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Archive for February, 2012

Nathan (Taylor Lautner) is a high schooler in Pennslyvania, who likes parties and boxing with his dad. He has rage and self-identity issues, and sees a shink (Sigourney Weaver). He’s apparently a good wrestler as well as a kickboxer. He’s assigned to work on a school project with his neighbor, Karen (Lily Collins), who he’s sweet on, but too shy to talk to. They find a website for missing children, and, aging one online, see a likeness of Nathan. He contacts the site, and it triggers an alert in New York. The tech on duty (Nickola Shreli) in New York activates a trace and Nathan’s webcam and send a photo of Nathan to a Mr Kozlow (Michael Nyqvist).
He takes some old pictures to his friend Gilly (Allen Williamson), who thinks they are suspicious. He confronts his mother (Maria Bello), who fortunately gets killed by operatives before she can explain. His father (Jason Isaacs) fights off one operative, but is killed as well, and Nathan runs away. He comes back to save Karen and defeats the armed operative, who tells him there’s a bomb in the kitchen. Naturally, Nathan goes to look, and there’s 7 seconds left! He and Karen run outside and leap into the pool as the house and operative are destroyed.
Karen is hurt, so Nathan takes her to the hospital. We see Mr. Kozlow arrive in country, and he gets undressed in a car. Nathan winds up talking to Frank Burton (Alfred Molina), who tells him to stay put, and Kozlow’s goons apparently have the pay phone tapped! His shrink, Dr. Bennett, uses balloons to hide Nathan from the hospital cameras, which everyone has tapped into as well. In a car escaping, Dr. Bennett explains that she’s with the CIA, and Burton can’t be trusted. She tells him it’s ok to trust Martin Price or Paul Rasmus, but doesn’t explain why. She also gives him keys to a safe house in Virginia. They leap from the car and Dr. Bennett’s car is destroyed. By this time, if you’re not completely dazed, you realize Nathan is some kind of important kid, with secret skills.
Nathan and Karen wake up in the woods, completely refreshed and clean. Burton briefs a bunch of constipated agents about Martin Price, who is Nathan’s real father, and has stolen data from Kozlow. Burton’s boss tells him to get things under control. Nathan and Karen hitchhike to the safe house, where he finds a gun, a phone with encrypted text and some photos, who he recognizes as his mother. Karen makes a phone call, and apparently all of her relatives’ phone lines are tapped too.
Nathan’s father left a BMW, and Nathan/Karen go looking for his mother, finding her grave. They find fresh flowers on the grave, and the cemetary operator tells them the flowers came from Paul Rasmus. The bad guys and the CIA intercept the cemetary computer query, even though it’s not on the internet, and magically conjure an image of the BMW, apparently from the cemetary’s high-resolution cameras. Nathan and Karen meet Gilly, who gets them fake IDs. They buy train tickets, but the bad guys have spotted the BMW and followed them to the train station.
On the train, Karen asks if they are going to die, and Nathan says no. They kiss and start to grope, but stop because they’re hungry? Karen goes to get food without him, and guess what happens next – the bad guys get her! Nathan, who has gone looking for Karen, meets the bad guy and they fight. Nathan manages to beat a grown, trained operative and Karen escapes her bondage with a piece of broken glass. Nathan shatters the train window and throws the bad guy out. The train stops, perhaps to investigate, and they exit the train. At this point, you’re hoping the movie is over, but there’s still 30 minutes left!
Natah and Karen stroll through the woods, and the CIA chases them. Burton convinces them to trust him and buys them burgers, while about 100 agents protect them. Burton explains things, and Kozlow’s bad guys start killing the CIA guys. Nathan realizes the phone has the text his father stole, and that Burton’s name is on in the text. The bad guys attack the diner. During the attack, Nathan and Karen escape, and since Nathan doesn’t trust Burton he tells Karen about the list. Of course, Kozlow can hear them and track them, so he calls the phone in the car and threatens all of Nathan’s friends and arranges a meet. Meanwhile, the CIA raids Kozlow’s hideout and kills his goons. They also find a recording of the conversation between Nathan and Kozlow, detailing the meet at PNC park in Pittsburgh.
At the park, Martin calls Nathan and tells him not to go through with the meet. Nathan hangs up on him. Karen gets a photo of Kozlow and sends it to Nathan. They sit beside each other, and apparently, Gilly has taped a gun under Nathan’s seat! Kozlow tells Nathan that his parents were awful people, and Nathan chooses to believe him. We relive Nathan’s mother’s death at the hands of Kozlow, and even at age 2, Nathan was a super-spy! Kozlow gets Nathan’s gun, then chases him through the park. Nathan demonstrates his parkour abilities, and Martin calls him to tell him to lead Kozlow into a trap. Kozlow has time to see Martin hidden as a sniper about 500 yards away, and has time to yell before getting shot. Burton’s boss arrives and take the phone, telling Burton he has lots to answer for. The CIA lets Nathan go, and Martin calls one last time to say goodbye. Karen and Nathan reunite, and Dr. Bennett arrives as well. She tells Nathan he can live with her, and Nathan/Karen stroll off, promising to go to Dr. Bennett’s house (even though she never gave an address – apparently, Nathan can figure that out, too).
Nathan and Karen sit in the now-empty stadium and make out.

A little Wanted (Jolie and McAvoy) deja vu. Apparently Lautner is breaking out of Twilight now that he is buff and has taken his shirt off. He is an angry young man in this movie just like the angry young werewolf in the Twilight series. Not a bad movie, though, and entirely watchable even if it is predominantly made for the teen female crowd.

Rating: 2.9 out of 5.

