A near perfect piece of cinema brought down only by the incomprensible inclusion of Eli Roth.

If you are one of those people who can't suspend disbelief, avoid this movie. If however you're willing to forgive a few gaps in plausibility and enjoy a movie as a visceral experience this may very well be the movie for you. Law Abiding Citizen plucks at our inner angry man with none too subtle fingers as the plot is established and really hits its stride as a tale of punishment, not revenge the message of which with Clyde trying to teach a lesson reminded me greatly of classic issue's of Punisher War Journal that I loved as a kid. Unfortunately this leads to the movies most obvious flaw. It so effectively sets up Clyde as an omnipotent instrument of mayhem that when the reveal is revealed it can't help but disappoint, especially if you were like me and had a much more satisfying conclusion moving thru your head. Not a great piece of cinema, but an enjoyable movie certainly that for 90% of its runtime will have you firmly on the edge of your seat. Most of the criticism levelled at this movie by RT's professional critics is probably legitimate, but frankly most casual viewers just won't care because they'll be too busy enjoying the ride.

I would sum up Half Blood Prince as a very good movie, but a very poor adaption. If you were expecting the penultimate book in the series adaption to close up the some of the plot holes and reignite stagnant plot points that were neglected in previous installments you will be sorely disappointed. If anything this movie creates more questions than any other installment and left me wondering how the final movie is going to bring several story arcs together with what was left out. That is the majority of the negative.

On the positive side, this is probably the best individual movie in the series with the possible exception of POA. The cinematography is breathtaking even compared to it's stellar predecessors. The young casts acting especially Radcliffe and Grint is greatly improved and old vetsAlan Rickman and Micheal Gambon are given meatier roles which Rickman's Snape relishes and Gambon does better than he has in previous installments...I'm not a huge Gambon fan and make no secret of my preference for Richard Harris' Dumbledore. The real standout performances have to go to Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood and newcomer Horace Slughorn played with relish by Jim Broadbent who really encapsulates this movie for me brilliant when viewed as an individual achievement, but not very loyal to the source material. I realize I'm harping on that, but would like to point out that I'm not doing it to nitpick. I simply was watching the movie when the thought hit me, if I hadn't read the books religiously would I have any clue what was going on? I think the answer would have been no, but I have so maybe that's not a fair assessment for me to make.

This was probably my favorite book in the series and the movie does it justice in mood and intent, but some of the changes just didn't sit well with me. Harry and Ginny's romance seemed a bit forced and contrived at times, the addition of the Burrow scene and the absence of the Battle sequence at the end were strange choices and the big climax and revelations on the identity of the Half Blood Prince lacked punch. Visually pretty, but far from perfect I guess is how I'd have to classify this movie.

The story of this movie is Eastwood who once again proves his ability to handle directing stories virtually no other director in Hollywood today would even attempt. Additionally Clint once again proves that he's still got "it" as an actor. As the only known name in this film Eastwood has no problem shouldering the load and allows many of his inexperienced co-stars to shine most notable Ahney Her as the Hmong girl next door who manages to get past Walt's defenses.

The movie is a great story of a man who's time has passed except he refuses to become irrelevent and in the process manages to make a difference in peoples lives. Eastwoods transformation from crotchety racist old fart to caring crotchety slightly less racist old fart is totally believable and touching in its way. Eastwood and the family adopts pull off that most difficult of Hollywood magic. They make you believe they are real people with complex flaws and even more they make you care about what happens to them. There's virtually no suspension of belief in this film and it still manages to dazzle and draw a profound emotional response.

Finally the negatives, this isn't the movie you want to take a date or the whole family to. The movie is very unflinching and often blunt with it racial themes which some could find offensive. There's very little action, so if that's your thing this probably isn't the movie for you and the ending at least for me failed to deliver the full bang I thought it could have, but that's possibly because the setup is so good. It builds your expectations to an unrealistic level. Lastly I only gave this movie a 70 because in many ways it's a hard movie to enjoy because it makes you contemplate issues you probably would prefer not to and is not really the kind of movie you leave the theater feeling good about yourself from.

For me this movie was the anti-Transformers II. It's clearly very well made, the acting performances are impeccable and the plot(Despite lacking historical accuracy) has no noticable holes. That said it just fell flat for me. I was as shocked by this as anyone. With the talent involved here you just expect more than what you are given.

Johnny Depp is appropriately charming and unstable, Christian Bale is appropriately forthright and upstanding and provides the most satisfying emotional scene in the movie (You'll know it when you see it), and Marion Cotillard is Marion Cotillard. Unfortunately with rare exception their performances are wasted in this film. They just aren't given enough to do, especially Bale and even though Johnny is given enough screen time the writing leaves him with very few memorable moments.

