'Salt' reviewed

Angelina Jolie as agent Evelyn Salt. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/salt/37107/main

Salt's previews promised a big budget, kickass action/spy thriller starring Angelina Jolie. I enjoy these kind of revved up movies where you can turn off your brain and enjoy following the twisting narrative that usually ends with a surprise you should not see coming. Here Jolie plays a CIA agent named Evelyn Salt who is accused by a top Russian defector of being a spy who will kill the Russian president while attending a funeral in NYC. When she flees after his interrogation by her to warn her husband their lives are in danger, she is assumed guilty and goes on the run.
>>And what a run it is! She's clever, agile, good with disguises, and inventive in making use of any object to create a weapon. The action scenes and split second escapes are as tense and well choreographed as those from a James Bond film. These stunts are physically impossible but this is what you expect in this kind of film and its makers never fail to deliver. The action never lets up except to provide info we need to follow the story line.
>>Only one co-worker (Liev Sheiber) believes Jolie is innocent and he cannot persuade the others but is forced along to join the hunt from Washington DC to NYC. Can he be trusted to save her? What really matters is Jolie innocent, or a Russian mole, or a patsy duped by a conspiracy that's not yet revealed? The answer is finally revealed through flashbacks and conversations about previous incidents we witnessed. The revelation of the villain (I'm not saying here that it's Jolie; go see the film to find out.) caught me off guard because there were enough ambiguous plot points to sidetrack me. You had to briefly think back to connect the dots to find the answers.
>>People seem to like or hate Jolie depending on their view of her personal life. If you like Jolie, you will be swept along with the story. She's the best female action star around and comes across as Lara Croft without the self-serving smirk and with James Bond's survival skills. You really need to suspend your sense of disbelief to accept her as capable of doing anything but hey, it's only a movie that's meant to entertain. Bond movies are unrealistic too but never fail to satisfy audiences.

>>After struggling last week through Inception, Salt was a welcome relief on a hot summer's day. It all makes sense at the end unlike Inception ... at least to me... once you briefly thought back to mercifully few flashbacks and coversations about recent incidents to connect the dots to provide answers. Director Phillip Noyce who helmed 1999's The Bone Collector featuring Jolie in one of her first starring roles in a big feature (second billing to Denzel Washington) knows how to keep the pace moving fast enough to pull you through the story's bumpy ride.

July Vacation in Portsmouth NH

Seeing Joan live was a treat.

Amanda Seyfried in Letters to Juliet. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/letters-to-juliet/37890/main?icid=movsmartsearch

Vanessa Redgrave & Amanda Seyfried.

