Wanted

I used to think that Angelina Jolie was pretty hot. She's still okay, but many fine young ladies have pole-vaulted in front of her. But that doesn't mean I won't watch a good Jolie movie, even if she has 15 kids of every different color.

Wanted is about a fraternity of hitmen (and women, but not drunk college kids) that assassinate people around the world as they are instructed. One day Wesley Gibson's, played by James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland, Atonement, and Narnia) father is assassinated. Gibson finds himself targeted and recruited at the same time while trying to live his normal boring pathetic life.

Jolie and Sloan (Morgan Freeman) recruit Wesley into the fraternity of assassins, but Wesley finds out that life as an assassin isn't quite what he thought it was going to be.

The movie is more fantasy than anything, but it is certainly action-packed. From bullet bending, to leaping from building to building, to an outrageous and unbelievable car chase, this movie should keep your attention for the full hour and 40 minutes. I was a bit surprised by the ending, which I love. I can't stand it when a movie is super-predictable. This movie is not.

Morgan Freeman again does a good job as the bad guy. (Remember his work in Lucky Number Slevin?). Jolie is tough, sexy, and unflappable. You'll find yourself cheering for McEvoy as he goes from LOSER to tough villain back to the point where he wonders how he got to where he is.

The movie is rated R for tons of violence, including frequent slow-motion bloody bullet shots to the head, language (pervasive language according to MPAA), and some sexuality. I think we got a fair shot of Jolie's butt as she was getting into the tub.

The movie is directed by Timur Bekmambetov who has brought you nothing that you ever heard of. I give this movie a 4 star rating. Good plain fun movie.

Changeling

I must admit that when Changeling arrived from Netflix, I had no idea what it was about. The movie opens set in the 1920's in Los Angeles. Angelina Jolie plays a single mother named Christine Collins working at the phone company as what appears to be a shift supervisor at a switchboard.

One Saturday Christine is called to work and she is forced to leave her son home by himself. She promises him she'll be home by dark and will take him to the movies the following day. When she returns home from work she finds that he has disappeared.

Calls to the Los Angeles Police Department are dismissed. She's told that he'll show up and they don't start searching for children until they've been missing for 24 hours. Frantic she searches the neighborhood all evening to no avail.

She struggles for months with the L.A.P.D. and finds them uncooperative and arrogant. Finally she is informed that her son has been found and a reunion is scheduled. She arrives at the reunion only to learn that the child they are handing over is not her child. Again, she is dismissed and told that she's been through a lot of stress and is just confused.

Her plight continues to be ignored by the police and she finally seeks help from Reverend Gustav Briegleb, played by John Malkovich, who broadcasts a radio show that criticizes the corruption within the police department and government of Los Angeles.

I do not wish to give away this movie, but the story it tells is a compilation of true stories from the 1920's. Christine Collins did, in fact, have her child kidnapped and she was given a child that was not hers. With the help of Reverend Briegleb, she sues the city and exposes the corruption that has been gripping the city.

Furthermore, though not officially connected, there was a lunatic outside of Los Angeles that had murdered dozens of young boys and buried them on the property. The actual case was never resolved, but Christine Collins continued her fight, not only for missing children, but to fight corruption in politics and in the police department.

Changeling is about 2 hours and 20 minutes long, but kept my interested in the movie. I had to struggle to convince myself to pause it at the hour and 10 minute mark so that I could go to bed and finish watching it the following night. The movie made me angry, it made me sad. Angelina Jolie did an excellent job, as did director Clint Eastwood. In recognition for her work, Jolie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. The movie is Rated R for language and some disturbing violence.

I give this movie 4 stars.

Beowulf

I'm not quite sure what to say about this movie. It was released on DVD this week and I knew that I had to see it. Today, I am not sure why I had to see it.

Beowulf is like a dark version of Shrek. The movie, like Shrek, is computer animation. I was watching a cartoon! I didn't realize this, though I have to admit that I didn't put much thought into it when I saw the commercials.

Beowulf, as any 12th grader studying British literature can tell you, is said to be the first written story. It dates from the 8th -11th century. Beowulf is the hero who defeats Grendel, the giant monster-like creature that attacks Heorot, in what is probably Denmark. He must then defeat Grendal's mother and later a dragon.

The movie stars Ray Winstone as the cartoon image of Beowulf, Anthony Hopkins as Hrothgar, and Angelina Jolie, who plays the often totally naked, but nipple-less and vagina-less cartoon image of Beowulf's mother. It's actually really creepy.

The movie is very violent, even compared to other cartoons like Ren and Stimpy or Itchy and Scratchy. Lots of people die. And by dying I don't mean stabbed or passing away because of heart disease or slipping in the bathtub and hitting your head. Dozens of people are impalled, one is ripped in half, and another has his head bitten off. Some are flogged against the ground and others used as bowling balls. It bordered on the rediculous.

I am having a difficult time rating this movie. For an animated movie, I guess the animation was good. The movie is based on one of the all-time classic stories in all of literature. However, it was mostly just silly and overdone. I will have to give this movie 2 stars. Too much shiny featureless naked woman, too much nonsensical death, and not enough believability, even for a mythical movie.