Monthly Movies: Fall 2011

Hmmm... for some reason I haven't been able to keep up my Monthly Movies this year! I keep playing catch-up by writing about several months at a time like I did with the Summer Movies. Not good... I need to get into the habit of signing in and writing a quick something about each movie when I get home right after having seen it, 'cause otherwise when it comes time to write the post I don't always remember what I wanted to say! This Fall it hasn't helped that I haven't been too inspired by what I saw on-screen, and those I did really enjoy I told you about in Movie Magic or Madness posts. Anyhow, in an attempt to get things back on track, here's a brisk run down of the movies I've seen this Fall. They include some spy tales, romance, drama, fantasy, period drama... Let me know if you've seen them and what you thought of them!

The Debt: With the always fabulous Helen Mirren, turns out we got this movie a year after the rest of the world! A remake of a 2007 Israeli film, it's the tale of a Mossad squad responsible for capturing/assassinating a Nazi war criminal who avoided trial. We see the original mission via flashbacks as two of the surviving team members deal with the death of the third over 30 years later. I remember it being quite thrilling, but otherwise don't remember much else about my original impression 3 months later! :p

Larry Crowne: A sweet and inspiring turn with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, which has probably done wonders for the sale of Vespas! I enjoyed it a lot and thought both leads did a pretty good job with their roles. Funny detail: the company in charge of publicity for the film got fined by the Spanish government for "promoting dangerous driving habits" because of the promotional posters in which the protagonists are shown riding around without helmets! :p

The Three Musketeers: I'm still lamenting what they did to one of my all-time favourite novels. I went on and on about this steam-punk version of Dumas' masterpiece here.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2: Second viewing of the final installment of Harry's adventures, enjoying the chance to see it in English since it was one of the rare films that has showed up in our "one un-dubbed movie per week" movie theatre. I enjoyed it just as much the second time around and am looking forward to popping the dvd in as soon as I get it so I can write the "Page vs Screen" post I started drafting back in July! :p

Abduction (Sin Salida in Spanish): I laughed a bit inside when my dad suggested watching this one... he clearly didn't know he was going "Team Jacob" by choosing this! ;o)  He just felt like watching an action flic and there wasn't anything else playing so... I guess it wasn't that bad, but it was very predictable.

The Adventures of Tintin: I've been looking forward to this Spielberg-Jackson team effort for a couple of years now, and they did not disappoint! Those of you in the States should be getting it on your screens in a couple of weeks. My initial take on it is here, and I can't wait for the next installment! :o)

The Help: my choice for a Thanksgiving cinematic outing, and 10 days later I'm still really happy with it! Here's my initial reaction.

Breaking Dawn part 1: Little cinematic outing my sister and I granted ourselves on Thanksgiving weekend, living in different countries we don't get to hang out much, so really enjoyed this chance for a little sisterly bonding over a cinematic guilty pleasure. ;o)  Initially I wasn't happy to hear they'd decided to go the Harry Potter route with this book and divide in two movies (back when they announced it), but now that I've seen it I'd say it was a pretty good call! It feels more like a complete movie than the first HP: Deathly Hallows did, and that final image is both perfect to end it and to launch the final instalment due to come out sometime next year. As to the quality of the film itself, well I think it was very well done (the pregnancy was particularly successful), but definitely one for fans of the books!

I think that's it for this Fall... I'm starting up the draft for December's Monthly Movies and based on what's available in the cinema right now, I'm going to suffer from an excess of riches! There are already 5 films on screen that look really good, plus whatever else comes out... no way I'm going to be able to see all those I want! :p