I’ll just be upfront here: I watched every one of these movies throughout the Christmas holiday season. In order to put over 15 hours of my life to good use, I am providing a service by ranking them for you here in order of preference. Since I missed marking over the holidays (ha ha) I will even provide letter grades to further aid in your movie selections.

(Please note that this list does not include Christmas films, or old movies we watched on PVR. Like Sex and the City for the fifth time. That one was me, not we. Or classics like The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, which we showed the girls during the 48 hours of family cold and flu. Fun stuff.)

The A-Team (rental): A

This is so not my kind of movie, but it was entertaining and kept my interest right through. There were enough plot twists and witty lines to balance out the testosterone-driven action sequences.

Salt (rental): A
I’m more a Team Aniston girl (in theory; Jolie clearly has more range and gets better roles), but this one also kept my attention. (If you’re wondering why this is such a sticking point, I will remind you that I often fall asleep during movies these days. Especially if we’re watching them really late, like after 9 p.m.) I like when a movie like this keeps me guessing, although I did make a couple of correct predictions early on.
Going The Distance (rental): A-

My husband found this tale of long-distance love absolutely hilarious, and I found it very funny (there’s a distinction). Christina Applegate (as Drew Barrymore’s protective older sister) steals the show as far as I’m concerned.

Easy A (rental): B
If I were a teenybopper, I would probably rate this higher. By the way, I love Lisa Kudrow, but every character she plays just seems like Phoebe to me.
The American (rental): B

What was supposed to be suspenseful just came across as slow during various parts of this movie, but George Clooney was great as usual, and the gorgeous Italian scenery made up for any lags in action.

Yogi Bear (theatre): B-
Frannie declared it “Better than Tangled!” I certainly wouldn’t go that far, but it was exactly what I expected, in a good way. Would this be considered a step down or a great career opportunity for the talented Anna Faris and Rob Cavanagh?
Little Fockers (theatre): C

Full of fantastic actors who all do their job (though Teri Polo was very underutilized), but as someone who drills students on developing their plot from beginning to end, I’m still not exactly sure what it was about.

The Other Guys (rental): C- (maybe?)
Generally speaking, I find Wahlberg great and Ferrell good, but I still feel asleep after half an hour. And it wasn’t even that late at night!

 
I’d love to hear if you agree or disagree with any of my assessments offered here…or if you can recommend any other new releases I didn’t mention.

By the way, it’s SO much more fun to assign grades when I don’t really have to justify them, and they won’t upset anybody. I have a feeling Will Ferrell won’t be in tears or get his mom to call and demand an explanation for the C-. Somehow I think that guy’s gonna be okay.

5 comments on “Okay, I Watch Too Many Movies…”

  1. Movies are so subjective, aren't they?

    Since writing this post a couple of days ago, I have also seen The Fighter with Mark Wahlberg, which was very good but was so hyped up by the media that I was expecting even more. Last night we rented Dinner For Schmucks, which was very disapppointing, but I know some people found it hilarious.

    I always take reviews with a grain of salt…especially considering that the critically massacred Sweet Home Alabama is one of my all-time favourites!

  2. Our family watches a lot of movies during the holidays also, but we didn't see any of those, although I did want to see Salt. I have a hard time paying attention through an entire movie as well… the only ones I made it through over the holidays was Inception and the first Night at the Museum. Everyone else sat through Hoodwinked (which I thought was a bit hokey), The Prestige (already knew the ending), and the second Night in the Museum (I can only take so much Ben Stiller a week). 🙂

  3. Love the reviews. Honest and to the point. I never trust 'critics' because they often act as if some really boring drivel is the greatest movie ever and my taste probably can't be trusted because I like the ABC Family channel movies.

  4. I had a great time reading your reviews! I can relate on the falling asleep when you are watching late movies-9:00pm!!!! We took our girls to see Yogi Bear and I found it hilarious but…I think I needed a good laugh that day! I didn't think the A-Team would be any good but since you rated it so high, I will tell my husband that we can rent it!!!
    Krista S.

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