Step Up 3 in 3D

First Hit: Predictable and without the strobe-light effect on the dancers it would have been far more interesting to watch.

This story has the end given to you at the beginning. You know they will win the competition. You know the first two characters you interact with are friends who will become more; it is obvious.

Moose (played by Adam Sevani) comes to the NYU campus with his lifelong friend Camille (played by Alyson Stoner). He promises Camille and his family to study engineering because it is in the "real world".

But within the first few moments he finds himself in a dance off with the king of the spontaneous Central Park dancers. Moose is a wonderful natural dancer and everyone who watched him in the park is impressed. This includes Luke (played by Rick Malambri) who sees Moose as someone he wants to add to his dance team to possibly win the $100,000 prize for a dance contest.

It is obvious from the beginning what is going to happen but they break up this dull foretold story with some good dancing which they ruined each time they used the strobe-light effect.

It actually took away from watching the real skill and talent displayed by these actors/dancers.

Sevani has some wonderful moves, is natural and was fun to watch. Stoner was sweet, cute and a pretty good dancer herself. Malambri played the brooding and caring guy who gives homes to dancers and his payoff is to film them. He's OK in the part, but with a story like this I don't know if he can act. Jon Chu wasted his time and actor's talent with this effort.

Overall: Not much of a film, predictable story but some great dancing ruined by strobe-lights.

Mao's Last Dancer

First Hit: Wonderful film with great dancing while providing some flavor of Chinese politics during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.

Every time I see anything about Chairman Mao, I think of the little Red Book I bought in Hong Kong in 1970. I was fascinated by how so many people could be so enamored by one man who was promising a better life for all while attempting to achieve this goal through suppression of the human spirit.

This film is about a young dancer learning that hard work and practice could free his body through the dance form of ballet while gaining a personal physical freedom of spirit by coming to, dancing and staying in the United States.

This is film is based on the autobiography by Cunxin Li who was handpicked by the Red Guard to go to Beijing and attend a government run dance school academy. A US choreographer from the Houston Ballet Company visited China and saw Li Cunxin dance. He invited him to visit and the Red Guard gave him a visa to visit the US for 3 months.

For the first time in his life, while he practiced his craft and fell in love, he felt the freedom of his spirit. He followed this path which led to him obtaining asylum in the US and after a public outcry he was able to stay in the US but had to give up any rights of going back home and seeing his family again.

Chi Cao as the adult Li Cunxin was incredible. The dancing, learning to live in the US, and his falling in love was beautifully performed. Bruce Greenwood as Ben Stevenson the man who brought Li to the US was perfect. Bruce Beresford directed this with a beautifully sensitive hand.

Overall: Simply a beautiful film about a man discovering himself through dance.

Get Low

First Hit: Better film than what the previews showed and Duvall is strong in quirky character role.

Get Low is the phrase Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) uses to talk about dying and being put in the ground. Bush is a self-imposed hermit for over 40 years. People have stories about him but as he says in his clipped sentence sort of way; just because that's their story doesn’t mean it is true.

Bush lives by himself on 300 acres of land and shoots at most people that trespass on his land. He’s starting to feel that he is nearing the end of his life so he hires a funeral parlor run by Frank Quinn (played by Bill Murray) and Buddy (played by Lucas Black) to give him a party before he dies. He wants people to come to the party and tell stories about him.

However, what he really wants is to tell his story. He asks his best friend and Reverend Charlie Jackson (played by Bill Cobbs) to tell it for him but Cobbs refuses. To promote interest he offers anyone his land by asking people to send in $5.00 to Quinn Funeral Parlor and with the $5.00, the person gets a chance in the lottery.

Sissy Spacek plays Mattie Darrow who “had a go” with Bush many years earlier and even takes a walk with him on his land. As the day arrives, hundreds of people show up to hear the truth as Bush experienced it.

Duvall makes the most of this role and the minimal dialogue he is given. He carries the burden of the unspoken truth with conviction and it works well. Spacek is good but nothing exceptional as his one time girlfriend. Murray as the funeral director Quinn is solid and is one of Murray’s better serious roles. Black was very strong as Murray’s assistant and becomes Bush's new friend. Aaron Schneider directed this film with the kind of subtlety required to make it work.

