Reviews: Bounty Hunter, Percy Jackson and More!

#32: The Bounty Hunter. Starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. Rated PG-13. 1 hour 50 minutes. Critics Grade: 08%. My Grade: D. There really is not much I can really say about this movie. For me, there was virtually nothing redeeming about the story or the characters. I didn't find it very funny, maybe a rare little chuckle here and there. Both these characters are terrible to watch and are not likable at all. The performances seem really staged and fake. The story is incredibly predictable and unoriginal. Plus...I hate romantic comedies. So I was just destined to not like this movie.

#33: Brooklyn's Finest. Starring Richard Gere and Don Cheadle. Rated R. 2 hours 12 minutes. Critics Grade: 43%. My Grade: C+. Here we have a multi story cop drama with nothing entirely new to offer. Honestly the overall storyline is fairly cliched and you can pretty much predict how it will end up. That being said, I somewhat liked this movie. I thought it was dark and filmed with a brilliant style. You never feel good or happy while watching any of this movie. That reflects well from the characters and the solid performances from the cast. The story may be unoriginal but it's hard to call this a bad film. With the cast it has, it's really hard to discredit a movie like this. As a cop drama, I think it just barely works. It was good enough for me to enjoy on a one time viewing. Not one I'd probably ever watch again, it is a bit slow. Overall though...pretty OK movie.

#34: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Starring Logan Lerman. Rated PG. 1 hour 58 minutes. Critics Grade: 50%. My Grade: C-. This is being called a Harry Potter ripoff. In a sense yes, it rips of the Potter franchise and also the Narnia franchise. But this is still it's own movie. In terms of a fantasy film...I've seen much better ones in my life. This one is rather flat and doesn't have a very exciting tale to tell. It doesn't feel very adventurous to me. I think it had some great visual effects and the director did a fantastic job bringing this fictitious world to life. The performances, overall, were pretty good. Mainly from the lesser of the cast, the random supporting characters that popped up here and there. Logan Lerman is typically a talented young actor, but he doesn't carry the film well on his shoulders here as the title character. He's good...just not all that great. He's attractive though hehe. The movie has some entertaining moments but overall it's not the kind of movie I'd recommend to most people. It was OK.

#35: Chloe. Starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried. Rated R. 1 hour 36 minutes. Critics Grade: 52%. My Grade: C-. This is one hell of a shocking movie. Meaning it's shocking to watch based on it's subject material. This is a sexual thriller with a lot of sexual and not a lot of thriller. It's a pretty damn dirty film. The material has been done time and time again. There's nothing new here with this one. I didn't much care for the writing of the film and the characters are a bit dull and unlikable because they are all total jerks. The performances however are GREAT! Julianne Moore is one one of my favorites and dammit to hell already...give that lady an Oscar!! The performances are really the only solid thing about this movie. Otherwise, it's gross and kind of boring.

#36: The Kids Are All Right. Starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. Rated R. 1 hour 46 minutes. Critics Grade: 96%. My Grade: A-. Finally, we have the best full on dramatic film of the year. This will be a controversial film I'm sure...but screw everyone who says gay marriage is wrong. I say you are wrong and go jump off a cliff after you fall off your high horse and break your leg. This movie proves that the gay community is JUST like everyone else on earth. We have problems same as all you straights out there. We aren't perfect, just like none of you are perfect. We should be entitled to have families like the rest of you. Every child needs love, who cares who it's from? The movie has a wonderful screenplay and it feels so authentic. Bening and Moore play this lesbian couple with such authenticity. This truly feels like an actual couple, with actual human problems. They are struggling to keep the magic alive. They are struggling to keep their kids happy. Now their children want to meet their sperm donor...and when they do he turns out to be a cool guy. The parents struggle with this because they don't want their family to deteriorate and that's exactly what happens. This is just a wonderful little film that has some occasional funny moments. BRILLIANT performances from Bening and Moore (both deserve Oscar nominations for this film) and Mark Ruffalo gives one of his most touching and best performances as well. Great film!