Nerd in the 'Noke

Hereafter (PG-13), 2010, 129 minutes - Anyone who has followed any of my reviews in the various locations they have been posted on the web over the last couple of years knows by now that I'm a big Clint Eastwood fan. I was raised that way, blame the parents! So it should come as no surprise that I would be making a point to see his latest film on opening night. Hereafter follows three diverging story lines while asking the question of what happens to us when we die? The film gets off to a quick start as Marie LeLay (a reporter/journalist played by Cecile De France) gets swept away in a tsunami. She becomes pinned on a fallen tree and a car smashes into her from behind as it is washed away. Two local men pull her from the water and try to resuscitate her with no luck. As they are distracted by a fire breaking out nearby, she comes to, not really sure of what she has just experienced. The two other story lines follow Marcus and his twin brother Jason (played by Frankie and

Red (PG-13), 2010, 111 minutes - What do you get when a handful of older highly respected actors and actresses get together to make an action flick? Well, if it's done well, you get Red - an action/espionage flick based on the graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner. Red (Retired, extremely dangerous) is about Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), a retired black ops agent who is having a bit of a tough time adjusting to the retired life. Frank may be retired, but someone wants him dead. The attempt to take him out fails and he goes about trying to figure out who is behind the hit. No, this isn't the most original plot line in the world, but it works quite well with the characters, and more importantly, who plays them. While conducting his search, Frank brings together a group of also retired former associates (played by Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren) and a bank representative (Mary-Louise Parker). Richard Dreyfuss and Karl Urban provide some star power

The Social Network (2010), PG-13, 120 minutes – In The Social Network (the story of how facebook came to be) Jesse Eisenberg takes on yet another geek role. Only this time around he isn’t the quiet pushover, but instead a quick talking, driven, ‘I’m smarter than you and not afraid to show it’, Harvard student (facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Just as I was afraid that the likeable Eisenberg was going to be stuck in a typecast rut, he shows us the other side of the coin. A geek who is typically socially challenged, but is highly confident in his knowledge and abilities and enjoys showing them off when he can. Eisenberg is easily the star of the film and not just because he’s the main character but because his portrayal commands attention. The film kicks off with Zuckerberg conversing with his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) over a couple of beers. What should be a casual conversation about his attempts to join one of Harvard’s social clubs turns into an argument that le

Let Me In (2010), R, 115 minutes - Let Me In is the first in what seems to be a wave of American versions (remakes, adaptations, take your pick) of recently made excellent Swedish films (see the upcoming David Fincher versions of The Millennium Trilogy). Whether or not these American versions are necessary is an entirely different discussion/debate that I won't get into here. Having seen the original (highly acclaimed) Swedish version - Let The Right One In - I thought that Let Me In was quite good in its own right. Set in the early 1980's, Let Me In is about the relationship between Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a twelve year old boy, and Abby (Chloe Grace Moretz) a seemingly twelve year old girl who moves in next door with who we believe to be her father (Richard Jenkins). After proclaiming 'I can't be your friend' when they first meet, she warms up to Owen, eventually encouraging him to fight back against the school yard bullies. After a few awkward conversati