Short Review: Red Tails

Grade: A-

Based on the true story of the Tuskegee Airmen, an all African-American crew of WWII fighter pilots.

Great movie. Fantastic action scenes. Great story. Writing is shaky at points. Top notch cast.

Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Nate Parker, Tristan Wilds, David Oyelowo, Ne-Yo and more.

Attention span must last 2 hours 5 minutes to enjoy.

Short Review: The Grey

Grade: B

A group of oil rig workers crash in the middle of Alaska and fight for survival.

A fun survival thriller. Interesting story. Ending might upset some people.

Liam Neeson, Durmot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts and more.

Attention span must last 1 hour 57 minutes to enjoy.

Podcast: Episode 39

Head over to sutmspod.wordpress.com to hear the latest episode of Shut Up! The Movie's Starting, the official podcast of Cucu for Movies.

In this episode they discuss the movies The Grey (in theaters now) and Red Tails (in theaters now), there was no Netflix movie this week, sorry. They also discuss Man on a Ledge, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, We Bought A Zoo, Death Race 2, Snatch, Crank, Real Genius, Oscar nominations, Val Kilmer, Galaxy Quest is the best Star Trek movie, great actions stars who do shitty rom-coms, Guy Pierce is awesome, Space Prison: The Movie, a possible new Monty Python movie? and so much more!

Short Review: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Grade: B-

A young boy wanders the streets of New York City by himself trying to find the lock that matches a key left behind by his father who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Good story. Interesting premise. Extremely manipulative. Great cast that does virtually nothing.

Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max Von Sydow, John Goodman, Viola Davis, Jeffery Wright and more.

Attention span must last 2 hours 9 minutes to enjoy.

Short Review: Man on a Ledge

Grade: B-

An escaped felon threatens to jump off a building in order to gain an audience so he can prove his innocence.

Better than expected. Good story with some fun twists. Satisfying ending.

Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Ed Harris, Jamie Bell, Genesis Rodriguez, Anthony Mackie and more.

Attention span must last 1 hour 43 minutes to enjoy.

Short Review: Underworld: Awakening

Grade: B

Selene wakes up in a lab after 12 years and now must uncover a conspiracy in a world where humans now hunt lycans and vampires.

Surprisingly good movie. Very entertaining with some really fun action scenes. Plot is a little loose but who cares, this is how werewolves and vampires are supposed to be. No sparkling.

Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy, Theo James and more.

Attention span must last 1 hour 28 minutes to enjoy.

Short Review: Haywire

Grade: B

A black ops soldier for hire is betrayed by her employer and seeks revenge in order to clear her name.

A fun action thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh. The fight scenes are great. Story is nothing new but still very enjoyable.

Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Angarano, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender and more.

Attention span must last 1 hour 33 minutes to enjoy.

84th Oscar Nominations

Go to www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/84/nominees.html to see the complete list of nominations.

I just want to make a few comments about the nominations.

The Good:

First and foremost I would like to say that I am extremely happy that Melissa McCarthy got a best supporting actress nomination for Bridesmaids. Usually the Academy skips movies like Bridesmaids and she was the best part of that movie and it was one of my favorites of the year.

Bridesmaids was also nominated for best writing which is awesome.

Rooney Mara gets a much deserved Best Actress nomination.

Really glad that Jonah Hill was nominated Best Supporting Actor for Moneyball as that was a great performance and unlike anything he has done before.

Rango was by far the best Animated movie of the year, glad to see it's nomination and glad Cars 2 was not nominated.

Directing category looks pretty good this year. Lots of competition and I don't know at this time who I would pick to win this one.

Glad to see "Man or a Muppet" written by Bret McKenzie nominated for best original song. A bit surprised there are only 2 nominations in that category.

If for no other reason than the perfect/eerie sound of teeth scattering across the floor in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo does that movie deserve to win Best Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

9 movies for best picture this year and they all seem like quality movies.

I'm glad that comedies weren't completely ignored this year with 2 nominations going to Bridesmaids and 4 nominations, including Best Picture, going to Midnight in Paris.

The Bad/Snubs:

I cannot believe that 50/50 did not get ONE nomination. That movie was amazing and perfect in every way. Joseph Gordon-Levitt deserves a best actor nomination. It deserves a Best Writing nomination and, in my opinion, a Best Picture nomination.

Michael Parks should have gotten a nomination for Best Actor for his performance in Red State but I knew that movie would be ignored. It was the best and most chilling performance I think I've ever seen and even if you don't like the movie it is hard not to like that performance.

Albert Brooks should have gotten a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Drive.

I know it's a source of controversy but Andy Serkis was amazing as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and should have gotten a nomination. It might not be his face but it is his performance.

Every year I insist on seeing every movie nominated for best picture and most years that is just fine. I have to say, I am really upset that I have to sit through War Horse this year. I was really hoping to avoid that.

Kind of surprised that given all of its other nominations that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo did not get a Best Picture nomination.

I also feel that We Bought a Zoo should have gotten some nominations. Best Writing in the very least.

Update:

Young Adult was completely overlooked. Patton Oswalt should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Charlize Theron for Best Actress. As well as possible nominations for Best Writing and Directing.

Lars Von Trier overlooked for Best Director.

Tilda Swinton should have been nominated for Let's Talk About Kevin.

Podcast: Episode 38

Head over to sutmspod.wordpress.com to hear the latest episode of Shut Up! The Movie's Starting, the official podcast of Cucu for Movies.

In this episode Michael and Russell discuss the movies Underworld: Awakening (in theaters now), Haywire (in theaters now) and Kill the Irishman (available on Netflix Streaming). Unfortunately this episode was cut short, only 20 minutes, due to illness.

Short Review: We Bought A Zoo

Grade: A

After his wife's death, a father decides to buy a new home that is also a zoo that needs to be renovated and re-opened.

Great writing. Amazing acting. Very touching story. The little girl is adorable.

Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Hayden Church, Elle Fanning, Colin Ford, Maggie Elizabeth Jones and more.

Attention span must last 2 hours 4 minutes to enjoy.