I was on a much needed two weeks of vacation during July. However it didn't start off well as I was called driving home on Friday/my last day of work and had to return for two emergencies that kept me there for over three hours. I worked one morning to cover for my backup who had an appointment he couldn't postpone. I was able to catch up on paperwork so I wouldn't have a ton waiting for me when I return. Meanwhile there was the usual phone calls about problems I fortunately could solve from home.
>>Last week we got away for a two night stay in Portsmouth. The weather was in the mid 80's and a bit on the humid/roasting side. It didn't stop us from doing our usual activities. I won't bore you with them since they're covered on older blog entries. DVD/CD/book shopping... lobster dinners.... sightseeing....
>>We stayed at a Hampton Inn next to the mall where there's a huge Barnes & Noble and it's a five minute drive to downtown where hotels are $200+ this time of year, even our favorite old Sise Inn. Because I paid ahead and used my AAA discount, we got a room with 2 beds and a free breakfast buffet and cocktails & snacks at 5:00PM. for $153 - taxes included. I prefer to stay downtown but we're watching our money. No free breakfasts at the big two and the inn has a continental one but no pool. The last time we stayed at the Hampton Inn was about 7 years ago with our son JR and his buddy/our neighbor Adam. It's a good place with a huge heated indoor pool. So we have to pay a few bucks for parking downtown and the inn has a shuttle van if we needed it.
>>Sunday night we saw Joan Armatrading in concert at The Music Hall downtown and a film the next night. Weather was in the high 80's so we wanted to go to the beach Monday afternoon. We went to the concert at 7:30PM at The Music Hall. A singer/songwriter named Jamie McLean opened for Joan. He was talented, pleasant, but unmemorable. This is not to knock him but he sounded like any other singer/songwriter strumming a guitar and we passed on buying his CDs he was hawking in the lobby. He played for over a half hour and announced that Joan would be coming out soon. By 8:40 still no Joan and I was tired/impatient/cranky/ while waiting. At 8:45 she came out with her band and stood motionless in front of the audience with a big grin that got larger with the mounting applause. It was worth the wait as she played for almost two hours including a two song encore and all was forgiven.
>>She charmed the audience with her banter between songs and playfully chided us for not waving during a song while she rocked the place with her three piece band (bass, keyboards, drums). She replayed part of the song for us to wave as she doesn't take no for an answer. Joan switched between four guitars demonstrating her skills. We were seated in the fifth center row of the balcony where we had a good view of the stage with no heads blocking our sight. She played most of her hits and several songs from her new/20th CD, This Charming Life, pictured above. She's been around for thirty years and will be sixty this year but you would never know it from her performance. She had us singing & clapping along and up on our feet with the up tempo numbers. You can see & hear the title track and some of her old songs on her website: http://www.joanarmatrading.com/ and more on You Tube. The video gives you a good idea of what she's like onstage. On the new CD she played all the instruments except for the drums. Here she was supported by fine musicians who were given chances to shine with solos.
>>The next afternoon we went to a nearby beach but my splashing around in the water was interrupted by a warning about a coming thunderstorm. So we left the beach and returned to our hotel to use the pool and Jacuzzi. At night we returned to The Music Hall to see a movie. On an earlier entry I mentioned how I became friendly with an employee who selects the films. He's booked some of my recommendations and a while ago I wrote to him asking what he will be showing the night after the concert since the schedule was empty at the time. He planned to show Letters to Juliet which we haven't seen.
>>The film can be described as a pleasant but predictable chick flick but I enjoyed its relaxing warmth and good natured humor. No heavy thinking demanded. Amanda Seyfried from Mama Mia plays Sophie an aspiring writer on a trip to Italy with her fiance. While he's too preoccupied with his business interests, she meets a group of women in Verona who pen answers to letters left for Shakespeare's Juliet asking for advice on matters of the heart. Sophie discovers an old letter from an Englishwoman named Claire who jilted her lover Lorenzo fifty years ago Sophie answers Claire's letter and as you would expect, Claire comes to Italy seeking Lorenzo.
>>Vanessa Redgrave is wonderful as the widowed Claire. I swear she gets better with age. Here she's warm, wise, and funny in a role you don't don't usually see her perform as she allows Sophie to join her on her search. Christopher Egan plays her accompanying, priggish grandson who feels she's wasting her time and he's constantly at odds with Sophie, the dreamer & romantic. Halfway through the film you can guess the ending but the movie ends the ways you want it. Call it contrived... corny... sentimental... but what's wrong with that? The audience was pleased and so were we.
>>The Italian scenery is a treat and Franco Nero, who was Redgrave's lover during the making of 1971's Camelot and has been married to her for the last several years, plays Lorenzo. He's aged well too. Seyfried is sweet and funny. This is a romantic comedy that delivers what it promises. When it comes out on DVD, we'll show it to Mom, another Italian who at 92 is getting too wobbly to take to movies.

'Inception' reviewed

A dreamscape from Christopher Nolan's Inception. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/inception/36931/main

Don't be fooled by the preview. Inception looks like a promising sci-fi thriller and I read some interesting articles about the making of it. We saw this film today and after the first ten minutes, we lost track of its serpentine plot. I'll give a reward to anyone who can offer a plot summary.

>>Let me try. Leonardo DiCaprio and his hi-tech gang use their sleep-induced brains to enter the dreams of corporate bosses to learn their secrets to sell to their rivals. This time he's hired to plant an idea or 'inception' in Cillian Murphy's head so his client Ken Watanabe can use to his advantage. It's never been done before and Leo jeopardizes their mission by bringing his own baggage of guilt feelings over his wife's suicide into the plan. An intriguing premise that unfortunately spins out of control for the characters and the audience.

>>This film was overly complicated with all sorts of dreams within dreams within dreams scenes that were hard to follow and where one started and one ended, your guess is as good as mine. All the money is up on the screen but for what purpose? Leonardo and the rest of the cast are good enough but they had the advantage of the director explaining the story to them. Ken Watanabe's soft spoken accented English is hard to understand. I'm not sure how the story ended and the rest of the audience exiting didn't say a work except for me who complained loudly without anyone contradicting me. We left the theater feeling weary instead of entertained.

