2012 Fall/Winter Movie Reviews

Thanks to a generous gift from my coworkers, I received a cute candy
bouquet made by my friend Beth along with a $50.00 movie theater gift card
for my birthday in October!

Using this gift card, I was able to see the following five movies from October to
December 2012: Argo; Flight; Lincoln; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn –
Part 2; and Skyfall.

 ARGO

 
“Argo” Movie Information

Starring:

• Ben Affleck as CIA Agent Tony Mendez
• Victor Garbor as Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor
• Alan Arkin as Movie Producer Lester Siegel
• John Goodman as Hollywood make-up artist John Chambers

  Six U.S. Diplomats –

• Tate Donovan as Bob Anders
• Clea DuVall as Cora Lijek
• Scott McNairy as Joe Stafford
• Kerry Bishe as Kathy Stafford
• Rory Cochrane as Lee Schatz
• Christopher Denham as Mark Lijek

Release Date:  Friday, October 12, 2012

Running Time:  120 minutes

Genre:  Drama, History, Thriller

Director: Ben Affleck

Writers: Chris Terrio (screenplay) and Joshua Bearman (article)

Rating:  Rated R for language and some violent images

Brief Description: A dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to
extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary
Iran.

Argo is my favorite movie from this past year!

I
was a senior in high school when 52 Americans were taken hostage on
November 4, 1979. They were held hostage for 444 days until they were
released on January 20, 1981, while I was a freshman in college. At the
time, the public didn’t know about this secret mission to rescue the six
Americans hiding in the Canadian Embassy. So watching this movie is a
way to relive the media coverage of the Iran Hostage Crisis, along with
learning about the CIA-Canadian secret operation.

My
15-year-old daughter, Sara, and I saw Argo the first weekend it
was released and we both loved it! Ben Affleck is great as CIA Agent
Tony Mendez who orchestrates a plot to film a fake movie in Iran using
the
six Americans hiding in the Canadian Embassy as members of a production
crew. The acting is outstanding, the script is very well written and the

production is excellent.

Argo
was nominated for seven Academy Awards on January 10, 2013, including:
Best Picture; Best Supporting Actor, Alan Arkin; Best Adapted
Screenplay; Best Film Editing; Best Music (Original Score); Best Sound
Editing; and Best Sound Mixing.

On January 13 Argo won the Golden Globe award for Best Picture-Drama and Ben Affleck won for Best Director.

In
addition to the Golden Globe wins and Academy Award nominations, Argo
has also received another 21 wins and 37 nominations, including the AFI
Award for Movie of the Year and awards from several different Film
Festivals.

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FLIGHT

Starring:

• Denzel Washington as airline pilot Whip Whitaker
• Nadine Velazquez as flight attendant Katerina Marquez
• Tamera Tunie as flight attendant Margaret Thomason 
• John Goodman as Harling Mays
• Bruce Greenwood as Charlie Anderson

Release Date: Friday, November 2, 2012

Running Time: 138 minutes

Genre:  Drama

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Writer: John Gatins

Rating:  Rated R for drug and alcohol abuse, language, sexuality/nudity and an intense action sequence

Brief Description: An airline pilot saves a flight
from crashing, but an investigation into the malfunctions reveals
something troubling.

Sara
and I saw Denzel Washington as a guest star on The Tonight Show
Starring Jay Leno on October 23, 2012 while we were visiting our friends, the
Shea family, in Burbank, California. I was surprised to see that in
person Denzel Washington doesn’t look very tall. I also think that Sara
was more excited to see Richard Engel, who is NBC News’s chief foreign
correspondent, as a guest that night more than seeing Denzel Washington!

Flight
is a very good movie, but the first 30 minutes of the film contains very
intense scenes of a plane crash. There is also strong language, drug
and alcohol abuse throughout the film along with a very graphic sex
scene in the beginning of the film.

Flight
was nominated for two Academy Awards on January 10, 2013, including:
Best Actor, Denzel Washington and Best Original Screenplay.

In
addition to the two Academy Award Nominations, Flight has received
another 4 wins and 20 nominations, including Robert Zemeckis selected
as Director of the Year by the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

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LINCOLN

 “Lincoln” Movie Information

Starring:

• Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln
• Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robert Lincoln
• Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens

Release Date: Friday, November 16, 2012

Running Time: 150 minutes

Genre:  Biography, Drama, History

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writers: Tony Kushner (screenplay) and Doris Kearns Goodwin (book) (in part)

Rating:  Rated PG-13 for an intense scene of war violence, some images of carnage and brief strong language

Brief Description:  As the Civil War continues to rage, America’s president struggles with
continuing carnage on the battlefield and as he fights with many inside
his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves.

Sara
loved this movie when we saw it together in November. She loves studying History
and is a very proud member of her high school’s Young Republicans Club. I
guess I should be glad that she enjoys watching movies about historical
figures as much as she likes watching new episodes of “Here Comes Honey
Boo Boo”.