The film begins in the city, with Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) leaving his job as a successful editor in the city in order to spend more time with his wife, Libby (Rachel Weisz), and their two daughters and write a book. At first, they appear to be living the American dream in an idyllic home they have just moved into. Early in his time at the house, Will notices tension between his neighbour, Ann Patterson (Naomi Watts), and her ex-husband, Jack, who is picking up their teenage daughter. Despite the seemingly perfect house, it soon becomes apparent to Will that something isn’t right. After asking around, he learns of terrible murders that occurred there five years earlier – a man, Peter Ward, the previous owner of the house, shot and killed his wife and two daughters. What’s more, Will’s young daughters claim to begin seeing a man watching them through the windows at night. Will and his wife begin to uncover more information about the murders, despite the local police refusing to help them. Even his neighbour, Anne, who he has talked to on a few occasions, remains strangely distant and won’t tell him anything. However, after uncovering some old things in a hidden attic space, they find out that Peter Ward had already been released from custody (as there was no concrete evidence that he actually killed his family) and is living in a half-way house — and there is a lot of public controversy about it. When Will’s wife sees the strange man that her daughters had already claimed was watching the house (and the police fail to help), Will, believing it to be Peter Ward, sets off to the half-way house to find him and try and settle things. Will goes to the half-way house and sneaks into what he believes is Ward’s room (the number of which he found by looking at the mail pigeon hole marked with his name) and there he finds a picture of his wife and daughters. A man comes in and, extremely angry, Will threatens him to stay away from his family. However, the man is not Peter Ward, but in fact a man named Boyce (Elias Koteas). Confused, Will returns home. Further research leads him to the psychiatric hospital where Peter Ward was initially hospitalised. There, he is told that he is Peter Ward and that Will Atenton is a false identity he invented to mask the trauma of losing his wife and daughters. Although he doesn’t believe it, the seams begin to show in what he once thought was reality. More and more evidence crops up, showing that the wife and daughters he believed he had are, rather, just projections in his mind of the family that he supposedly murdered. He begins to slip between realities — One being his idyllic, yet completely invented, life with his wife and daughters, and the other, in which his house is in ruins and he is the accused murderer of his family. After his house is deemed by the city as being in an unlivable state, he is evicted – but does not want to leave as whenever he is in this house he returns to his fantasy land with his long dead family. As well as this, he is still unsure which reality is correct. Anne, Peter’s (Will’s) neighbour, takes him in, giving him a bath and washing his clothes. She believes his innocence and even her daughter, who had previously had nightmares about the murders, is comfortable with his presence. However, Anne’s ex-husband, Jack, somehow hears that Peter is with his ex-wife in her home and comes over to collect his daughter, despite him not yet having custody for a few days. Anne refuses but her daughter obliges in order to avoid any conflict — yet she runs away as soon as she is out the door. Jack goes after her, and Anne, before following, gives Peter the business card of the psychiatric hospital in which he was previously treated, which she found while washing his clothes. He goes to see his psychiatrist who urges him to come back to treatment, but she does not know if she believes his innocence or not and Peter storms back to his boarded up house. There, he is once again immersed in his fantasy land, but he realises now that he is Peter Ward, which he tries to convince to his wife. She won’t believe it, putting it down to a fever and Peter’s high temperature. However, when the girls also get this fever and she finds gaping wounds on the girls’ backs she realises he was telling the truth. Peter later asks her to recall the night of the murders and she tells him everything she can remember – that she heard someone coming up the stairs and the girls, thinking it was their dad, went out to greet him. She also came out, only to find a man with a gun. Peter is jerked from his fantasy by Anne, who is coming to tell him to get out of the house, but before they can leave, Jack and Boyce are there ready to kill Anne and blame the murder on Peter. We learn that the original murders, of Peter’s family, were actually carried out by Boyce; he had been hired to kill Anne by Jack after their divorce yet Boyce got the wrong house and killed the Ward family instead. After being shot, Peter’s wife had tried to shoot Boyce with a gun he had left on the ground while he was fighting with Peter. Instead, she hit Peter in the head, which explains the absence of any recollection of the events. Both Peter and Anne are knocked unconscious and taken to the basement where Anne is tied up. Jack shoots Boyce for his failure in the previous mission and goes on to light the house on fire with gasoline. Meanwhile, the projection of Peter’s wife is hovering at the edges of the scene and urges Peter to wake up. When he does, he carries Anne out of the fire where she is reconciled with her daughter. Boyce, not quite dead, traps Jack in the fire by pouring gasoline on him before dying himself. Peter rushes back into the burning house where he sees his wife and daughters for the last time and is finally forced to let them go. The movie ends showing Peter’s book he has written about his experience — he was writing a book at the beginning of the film in his fantasy world, but this time he is using his real name.

Shutter Island and Identity revisited. The movie twists and turns and finally becomes predictable once you realize the true plot line.

Rating: 2.9 out of 5.

Adam Learner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a 27-year-old journalist with an attractive girlfriend, Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard), of whom his best friend and co-worker Kyle (Seth Rogen) disapproves.
Adam discovers he has a a rare cancer and must undergo chemotherapy. After Adam reveals his diagnosis, his overbearing mother, Diane (Anjelica Huston), who already cares for a husband suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, is determined to move in with him. He rejects this offer, however, as Rachael has promised to be the one to take care of him.
Adam skeptically begins going to the young and inexperienced therapist, Katie McCay (Anna Kendrick), and although their relationship and sessions begin with a rocky start, he slowly begins to open up to her about his disease and how it is affecting him. The two develop a rapport both in and outside of their sessions, as the lines between doctor-patient and friends begins to blur. During chemo treatments, Adam also befriends Alan (Philip Baker Hall) and Mitch (Matt Frewer), two older cancer patients who give him perspective on life, love, and illness. Meanwhile, Kyle attempts to keep Adam’s spirits high, which includes using his illness as a way to pick up women. He also uses his friend’s illness to his own advantage, to Adam’s annoyance. On a date with a woman he met through these means, Kyle sees Rachael kissing another man and tells Adam, who proceeds to break up with her, despite her excuses and protestations.
Although Adam at first claims to everyone that he is fine and handling his disease well, his composure slowly begins to unravel as the realities and seriousness of his illness become increasingly sharper. When the doctor informs him that his body is not responding to the chemotherapy and his only option is dangerous surgery, he is forced to emotionally confront his situation, and figure out what and who in his life is truly important to him.

Normally I wouldn’t go to a Seth Rogen movie because he is stupidly irritating. I was talked into going to see this one with some friends and it wasn’t bad. A more serious plotline with some poignant moments.

Rating: 2.9 out of 5.

Josh Kovacs is the building manager of The Tower, a high-rise luxury apartment complex on Central Park West in New York City whose employees include concierge Charlie, his brother in law; Enrique, an elevator operator; Lester, the doorman nearing retirement; Odessa, a maid; and Miss Iovenko, who furtively studies for her bar exam at work.
One morning Josh sees what appears to be a kidnapping of Tower tenant and wealthy businessman Arthur Shaw. Josh gives chase and almost catches him when he is clotheslined by FBI agent Claire Denham. Denham explains that Shaw wasn’t being kidnapped, he was attempting to flee arrest, accused of running a Ponzi scheme. Josh tells the Tower staff about Shaw’s arrest and explains that he gave Shaw their pension fund to invest, and their money is gone. Josh, Charlie and Enrique visit Shaw, under house arrest in his penthouse apartment. Josh tells Shaw that Lester attempted suicide after losing everything he had. Shaw expresses condolences but appears insincere. Josh responds by destroying the windows of a Ferrari 250 Shaw has on display in his apartment. The building’s owner is furious at Josh’s action and fires Josh, Charlie and Enrique.
Josh meets Denham at a bar and she invites him to get drunk. As they drink she says Shaw must have had a cash safety net and suggests in jest that he find and steal it. Josh gathers Charlie, Enrique, and former Tower tenant Mr. Fitzhugh to draw up a plan to steal Shaw’s money. Charlie brings up the obvious drawback that they are not thieves. Josh hires his neighbor, a petty criminal named Slide, to help. Slide trains the team but realizes he cannot do the robbery because he doesn’t know how to crack the safe in Shaw’s apartment. They bring in Odessa, whose family ran a locksmith business. Charlie tells Josh he’s been rehired as the Tower’s new manager, and Charlie warns Josh to stay away or he will have him arrested. Denham then tells Josh that a hearing for Shaw has been scheduled for Thanksgiving during the Macy’s Day Parade to avoid publicity, and Shaw will go free. Josh and his team decide to break into Shaw’s apartment during the parade.
The team reaches Shaw’s apartment, breaks down a false wall and finds Shaw’s safe behind it; Odessa opens the safe but finds it empty. Slide and Fitzhugh struggle for Slide’s gun; the gun goes off and a bullet hits the car, revealing gold underneath the Ferrari’s paint. They realize Shaw invested his cash in gold, had the gold melted down and cast into car parts, and then assembled the car in his apartment where the gold would be hidden in plain sight. Josh finds a ledger of Shaw’s illegal finances in the car’s glove box. They lower the car out the window into Fitzhugh’s old apartment six floors below, and then take it down to the lobby on top of an elevator. Just as they reach the lobby Agent Denham and Shaw return and take the same elevator back up. Denham sees Shaw’s safe and informs him that he did not declare the safe on an inventory of items taken when he was arrested, which is a violation of the conditions of his bail. She has him remanded back into custody.
Denham sees Lester using a stolen truck to try to escape from the building. She catches up to him, assuming he is fleeing with the Ferrari, but finds the truck empty. The FBI arrests him and Josh’s other accomplices. She personally handcuffs Josh and privately congratulates him. As Josh is being questioned by the FBI, Miss Iovenko arrives, telling the FBI that she passed her bar exam three days ago and is acting as Josh’s attorney. She shows them Shaw’s ledger and tells them she will turn it over in exchange for everyone’s freedom. The FBI accepts on the condition that Josh, being the primary conspirator, must serve a minimal two-year sentence.
The team retrieves the car from its hiding place in Shaw’s rooftop pool and send various parts of the car to Tower employees to compensate for their lost pensions. As the movie ends Shaw begins his life sentence and Josh is booked into jail, a satisfied smile slowly forming on his face.

