Die Welle (The Wave) 2008

Rainer is the cool teacher - he wears t-shirts and jeans to school, listens to rock music, and lets his students address him by his first name. When given the task of teaching a week long class on Autocracy, Rainer becomes Herr Wenger and teaches his class about authority, discipline, group harmony, and unity. Based in part on an experiment by a California high school teacher, Die Welle reveals how easily people can be motivated and manipulated, especially young people. Parts of the film seem implausible. For example, could high school kids really get this engrossed in something in such a short amount of time? Also, are high schoolers really this impressionable? With a strong script, engaging subject, and great young actors. They make the film feel more like a documentary with genuine high schoolers rather than a scripted film.

Die Welle made me a believer with 3 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Dennis Gansel
Writer: Dennis Gansel, Peter Thorwarth
Starring: Jürgen Vogel, Frederick Lau and Max Riemelt
Rotten Tomatoes: 65%
Metacritic: Not reviewed

Love & Other Drugs (2010)

I need an Rx for a better film please
Jamie is a salesman who becomes a pharmaceutical rep for Pfizer.  His job is to get doctors offices to prescribe his drugs.  Then he meets Maggie and blah, blah, blah.  The idea behind this film is a good one, but the translation to film unimpressive.  I made it through about 30 minutes of then turned it off because I didn't care about the characters, wasn't interested in their lives, and didn't care how about the ending.  It was disaapointing, especially since I am a fan of Jake Gyllenhall

Love & Other Drugs disappoints with only 1 out of 5 Poblanos

Director: Edward Zwick
Writer: Edward Zwick, Charles Randolph, Marshall Herskovitz
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, and Anne Hathaway
Rotten Tomatoes: 48%
Metacritic: 55 out of 100

The Bothersome Man (Den brysomme mannen) 2006

Where am I?
Andreas arrives by bus to a gas station in the desert. He is then driven to the city and is given a new life, job and a place to live. All his needs are met, but he is dissatisfied: Food doesn't taste the way it used to, alcohol has little effect. His life is bland and and drab so he begins searching for more. With echos of The Truman Show, this Norwegian film explores satisfaction and existentialism. For example, do material goods, security and comfort really satisfy? And if we had everything we needed and wanted, would we be happy with life? A decent film, but not one I would recommend except to serious film watchers.

An interesting and ambiguous film, The Bothersome Man gets 2 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Jens Lien
Writer: Per Schreiner
Starring: Trond Fausa Aurvaag, Petronella Barker and Per Schaaning
Rotten Tomatoes: 73%
Metacritic: Not reviewed

Adventureland

One crazy summer
James' summer plans fall through.  Instead of going to Europe, he ends up at home with his parents, working in an amusement park called Adventureland.  This film is laugh out loud funny.  It is also a bit heartbreaking.  Overall, it is very entertaining.  Its fun to see these actors outside of their big films - Twilight, The Social Network, and Buried.

Adventureland has thrills and spills and lots of laughs to get 4 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Greg Mottola
Writer: Greg Mottola
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart and Ryan Reynolds
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Metacritic: 76 out of 100

The Artist (2011)

When you say nothing at all...In the era of silent films, George Valentin is a superstar.  When 'talkies' become all the rage, he scoffs at them as a passing fad.  He watches other actors gaining stardom while he loses everything.  This film is a tribute to silent films and save for the last couple of minutes, has no dialogue at all, only music.   Superbly acted and
beautifully shot, this is a great film.  And by great I don't just mean 'good'; I mean Great, as in one of the greatest films this year.  It is a film that is a close to perfect as a film can be - the story, the acting, the painstaking recreation of the silent film era - and I've got nothing but love for this one.

The Artist gets 5 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Writer: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo and John Goodman
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Metacritic: 89 out of 100

Priest (2011)

I thought vampires were supposed to be cool
The world was once overrun the world by vampires.  Then the Church trained a special group of priests to subdue them.  Vampires who have been mostly conquered and live in reservations.  This film could have been good, but it is not.  It is convloluted, confused, and cliched not to mention a rip-off of Blade Runner and other films.  I only made it about halfway through.  The best part of the film (that I saw) was the animated back story at the beginning.  After that, I either didn't care or was unconciousness.  I finally stopped watching because it was unwatchable.  Who let this out for public consumption?

Priest made vampires boring with only 1 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Scott Charles Stewart
Writer: Cory Goodman,
Starring: Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, the Tourist), Karl Urban (LOTR), Cam Gigandet (Twilight), Maggie Q  (MI 3)
Rotten Tomatoes: 17%
Metacritic: 41 out of 100

Drive (2011)

Get your motor runnin'...
The Driver is an auto mechanic who also drives Hollywood stunt cars.  In his spare time, he is a getaway driver for hire.  Ryan Gosling gives an eerily powerful performance as as the morally ambiguous Driver.  As a getaway driver, he helps people commit crimes but has a strong sense of right and wrong, abiding by his own ethical code.  He will do whatever he can to protect those he cares about, even if it means murder. It plays like a hybrid of a neo-noir thriller and an 80s action film.  The title font screams early 80s action (think Beverly Hills Cop or Miami Vice).  The story is gripping and there were several scenes that really got my RPMs racing - my heart was literally pounding because the action was so tense.   The first five minutes of this film are as exciting as any action scene in any film.This is one of those crazy good films that should stand the test of time. 

Drive revved up to 5 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Writer: Hossein Amini
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Metacritic: 79 out of 100