>>Inception surely needs repeated viewings to comprehend it but not so soon after wallowing through two & a half hours of this bloated special effects extravaganza. And it seemed longer than that! Confusion would be a better title for this mess. Save your money and rent 1984's Dreamscape, which this movie resembles and is much better.

>>Fans of this movie wrote defenses in newspapers and one online buddy explained the premise to me. I understood it but I still think Inception was overly complicated to the point of confusion. We agree to disagree.

'The Last Airbender' reviewed

Noah Ringer in The Last Airbender, based on the Nickelodeon animated series. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-last-airbender/36563/main
M. Night Shyamalan's last three movies were critical and box office failures. His career suggests his first film and biggest hit The Sixth Sense was just a fluke but we don't want to think cruelly of him as he still able to get financial backing for his projects. It's because his films aren't expensive to make and they probably break even or make a tiny profit from DVD & cable sales and foreign theater tickets. Here's his latest opus and I'm sorry to say it's a big disappointment again. It made plenty of money during its July 4th opening weekend despite the harsh reviews. We saw it because the previews promised a spectacular kung fu fantasy in 3-D.
>>The film is based on a Nickelodeon cartoon series I've never seen so I can't compare them. As a film it's draggy and repetitious and could use better martial arts sequences. The plot concerns a young boy named Aang who's the lost Avatar needed to prevent the Fire Kingdom from conquering more kingdoms. He can 'bend air' to create forceful winds as weapons, and he's aided by a female 'water bender' and her brother who convince him that he's their last chance in defeating their enemy and develope his other powers. Dev Patel , the hero of Slumdog Millionare, is sorta wasted as a scowling Fire Nation prince who needs to capture Aang so he can use the boy's powers as a means to win back his father's favor.
>> The dialogue is what you expect in these kinds of films with pseudo-Eastern philosophies only it seems to go on and on as if you didn't understand the simplistic explanations the first time. The production design is attractive on the big screen and the appropriate musical score helps but not much to compensate for this ponderous bore. The fighting scenes are lackluster for this type of story and when it's over, our feeling was 'EH.' As for the 3-D, if you blinked you would have missed it. The film was only converted to 3-D and not as good as other conversions like Alice in Wonderland and Clash of the Titans. I'm guessing the producers thought this would help at the box office since they knew the film might be another Shamalama dingdong turkey. Either way, paying extra for so-called 3-D is a ripoff.
>>This expensive movie will probably do OK until word of mouth catches up with it. The kids in the audience seemed to enjoy The Last Airbender if being quiet during the showing and exiting the theater is a positive sign.... unless they were as numb struck as us. It also suggests a sequel but don't hold your breath waiting.... Last Airbender indeed?

'Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work' Review

Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/joan-rivers-a-piece-of-work/10024268/main?icid=movsmartsearch

Love her or hate her, you have to admire Joan Rivers for being a survivor. She's had her share of personal and professional disasters that would have defeated most of us. Yet she's still here and working hard at 77. This new documentary covers everything you need to know about her tumultuous life. There's the usual interviews with people who know her best and the best segments are with Joan. You see her warts and all as cameras followed her for a year. Although there's plenty of info packed into 90 minutes, you wish it was longer.
>>Her comedy is a matter of taste. If you think she's obnoxious on TV, seeing her live is another matter. I remember my parents seeing her show years ago in Atlantic City and telling us how filthy she is in person. In fairness to her, that's true about many comedians you know only from TV. Recently a co-worker walked out of Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett show at a local casino because of his coarse language. Be prepared to hear Joan during a club date tossing out four letter words along with some gross jokes. It's shocking but funny.
>>She's candid about her triumphs & tragedies including her husband's suicide. She survived because she's a tough businesswoman who looks out for number one but is also generous to her friends and performs charity work. She lives in a lavish NYC apartment comparable to Versailles and is entitled to it because she earned it.
>>She's hard on herself too and hates not to work. How many of us can say that? Included here is her triumph on TV's Celebrity Apprentice. She hates looking old and her excess of cosmetic surgery makes her look like she's wearing a Daisy Duck mask. She's candid about her vanity and can afford to please herself. How many of us can do that? Long live the Queen of Comedy!