By no means am I a film critic or anything but I do see my fair share of movies (we both do!). Especially this time of year, December and January, when a bunch of stuff gets released in time for awards season. I thought I’d share my thoughts on a few of them that we’ve seen recently:

American Hustle: This movie takes place in the ‘70’s and is about these fictional characters who are involved with the real-life ABSCAM scandal. Christian Bale plays this sleazeball con artist, comb-over and all, who gets in way over his head. He does an awesome job. Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams play his wife and girlfriend, they’re both very good too. Jeremy Renner plays the corrupt mayor who easily accepts bribes. Bradley Cooper plays the FBI agent with high aspirations, if we’re not careful, he may singlehandedly bring back the man-perm. Robert DeNiro and Louis C.K. also had small roles. I was just a little kid back then, so what do I know, but as a rule the ‘70’s pretty much sucked (minus some of the music) and I’m glad that decade is history, but movies like this one and Argo make you feel kind of nostalgic for that time and also it makes that time period seem better than it actually was.

her: This movie is about this weird, introverted and lonely guy looking for love who ends up forming a romantic relationship with the new Operating System (OS) he just got for his computer. The main guy, Theodore Twombly, is played by real-life freakshow Joachin Phoenix. My guess is that you probably have to be completely whacko like him to be that good an actor. Scarlett Johannsen played the part of his love interest/computer’s OS. Even though you only hear her voice and never see her, she was also very good. Amy Adams played his friend who he should have tried to hook up with instead of his computer because she was a real person. Rooney Mara was the ex-wife who left him just in time before he obviously completely lost his mind. Chris Pratt (‘Andy’ from Parks and Recreation) played his buddy from work. He brought his real-life, flesh and blood girlfriend out on a double date with the main character and his ‘girlfriend’. You should’ve seen that, it was totally weird.

This movie is set in the not too distant future in L.A. Everything looks clean and nice so it has kind of a futuristic look to it. It was nominated for an Oscar (Golden Globe maybe?) in the Best Costume Design category. What?! You gotta be kidding me! The only “costumes” I saw were the Sansa-belt slacks that all the men wore pulled up 3 inches over their navels. Those pants are so far out of fashion that I’m not even sure I’m spelling Sansa-belt correctly. I used to work with this guy at Emerson, 25 years ago, who used to wear those kind of pants every day to work. I’m certainly no slave to fashion but even I knew they should have been in mothballs for about 15 years. He was a nice enough guy despite the fact that he talked your ear off so much that you’d hope you have a brain aneurism – it’s just that his wardrobe screamed, ‘NERD!!’

Even though this movie had a goofy plot and was basically a chick flick I really liked it, probably because of the acting. The only other person in the theater didn’t agree, however, he got up and walked out after 15 minutes. Not that I wanted to but I couldn’t have left if I wanted to, I’m pretty much a “captive” audience.

August: Osage County: If you think your family is jacked up, wait until you check out these guys. This family puts the “D” in Dysfunctional. Meryl Streep plays the brash and horrible witch of a mom who’s been doused with a triple batch of psycho. Her character makes you glad she wasn’t your mom. Julia Roberts is the family’s second-in-command and her family has its own issues. This is one of those movies that has a bunch of people in it that you recognize but you aren’t sure of their name, but they’re all really good. The only actor I really knew, besides Juliette Lewis, was Benedict Cumberbatch, and that’s only because he’s in Sherlock, a show I really like. He’s a freaky looking dude but he can sure act. I think this movie is definitely worth seeing if you can stomach watching Pretty Woman drop the F-bomb about 250 times!

Next up: Labor Day. Yet another chick flick, apparently I like those now, that will probably be pretty corny and sappy but by law I have to go see it because I read the book. As Paul Harris of KTRS pointed out, how many times has an escaped convict taken you hostage, showed you how to make a peach pie and then played catch with your son outside in the yard!