Typical Ben Stiller movie with a good cast. Entertaining and predictable. Definitely a good matinee movie.

Rating: 3.9 out of 5.

Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling) strolls up to a podium in an auditorium and begins to speak on his religious preferences. He then begins to whistle and whisper into the microphone. An audio technician comes up, and they adjust the volume. Stephen isn’t a candidate but one of the main staffers for a candidate. He tells the guys on the stage to fix the audio and add padding to Gov. Mike Morris (George Clooney) side, so his height will match his opponent.
It’s election time, and Governor Mike Morris, a popular, idealistic candidate is going up against Senator Pullman in a Democratic primary. They have been campaigning hard, with Morris having a slight lead over Pullman. But Ohio is a crucial state. It is clear whoever wins Ohio, will win the nomination and will go on to run for President.
Morris and Pullman have their debate in which Pullman questions Morris’ views on religion. Morris deflects them easily saying he was a former catholic and does not know what happens after death. All he knows is he is not an atheist, Jewish, Muslim, or any other religion association. His religion is the constitution, and he will fight to protect it. The debate over, the two shake hands.
Stephen and Paul Zara (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), the senior campaign manager to Morris bump into Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti). Duffy is the head campaign manager for Pullman. Duffy and Stephen banter about how well Morris did in the debate. “Be careful.” Duffy says to Paul, “I might want to steal him from you.” Duffy leaves and Paul calls him an asshole.
Paul and Stephen have dinner with Ida (Marisa Tomei) a reporter they are both friendly with. Ida asks for a quote about Ohio and Paul says he will only say he is confident they will win. Nothing is guaranteed, and he will not go on record saying they will win if it blows up in their face. Paul asks Stephen about the race. “It’s ours for the taking.” Stephen says. Paul excuses himself, so Ida turns her attentions to Stephen. Stephen notes he has been on more campaigns than most people have when they’re 40, and he has never seen a guy like Morris. Ida scoffs at his optimism. “It won’t matter.” Ida says. If Morris wins, Stephen gets a job at the White House. If he loses, Stephen will get a high paying consulting job somewhere on K Street. Ida doesn’t buy into his idealism, thinking all politicians are the same.
At Morris HQ the next day, Stephen crosses paths with Molly (Evan Rachel Wood), an intern he had worked with before. Molly mentions the dive bar most of the interns go to and invites Stephen to have a drink with her the next night. Stephen agrees.
Paul has a meeting with Senator Thompson (Jeffery Wright) at his home. They need his endorsement so that his delegates will vote his way. Paul tells him that much. Thompson doesn’t respond. It’s clear he wants something.
Stephen and Morris have a meeting with the staffers. Stephen tells Morris he should go all the way on one of his policies; mandatory service via army, peace corp etc. in return for college tuition being paid. Stephen says it is win win; most will like it, and the ones who won’t are too young to vote. Stephen gets a call from his father and excuses himself. But it is not his dad. It is Duffy asking if he has five minutes. Stephen says they cannot talk but Duffy presses for a meeting, saying they will meet in a small bar where no one will see them. Stephen calls Paul and leaves a message and tells him that it’s important.
At the bar, Duffy cuts to the chase; he thinks Stephen is working for the wrong man. Duffy wants to recruit Stephen to Pullman’s camp. They already promised Senator Thompson a cabinet position, so the race is basically over. He can be with the winners, or he can stay and lose. Stephen refuses outright, saying he doesn’t have to play dirty politics anymore. “I got Morris!” Stephen says. Stephen goes to leave, and Duffy asks him. “Do you want to work for your friend or the President?” Duffy states cold, hard facts; Republicans are better at the game. They are more ruthless and cunning, and Democrats refuse to “get in the mud with the fucking elephants.”
Stephen is called by Paul asking what was wrong. Stephen lies and says it was nothing.
Molly and Stephen go for a drink that night. Molly reveals her father is Jack Stearne (Gregory Itzin), the DNC chairman and that he is an asshole. Molly asks how old Stephen is, and she correctly guesses 30. Molly reveals that she is 20. Molly asks if it’s too much of an age gap for a 20 year old to want to fuck a 30 year old. Stephen asks when she has to work tomorrow. Molly says nine. Molly happens to have the keys to the campaign bus, so they use it and drive back to Stephen’s hotel, parking on the curb.
The morning after. Stephen and Molly had slept together the night before and are getting dressed for work. Molly’s dad comes on the television, and Stephen watches and realizes the irony of watching the dad of the girl he just had sex with. Stephen asks she stay quiet about their dalliance and Molly promises to. Molly confesses she wanted to sleep with him for awhile and thinks she’s a bit “slutty” for being so aggressive. Stephen says she wasn’t and he respects her for being so forward. They kiss, and go their separate ways.
Stephen, Morris, and several staffers including Ben Harpen (Max Minghella) are on a plane going to another speech. The plane shakes a little bit, and Stephen gets queasy. Morris asks if he is all right. “We’re going to be fine. We have to do it, it’s the right thing to do, and nothing bad happens when you’re doing the right thing.” Stephen says. “Is that your personal theory?” Morris asks. “Because I can shoot holes in it.”
“Well there is exceptions to every rule.” Stephen says.
Morris asks if they are doing OK in the polls. Stephen says they are doing great. Morris tells him not to talk like Paul; Paul is paid to kiss his ass. Stephen is here to tell it to him straight. Stephen reiterates that it will be close, but they will be fine. Stephen makes his whole philosophy clear by saying, “I’ll do or say anything if I believe in it. But I have to believe in the cause.”
Morris does another speech to a younger crowd, who are also key voters. In the back, Stephen confesses to Paul that he met with Tom Duffy. He offered him a job and explained that Sen. Thompson is being promised a cabinet position. Paul is enraged that Stephen lied to him. Stephen says he thought it didn’t matter. “It doesn’t matter what you thought! It matters what you did. It matters what you DIDN”T do!” Paul screams. Paul tells Stephen to find an empty room. They are going to talk to Morris after the speech.
Morris finds out about Senator Thompson wanting to be Secretary of State in exchange for his endorsement. Morris refuses to budge saying they need win Ohio another way.
Morris’ team hits the pavement trying to rally support and do damage control in light of recent developments.
Morris and his wife Cindy talk in the car. Cindy tells him to give Thompson what he wants so they can win.
Stephen and the staffers are on the bus when he gets a IM from Molly asking if he wants to meet up again. They have sex again, but Stephen gets distracted by Morris on TV. They both laugh over the mood being broken.
