21 Jump Street (2012)

My Rating : 4/5 STARS
MovieStudio Quote >> “A very engaging and funny college/action genre, Jonah and Tatum steals the show and keeps us laughing at all times!”

In the action-comedy 21 Jump Street, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are more than ready to leave their adolescent problems behind. Joining the police force and the secret Jump Street unit, they use their youthful appearances to go undercover in a local high school.

As they trade in their guns and badges for backpacks, Schmidt and Jenko risk their lives to investigate a violent and dangerous drug ring. But they find that high school is nothing like they left it just a few years earlier – and neither expects that they will have to confront the terror and anxiety of being a teenager again and all the issues they thought they had left behind.

 

Red Dog (2011)

My Rating : 5/5 STARS
MovieStudio Quote >> “Red Dog is different – It’s funny, it’s sad and again it’s funny. Red Dog is a legend!”

Tom, LUKE FORD, arrives at Dampier, centre of a huge mining operation in Australia’s north-west. He discovers that a dog is sick and may have to be put down, but he can’t understand why everyone’s so concerned about it.

The locals, including barman Jack, NOAH TAYLOR, tell him the story of the dog – how it was first seen some years earlier, how it hitched rides with people it liked and how it eventually attached itself to an American, John Grant, JOSH LUCAS, who soon after fell in love with Nancy, RACHAEL TAYLOR, who worked as a secretary for the mining company.

 

Drive (2011)

My Rating : 4/5 STARS
MovieStudio Quote >> “Ryan started off a little spooky, but the movie rocked entirely. It’s different and it was smooth as a criminal!”

Ryan Gosling stars as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).

After a heist intended to pay off Standard’s protection money spins unpredictably out of control, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals.

But when he realizes that the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash in his trunk-that they’re coming straight for Irene and her son-Driver is forced to shift gears and go on offense.

The Devil’s Double (2011)

My Rating : 5/5 STAR
MovieStudio Quote >> “A daring attempt. The movie packs a lot of true events, unbelievable torture and a bold story. Dominic Cooper at his best!”

Summoned from the frontline to Saddam Hussein’s palace, Iraqi army lieutenant Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper) is thrust into the highest echelons of the “royal family” when he’s ordered to become the ‘fiday’ – or body double – to Saddam’s son, the notorious “Black Prince” Uday Hussein (also Dominic Cooper), a reckless, sadistic party-boy with a rabid hunger for sex and brutality.

With his and his family’s lives at stake, Latif must surrender his former self forever as he learns to walk, talk and act like Uday. But nothing could have prepared him for the horror of the Black Prince’s psychotic, drug-addled life of fast cars, easy women and impulsive violence.

Water for Elephants (2011)

My Rating : 3.5/5 STAR
MovieStudio Quote >> “A Bollywood style movie with a twist and happy ending. Well written script. A clean love story!”

Based on the acclaimed bestseller, Water for Elephants presents an unexpected romance in a uniquely compelling setting. Veterinary school student Jacob meets and falls in love with Marlena, a star performer in a circus of a bygone era.

They discover beauty amidst the world of the Big Top, and come together through their compassion for a special elephant. Against all odds — including the wrath of Marlena’s charismatic but dangerous husband, August — Jacob and Marlena find lifelong love.

Arthur (2011)

My Rating : 3.5/5 STAR
MovieStudio Quote >> “I have not seen the original Arthur, but I loved the comedy here. Climax was absurd though!”

In this fresh new look at a classic story, Russell Brand reinvents the role of loveable billionaire Arthur Bach, an irresponsible charmer who has always relied on two things to get by: his limitless fortune and the good sense of his lifelong nanny and best friend Hobson (Helen Mirren), to keep him out of trouble. Kind-hearted, fun-loving, and utterly without purpose, Arthur spends every day in the heedless pursuit of amusement.

