Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Columbia Pictures Grade: B- Director: .David Fincher Screenwriter: Steve Zaillian, from Stieg Larsson’s novel Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgard, Christopher Plummer, Joely Richardson, Embeth Davidtz Screened at: AMC Empire, NYC, 12/19/11 Opens: December 21, 2011 You can bet that producer Scott Rudin spent no more than two minutes thinking about the director he should hire for the American version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” The story is right up David Fincher’s alley. Fincher, whose “Seven” deals with two detective tracking down a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his method of operation, and whose…

Title: War Horse Directed By: Steven Spielberg Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson, Niels Arestrup, David Thewlis, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Celine Buckens, Toby Kebbell, David Kross, Matt Milne, Robert Emms, Eddie Marsan There’s a reason why Steven Spielberg is so successful; he knows how to make a movie for everyone. Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, Catch Me If You Can and more. Sure, not all of them can be considered pristine filmmaking, but still, generally all of his films are incredibly enjoyable and not only does War Horse follow suit in terms of entertainment and emotional value, but quality-wise, it’s certainly on the top tier. After his pride gets…

Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Directed By: David Fincher Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Berkoff, Robin Wright, Yorick Van Wageningen There’s been quite a bit of hype over this remake, hasn’t there? Well, apparently I’m one of few who’s never read Stieg Larsson’s books or seen the Swedish films and that proved to have a bit of an effect on my reception of David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Perhaps if I were familiar with the source material, I’d have had an easier time following all the details, but, then again, this should be a review of David Fincher’s film and…

Title: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Directed By: Guy Ritchie Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry, Kelly Reilly, Rachel McAdams Did you enjoy Sherlock Holmes? Odds are, your answer to that question will hold up for round two. Complicated plot, overly chatty characters, wicked action sequences, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows keeps your head spinning, but trumps its predecessor in the slightest by offering up a marginally more understandable scenario, keeping the banter to a minimum unless absolutely necessary and making the fight scenes all the more mesmerizing. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) is back and while he’s still very much on…

Title: I Melt With You Directed By: Mark Pellington Starring: Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay, Carla Gugino, Arielle Kebbel, Tom Bower In an industry overflowing with content, it’s getting tougher and tougher to come up with something new. The fallback? The shock factor – writers and directors giving you something, letting you get comfortable with it and then pulling out the rug from under you. Sure, if this technique works, it could blow your mind, but, in the case of I Melt With You, it merely turns your mind into senseless mush. You know that old “this is your brain on drugs” commercial with the egg? Change…

Title: Young Adult Director: Jason Reitman Screenwriter: Diablo Cody Cast: Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, Elizabeth Reaser Screened: AMC Lincoln Square, NYC, 12/5/11 Opens: December 9, 2011 The usual reason that people give for attending reunions of their high school and college classes is to get together with the folks they knew in better, freer times, see how they look, compare notes on who is successful and who are the flops. There may be subconscious desires to run into their old flames not just to reminisce about old times but actually to hook up. Why not? You can’t do it if you don’t try. But usually people who are…

Title: Young Adult Directed By: Jason Reitman Starring: Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, Elizabeth Reaser, Collette Wolfe Mavis Gary might not have grown up in the least, but Diablo Cody has achieved an incredible degree of maturity in her latest piece, Young Adult. While Young Adult exudes a different type of comedy as compared to Juno and most certainly Jennifer’s Body, it still maintains the zest, heart and humor that solidified Cody as a top-notch screenwriter back in 2007. Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) is a successful young adult writer living in the big city of Minneapolis, Minnesota – well, a once successful ghostwriter. Not only is Mavis’ name not…

Title: Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy Directed By: Tomas Alfredson Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds, David Dencik If critics rave about a film, there will still certainly be some folks who aren’t into it and the same goes for a movie that gets panned; every movie out there is going to appeal to some, even if it’s a very select few. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a rather frustrating film to review as it’s a piece of immense quality, boasting impeccable performances, a strong sense of tone and a stellar score, but, in the end, there’s just no denying…

Title: Hugo Directed By: Martin Scorsese Starring: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helen McCrory, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Michael Stuhlbarg, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths, Jude Law Part of the beauty of filmmaking, is the ability to transport viewers to another reality. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, filmmaker Georges Méliès seized the opportunity to put stop tricks and painted film cells to use, combining his skills as a magician and filmmaker to, quite literally, bring dreams to life. Ultimately, we’re still doing the very same thing today, but with the wildly advanced technology and more thorough understanding of storytelling, director…

Title: Arthur Christmas Directed By: Sarah Smith Voice Cast: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen Want to put the odds in your movie’s favor? Make a Christmas movie. Unoriginality, cheesy humor, goofy characters? All is excused when it’s done in the name of holiday spirit. While Arthur Christmas does make use of that get out of jail free card quite often, there is enough solid filmmaking behind the Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures Animation collaboration to label Arthur Christmas above average holiday fair. It’s November 25th and little Gwen is placing her order in advance, sending Santa a letter requesting a pink twinkle bike…