For several hours after I left the theater I pondered what was wrong with the movie, because on the usual standards by which films are judged this movie was very good. I came to the conclusion that the movie was flawed from inception. The story just wasn't interesting enough as written to succeed. It was just written as a very flat straightforward movie. There's nothing there that really grabs our attention and holds it. **Spoiler** Why have Billy get abused by the supporting character cop if you're not going to pay it off? Why not go into details about Dillinger's heists instead of just having him walk into banks and walk out with the money, sometimes getting caught and sometimes not and then braggin about what a brilliant robber he is? Just made the bravado seem silly. I'll digress from listing any more moments that just didn't work for me. Rest assured their were plenty.

In summary, the movie came across as a history channel show with great actors and really high production values. Who knows, it may even have succeeded at that level if it had bothered to be historically accurate. Why change history if you're not going to embellish? If you're a huge fan of these actors or Michael Mann you can probably enjoy this as a work of cinema, but if you're looking for an emotional response or just to be entertained by the movie you pay 10 dollars to see I can't recommend this movie.

Let me start by saying anyone who believes reboots are a waste of time and never live up to the original go see this movie. This is the reason for reboots. The movie is a fantastic blend of old and new. It respects it's predecessors, while not being a slave to them and not being afraid to occasionally make light of them for comic effect (SPOILER The Kirk green alien abbreviated love sequence was awesome). The cast injects new life into the series in every scene while simultaneously using classic lines from the original to great effect. The film even handles the tricky concept of time travel with apparent ease. This film is just what this tired franchise needed and don't be shocked to see multiple sequals and possibly dare I say new TV Franchises on the horizon.

As I say this is one of the most well cast movie's you'll ever see and completely destroys the myth that a young cast equals crappy acting. The most surprising thing I found was that with the exception of Dr. McCoy none of this young cast attempted to impersonate their predecessors and greatly succeeded at making the characters their own. If you were completely unaware of the existence of William Shatner and a show called Star Trek previous to this movie you would still love these characters and this film. The fact that it has such a rich history to play on is just the frosting on the cake. It's hard to pick a standout among the cast, but Christopher Pine who has the majority of screentime befitting Capt Kirk is a perfect blend of Rebel Without a Cause and swashbuckling hero and drives the movie forward with the extremely able aide of his supporting cast and the incomparable Leonard Nimoy who didn't seem out of place at all in this film.

The only flaws I can conceivably come up with are a slight lack of development on the sympathetic villain, not so much that he seems a hollow shell as in many lesser films, but he doesn't blow you away or chew the scenery like KHHHHAAAAANNNNN!!!! either and diehard trekkie's might conceivably have a problem with Zach Quinto's more emotional Spock who I found refreshing and completely at home in the bold new world. Fanatical fans which I am not may also resent the temerity of the plot which dares to re-write Trek history, but again as someone who's familiar with the Star Trek universe, but wasn't previously totally enamored with it I thought this was a genius re-boot stroke. I dare say for the first time in 30 years Trek may be on Par with Wars in my mind and I look forward to boldly going whereever this franchises inevitable next installment wants to take me along with I'm sure an entirely new generation of Trekkie's.

First off, this movie is not as bad as many on the chat boards would have you believe. If you go in expecting 30 years of Wolverine canon to be faithfully transcribed to the screen you will be disappointed. The movie is not flawlessly loyal to comic canon. It IS however loyal to the nature of the character and works surprisingly well as a prequal to the X-Men films.

The movie starts out very strong and does fade as it goes with the ending being the weakest part. Admittedly the ending is silly and struggles to tie up loose ends, but that doesn't discount the 4/5 of the movie that are vastly entertaining and handles it's large cast of characters really well while allowing the titular character to shine in the central role. His relationships with the supporting characters carry the movie and Jackman and Shreiber's relationship is the definate high point of the movie.

As for the other supporting characters their performances run the gamut from excellent Ryan Reynolds to bad Will.I.Am to unnecessary Gambit, don't remember that guys name and his performance didn't inspire me to look it up. Yes, he's cool looking and does cool things, unfortunately one of those cool things is not add anything to the plot. One has to hope that the final act doesn't queer any chance of Ryan Reynolds getting his own Deadpool movie. Up until the end I found myself wishing they'd switched Reynolds and I.Am's roles in the movie to allow him more screen time in his Wade Wilson incarnation which he seems literally born to play.

In summary if you are not a die hard comic loyalist or better yet have only seen the movies you'll probably enjoy this action packed, fast paced movie. Jackman as he always has nails the essence of his character and the entire cast balances the mix of serious drama and comedic moments well...until the last act of course.