Lincoln is a very good movie but it is also a
very long movie.We saw it on a Friday night at the 7:15 pm showing and
the movie did not get out until after 10:00 pm! I recommend seeing this
movie when you are very well rested and have an extra 3 hours you can
spending watching a movie in a theater. In addition to the the great
casting and acting, I was also very impressed by the hair, makeup, and
costumes of each character. And I truly believe that Daniel Day-Lewis IS
President Lincoln, just like the man who plays Santa Claus in the
original “Miracle on 34th Street” IS Santa Claus.

Lincoln
was nominated for 12 Academy Awards on January 10, 2013, including:
Best Picture; Best Director, Steven Spielberg; Best Actor, Daniel
Day-Lewis; Best Supporting Actor, Tommy Lee Jones; Best Supporting
Actress, Sally Field; Best Adapted
Screenplay; Best Cinematography; Best Costume Design; Best Film Editing;
Best Music (Original Score); Best Production Design; and Best Sound
Mixing.

On January 13 Daniel Day-Lewis won the Golden Globe award for Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama.

In
addition to the 12 Academy Award Nominations and the Golden Globe win,
Lincoln has also received another 15 wins and 59 nominations.

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THE TWILIGHT SAGA:
BREAKING DAWN – PART 2

Starring:

• Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black
• Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen
• Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan 
• Peter Facinelli as Dr. Carlisle Cullen
• Elizabeth Reaser as Esme Cullen

Release Date: Friday, November 16, 2012

Running Time: 115 minutes

Genre:  Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Director: Bill Condon

Writers: Melissa Rosenberg (screenplay) and Stephanie Meyer (Novel)

Rating:  Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence including disturbing images, some sensuality and partial nudity

Brief Description: After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in
order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family
in front of the Volturi.

My

two daughters and I saw the other four Twilight movies at midnight
movie premieres. My oldest daughter introduced me to the
world of Twilight by reading the first book a couple of years ago and
saying she really liked it. I then read all the books and we’ve seen all
the movies. I’ve always ignored the comments that the movies are
cheesy, filled
with bad writing and acting and instead I’ve just enjoyed watching each
one. Lauren also visited Forks, Washington, the town where the Twilight
series is set, during a trip with her grandmother to visit relatives
that live in Seattle, Washington. She brought back a T-Shirt for me that
says “Team Jacob” while she is a member of  “Team Edward”!

Even
though we weren’t supposed to, we all three laughed during the entire
movie except for one scene at the end  that is disturbing and might be
alarming to some viewers. You might want to Google “Breaking Dawn – Part
2” spoilers if you want to know ahead of time to prepare to watch this
scene!

FYI – Taylor Lautner takes his shirt off only one time in this movie.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 was nominated for The People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie Fan Following.

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SKYFALL

Starring:

• Daniel Craig as James Bond
• Judi Dench as M
• Javier Bardem as Silva 
• Naomie Harris as Eve

Release Date: Friday, November 9, 2012

Running Time: 143 minutes

Genre:  Action, Adventure, Crime

Director: Sam Mendes (Kate Winslet’s ex husband!)

Writing
Credits: Neal Purvis (written by); Robert Wade (written by); John
Logan (written by); and Ian Fleming (characters) uncredited

Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences throughout, some sexuality, language and smoking

Brief Description: Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her, bringing MI6 under attack.

Wow!
This is an amazing movie. It has great acting and casting, an excellent
script, and outstanding production value. My husband was a big James
Bond fan and had seen every James Bond movie in the past. His favorite
James Bond was portrayed by Roger Moore but he was looking forward
seeing Daniel Craig in this movie. So Sara and I saw Skyfall at a
matinee feature one afternoon as a tribute to my husband. This movie
also contains a wonderful soundtrack including the title song by Adele.

On
January 10, Skyfall was nominated for five Academy Awards, including:
Best Achievement in Cinematography; Best Achievement in Music Written
for Motion Pictures, Original Score; Best Achievement in Music Written
for Motion Pictures, Original Song – Skyfall, performed by Adele and
written by Adele & Paul Epworth; Best Achievement in Sound Editing;
and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing.

The song Skyfall won a Golden Globe Award on January 13 for Original Song, Motion Picture.

In addition, Skyfall also received another 3 wins and 33 nominations.

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• “Silver Linings Playbook” starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, and Chris Tucker 
• “The Guilt Trip” starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogan 
• “Pitch Perfect” starring Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, and Rebel Wilson
• “The Watch” starring Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, and Jonah Hill
• “The Amazing Spider-Man” starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone
   “
• “Rock of Ages” starring Tom Cruise, Julianne Hough, and Diego Boneta 
• “Magic Mike” starring Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey, and Matt Bomer 
• “Ted” starring Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Seth MacFarlane 
• “Katy Perry: Part of Me” starring Katy Perry in one of her concert tours
   
• “Snow White and the Huntsman” starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, and Charlize Theron 
• “Dark Shadows” starring Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer 
• “The Lucky One” starring Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, and Blythe Danner21 
• “Jump Street” starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill
• “The Vow” starring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum 
• “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, and Paula Patton

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I plan to write another blog entry detailing our trip to California in October along with a visit to Disneyland and attending The Biggest Show!