Later, Molly is sleeping when her phone goes off. Stephen answers it, but they hang up. Stephen wakes her up and asks who would call her this late. Stephen says he’ll call back but Molly pleads for him not to. We find out why. It is Morris’ cell phone. Stunned, Stephen asks why she is calling the governor. Molly cracks and tells him Morris and she had an affair one time. Stephen asks why she is calling him again. “Because I need 900 dollars.” Molly says (she’s pregnant). Molly says she can’t go to her father because they are Catholic. Stephen is blown away; his squeaky clean candidate is more dirty than he thought.
The next day, Stephen tells Ben to take out the maximum petty cash they can withdraw (500). He meets with Molly, telling her to meet him later.
Stephen meets with Ida who drops a bombshell; she knows about his meeting with Tom Duffy. Stephen tries to deny it, but Ida reveals unless he gives her information on Thompson, she leak his story. Stephen says he thought they were friends. Ida scoffs, saying they are only friends because he gives scoops and she writes them in a favorable light.
Stephen calls Duffy who denies leaking the story. Stephen sees some men taking pictures and gets paranoid. He hangs up.
Stephen meets Molly with $1,800. She needs to get an abortion and then go home. She can no longer work on the campaign. Stephen said she made a big mistake and has to pay for it. He will take her to the clinic and take her to the hotel afterwards. Stephen takes Molly to the clinic, promising to pick her up afterward.
Stephen meets with Paul, talking about how they need to spin the Duffy/Stephen meeting. Ben is in the room, as well. Paul reveals he leaked the story. It will give them justification to fire him from the campaign. Stephen is shocked, but Paul goes on a monologue about loyalty. When Paul first started, he was working with a no name politician. The opposing side tried to poach him, but Paul was honest and told his candidate. His boss said he will not stop him from leaving, but Paul stayed loyal to him. They lost, but three years later, the guy ran for governor, using Paul as his manager and they won. “There is only one thing in this world I value which is loyalty. Without it, you’re nothing.” Paul says.
Paul tells Stephen he is fired, and Morris agrees with it. It is not because he isn’t good, or he doesn’t like him. It’s because they can’t trust him.
Molly is never picked up by Stephen. She eventually has to take a cab back to the hotel. Ben is in her room saying he just got promoted to Stephen’s job and Stephen was fired threatening to bring everyone down. Molly is scared, thinking she is about to be used as a pawn in Stephen’s game.
Stephen meets with Tom Duffy saying he wants in. Duffy says he knows he just got fired, and it will look bad if they take him on. “What if I have something? Something big.” Stephen asks. Duffy still won’t agree. Realization washes over Stephen. “You never intended on hiring me.” he says. Duffy talks around the issue but eventually admits it more or less. If he played off Paul’s ethics of loyalty so he would fire Stephen, they could poach him. If they didn’t want him, Paul and Morris still wouldn’t have him. Duffy would still cause a large blow to Morris’ campaign. Stephen is enraged, but Duffy tells him to leave politics because soon he will become jaded and cynical like the rest of them, and it will crush his idealistic soul.
Stephen goes back to the hotel and sees a man rush out of Molly’s room. He goes inside and sees her body on the floor. She killed herself. Stephen eyes her phone and steals it. He listens to her voicemail, pleading for him not to do anything rash (like leak her affair with Morris). Tears brim in his eyes.
Steven meets with Thompson, who seems to not know he was fired. Thompson reveals that he wants the cabinet position, and if he does not have confirmation from Morris by the next day, he will endorse Pullman. Stephen listens, stoically.
Morris holds a press conference about Molly’s death, claiming not to know her too well. He gets a call from Molly’s cell. Morris sees Stephen. The message is clear. Stephen wants to meet.
Stephen meets Morris in an empty restaurant. Stephen tells Morris to listen. He is going to fire Paul. Stephen will take over as the head manager. Morris WILL endorse Thompson and get his delegates support. They will win the primary and thus the nomination. Morris asks what he thinks he has. Stephen tells him that you can do a lot in this country; you can start wars, ruin the budget, take bribes. “But you can’t fuck the interns.” Stephen grimly states. Morris is defiant, telling him that everything is circumstantial. Stephen tells him that she was pregnant, and he took her to the clinic.
Morris goes on the defensive. The girl is dead. Since she had an abortion, there is no DNA evidence. It will just be Stephen’s word versus his. And he is just a disgruntled ex-staff member. Stephen says there was a note he took. Morris freezes momentarily. However, he quickly deduces there is no note and tells Stephen so. “It’s your call.” Stephen says.
Paul is getting a haircut and walks out a barbershop the next day. Morris is nearby in his SUV asking to talk for a minute. We don’t see or hear the conversation, but Paul gets out stunned. He has been fired. Paul later gets on TV, claiming new positive numbers made him, and Morris mutually decide to hand it over to someone different (Stephen).
Stephen attends Molly’s funeral while her father cries at the pulpit saying his daughter was a good person that enriched everyone she knew. Stephen talks to Paul, who reveals he knew Molly since she was born. Morris doesn’t attend the funeral, claiming to be working with Thompson, but Stephen knows the real reason why. Paul notes he got a consulting job on K Street for a million a year, a cushy job “where people won’t fuck you over.” Paul says that he and Stephen should have a beer one day, and Stephen can tell him what he had on Morris to make him fire Paul.
Thompson endorses Morris and asks for his delegates support in voting for Morris. Stephen watches from the crowd, apathetically watching as Thompson and Morris speak in platitudes when he knows their real character and motivations.
Ben is working in an office when a new intern, a brunette dead ringer for Molly introduces herself as Jill Morris (no relation).
Stephen is walking to an interview when he is stopped by Ida, asking if he wants to comment on a story she is doing. Ida claims that Stephen handed the Thompson endorsement to Morris and that he got Paul fired. Stephen dodges her questions. Ida pleads with him, saying, they are friends, right? Stephen looks at her and says, “You’re my best friend.”
Stephen sits in a chair to do a TV interview. As they put an earpiece in and check the audio, Stephen sits in the chair in silence and meditates on the past couple weeks. Duffy’s grim prediction has rung true; he is no longer hopeful about the future of politics. He is just another cog in the machine. Nothing ever changes. The only thing that has, is him. His idealism has been irrevocably shattered. He was willing to use Molly, a scared, young girl to get back at Morris and Paul. His actions indirectly caused her suicide.
Stephen listens as Morris gives his speech mentioning that integrity and dignity matters. Stephen now knows Morris has neither. Morris for all his talk is just like the rest of the politicians. He made serious mistakes, and when pushed came to shove he failed the test of character. Rather than own up to them, he swept his scandal under the rug and fired his loyal friend in order to cover up his transgressions.
The news broadcaster comes into the earpiece, saying they are speaking to new head manager of the Morris campaign, Stephen Myers. The newscaster asks him how recent upheavals including Thompson’s endorsement came to be. Stephen stares at the camera with a blank, chilling expression.

