Margin Call

If you see one movie this year, see this terrific fictionalized(?) intense drama 0f how a big wall street firm destroys itself with bad decisions. Great cast includes Kevin Spacey, Simon Baker, Demi Moore and Stanley Touche. Drama unfolds over 24 hours as firm learns that it is in over its head and reviews options as to how to fix. This could be Lehman Bros or Goldman Sachs. See this movie. Best of the year. 4 bananas

Twilight: Breaking Dawn #1

Bella gets married, Bella gets pregnant, Bella has baby(is it a vampire), Bella starts war between vampires and wolves, Bella dies, Bella comes back as a vampire(maybe). It's Bella, Bella, Bella and it's pretty bad, bad, bad. By far the worst of the Twilight sagas. I put off seeing it for 2 weeks, wish it had been longer. 1 1/2 bananas.

The Descandants

George Clooney, a lawyer with deep hawaiian roots is confronted with multiple problems: a brain dead wife, boating accident, kept alive on a ventilator, 2 disfunctional daughters and a very large parcel of hawaiaan real estate that he is responsible for that many heirs want sold. Into this mix he is confronted with the fact that his wife had been having an affair and was planning on leaving him. Clooney like you've never seen him before. Many possible Oscars! 3 1/2 bananas

The Women on the 6th Floor

Funny, warm, feel good french comedy. Succesful stockbroker ownes a 6 flat in which the Spanish maids of all the floor owners live on the 6th floor in less than optimal living conditions. As the stockbroker becomes aware of these horrid living conditions he helps to improve the maids living conditions and becomes involved with his own maid. Some terrific back and forth between the Spanish and French cultures. Very easy to follow in sub titles. Could be the best foreign film of the year. See it! 3 1/2 bananas

Jack and Jill

Adam Sandler plays twins, guy and girl, in this not very funny comedy. Guy twin is married with family, girl twin who arrives from the Bronx for her annual pre Christmas visit is unmarried without much hope. There are a a few laughable moments but not many and the thought of Al Paccino falling for the masculine girl is really laughable. 1 1/2 bananas

J Edgar Hoover

Egomanic, gay, momma's boy blackmails his way to the top of the FBI for 48 years. Story centers mainly around the Charles Lindberg baby kidnapping and how information gathering was revulotionized but jumps back and forth in time as Hoover dictates his autobiography. Delusional, self centered and always in control, Hoover was one bad ass who you didn't want to get on the wrong side of as many presidents found out! Leonardo DeCaprio gives another great performance but the aging makeup is laughable. 3 bananas

Johnny English Reborn

Rowan Atkinson as the dufuss British secret agent returns from exile to help her majesty's secret service stop a plot to kill the leader of China. Some funny moments but overall pretty lame. 2 bananas

Tower Heist

Staff of swanky condo building in NYC is fleeced from their retirement saving by a Bernie Madoff type. Ben Stiller, condo manager, assembles group to make things right. Eddie Murphy supplies some laughs but overall just a poor imitation of Oceans 11. 2 bananas

Paranormal Activity 3

More of the same but better than 1 & 2 ; and you actually see what has been creating all the 'bumps' in the nights at the end. Hard to believe that watching the same picture over and over can be so suspenseful. Family terrorized by an unknown entity is caught on cameras set up around the house. 2 1/2 bananas

The Skin I live In

Antonio Banderas, a surgeon who has been experimenting illegally with growing artifical skin, extracts vengence from the young man who he sees as responsible for the death of his daughter. Cleverly wicked plot had me to the end. Sub titles don't take anything away from this intriguing foreign thriller. 3 1/2 bananas

In Time

Clever sci-fi mystery where the unit of currency that is used are minutes. Average person lives to 25 and dies due to genetically implanted timing device. People use minutes that show up as a digital screen on there arm and are depleted when scanned for buying anything. Some people have learned to game the system and have lived long lives though they never look older than 25. 2 1/2 bananas

Martha, Marcy, May, Marie

Young female adult leaves cult in which she has been living for 2 years to live with her married sister. This very dark film moves back and forth in time as she revisits her time in the cult and tries to adjust to the current world around her. Well done movie but you won't like the ending. Should get some Oscar buss. 3 1/2 bananas