Movie Reviews - Catch Up!

Was just sifting back through what I've watched recently and realized I'd missed a bunch of movies back in December.  So here are the quick catch up reviews:

Moneyball - (2011) - Movie based on the story of  Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland A's, and his conversion to a more statistics based method of evaluating players.  It was a change that was and still is being resisted by the old guard in baseball.  It's a fun movie if you're a baseball fan.  Add in a cast of Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright and it's a good time.  If you're not a baseball fan I don't know how much you'd enjoy it.  But it's possible.
Rating - *** Worth A Look

Pan's Labyrinth - (2006) Gillermo del Toro directs this dark fantasy of fascist Spain.  A little girl is drawn into the orbit of a sadistic Falangist officer who has married her mother.  She finds a magical world centered on an old faun who tells her that she is a princess.  But before she can take her place she must complete three tasks.  This is NOT a Hollywood style movie and that's part of its charm (if that's the word).  I found the story compelling and was drawn completely  into the movie.  Not a movie for small children even though its central character is one.
Rating -**** Recommended

Larry Crowne - (2011) This movie is a waste.  A waste of a neat idea, a waste of a good cast, a waste of 98 minutes of your life.  Larry Crowne(Tom Hanks) is a former Navy cook who found a job working in a big box store.  A job that he really liked and at which he was very good.  But corporate policy says you have to be a candidate for advancement to stay with the company.  With not college degree that let's Larry out and he's shown the door.  He decides to improve himself by taking classes at the local community college where he lands in a public speaking class led by a bitter disillusioned professor (Julia Roberts).  The rest of the story from that point is pretty obvious.  But there's a really enjoyable cast of supporting characters, virtually none of whom are developed at all.  Roberts character is nasty and unpleasant till she makes a sudden change that seems to come out of nowhere.

There's actually a cute little movie concept here that dies from lack of attention.  The ONLY thing that makes this movie worth watching is the cast which has some fun with what they're given.  Too bad, could have so much better.
Rating - ** Not Impressed