"Predators", "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", "Inception", and "Letters to Juliet"

It was a GREAT weekend my darlings! A great weekend. I saw four movies at the theater. All were good too. So, here we go in order of viewing.

Letters to Juliet is an utterly charming romantic-comedy with genius casting I will explain in a moment. The story: women leave notes to 'Juliet' on a wall in Verona. 'The Secretaries of Juliet' send responses to those letters on behalf of 'Juliet' (of Romeo & Juliet). An American chick played by Amanda Seyfried answers a letter that got overlooked for 50 years because it was behind a loose rock in the wall. When Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) and her grandson show up to go hunt for her long lost love, Lorenzo (Franco Nero), after 50 years, the American joins them on the hunt. Sweet and charming, and warm and wonderful. Not only does Claire find Lorenzo but sparks fly between the American and the grandson. It's a Rom-Com troops - no surprises there. Who cares. It's a journey worth going on. Now, about the genius casting... anyone remember the musical "Camelot"? In it, Guenevere and Lancelot have a wonderful yet tragic romance. Who played Guenevere and Lancelot? None other than Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero! Oh yes - an awesome layer to those in the know, my dears.

On to Predators. Fabulous cast: Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne (who has the funnest character), Danny Trejo, Walter Goggins, Topher Grace, and let us not forget some snaggle-toothed, ugly-ass predators with cool dreads. Now, we are on their planet, I guess, and they are hunting us. I won't give any spoiler alerts as to why, who survives, or how it ends. You wouldn't want me too anyway. But, it's interesting, as all psychological thrillers are, when you put humans into intense life or death situations and watch who is more or less noble, more or less self-serving. I like those kinds of movies. The friend I saw it with liked it, but still wanted something more from it, but couldn't name what it was. If anyone sees it and can pinpoint what that might be - please let me know. I liked it just fine as it was. I could be easier to please - who knows.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is as much fun as the trailers make it out to be. Nicholas Cage and Alfred Molina are the two major stars, but we also have Jay Baruchel, as the Apprentice, Alice Krige (you know - the Borg Queen from Star Trek Nemesis), and Monica Belluci ( who is beautiful on a whole other level of the word from mere mortals). I have a friend who has a theory that movies in which Nick Cage has long hair are generally not very good and movies where he has short hair are very good. The exception to her rule is Con Air where he has long hair and the movie is still good. I informed her last night that The Sorcerer's Apprentice is another exception cuz this movie is awesome and he has long hair - Awesome, awesome. Loved it. Cool action, fab stars, fun story, two romantic sub-plots, and it rests on the story of Merlin and Morgana Le'Fay (? on sp). Everything is there for a wonderful movie not to mention it was directed by Jon Turteltaub (of The National Treasure franchise) and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who is my personal hero.

Finally, I saw Inception. Christopher Nolan is a genius. That said, this movie is an amazing roller-coaster ride of a mess-with-your-mind make-you-think every single minute you are watching awesomeness. Lazy viewers need not apply. Nolan has written and directed a great story and assembled an amazing cast to carry it off. Leonadro DiCaprio headlines it, but he is strongly supported by Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy (so good), Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger and in small roles, Pete Postlethwaite, Lukas Haas and the inimitable Michael Caine. The previews made the movie seem kind of weird and I had my doubts, but now that I've seen it - people, this is a must see. You need to go with a clear mind so you can pay attention or you may not get it. I already feel the need to see this one again. I believe each viewing will reveal more layers, it is that complex and well-done.

As a final note: I would like to comment on Twilight: Eclipse. Before I saw it two weeks ago, someone who'd seen it first said it was crap and that all it did was promote teenage sex. That comment has been bothering me since. I really liked the movie (like the franchise - deal with it) and it contnues to not have any sex in it. And though Bella is pushing for Edward to give it up, he is the voice of 'not-until-we're-married'. So, how someone can say it is promoting underage promiscuity is kind of beyond me and makes me wonder if they went in with a prejudice against it and didn't actually watch what was on the screen. Just my own two cents being thrown out there.