The film is an energetic action techno cocktail- think of RUN LOLA RUN  and THE BOURNE IDENTITY meets a Grimm's fairy tale.   Saoirse Ronan is phenomenal as a young teenager who wasn't allowed to have a childhood.   She is vunerable while still being so deadly as Hanna.

PAUL

When you team up Simon Peg and Nick Frost together in a movie, it's comedic gold.  PAUL is charming, vulgar, and funny.

DRIVE

DRIVE is a slow burn love story.   Ryan Gosling plays Driver with a cool and silent intensity.  DRIVE still stays with me.  It has haunted me as a viewer since watching the end of it.   Nicolas Winding Refn continues to bend his films to be different from each other.  It is amazing that one director has made such different films as BRONSON, VAHALLA RISING, and DRIVE.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL-

Tom Cruise is in another MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE film which is as good as the last one.  Brad Bird creates one of the most fun and dynamic action films of the year.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES-

This is one of the better prequels/ remakes of the year as you cheer for the apes to take over and it breathes new life into THE PLANETS OF THE APES series.  Andy Serkis steals the show through motion capture performance as Caesar. 

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS-

It is the other prequel/ reboot (in a way) that has made up for the uneven X-MEN: LAST STAND and the disappointing WOLVERINE origin film.    Matthew Vaughn along with various screenwriters (including the super team of Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz) have created a superhero origin film/ 1960s spy thriller that surpasses the Bryan Singer X-MEN films.   I definitely want to see a sequel to this prequel.

SUPER 8-

J.J. Abrams presents his love of his childhood in this tale about growing up and filming Super 8 movies with friends.  It has a Steven Spielberg feel to it.   It makes me remember growing up and how times have changed since then.  It is a nice trip of nostalgia.

FAST FIVE-

FAST FIVE has taken the fast cars and hot babes series and turned it into a series about family in a heist film as good as the original THE ITALIAN JOB (the one from the 1960s, not the crappy remake).

MISFIRES:

ANOTHER EARTH-  The movie had an interesting concept of a mirror Earth and a fascinating ending.  Too bad that the movie focused too much on melodrama (and not enough on the idea of a mirror Earth).

GREEN LANTERN-   It is a $200 million movie that looks good and has the building blocks for universe building.  The thing that failed this movie and audiences was the lack of a good story.

this article is (c)1-7-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com