But when his unpredictable public image threatens the staid reputation of the family foundation, Bach Worldwide, he is given an ultimatum: marry the beautiful but decidedly unlovable Susan Johnson (Jennifer Garner), an ambitious corporate exec who can keep him in line, or say goodbye to his billion-dollar inheritance and the only way of life he knows.

It’s a deal Arthur would be inclined to take…if he hadn’t just fallen for Naomi (Greta Gerwig), a New York City tour guide who shares his idealism and spontaneity. The independent Naomi sees Arthur not only for who he is, but for who he could be, and finally gives him a reason to take charge of his own life. All he needs to do is stand up for what he wants. But at what cost? With some unconventional help from Hobson–the one person who always believed he could do anything–Arthur will take the most expensive risk of his life and learn what it means to become a man.

Hall Pass (2011)

My Rating : 2/5 STAR
MovieStudio Quote >> “A long tiring movie with less laughs and lots of old sex jokes.”

Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are best friends who have a lot in common, including the fact that they have each been married for many years.

But when the two men begin to show signs of restlessness at home, their wives (Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate) take a bold approach to revitalizing their marriages: granting them a “hall pass,” one week of freedom to do whatever they want…no questions asked.

At first, it sounds like a dream come true for Rick and Fred. But it isn’t long before they discover that their expectations of the single life-and themselves-are completely, and hilariously, out of sync with reality.

 

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

My Rating : 3.5/5 STAR
MovieStudio Quote >> “George Nolfi tried it differently like “Inception”, which was acceptable and engaging except for the climax!”

On the brink of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate, ambitious politician David Norris (Damon) meets beautiful contemporary ballet dancer Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt)–a woman like none he’s ever known.

But just as he realizes he’s falling for her, mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart. David learns he is up against the agents of Fate itself–the men of The Adjustment Bureau–who will do everything in their considerable power to prevent David and Elise from being together.

In the face of overwhelming odds, he must either let her go and accept a predetermined path…or risk everything to defy Fate and be with her. Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick.

Paul (2011)

My Rating : 4/5 STAR
MovieStudio Quote >> “After a long long time, we have a happy Alien movie where you just laugh your lungs out!”

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) reunite for the comedy adventure Paul as two sci-fi geeks whose pilgrimage takes them to America’s UFO heartland. While there, they accidentally meet an alien who brings them on an insane road trip that alters their universe forever.

For the past 60 years, an alien named Paul (Seth Rogen) has been hanging out at a top-secret military base. For reasons unknown, the space-traveling smart ass decides to escape the compound and hop on the first vehicle out of town — a rented RV containing Earthlings Graeme Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost).

Chased by federal agents and the fanatical father of a young woman that they accidentally kidnap, Graeme and Clive hatch a fumbling escape plan to return Paul to his mother ship. And as two nerds struggle to help, one little green man might just take his fellow outcasts from misfits to intergalactic heroes.

Paul is directed by Superbad’s Greg Mottola, from a story by Pegg & Frost. Joining the comedy’s cast are Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Blythe Danner, Joe Lo Truglio, John Carroll Lynch, David Koechner and Sigourney Weaver.

 

Rio (2011)

My Rating : 5/5 STAR
MovieStudio Quote >> “This movie will make you move. RIO is the new Madagascar!”

From the makers of the hit Ice Age series comes Rio, a comedy adventure about taking a walk on the wild side. Blu is a domesticated Macaw who never learned to fly, living a comfortable life with his owner and best friend Linda in the small town of Moose Lake, Minnesota.

Blu and Linda think he’s the last of his kind, but when they learn about another Macaw who lives in Rio de Janeiro, they head to the faraway and exotic land to find Jewel, Blu’s female counterpart. Not long after they arrive, Blu and Jewel are kidnapped by a group of bungling animal smugglers.

With the help of street smart Jewel, and a group of wise-cracking and smooth-talking city birds, Blu escapes. Now, with his new friends by his side, Blu will have to find the courage to learn to fly, thwart the kidnappers who are hot on their trail, and return to Linda, the best friend a bird ever had.