Vengeance
Marginally interesting movie about a Frenchman in Macau and Hong Kong who avenges the murders of his daughter and her family. Pretty good Asian violence. Not great but not a waste of time either. **

Moss
Fascinating Korean film about a man who goes to a small village for the funeral of his father. That’s when all the trouble starts. Complexity of characterizations added to the plot intricacies. Very well written and a great ending. Very enjoyable. **

Looper
Very good science fiction film about time travel, organized crime, assassination, and dreams of the future. Excellent acting by Gordon-Leavitt, Willis, and Blount. Excellent writing, and a superb ending. Best Hollywood film I’ve seen in a long time. Really liked it. ***

Who’s Camus Anyway
Odd but interesting Japanese film about film students making a film and struggling with all the things students struggle with. Mostly love and each other. Tons of film references throughout. Kind of enjoyable. **

Howling
For the most part, an interesting Korean police procedural about a series of murders committed by a wolf dog. More interesting was the struggle of the woman police officer to be accepted by the male police officers. Got weirdly sentimental at the end about the dog. But OK. **

Meatball Machine
Surprisingly interesting Japanese horror film about aliens using humans as hosts to kill each other. I don’t usually like these gory Japanese movies where people get turned into machines, but this one didn’t bother me as much. **

You Will Be Mine
Fairly interesting French film about one roommate who falls in love with the other roommate, who isn’t interested. Several levels of psychological struggle between the two women that produces questions about their attachment to each other. OK. Liked seeing France. **

Drool
Easily one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Don’t even want to talk about it.

The Countess
Historical and psychological movie about a medieval Hungarian countess who believes that bathing in the blood of virgins will preserve her beauty. Very good cast and directed by Ms. Delpy herself. Kind of OK. **

Gomorrah
Raw, brutal fictional study of war between two mafia groups in Italy and the young men it destroys. Very well filmed and acted. Completely convincing and depressing. **

Wife to be Sacrificed
Surprisingly graphic and interesting Japanese film from 1974 about the sado-masochistic relationship between a woman and her ex-husband. Much better than I expected. Enjoyed it. **

Love, In Between
Strange Korean film about a woman who befriends her husband’s lover. Initially she plans to do her harm, but they end up getting very close. Didn’t like the ending, but not too bad. **

Sex Machine
Slapstick Japanese comedy about a woman who wants to have a relationship but sleeps with pretty much everyone. Pretty dumb and weird at the end. *

Caterpillar
Interesting Japanese film about a WWII “war hero” who comes home without arms or legs and the wife who now has to care for him. Very well acted indictment of the Japanese mentality during the war. Good, serious film. ***

Bitter Sweet
Japanese film about a woman who wants to have an affair in the last weeks before she gets married. Things don’t work out the way she planned. Fairly interesting study of the nature of relationships as some dissolve and others begin. **

The Yellow Sea
Brutal, depressing Korean film about a cab driver who agrees to do a contract killing to try to find his wife. Nobody gets out alive. Very interesting, well acted, and filmed. Tough to watch, though. ***

Skyfall
As a lot of people have been saying, the best Bond film cinematically. Brings the series full circle so it can start again. But I missed all the things that make the series so enjoyable, the women, high tech gadgets, and mayhem. Javier Bardem was superb, as usual. Visually beautiful. Since I have seen and enjoyed every Bond film to varying dgrees, never a thought of missing it. **

13 Assassins
Very enjoyable historical samurai film about 13 assassins, thus the title, who band together to punish an injustice. Enjoyable in every way; good acting, period sets, and action. Not Kurosawa, but really had fun watching it. ***

The Amazing Spider-man
Deeply disappointing remake of the comic. Poorly written and directed, there was absolutely no need for this movie to be made. Waste of time. *

The Bourne Legacy
Pretty enjoyable fourth installment in this series, this time with Jeremy Renner as the next generation of super spys. Renner is a very good actor and I always enjoy Rachel Weisz. She was convincing as a brilliant scientist. Not quite the pop of the first three, but enjoyable. **

Dark Passage
1947 Bogart and Bacall film about an escaped convict who has plastic surgery. Somewhat interesting use of POV filming at the beginning. Completely unconvincing that the woman helps the guy out, though, and the coincidental relationships were very hard to believe. But I liked watching two great film stars work. **