It’s a Clooney movie so you have to pay attention to the dialog. This was an excellent vehicle for both Gosling and Clooney. A number of Oscar nominations should come from this movie.

Rating: 4.7 out of 5.

The world has become a place where time has become currency. Thanks to scientific advances people can stop aging at 25, but it comes with a catch: after reaching 25 a person is genetically-engineered to live only one more year. The time is used as currency, you can earn more at work but you sell it for goods and other services. Once your time runs out, you die.
Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) is a young man living in the ghetto, one of the poorest Zones of the world. He lives day by day, making just enough to pass each day with the occasional charity from his mother Rachel Salas (Olivia Wilde). Inflation and raised quotas however make survival harder and harder, and Will sees young men and women dying in the streets. Like everyone else in the ghetto however, it is a fact of life to see people running out of time and dying everywhere young, and he only focuses on trying to earn enough to celebrate Rachel’s birthday.
After he finishes his work in a factory, Will and his friend Borel (Johnny Galecki) head to a bar. There they see a man treating everyone to drinks and drawing much attention to his arm, which lists him as having a century to live. Will knows that the man did not belong to the ghetto and was likely to draw attention to himself. Sure enough the Minutemen shows up, armed and ready to forcibly take the man’s time. Borel is naturally frightened of the confrontation and leaves, but Will interferes and helps the man escape. The two flee from the Minutemen and eventually find an old building to hide in. The man introduces himself as Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) and tells Will of the time-is-currency system. It had been established as a means of population control after the advances made in anti-aging proceses, but as people were still surviving the inflation and lower ‘wages’ were designed to continue in order to keep the population in control. This currency system also meant that the rich could live much longer then normal and essentially become immortal, while the poor died in dozens. Henry however is tired of living for so long, an indignant Will tells him that the rich basically did not deserve their time. Unwilling to abandon the depressed man, Will offers to stay with the man until tomorrow morning.
The next day however Will wakes alone, with a century of time and a message telling Will not to waste the time. Through a window, Will sees Henry seated on the edge of the bridge and realizes the man plans to commit suicide. He runs out to stop him, but just misses him as Henry’s time runs out and he falls into the river. Will sees street cameras recording him and runs back home.
He meets Borel with his family, and shows him his new time. To thank Borel for being his friend for so long, Will gives him a decade. Borel warns him that staying in the ghetto with that much time was going to get him killed, so Will takes that advice and calls a private car to pick him up and take him to a richer Time Zone. He has cleaned himself up to blend in with the rich, but his ghetto-habits remain as he often moved too fast as if running out of time.
Meanwhile, Henry’s body is discovered by the Timekeepers, a body of authority much like the police. Raymond Leon (Cillian Murphy) notices the street cameras and examines the footage. When he expresses surprise at learning about Will, his colleagues ask him if he knew the suspect and whether or not he had a criminal record. Raymond corrects them, telling them he did not know the current Will Salas but he did know the senior Will Salas, who was indeed a criminal before he died. Concerned that Will would be following his father’s footsteps, Raymond officially charges Will with theft and murder of Henry Hamilton. The Timekeepers were mobilized to locate and arrest Will Salas on the spot.
At a casino, Will meets Phillipe Weis (Vincent Kartheiser), arguably the richest man in the world. At a high stakes game, Will bets almost his whole life on the line and comes out as victor. Phillipe is impressed, as is Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), his beautiful but sheltered daughter. Phillipe invites Will to his mansion for another party, and partially to see Sylvia again, Will agrees. Knowing to be prepared, he purchases a car and drives to the Weis mansion. There Phillipe reintroduces him to Sylvia, as well as his wife Michele (Bella Heathcote) and mother-in-law, all three of whom looked the same age due to their wealthy background. The women are followed by guards all the time, but Will convinces Sylvia to let loose and have fun. Feeling oppressed by her father and his men, Sylvia agrees to take a swim in the water, connecting with Will and admitting that she wished she could often do something wild and crazy. Phillipe had always restricted his family members though, and sure enough he soon comes looking for her. Sylvia and Will had just made themselves presentable again when the Timekeepers appeared and arrests Will.
Raymond lays out the charges to Will and briefly mentions Will’s father before reclaiming the time Will had, reducing it to a few hours so that Will would live only until his execution. As soon as Raymond leaves, Will fights off the other Timekeepers and holds Sylvia hostage, escaping out the mansion. Raymond commits himself to chasing them, even taking personal risks that other Timekeepers avoided. Despite the car chase, Will manages to throw Raymond off their trial and escapes back to the ghetto with Sylvia, who bemoans the fact that she had wished for excitement.
As soon as they return to the ghetto, the two fall into a trap the Minuteman had set. They had been looking for Will, vengeful and angry at how Will had helped Henry escape. While Will and Sylvia remain unconscious, the Minutemen discover the Will only had a little time left and was thus worth nothing, Sylvia however had about a decade and so they take hers instead. The men were forced to run before they could take all her time, but Sylvia panics because she had never been reduced to having so little time. Will tells her that ghetto people lived day by day and she should not be worried, instead he brings her to find Borel, hoping that he could give them some time. To his grief, he learns that Borel had over indulged with the time he had been given, drinking himself to death and not only wasting the time but leaving him family alone.
Will manages to buy them more time by pawning off Sylvia’s diamond earrings, but knows it isn’t enough. He calls Phillipe and demands a ransom for Sylvia’s return, but Raymond intercepts the call and warns Will not to follow his father’s path. Will learns that his father’s crime was not stealing time but “something much more serious”, unfortunately he was preoccupied with other worries and instead focused on the ransom. His message was enough clues for Raymond, who deduced where Will was hiding and assured Phillipe he would bring his daughter back safely.
The next day the ransom is unpaid, Will says to Sylvia that it was likely because her father was prevented by the Timekeepers but Sylvia saw it as proof that her father didn’t care about her. Nevertheless, Will decides to let her go and tells her to make a call to her family. Since they were in the ghetto after all, he also gives her a gun to protect herself. Just as they split so that Sylvia can make her call, Raymond appears and nearly shoots an unsuspecting Will. A panicked Sylvia shoots Raymond instead, and Will corners Raymond and attempts to take his time. Raymond however has very little, for it is Timekeeper practice to carry only a little time to avoid being targets. Since Will was planning to take Raymond’s car he transfers some of his own time to him before Will and Sylvia hijacks the car and leaves him alone in the ghetto.
Timekeeper cars stored some time inside them, but not enough, and Sylvia realizes that using a police car was essentially asking for attention. They end up robbing another car and passenger, where they learn that they had both been officially recognized as convicts with a reward of ten years to anyone who could bring about their arrest. The news wasn’t just for the ghetto, it was in the whole world and Phillipe found himself in an international conference assuring his business partners that his daughter would not crash the current economic system. An injured Raymond manages to escape the ghetto, verbally harassed the whole time, and meets with Phillipe. The businessmen attempts to bribe Raymond into ‘rescuing’ his daughter but Raymond tells him that due to Sylvia’s actions, an arrest warrant will be placed for her as well. If Phillipe interferred and tried to save his daughter, Raymond will see him arrested as well.
Raymond’s caution was well deserved as Sylvia, partially after seeing the poverty of the ghetto and partially as revenge on her father, began taking a more active part in criminal activities. She and Will started robbing banks and giving away time, resisting the Timekeepers at all times. While this endeared them to most people in the ghetto, the Minutemen held onto grudges and eventually confronted them again. Will learns it is not just the rich and the Timekeepers oppressing the normal citizens, people like Minutemen were there as well, the poor preying on the poor and being allowed to do so as long as they did not start preying on the rich as well. Even with the extra time, people were still robbing and killing each other for it. The system was still working, if they wanted to overthrow it altogether it would require more years then they could find: or so it seemed. Sylvia knew where they could find that time – through her father.
Sylvia returns home, pretending to turn herself and distracting her father so that Will could sneak up on him. The three enter Phillipe’s vault, where they found all the million years he had gathered. Phillipe tries to tell them that at most they could replace the system with a similar one since it was always in an individual’s interest to live forever even at the cost of another’s, but the two convicts are unconvinced. After locking Phillipe in a room, the two convicts again return to the ghetto. While keeping the Timekeepers distracted, they pass the time to a little girl who starts giving it out to the people.
Raymond pursues Will and Sylvia to a remote area as they began to ran out of time. Will could see that Raymond was a dedicated officer, and judging by his ability to move guesses that Raymond himself came from the ghetto. Unfortunately, his dedication to duty meant neglect for himself, and Raymond runs out of time. He dies in front of them, and with minutes to spare Will manages to transfer some of the time stored in the car into himself. He manages to transfer some of Sylvia as well, saving her life. The two of them only had enough for a day, but they knew they could do plenty in a day, for time should never be wasted.
Soon, across the globe people from ghettos and other poor areas began moving to other Time Zones as they are living longer and helping each other do so. Watching the news, the Timekeepers decide that their jobs were finished. Phillipe and the rest of the rich world realize that a new order and system was coming to play. Any lingering remains of the old system was already being destroyed, for Will and Sylvia had taken it upon themselves to redistribute time by robbing the banks and giving time for people to live.

