Nothing But the Truth (2008)

This movie was a pretty good political drama chock-full of cover ups, espionage, betrayal and good old fashioned courtroom intrigue. Let me tell you a tale...

Kate Beckinsale plays Rachel Armstrong, a Judith Miller-esque reporter who is on the verge of releasing an article claiming Vera Farmiga's Erica Van Doren is a covert CIA operative responsible for some civil unrest in Venezuela (a la Valerie Plame). After the story goes public, everyone is up in arms. The newspaper loves it, the Defense department hates it, and the White House won't say a thing. Armstrong is eventually jailed and charged with contempt for not giving up her source. Matt Dillon is Patton Dubois, the hotshot new lawyer ready to sink his teeth in and make an example of Armstrong. Through the whole ordeal, Rachel's life, every aspect of it, suffers.

I really enjoyed this film. It kept me on my toes and guessing throughout the entire film exactly what would happen. I knew enough about the Plame/Miller case to see the parallels, but there were some obvious fabrications that I didn't mind. I recommend this film to those who like political or courtroom dramas.

He's Just Not That Into You (2009)

This movie had a chance and deserved a shot to be good. But it just wasn't. I'm not going to say it's bad, just misguided.

There are too many stories to get into but I will try to just break it down. There's the girl who can't find anyone, the loner guy who hates relationships, the married couple going through a no-sex time in their relationship, the couple who have been together real long but not married, the friends with benefits and the girl too slow to see the bad signs. All of their stories intertwine in some way and the stories all happen as they seem to.

The plots are predictable, apart from a few minor details. The acting was really not the downfall of this movie, it was the time allotment. The movie had too many stories going at once and they didn't give any of them enough time to connect with the characters. Romantic comedy fans will probably enjoy this, but the casual fan won't.

The International (2009)

Wow, what a piece of crap. This movie made no sense and was so hard to follow. There was only one good scene in the movie and it was actually pretty cool. Back to that in a moment.

Clive Owen plays a forgettable character who works for Interpol trying to determine why his partner was just killed by a bank. Yep, that's the plot. Bored already? So was I. Naomi Watts is an agent from New York who meets up with Owen to help. And then there's hitmen, more banks, conspiracies, more banks, etc. Uggh.

This plot was so convoluted and preposterous that you lose interest so fast. The movie's only saving grace is the gunfight in the Guggenheim Museum. That was sweet. The rest was really bad.

The Hangover (2009)

I don't think I stopped laughing throughout this entire movie. Just a hilariously fun ride from beginning to end. God Bless, Zach Galifianakis.

The story follows 3 friends (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Galifianakis) as they try and locate there friend (Justin Bartha) who has gone missing after his own bachelor party and no one seems to remember a thing. As they search, they also try to decipher what actually happened the night before. They encounter a tiger, a mob boss, a stripper/hooker and Mike Tyson. Hilarity ensues and good times are had by all....kind of.

As great as this movie was as a comedy, it was just as great as a mild-detective movie, too. They go through the day finding little bits and pieces of things that help in the effort of finding their friend. Also, it proves that every baby is made better with sunglasses.

Valkyrie (2008)

This was a basic action movie, disguised as a piece of history. It had a lot of good action sequences, some minor suspenseful moments and, in the end, I enjoyed it just about as much as I think they intended.

This story is true. Tom Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a recently disfigured member of the German Army who has begun to lose all hope in what Hitler is doing. He is not alone. They begin to plot an internal assassination attempt against Hitler, with the ultimate goal being a military run government. Things go right and things go wrong in the process. Anyone who knows anything about WWII history knows it fails, so I'll just tell you, it fails. Their goals, although not reached in the manner they expected, were achieved in the end.

This movie had a fun amount of action and some nice thrills every now and then. Nothing great, but nothing bad either. I would say I do recommend this to action movie fans, not to those looking for a good historical film.

Killshot (2009)

Sometimes great acting can benefit a movie, sometimes it can't. This movie was the latter. While the actors gave some solid performances, the story was old and predictable.

Diane Lane and Thomas Jane play a newly separated husband and wife. Mickey Rourke and Joseph Gordon-Levitt play a newly "married" duo of killers. One day, there paths cross and now Lane and Jane are on the run because Rourke's hitman is so deadly, no one who sees his face ever lives. Gordon-Levitt plays his hot shot new partner who just doesn't shut up. It's a cat and mouse game and I guarantee you already know who wins.

Strong performances all around, mostly by Rourke and Gordon-Levitt (he is fastly becoming one of my favorite actors). But the story is so jaded and loses the viewers interest so fast that I figured out the whole movie within 15 minutes.