Siskel and Ebert

What inspires me today...

Holiday Cinema

Surprisingly, I have been behind lately in my holiday movie watching.  This is unfortunate, because I have become intrigued by many of the names I see on the marquees as I drive by on the way to stare once again at the Boarders gift section in hopes of some last minute gift inspiration.  I have not, in fact, watched previews or read reviews for anything in theaters recently, but I think I can guess the plot and rate them all pretty accurately due to my experience in movie watching and general judgmental attitudes.

So here it is, Katie's Judging-A-Movie-By-The-Cover:

Black Swan

A coming-of-age story about a young bird who thinks she is ugly growing up.  Finally, she befriends and old badger who helps her to realize that she is in actuality a swan who has been living among ducklings.  She goes off in search of her flock, only to realize that she is still ugly since swans are supposed to be white.
Grade: B+

True Grit 

Rick Sloane's camp horror twist on an old classic.  Alternative title -- Fried Green Tomatoes II: Ruth's Revenge
 Grade: A

 Country Strong

Micheal Moore has had a change of heart recently, making a series of mini docu-dramas highlighting the different sects of the United States military. He really delves into the collective soul of patriots everywhere to find the true meaning of the saying, "these colors don't run."

Grade: D-

TRON: Legacy 

A Daft Punk soundtrack that sounds straight out of 1982, 3-D groundbreaking special effects, nostalgic throwbacks to 80's geek-dom, and thrilling sequences that still fall short of reconciling the contrived plot and hopeless dialogue. (You caught me. I saw this one last night.)

Grade: C

Well, there you have it.  Obviously there's no Avitar in our near future, but I think there may be some gems.  I will update this once I have seen all of these movies for the sake of proper journalism, but then again, I probably won't.