This is a 2011 adaptation of Logan’s Run and Soylent Green. A good vehicle for Justin Timberlake. Too bad he keeps taking roles in B and C movies when he is talented enough to be more selective and go for the big role that will get him an Oscar nod. He is multitalented for his age and should really be taking advantage of it. I cannot for the life of me figure out how Amanda Big Eyes keeps getting cast in movies. She can”t act and those big eyes are just annoying to look at. She was accurately cast in Red Riding Hood and will be a natural to play Igor if they ever do a remake of Young Frankenstein.

Yet another Sci Fi thriller. Very predictable but watchable.

Rating: 3.4 out of 5

In Venice, the Three Musketeers Athos (Matthew Macfadyen), Porthos (Ray Stevenson) and Aramis (Luke Evans), with the help of Athos’ lover, Milady de Winter (Milla Jovovich), steal airship blueprints made by Leonardo da Vinci. However, they are betrayed by Milady, who gives the blueprints to the Duke of Buckingham (Orlando Bloom). Upon returning to France, the Musketeers are forced to disband by Cardinal Richelieu (Christoph Waltz) for their failure.
One year later, the young D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman) leaves Gascony for Paris in hopes of becoming a Musketeer, like his father once was, only to learn that they no longer exist. D’Artagnan ends up challenging Captain Rochefort (Mads Mikkelsen), the leader of Richelieu’s guard, to a duel after being offended by him, but Rochefort merely shoots him while he’s distracted. In an attempt to get revenge, D’Artagnan offends Athos, Porthos and Aramis for petty reasons, and schedules duels with each of them, at the same day and at the same place, but in different times, not knowing who they are.
Before they can duel, however, D’Artagnan and the Musketeers are attacked by the guards for breaking the law by having a public duel. They fight the soldiers off, at which point D’Artagnan discovers their true identities, but end up being captured and brought before the young King Louis XIII (Freddie Fox) and his wife, Queen Anne (Juno Temple). Richelieu attempts to convince them to execute the four prisoners, but they are too impressed, and congratulate them instead, much to Richelieu’s anger.
Later, Richelieu meets with Milady, who is actually working for him. He orders her to plant false love letters among Queen Anne’s possessions and steal Queen Anne’s diamond necklace and hide it in the Tower of London with the objective of framing Queen Anne of having an affair with the Duke of Buckingham, who is in France on behalf of the King of England, and who has built a fully armed airship using the designs stolen from the Musketeers. The affair would force King Louis to execute Queen Anne and declare war on England. At this point, the people would demand a more experienced leader for the country: Richelieu himself. Before leaving, Milady demands that Richelieu gives her an authorization declaring that she was working on behalf of France’s best interests.
However, Queen Anne’s lady-in-waiting Constance Bonacieux (Gabriella Wilde) discovers his plan and pleads with the Musketeers to stop Richelieu. They follow Milady and Buckingham to London, while Constance is kidnapped by Rochefort for helping the Musketeers to escape from him. Meanwhile, King Louis finds the false letters and is advised by Richelieu to set up a ball in which Queen Anne would be forced to wear the necklace. If she doesn’t, then her affair is real, and there will be war.
In London, Milady warns Buckingham of the Musketeers arrival, claiming that they want revenge for being outsmarted by Buckingham one year prior. Buckingham captures D’Artagnan and prepares to interrogate him when D’Artagnan reveals that he was acting as a decoy to allow the Musketeers to steal Buckingham’s airship. They rescue D’Artagnan and capture Milady, who gives them the authorization in an attempt to have her life spared. Upon realizing she failed, she jumps out of the airship into the English Channel.
The Musketeers recover the necklace and return to Paris, only to be attacked by Rochefort, piloting an airship secretly built by Richelieu, who was given copies of Da Vinci’s blueprints by Milady. Rochefort feigns an attempt to exchange Constance for the necklace in order to capture D’Artagnan, but the Musketeers come to his rescue and the two ships crash in the Notre Dame Cathedral, where D’Artagnan fights and defeats Rochefort, rescuing Constance, who returns the necklace to Queen Anne.
The Musketeers arrive at the ball and, for the sake of King Louis’ and his people, lie by saying that Rochefort was trying to sabotage an airship that Richelieu built for them, for the purpose of identifying a traitor. To convince King Louis, Athos presents Milady’s authorization, which King Louis accepts. Richelieu, satisfied, offers the Musketeers a place in his army, but they refuse, which infuriates Richelieu, who swears revenge.
Meanwhile, at sea, Milady is rescued by Buckingham, who reveals that he intents to avenge her and destroy the Musketeers. It is revealed that Buckingham is advancing towards France with a massive fleet of airships and sea-faring ships.

