Short reviews of movies or series I haven’t mentioned so far in the month.

Great Expectations (2011) (01 01 2012) – This is technically a TV miniseries, but I often put these in MM especially since I saw this in one big go. I could write a whole post on this new adaptation, but I will sum it up as being dark, creepy, and very faithful to the book. The casting of Anderson and Winston was good, but did not particularly warm up to Pip until third act. I prefer the 1999 BBC film with Gruffudd and Windell for Pip and Estella though this new one had better older actors and more accuracy.

The Lovers (1994) (02 01 2012) – A Hong Kong film starring Charlie Yeung and Nicky Wu. It was really cute the first act with a very sad ending as befits the legend of the Butterfly Lovers. I’m on a Nicky Wu kick lately because of Bu Bu Jing Xin. It was interesting to see him so young in Lovers, but notice he hasn’t really aged very much at all.

Cowboys &Aliens (27 01 2012) – I had a feeling going into this that it wouldn’t be great. I still did it because I like Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford though. These two were the only decent things about this movie. The pacing was off; it was slow and there were too many characters. I barely got a sense of the three main ones. Also, a lot of the movie felt a bit too grave. There was a lack of comic relief or rather, the film seemed to take itself too seriously. I mean, it’s a film about cowboys and aliens! Anyway, anytime watching Daniel Craig is fine by me, but not recommended as an action flick.

The Help (28 01 2012) – I enjoyed the book and overall, I enjoyed the movie. Mostly for two reasons: the acting and the visuals. It was a very good period piece visually and very pretty. I like Emma Stone in anything, but Davis and Spencer carried the movie. Recommended if you like the book.