Movie Reviews- Love And Loss at the Movies

Valentine's Day - (Every famous, trendy, beautiful actor) *
Have you seen Love Actually? If not, see it. If so, rent it and watch it again. The movie Valentine's Day is a cheap and unsuccessful attempt at being Love Actually. The best part for me was an out-take that aired in the credits. I did leave the theater with questions though: How many lawyers did it take to negotiate the contracts of all those people? How much does an actor get paid for little bit parts like that? What was the budget of that movie? Do movie writers think the general public is stupid? Bottom line: Skip this movie and watch Love Actually instead.

Shutter Island - (Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams) ***
There have been previews of this movie for what seems like 3 years. It looked amazing so I was worried I wouldn't like it. To be honest, I'm not sure I did. I still think it is worth seeing at some point; it is very well acted and some of the shots are absolutely breathtaking in how Scorsese set up the scene. I was happy that most of the clips shown in previews happen early in the movie and the movie is quite different and deeper than the previews let on. I think my problem is that it isn't all that original, very predictable and at times boring. I was expecting more, especially from Scorsese. That being said, it is well done and the movie holds up with post inspection. Given everthing that is out right now, it is worth seeing. While the previews lead you to believe that this is a scary movie, it really isn't. So you can watch at night or alone and not worry about freaking out afterwards.