind soul under the harsh exterior. More annoyingly, Cowboys & Aliens throws in sci-fi cliches such as an Alien-esque alien with mini-mouth for no apparent reason.

Overall, a good summer action movie, but probably not one that will be remembered as ground-breaking or original. I hope this movie is not considered for sequel -- unless they plan on mixing other genres: Cowboys & Pirates, Vampires & Aliens, Gladiators & French Aristocrats, etc.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2: B

DH Part 2 Posters, originally uploaded by katherine ♡.

After returning from Seattle on Sunday, we saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Although I wasn't much of a Harry Potter fan, I did enjoy this movie. As it was the final Potter movie, Part 2 reminded me of a TV series grand finale in which favorite characters are killed, familiar settings are destroyed, and mysteries revealed in no holds barred final score-settling. Even knowing the fate of the three main characters beforehand, the movie still was able to maintain suspense and anticipation.

My main complaint is that because it was a grand finale of a eight-movie series, I still felt a little lost when names or prior events were mentioned. I had similar complaints with the Lord of the Rings.

Also, the story missed an opportunity by glossing-over Snape's revelation that Dumbledore had secret motivations for befriending Harry Potter. Maybe the book explains it better, but the movie doesn't how Potter so quickly reconciles Dumbledore's seemingly betrayal of his trust.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon: D

Transformers 3 Poster, originally uploaded by Roger-the-Dodger.

Scott, ma, and I reluctantly saw Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It was a warm day and we couldn't agree on any outing, so we settled on a movie.

I'm really not a movie snob. I have nothing against big budget summer movies, but this was just too much...everything. Too much story with the gratuitous back story, boy-saves-babe. Too many cameos. Too many non-nonsensical CGI destruction porn. And worse, just way too long: over two-and-one-half hours.

But probably my biggest gripe is Buzz Aldrin's disgraceful appearance as himself discrediting the moon landing as a conspiracy theory (with a very creepy CGI President Kennedy). I was even more irked that Leonard Nimoy voiced a character that reverses his nerd-famous line from Star Trek II.

Like the prior Transformers movies, no amount of CGI, action, or celebrity appearances can make-up for lack of an interesting story, smart dialogue, or entertaining characters.

Super 8: B

SUPER 8 POSTER, originally uploaded by JASON_CRYER.

On our way to the theater on Saturday, Mom reasonably asked what movie were we dragging her to. I was a little stumped how to quickly describe Super 8. Worse, I couldn't remember the title, Eight Millimeter, 8 Mile, eight something or other. I didn't want her to veto our choice by mentioning that it may have scary creature like Cloverfield, so I may have implied that the movie was about kids who find an alien like E.T. and the movie was made by Steven Spielberg.

During the movie, Mom expressed concern half-way through the movie saying she thought it was more like a horror movie. Afterwards, when I re-affirmed that Super 8 was like E.T., she remarked, "Yes, but E.T. didn't eat people." However, I think she enjoyed the movie.

Super 8 fully acknowledged that it was an homage to Spielberg's 1980s young-teens-go-on-adventure genre with a classic composition of fat boy, funny boy, and wimpy boy. And yet, this was a J.J. Abrams movie with a few flares, tragic character back story, Kelvin reference, etc.

My main criticism of the movie was that it was a bit too retro and pandering to Spielberg. Why set the movie in 1979 in nearly the same period as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. (1982), and The Goonies (1985)? Spielberg's kids movies were directed at kids in their time whereas Super 8 is directly at grown-ups who want to reminiscent about the kids movies they were raised on.

X-Men: First Class: C

by rory_phillips, on Flickr

Scott, ma, and I saw X-Men: First Class yesterday. It was the first hot day of the year (80s f) and spending time in a theater seemed like a good option. Scott has been wanting see Thor, but for some reason that comic book movie just seems too 'out there'. Scott and I want to see The Hangover Part II, but I'm sure mom would not be enjoy that and we can probably wait for it to come out on DVD.

I enjoyed First Class more than 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine and 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, but I can't say anything about it stands-out as terrific. The movie explains the origins of the franchise. Unfortunately, it doesn't overcome the challenges of all prequels as the story feels unnaturally forced. Not only does the story have to explain the origins of the Xavier Institute and the Professor X-Magneto rivalry, it's further squashed into the Cuban Missile Crisis. I've heard First Class described as a re-boot, but it seems to me have the same comic book feel and character of the prior X-men movies. First Class missed an opportunity to truly re-envision the franchise such as the gritty, realistic feel of the 2005 Batman or the unrestrained 2009 Star Trek reboot.

Bridesmaids: B

Bridesmaids, originally uploaded by machu picchu.

Scott, ma, and I saw Bridesmaid the Saturday before last. Scott and I looked forward to seeing this comedy after seeing the hilarious trailer. I was concerned that it would be one of those comedies in which the best bits were in the trailer, but the movie was thoroughly funny. We were surprised that for a comedy, it was long -- just over two hours; however, it didn't seem long to me -- which is big praise since I think any movie should justify exceeding my 90-minute time limit.

I've heard the movie described as Judd Apatow's female buddy movie, but the movie was more about hitting life's bottom when it seems everyone else is peaking. There's nothing gender-specific about that.

Eurythmics - "Must Be Shopping For An Angel"

With compliments to the Kroger corporate DJ, this song distracted us from our weekly shopping at the 82nd Ave Fred Meyer:

I'm pretty sure the chorus lyrics were, "Must be shopping for an angel. Must be shopping for an angel. Must be shopping for an angel...." over the supermarket loudspeakers.