This must be the 40th remake or adaptation of this story line. Updated of course with some CGI and more spectacular effects, it wasdefinitely a fun romp if you like this genre of movie. It was definitely made for the PG audience, but still worth seeing.

Rating 3.8 out of 5.

The theory that it was in fact Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford, who penned Shakespeare’s plays. Set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I and the Essex rebellion against her.

A great period piece. This movie was excellent. Of course, I did minor in English Literature, and Shakespeare was also very fascinating. While we may never know who really wrote Shakespeare’s works, this is definitely a good theory. While there were obvious period factual flaws, it was an amazing movie. It is a shame that works of this nature do not appeal to the less enlightened populace.

Rating: 4.8 out of 5.

Note: this is an English-language adaptation of the Swedish novel trilogy by Stieg Larsson. But with the same setting in Stockholm, Sweden. This is the American Version of the first movie in the Swedish trilogy.
On his birthday, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), retired CEO of Vanger Industries, receives a pressed flower in the mail from an anonymous sender and phones retired inspector Gustaf Morell (Donald Sumpter).
Co-owner of the magazine Millennium, Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is swarmed by reporters as he leaves a courthouse, having lost a libel suit leveled against him by corrupt businessman Hans-Erik Wennerstrom (Ulf Friberg). His reputation destroyed and his life savings gone, Blomkvist returns to the office and informs his co-owner Erika Berger (Robin Wright), who is also his lover, that he is resigning.
Dirch Frode (Steven Berkoff), the attorney of Henrik Vanger, meets with Dragan Armansky (Goran Vijnic) at the headquarters of Milton Security, having requested a background check on Blomkvist. Armansky has arranged for Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a teenage girl with multiple tattoos and facial piercings whom is his best researcher and computer hacker, to come in and personally report her findings on Blomkvist.
On Christmas, Blomkvist receives a phone call from Frode summoning him to the Vanger estate on Hedeby Island in Hedestad for a face-to-face meeting with Henrik. Upon his arrival, Henrik explains that he is interested in hiring Blomkvist to investigate the murder of his niece Harriet Vanger, who disappeared from the island over 40 years ago. Before she vanished, Harriet would give Henrik a pressed flower for his birthday every year, a tradition that he believes has been continued by the person responsible for her disappearance. Convinced that someone in the family murdered Harriet, Henrik will allow Blomkvist to conduct his investigation out of a cottage on the island, under the guise of writing a memoir about Henrik and his life. Blomkvist is reluctant to accept, until Henrik offers him incriminating evidence that would validate his claims against Wennerstrom.
Lisbeth pays a visit to the home of her legal guardian Holger Palmgren (Bengt C.W. Carlsson) and discovers that he has had a stroke. Ruled legally incompetent as a child, Lisbeth is a ward of the state and she is placed under the guardianship of lawyer Nils Bjurman (Yorick Van Wageningen), who takes full control of her finances and forces her to perform sex acts on him in exchange for access to her money. One night, when she requests money for food, he has Lisbeth come to his apartment, where he handcuffs her to his bed and proceeds to rape and sodomize her, unaware that she has secretly recorded the crime using a hidden camera on her backpack. Taking up residence in the cottage, Blomkvist begins his investigation of Harriet, taking particular interest in a notebook of Harriets that has a list of five names and a corresponding five-digit number for each of them. Speaking with Morell, the chief investigator who was called in when Harriet first disappeared, Blomkvist is informed that they are simply random local phone numbers. But a surprise visit from his daughter yields unexpected results, and he discovers that the names all belong to victims of unsolved murder cases and the numbers refer to specific bible verses in the Book of Leviticus that each depicts the different methods used in each killing.
When her computer is damaged during an attempted mugging in which she savagely beat her would-be attacker, Lisbeth goes to the apartment of Bjurman to get funds for a replacement, and she tasers him when he answers the door. Tying him up in his own bedroom, Lisbeth tortures him and reveals that she recorded the previous nights rape and intends to release it all over the Internet if he doesnt allow her to control her own finances and apply to have her status of legal incompetence rescinded. Before she leaves, she tattoos I AM A RAPIST PIG on his chest and informs him that she will kill him if he ever brings another woman to his apartment.
Just as Blomkvist begins to suspect that he is on the trail of a serial killer, Henrik falls ill and Blomkvist must now answer to Frode and Martin Vanger (Stellan Skarsgaard), brother of Harriet and current CEO of Vanger Industries who also lives on the island. Blomkvist requests a research assistant and Frode recommends Lisbeth, revealing that he paid for a background check on Blomkvist, which he demands to see. After reviewing the file, Blomkvist realizes that Lisbeth hacked into his computer and pressures Dragan Armansky into giving him her address for a face-to-face meeting.
Lisbeth is initially suspicious when Blomkvist shows up on her doorstep, but she relents when he reveals that he needs her assistance in finding a serial killer of women. She agrees.
While he is waiting for Lisbeth to come to the cottage, Blomkvist takes a stroll across the island and is shot at by an unseen gunman, sending him fleeing back to the cottage where he finds that Lisbeth has arrived and even begun to set up surveillance cameras. After treating his head wound, Lisbeth strips naked and the two of them have sex, despite the initial reluctance of Blomkvist.
While Lisbeth is off collecting information about each of the murders, Blomkvist discovers photos from a parade that Harriet attended on the day she disappeared, which imply that she saw something that frightened her. Visiting a woman who was also present at the parade, Blomkvist finds that she has an obscured picture of a mysterious man standing across the street from Harriet, whom he believes to be the killer. Once Lisbeth arrives on the island and presents her information from each murder, Blomkvist asks Frode and Martin for access to their corporate archives, in hopes of finding a connection between the company and the different locations of each killing.
Scouring the archives dating back to the 1940s, Lisbeth discovers that Gottfried Vanger, the late brother of Henrik, was in the same town as each of the women during the time they were murdered, with the exception of one victim who was killed two years after Gottfried downed in the lake outside his home on the island.
Back on the island, Blomkvist pays a visit to Harald Vanger (Per Myrberg), a recluse who is shunned by the rest of the family for being a Nazi, and asks to see some pictures he took from the days after Harriet first disappeared. One photo in particular catches his attention, because the person in the photo is wearing the same school uniform as the mysterious man from the parade. Blomkvist asks Harald to identify this man and he says that it is Martin when he was only a teenager.
Back at the archives, Lisbeth begins to notice that Martin is visible in the background of news clippings of Gottfried visiting each of the towns on business, having accompanied his father on his travels. She then realizes that the final victim, killed two years after the death of Gottfried, studied at the same school as Martin, leading her to believe that he took after his father.
Unable to reach Lisbeth due to poor cell phone reception, Blomkvist decides to break into Martins house alone and look for clues, but he is caught and led at gunpoint by Martin to a secret basement where he is knocked unconscious and hung from his neck. Martin reveals that this is where all of his killings take place and he even had a girl held captive there when he, Blomkvist, and Frode met at his house a couple days ago. But when Blomkvist suggests that he killed Harriet, Martin becomes furious and admits that he too has no idea what happened to Harriet. Just as he is about to kill Blomkvist, Lisbeth appears behind him and strikes Martin in the face with a golf club, having checked the cottage surveillance cameras and seen Martin looking for Blomkvist. Martin flees in his car and, after cutting Blomkvist loose, Lisbeth gives chase on her motorcycle, causing him to crash and then die in the resulting explosion.
With Martin dead, Blomkvist pays a visit to Anita Vanger (Joely Richardson) in London, who was the best friend of Harriet, but she is surprisingly unaffected by the news. Confronting her further, Blomkvist discovers that she is, in fact, Harriet. When she was a teenager, her father Gottfried would repeatedly rape her and eventually Martin began to do so as well. After fighting back one night and drowning her father in the lake, Harriet thought the nightmare was over, until she saw Martin at the parade, watching her intently from across the street after leaving school. Determined to get out, Harriet turned to Anita for help, who smuggled her off the island and whose identity Harriet assumed once she died several years later. Harriet has also been the one sending Henrik the flowers, intending for them to be a sign to him that she is living well.
After Harriet returns to Sweden and back to the island for a tearful reunion with Henrik, Blomkvist discovers that the evidence Henrik has against Wennerstrom is useless, having past the statute of limitations. But Lisbeth reveals that she has hacked into his computer and offers Blomkvist the evidence he needs, which he uses to convince Erika Berger to publish another article exposing Wennerstrom. When Wennerstrom goes on the run once the allegations and evidence become public, Lisbeth travels Europe in disguise and converts all of his funds into bonds which she takes for herself, making it appear as if he has emptied his accounts and taken it all for himself. His criminal associates are none too pleased and, in a matter of days, news breaks that Wennerstrom has been found dead.
Having done all of this for Blomkvist, Lisbeth intends to declare her love for him by presenting him with a motorcycle jacket she saw in an old photograph on his computer. But, when she arrives at this apartment, Lisbeth sees him happily walking off with Erika, prompting her to throw his gift into a dumpster and then drive off on her motorcycle.

