When In Rome

OK the first entry for TOP TEN WORST MOVIES OF 2010 is this horrid wannabe 60's love comedy. The story is about a an ambitious New Yorker, Kristen Bell, who is completely unlucky in love. On a trip to Rome, she steals coins from a fountain of love, and is then pursued by a band of suitors. One being Danny Devito!?! Kristen tries lots of slapstick comedy and fails horribly. There is ZERO chemistry between her and Josh Duhamel who walks around as if he should be the new James Bond, he should, I hate the current Bond.
Guess who plays Kristen's father? Sonny Crockett, Don Johnson from Miami Vice.
He looks like he is ready to get back to work however he walks thru the role as if he is waiting for the words "CUT" and his paycheck.
Supporting characters are weak and editing is shoddy.

VERDICT: There is no reason whatsoever for you to see this movie. The Guggenheim Museum stars in this movie poorly. To see it in a great action scene rent The International.

Dear John

The film is about a soldier who falls for a conservative college student while he's home on leave. The solider is new star Channing Tatum who improves with every role. This is his Richard Gere (check me out in a uniform role). This may be the first Abacrombie & Fitch movie. Every time I saw the stars in various scenes I felt like I was looking at an ad for clothing. Tatum was not from a rich family in the movie but his clothing looked tailor made. They dressed Tatum way better than female lead Amanda Seyfried, young lead from Mama Mia, but they could both moonlight being models. Given that the movie was better than I expected. The acting was strong as well as the supporting cast. Henry Thomas, Elliot from E.T., is in the movie and it was good seeing him all grow'd up and in a decent role.

Verdict: Excellent date movie. Not mushy and silly and has the testosterone of war.

Wolfman

Where do I begin, to tell the story of a remake that is so wrong.
Universal Studios treasures their monsters, Frankenstein, Dracula, etc. So someone at the studio wanted to bring back Wolfman however they didn't change a story that was made in 1941? This movie is almost exactly the same and with all the vampire movies that are out and the young Twilight franchise killing the box office (no pun intended) you can't come out with an old story with an old star. With all due respect I love Benicio Del Toro he is one of the greatest living character actors and this was suppose to be his franchise. But he's too old (they needed someone in their 20's)and the story should be present day so audiences can relate. This remake is similar to the 1998 Psycho remake that Vince Vaughn (yes V.V. was Norman Bates) made and was a bomb at the box office. There are some movies that need to be updates when you remake them. I also didn't understand why the movie was rated R? There was zero sex and that was hard to endure with the fetching Emily Blunt (a great new star)walking around. He's the Wolfman, he's suppose to want to bite women! Of course there was plenty of blood but you see as much blood on cable these days. The great Anthony Hopkins is wasted as the Wolfman's father.

Verdict: Don't waste your time or money. Rent 21 Grams to see Benicio Del Toro in his greatest performance.

Valentine's Day

All the critics hated this movie. I just saw it and enjoyed it. Of course it was a rip off of Love Actually but I got what I expected when I purchased my ticket, a fluff movie with not much of a story and happy endings. What I didn't expect was Ashton Kutchner's good performance among all the Oscar winners that are in the movie. His performance was honest and laid back as opposed to his bouncing off the walls Punk'd performances of late.
Gary Marshall, the director, has been making hits for years and he gives the audience what they want. Most of the actors in this movie have worked with him. There are even some inside jokes that the actors make during the closing credit bloopers.

Verdict: Nice movie that moves quickly and gives you exactly what you expect. Expect more movies with various A list stars. This is just the beginning.

Legion

A year ago there was mention from sources in Hollywood that “end of the world” movies were coming.
Legion is one of many and hopefully one of the remaining few.
The story, which is ludicrous and offensive, is about when God loses faith in humankind, he sends his legion of angels to bring on the Apocalypse.
I feel that the star of the movie, Paul Bettany, does not have the charisma nor the star power to keep you interested in the story. The rest of the cast try hard to be believable but the only end up looking stupid. The director, Scott Stewart, has not done many movies and it shows.
All of the special effects in the movie you have seen before. The only cool effect was how the angels fought with their wings however seeing that is not worth the price of admission.

Verdict: Whoever worked on putting together the trailer for this movie should get an Academy Award because the movie is no where close to being as good as those 2 minutes.

Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson wants to be in front of a camera again, why? He is super rich from directing, he already embarrassed himself from a DUI, and his face is full of tracks and crevasses from years of smoking. Maybe he wants to be Clint Eastwood. Whatever the reason Mel was and still is a good actor vs. the many celebrity wanna be actors that are flooding our screens.
Edge of Darkness is about a loner Boston detective Thomas Craven investigating the death of his activist daughter, he uncovers not only her secret life, but a corporate cover-up and government collusion that attracts an agent tasked with cleaning up the evidence. Sounds convoluted? it is. In layman's terms its Mel against corporate America. It reminded me of Harrison Ford in 2006 Firewall. Both movies are "B" movies with "A" grade actors. Mel nails the role of Craven right down to the Boston accent. There is one scene in Edge of Darkness that brings back memories of Lethal Weapon #1. Mel is handcuffed to a gurney in a dark, wet, basement type facility. He breaks himself loose and as soon as that happened I expected Gary Busey to walk in. Mel however has his shirt on rather than off.
If Mel wants to continue to act I look forward to it but he needs to find the same great material that he deals with as a director.

Verdict: Go back and watch Taken if you want to see a father get revenge for his daughter's death.

The Book of Eli

What I expected from this movie was a predictable post-apocalyptic action movie. I was surprised to see that my expectations were exceeded due to a plot twist.
The story is about a lone man (Denzel Washington) that fights his way across America in order to protect a book that holds the secrets to starting a new world. At times the movie feels like a Clint Eastwood western and then there are times that it feels like a Mad Max movie. The Hughes Brothers, ( directors of Menace 2 Society), have done a good job putting together this move and have left room for a sequel.
Denzel is good as always with a refreshing appearance from Jennifer Beals. Mila Kunis plays her daughter and is very good. Gary Oldman shows that in his old age he can still play a bad guy with the best of them (remember The Professional?). He comes across like a reptile in various scenes in the movie.

Verdict: It’s not a slam, bang, action movie. It’s just COOL!