“Slumdog Millionaire“ -
Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan

Totally deserved the Oscar sweep it made. Having been to India made this so much more real to me. It was brilliantly crafted by Director Danny Boyle. An unknown and virtual outcast wins millions on national television and how does he possibly know the answers? Well that is where the movie tells its story. Each answer is uniquely and indelibly tied to an instance many horrific in the young man’s childhood. From his mother being slaughtered by religious zealots while doing laundry one day, to his time as an orphan who is kidnapped and forced to beg for a living, to rescuing the love of his life from servitude and prostitution, all of these are how he learned the answers and takes the prize. It is an old fashioned, in many ways, feel good story. Patel has a very promising future along with his stellar supporting cast.

“Pink Panther 2 -
Steve Martin, John Cleese, Jean Reno, Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, Lily Tomlin, Jeremy Irons, Emily Mortimer

I think I must be more in love with the soundtrack and the animated Pink Panther than with the movie and its stars. It struck me as one of those films made as a kind of party for the actors on screen rather than anything for a viewer. Clearly it is a star studded cast with some faces that haven’t seen the big screen in a long while. This never got past mildly amusing, it was entirely predictable and honestly boring in many places. Good background noise if you are having a party!

“Taken“ -
Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen

I love this and it is rare to find an action/adventure flick that isn’t overloaded with special effects and such stunts as to be entirely unrealistic. This was hot! Neeson hasn’t been on screen much lately but he definitely has Harrison Ford potential. In fact he is much more intriguing that Ford can ever be with that slight accent and loping gait. The premise is that a divorced Dad clearly a former government operative has lost his wife and daughter to years of neglect and his ex remarries a very wealthy but powerless businessman. Powerless because when Neeson’s daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) goes off to Europe for the summer and is TAKEN by a prostitution ring, Neeson has to leap into action to save her. The rule of thumb is that if not found in the first 48 hours, the changes of her being recovered become slim to none. This was a wild ride complete with Eastern European mafia figures and French government operatives gone bad. This ranks up there with my favorite Nicolas Cage caper “Gone in 60 Seconds.”