The Raid: Redemption
Nothing but brutal action in this Indonesian movie about a SWAT team fighting its way out of a high-rise controlled by a crime boss. Action, especially the fighting, is excellent, but that’s all there is. Pretty OK. **

The Dark Knight Rises
Exciting and moving third installment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Very dark, right from the start, and it never really brightens. Glad to see Batman gets the right woman. Don’t want to say too much for those who haven’t seen it. Very enjoyable. ***

Lockout
The first few minutes of this sci-fi action film weren’t too bad, but it became increasingly dopey. By the really stupid ending, it was unbearable. Clumsy directing, horrible dialogue, and forced, unconvincing acting. Waste of time. *

Savages
Another over-the-top yet shallow installment from Oliver Stone. Maybe if they had stuck with the first ending, it wouldn’t have seemed so contrived, but the second ending, attached purely for audience approval, undermined what tiny credibility the narrative had. Stone gets worse with each succeeding movie. *

Prometheus
Ridley Scott’s visually impressive prequel to his original Alien film. Narrative couldn’t quite match the beauty of the technology and the scale of the environment, which were wonderful. Needed some deeper characterizations. Much less of a horror film, more of a straight galactic adventure. Really enjoyed looking at it. **

The Far Country
Fairly interesting 1955 Jimmie Stewart western about two cowboys who go to Alaska to get rich. Great scenery, but very predictable, dated writing and action. The female roles were especially shallow and painfully sexist. Not a complete waste of time.

Half-Life
Indie film about the inner struggles of a California family as the sun gets ready to explode. Mundane emotional struggles and filming. Strangely, it is very much like von Trier’s Melancholia. Ok, but nothing earth-shattering. **

Dark Shadows
Disappointing Tim Burton remake of the TV series. Really slow, humorless, and dumb. I had expected much more from Burton, who I usually really like, and the excellent cast. Just dopey. Too bad. *

Marvel’s The Avengers
Very entertaining movie about superheroes battling an invasion of earth by Loki. Enjoyed Ironman, as usual. Very much like comics in tone and action. One of the funniest movie scenes I’ve seen in a long time when Hulk slaps Loki around. **

Safe
Entertaining movie about an assassin who comes to the aid of a Chinese girl trying to get away from the Triads who are using her. Violent, moves at a pretty good pace, but there are only hints of characterization. Kind of fun.

The End of Summer
Ozu drama about the head of a family who refuses to conform, and lives his life the way he wants despite family consternation. All the familiar issues of the closely interconnected Japanese family. Very enjoyable. ***

Late Autumn
Ozu film about three male friends who take it upon themselves to marry off the daughter of the widow of a friend. Subtly comic and tragic as their machinations repeatedly fail. Well acted and understated. Very enjoyable, with a slightly sad ending. ***

Early Spring
Excellent Ozu film about a salaryman who falls into an affair with a woman he works with. Primarily about the horrors of the Japanese office worker. All the things that make Ozu one of my very favorite directors, still camera, exploring familial and social relationships, and Japanese society in general. ***

Tokyo Twilight
A late Ozu film about a young woman struggling with an unwanted pregnancy and abandonment issues until she commits suicide. Intriguing narrative about discovering the mother who abandoned her and her sister. Social values a little dated, but all the great Ozu elements. ***

John Carter
Enjoyable but slim Disney version of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel. Everything about it is done well enough, but there isn’t really any depth of character, narrative, or technique. Seems like it was made for kids, which it probably was. Burroughs may even have written it for them. So there wasn’t anything wrong with it, but it wasn’t at all compelling. **

Melancholia
Lars von Trier film about a woman’s struggle with depression as the planet Melancholia circles toward a collision with Earth. Very well acted, beautifully shot, and an interesting hint of pre-cognition. Well worth seeing. **

Hugo
Delightful Scorsese film about a boy who winds the clock in a train station in Paris and the characters he gets to know there. Very much a children’s story, but wonderfully done as a paean to the art and impact of filmmaking. Pretty enjoyable, if a little simple. **

The Rum Diary
Movie based on a Hunter Thompson novel about a writer who goes to Puerto Rico to work as a journalist. Can’t do anything about the corruption, so he sails off in a stolen boat. Acting was good enough, and the characters had a start on being interesting, but it all seemed too shallow here. Plot showed its age. Could have missed it. **