Even though I had previously seen the Swedish versions, this one kept my interest although I did have a number of deja vu moments as it followed the book and the Swedish movie very closely. The American Lisbeth fit the part so well, I initially thought she was the same actress in the Swedish version. Daniel Craig continues to demonstrate he is a serious actor and not just another pretty face.

Rating 5 out of 5.

On assignment in Budapest to intercept a courier working for a person of interest code-named “Cobalt”, IMF agent Trevor Hanaway is killed by an assassin named Moreau. Hanaway’s team leader, Jane Carter, and newly promoted field agent Benji Dunn extract Ethan Hunt and Hunt’s source Bogdan from a Moscow prison. Hunt is recruited to lead Carter and Dunn to infiltrate the secret Moscow Kremlin archives and locate files identifying Cobalt. Halfways through the mission, someone broadcasts across the IMF frequency, alerting the Russians to Hunt’s team. Although Hunt, Dunn and Carter escape, a bomb destroys the Kremlin and Russian agent Sidirov accuses Hunt of masterminding the attack.
The IMF extracts Hunt from Moscow. The Russians have called the attack an undeclared act of war and the US president activates “Ghost Protocol”, a black operation contingency that disavows the entire IMF. Hunt and team are to take the blame for the attack, but will be allowed to escape from government custody so that they may operate to track down Cobalt. Before Hunt can escape, the IMF’s secretary is killed by Russian security forces led by Sidirov, leaving Hunt and intelligence analyst William Brandt to find their own way out. The team identifies Cobalt as Kurt Hendricks, a Swedish-born Russian nuclear strategist who believes the weak must die for the strong to survive, and so plans to start a nuclear war to start the next stage of human evolution. Hendricks bombed the Kremlin and acquired a Russian nuclear launch-control device, and now needs its codes from the Budapest courier in order to launch a nuclear missile at America.
The exchange between Moreau and Hendricks’ right-hand man, Wistrom, is due to take place at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. There, Hunt’s team-members separately convince Moreau and Wistrom that they have made the exchange with one another. However, Moreau identifies Brandt as an agent. While Hunt chases Wistrom only to realize Wistrom is actually Hendricks in disguise as Hendricks escapes with the codes Carter detains Moreau. Moreau attempts to kill the inexperienced Dunn, and Carter throws her out a window to her death. Brandt accuses Carter of compromising the mission for revenge against Moreau, but Hunt accuses Brandt of keeping secrets from them, as he has displayed fighting skills atypical of an analyst. While Hunt seeks more information from Bogdan, Brandt admits he was assigned as security detail to Hunt and his wife Julia while on assignment. Julia was killed by a Serbian hit squad, prompting Ethan to pursue and kill them before he was caught by the Russians and sent to prison.
Bogdan and his arms-dealer cousin inform Hunt that Hendricks will be in Mumbai. Hendricks facilitated the sale of a defunct Soviet military satellite to Indian telecommunications entrepreneur Brij Nath (Anil Kapoor), which could be used to transmit the order to fire a missile. While Brandt and Dunn infiltrate the server room to take the satellite offline, Carter gets Nath to reveal the satellite override code. But Hendricks has anticipated Hunt’s plan and takes Nath’s servers offline before sending a signal from a television broadcasting tower to a Russian nuclear submarine in the Pacific. The submarine fires on San Francisco. Hunt pursues Hendricks and the launch device while the other team-members attempt to bring the broadcast station back online. Hunt and Hendricks fight over the launch-control device before Hendricks jumps to his death with it to ensure the launch. Dunn kills Wistrom, allowing Brandt to restore power to the station and enabling Hunt to deactivate the missile. He is confronted by Sidirov, who sees Hunt has stopped the missile, proving the IMF is innocent in the Kremlin bombing.
The team reconvenes weeks later. Hunt issues them new assignments. Brandt refuses to accept the mission, but Hunt reveals that Julia’s death was staged, as he knew he could not protect her and used her death as a pretext to infiltrate a Russian prison and get close to Bogdan, an IMF source on Hendricks. Relieved of his guilt, Brandt accepts his mission while Hunt watches Julia from afar. They share a smile before he goes off on his next mission.

This is the 4th and in my opinion the best of the Tom Cruise Mission Impossible genre. If one were to make a guess, the next MI movies in this franchise will feature Jeremy Renner as the star and may bypass Cruise. A good choice in my opinionl

Rating: 4.4 out of 5.