American Hustle

“American Hustle” is a great movie with fantastic performances by Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence. The movie goes behind the scenes to tell a story that has surprising twists and cameo appearances in this look at theft and underworld activities.

I think this film was amazingly directed by David O. Russell, who really seems to know how to interact with the movie cast, much as he did in his award-winning movie, “Silver Linings Playbook.” The cast is terrific in this unforgettable film.

Bale should be nominated for an Oscar for his performance. His interaction with Adams was phenomenal and she deserves an nod as well. As does Jennifer Lawrence as best supporting actress.

I give this movie four out of four stars. 

Saving Mr. Banks

“Saving Mr. Banks” is one of the best movies of the year, in my opinion. It is the story of Walt Disney, who in a promise to his daughters spent twenty years trying to attain film rights to the popular novel, “Mary Poppins.” The novel's author, P.L. Travers flies to Hollywood from London to discuss a movie deal, and Disney finds out about the real people behind her novel's beloved characters. One of those being her father, a banker who, whose untimely death has a profound effect on Travers and inspired her novel. 

Tom Hanks is incredible as Walt Disney, and I think that his portrayal is convincing. Emma Thompson's character is complex. She is protective of the memory of her father during the negotiation and production of the Disney classic, “Mary Poppins.” Thompson's performance was solid, and I believed every word she said on camera.I think this is the best performance of her career.

I gave “Saving Mr. Banks” four out of four stars.

The Smurfs 2

Papa Smurf and the rest of the Smurfs with him all reunite teaming with their human friends played by Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays to rescue Smurfette from the clutches of the evil wizard called Gargamal.

First of all not a huge fan of the Smurfs but my daughter thought  this movie was okay I gave it 2 1/2 out of four stars and my daughter gave it three out of four stars.

The Smurfs 2 gets two out of four stars.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

The seemingly ordinary teenager discovers she is possessed by an outside force that controls her life. She is possessed by half the Angel Warriors called the shadow hunters, who project humanity from evil forces.
I thought this movie was really good, it stars Lily Collins. Yes that's Phil Collin’s daughter, and Jamie Campbell Bowler are both quite good in this movie that really didn’t make that much money at the box office. But maybe they'll get a second life here on the Blu-ray and DVD format, I love this movie and I highly recommend.

I give this movie three out of four stars

Out of the Furnace

Out of furnace stars Christian Bale as Russell Baze whose looks are suspect but he is a dedicated family man. His younger brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) who is an Iraq war veteran who is trying so hard to go to regular civilian life. Now Russell is taking care of and is gambling debt when he thinks that everything is okay.

But now Rodney is getting shadier deals with an event organized by Harlan (Woody Harrelson) who is the villain from back East. Once Affleck is murdered and everything  gets out of control because Russell Baze is out of control and just wants to punish whoever murders his brother.

I went into this movie with high hopes and I was horribly disappointed. This movie stars Forest Whitaker, Sam Shepard, Zoe Saldana and William Defoe and all of these roles are not positive to their characters.

This movie is not good and I gave it 1 1/2 stars out of four.

Frozen

Frozen is an outstanding movie where the whole family can just go in and enjoyed it, there's nothing in this movie that the family can't discuss and apply to their own life.

Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) with his loyal  reindeer Sven, they live in a magical kingdom whose ruled by Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel) who can conjure up snow and ice at any time even when they least expect it. Now Elsa has a younger sister named Anna (Kristen Bell) to she is fearful of accidentally harming her. Once Elsa decides to go out and play with Anna they are having a great time and suddenly an accident happens. Anna is just fine, but her sister goes in to hiding in the palace because she doesn't want any problems to occur with their parents or her sister.

Once the King and Queen load on to a ship and say that they will be back in a few weeks their oldest daughter is in charge of her younger sister. The girls are about old enough to take care of themselves after they find out that their parents had passed away during a boating accident. Now Queen Elsa is in charge of everything and once she goes to greet all the visitor the Queen once again has problems because all of a sudden she is providing ice that covers all city. The Queen runs to cover their presence inside a huge ice house that protects her from any outside dangers.

Elsa decides to find her sister and she takes Kristoff along with her because he has his reindeer Sven.  Also there's a cute snowman voice by Josh Gad who is terrific along with the moose who are all very funny. So they go on a journey to locate her sister who has run off.

I think this movie is very funny and I like how this movie looks terrific in either 3-D or regular version. I thought all the characters were lively and exciting to watch.

I gave this terrific movie three out of four stars.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire takes place where Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and fellow victor/fake boyfriend Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) come back together again to visit the towns that they dominated during the last competition.

She is under the menacing presence of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) who is directly threatened to kill her friends and family if she doesn't participate as the government spokesperson. President Snow also has other plans to kill Katniss by using one of the hidden Hunger Games rules, both Katniss and Peeta undrawn back into the next games.

Director Francis Lawrence did a outstanding job of being in charge of this movie and taking the reins of this terrific film. Jennifer Lawrence was once again terrific and even better than she was in the last movie, and Josh Hutcherson was outstanding in his role as well.  Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Liam Hemsworth and Elizabeth Banks and many others are very solid in the roles.

I give this movie 3 1/2 out of four stars.

Keith the Critic's Best and Worst Movies of 2013

BEST MOVIES OF 2013

1. 12 Years a Slave
2. Dallas Buyers Club
3. American Hustle
4. Nebraska
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
6. Inside Llewyn Davis
7. Gravity
8. Saving Mr. Banks
9. The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug
10. Star Trek Into Darkness
11. Fruitvale Station
12. Mandela
13. The Hunger Games
14. Her
15. Mud
16. The Worlds End
17. The Conjuring
18. August: Osage County
19. Good Enough
20. In a World...

WORST MOVIES OF 2013

1. RIPD
2. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
3. Hangover III
4. Movie 43
5. Love is All You Need
6. The Great Gatsby
7. Pain and Gain
8. Elysium
9. The Lone Ranger
10. Scary Movie 5