In Time
Stupid movie about a technologically advanced future where time-to-live has replaced money. Demonstrates only how bad an actor Justin Timberlake is. Complete waste of time, ha ha. *

The Whistleblower
Completely depressing movie about human trafficking in Eastern Europe based on actual events. Deeply troubling because it shows the way the most evil conduct is institutionalized by wealth and greed to the point that it is really impossible for any person to do anything about it. Pretty well acted by a good cast. **

London Boulevard
Pretty good adaptation of the Ken Bruen novel, though I never really like Colin Farrell. Ending had the bleakness of Bruen, but the rest of it was pretty shallow, especially what was supposed to be the developing love between Farrell and Knightley. David Thewlis was good as usual. Not a total waste of time, I guess. **

Drive
Moody, stylized remake of a 70s film about a guy who drives for the movies and criminals. He gets involved with a beautiful neighbor and, of course, everything falls apart from there. Thought the soundtrack was pretty weird. Liked the juxtaposition of the slow, reflective, scenes against the quick brutality of the violence. Not too bad, even though I generally eschew remakes, but I’m interested in Refn’s work. **

Deadwood
By far the best thing that’s ever been on television. Language, acting, writing, and characters all are reminiscent of Shakespeare. An insightful history of the United States. In Al Swearengen, David Milch and Ian McShane have created one of the great characters of all American drama. Really, really loved this. Glad I was finally able to get through all three seasons, and wished it hadn’t ever ended. *****

Safe House
Brutal, fast-paced thriller about a rogue CIA agent and the safe house caretaker who gets caught up in the attempts to assassinate him. Great action, and even though there’s an unjustified softening of the main character and a bit of a soft ending, it’s mostly well done. Enjoyed it. Ryan Reynolds didn’t even irritate me. Not bad. **

Another Earth
Original, interesting movie about a woman trying to deal with the consequences of having killed people in a drunk driving accident and the discovery of a mirror planet to Earth. Written by the starring actress. Some difficult scenes emotionally, and a great ending. Glad I saw it. **

The Ides of March
Well made political movie about the gamesmanship between two primary candidates’ teams. Excellent acting from a superior cast. Bleak, cynical, troubling, and undoubtedly an accurate portrayal. Even though it seemed a little too much like a play, glad I saw it. **

Killer Elite
Ok, but predictable movie about professional assassins battling SAS killers in 1980. Clumsy dialogue wasted on some good actors, only adequate fights and action sequences, and mediocre directing. Could have done without it. Good thing it was only $1. *

Contagion
Very well made and acted movie about a new, bird-flu like virus that sweeps around the world. Excellent acting from an outstanding cast and directing, as usual, by Soderbergh. Very interesting and pretty realistic, though kind of upbeat at the end. Glad I finally saw it. **

Anonymous
Interesting, well-done dramatization of the theory that the plays attributed to Shakespeare were actually written by Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford. I have found that theory very plausible for some time, so I enjoyed it, overwrought though it may have been. Glad I saw it. **

Underworld: Awakening 
Really lousy sequel. Dialogue and directing so bad I found myself laughing in places that weren’t supposed to be funny. Everything seemed artificially staged, the art direction was incoherent, and a good cast was embarrassingly wasted. Glad I didn’t pay for it. Still very bad. *

Haywire
Pretty good Soderbergh film about a private operative battling corrupt forces trying to eliminate her. I know, but the directorial skills, art direction, and the attempt to be realistic rather than explosive made it worthwhile. At least it was serious craft, which is unheard of in this genre. Didn’t suck. **

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Nicely done film of the outstanding Le Carré novel about the search for a mole in British Intelligence during the cold war. Excellent cast and acting, though the brevity of the film doesn’t allow for the narrative complexity and nuanced interplay of character in the novel and the superb Alec Guinness TV series. Stands as a deft counterpoint to all the action trash being made. **

Contraband
Lame Mark Wahlberg film about one last smuggling operation to save his family. Very predictable, and the rescue of the wife was laughable. Squandered and excellent cast. *

1911
Pretty bad Jackie Chan film about the 1911 Xinhai revolt against the Qing dynasty. Unfortunately, Jackie directed it as well. Very disappointing even though it only cost a dollar. *