I really didn't get what everybody was talking about by saying this was a severely dark comedy. Don't get me wrong there are a couple of scene's toward the end that are a little extreme for comedic fare, but Rogen and the rest of the cast really make this work and didn't leave me uncomfortable like most things considered dark comedies i.e. I Heart Huckabee's, Rushmore, etc. There were a few times during the film where I experienced that most unusual of experiences the involuntary gut laugh, where you don't realize how loud you've just laughed until the guy next to you gives you the "Am I sitting next to a lunatic" look. This movie does mark a significant progression for Rogen as an actor, but there's still enough goofball antics to satisfy traditionalist Rogen fans.

Rogen and his supporting cast of mall workers are really the strength of the movie. The supporting cast allows Rogen to carry the movie and shine as the star while providing adequate and sometimes hilarious support most notably Nell the coffee girl who in a limited role managed to turn in a very poignent performance in the best Indy movie tradition. Ray Liotta is good as the truly unlikeable nemesis and Anna Faris is Anna Faris, as she is in all movies. Hopefully she'll take a queue from Rogen and attempt to grow beyond the range she's exhibited so far.

One can only hope this doesn't inspire Rogen to take the path previously paved by Jim Carrey and all comedic actors not named Tom Hanks away from comedy. That would truly be a tragedy.

If you're looking for a solid gut busting comedy and are not of too sensitive a nature this is likely a movie you'll enjoy and if you are fairly sensitive, Paul Blart will likely be out soon on DVD.

Monsters vs. Aliens shows us that film makers besides Pixar can still make quality animated fare. Striking most of the right notes with it's blend of witty hipness and homage to classic Sci-Fi this could very well be Dreamworks warning shot to Pixar that they no longer stand alone as the pinnacle of computer animation.

I was fortunate enough to see this in IMAX 3D which greatly added to the viewing experience for me. Just having returned from oversea's the last 3D experience I'd attempted was Jaws 3 in 3D and by the completion of the opening credits I was in awe of the improvements to the format in the last 30 years. So this was what Lucas was harping about all these years.

The movie is not without a few flaws, most noticably is a slight lack of character development with some of the characters which other critics have pointed out, but I felt personally that this may have actually helped the movie, not allowing it to get bogged down with boring reminiscences of all the characters and focusing on what I and most of the audience seemed to be looking for solid action and sharp spot on dialog. Though perhaps a few more minutes could have been added just to flesh out the front end, but any shortcomings in character development or pacing were easily overcome for me by the quality script and brilliant voice casting of Hugh Laurie, Keifer Sutherland, Seth Rogen and Stephen Colbert to name but a few of the standouts.

This movie suceeded for me where such vaunted animated films as Finding Nemo and Ratatoille failed. I actually liked and felt for the characters portrayed which common sense should tell you would be an easier sell for a cute cuddly clown fish than the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but there you have it. Monster commeraderie tops directionally challenged clownfish and French Rat...at least in this mans opinion.

Punisher stands as a testament of what not to do to all quality actors looking for a star making vehicle. Ray Stevenson is by miles the best and quite possibly the only good thing abour this movie. Stevenson does a good job of embodying the emotionally damaged hero of the piece, unfortunately someone forgot to spend as much time on things like script, supporting cast and action direction as they did on casting the star.

The sad thing is you can see a very good punisher movie underneath it all. Unfortunately that's buried under derivative action sequences, comical bone crunching fight sequences that would be more at home in a hard R episode of Xena than a hardcore vigilante movie that this should be. Undoubtedly the low point of the movie were the hammy performances of the two "Villains" Jigsaw and his brother "Loony Bin" Jim. I put Villains in quotation makes because next to Stevenson's Frank Castle, the sheer goofiness of the perfomances made them seem more like comic relief than menacing threats. When will people learn that if your last name isn't DeNiro, Pesci or Liotta and your not being directed by Scorsese a neighborhood Goomba accent isn't going to make you sound tough. I defy anyone not to laugh at the scene where Jibsaw and LBJ are walking down the street gathering their Army of stereotypical badguys. They look like they're filming a gay, white version of Dolemite rather than a Punisher film.

On the brightside this gives me more respect for Daredevil, a wholy superior neighborhood vigilante movie and Zak Snyder for coaxing a watchable performance out of Dominic West in 300. I didn't think it was the same guy until someone told me during one of my many rants about this movie.

Any quality in this movie can be attributed to Stevenson and his interaction with the family he's trying to save. Other than that completely inferior to it's own predecessors. Yes, Dolph Lungren's version was better than this!!!.