Overall: Although not a great film it was solid enough to keep my interest and told a good story.

The Girl Who Played With Fire (Flikan som lekte med elden)

First Hit: Good film, not as strong as the first of the series, yet interesting enough to be engaging.

Noomi Rapace reprises her role as Lisbeth Salander, "the girl" referred to in the title in the trilogy of films. Michael Nyqvist reprises his role as Mikael Blomkvist the journalist of the Millennium magazine.

Taking off from the first film “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, this film picks up Salander vacationing in a foreign country. She looks rested yet her intensity is still obvious in her eyes as she stops her traveling and heads back to Sweden to take care of some unfinished business.

Upon returning, Salander breaks into her parole officer’s home and reminds him that she still has his number and expects him to continue to write positive reports about her. Her father, whom she set on fire when she was younger, is still alive and now after her by setting her up for murders being committed by his goon a big blond former boxer.

Blomkvist doesn’t believe police reports that Salander has murdered 3 people. He begins to investigate and through a couple of emails learns that Salander is thankful for his belief and help. As Salander makes her way to where her father is living she runs into the protective goon (the big blond man) who beats her.

After awakening she learns he doesn't feel any pain and that this big blond goon is her half-brother. Her father and the goon dispose of Salander but her perseverance has her rising from the grave to kill him. And Blomkvist, he arrives on time to keep her alive.

Rapace is unforgettable on the screen. Whether you watch her walk away naked with her full back tattoo, or hooded and disguised as she quietly sneaks her way across town, she captures the audience’s attention. Blomkvist is not a strong screen presence but plays his character with so much integrity I can’t help but be on his side, no matter what. Jonas Frykberg and Stieg Larsson wrote the screenplay from Larsson’s book of the same title. This story isn’t quite as strong as the first film. Daniel Alfredson directed the film in a way that was well paced and allowed the story to unfold rather than force it.

Overall: A good follow-up from the first film, but the story wasn’t quite as strong as the initial one and so it didn’t quite bowl me over.

Eat Pray Love

First Hit: Although the film is long, I enjoyed it because there are strings of the truth in it.

I’m usually not fond of seeing films based on books I’ve read. This one, for me, captured the important points of the book and although it didn’t do it wonderfully, the points were there to hear (not see) if you paid attention.

Based on the book of the same name by Elizabeth (Liz) Gilbert, the story is about finding inner peace and transforming the main character into being of love versus looking for love outside of herself. Because I’ve done my own inner work, have traveled the world, sat in meditation and silence for 3 months in one stint, and have engaged in spiritual retreats in communities around Europe, U.S, the Far East and India I have a perspective that many other watchers of this film will not have.

It is difficult to express what goes on in a meditative mind on film. Changes in how one behaves in the world which are developed through meditation can take years to assimilate into one’s life. Showing this in a film is difficult.

What can be shown are some of the processes the person goes through, initial results, and more importantly perceptive dialogue. Although this film is long, it isn't long enough to cover the Liz's real journey then and how it is still unfolding. If I were to adjust it, I’d take out some of the time in Italy and add more in the India segment.

This is a film about a woman’s growth into the beginning stages of her spiritual evolution. The key factors expresses are: Forgiveness – one has to forgive themselves.

The path to love is through loving oneself. See things with equanimity which will require balance. Say “yes” with an openness to learn from the people, decisions, obstacles and paths which unfold in front of you in each and every moment. Takes risks and step out of the bounds from which we perceive is our security. Security is an illusion, doesn’t exist in nature and therefore it doesn’t exist.

Julia Roberts is a fine actress. I love her laugh and in this film, I’ve never seen her be more at peace (inner) with herself. I would bet she’s done her own work over the past few years and that this performance just wasn’t acting. However, the problem with reading the book first I felt as if Roberts was too old for the part but all in all she did a very good job with it. Richard Jenkins was very good as Richard from Texas. Javier Bardem was good in his expression of Felipe. Again however, my impression of him from the book was very different, here Felipe was quite buff and younger than I expected. Ryan Murphy did a credible job of directing this story.

Overall: I enjoyed the film and filled in some of the pieces that were missing from the memory of the book.