So, I’ve seen several movies recently, but have been way too busy to do reviews of all of them. Here are four brief reviews of films from four different genres, there is something for everyone in this post so be sure to keep reading after the jump.
The Strangers 
I, along with most other moderately serious movie goers, have grown very tired with the whole slasher / torture porn genre of horror movies that have littered theaters for the past several years. While The Strangers looks like it may fall into that genre if you just judged it from the trailer, writer/director Bryan Bertino thankfully didn’t go that route. The film’s plot is simple and straightforward, a young couple at an extremely difficult time in their relationship are terrorized by a group of, of course, strangers. The surprising thing is that it really didn’t need much of a plot. The Strangers is essentially an exercise in creating suspense, and at that it excels. Bertino gradually builds an overwhelming sense of dread around his characters before anything really goes down, making sure that you’re never too relaxed. Once things do start to happen, however, you won’t leave the edge of your seat. If you’re a fan of horror movies and appreciate the art of creating suspense, then The Strangers is definitely worth your while.
Young@Heart
Young@Heart is a documentary about a senior citizen’s choir who perform famous rock songs, including hits from The Ramones, Sonic Youth, Coldplay, etc. The film manages to be both heart wrenching and inspirational as the choir struggles to overcome the deaths of two members in the weeks leading up to their show. You can’t help but be impressed by, and feel connected to this group who is defying stereotypes and doing what they love during their golden years. Be prepared to grab some Kleenex during the last couple scenes of Young@Heart as one of the choir’s members performs an absolutely stirring rendition of Coldplay’s “Fix You.” It hit me much in the same way that Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” did the first time I saw the video.
The Counterfeiters
Wow, what a movie. After I saw the outstanding animated French film Persepolis, I was about 90% sure that the Academy had chosen the wrong movie for last year’s “Best Foreign Language Film” Oscar, even though I hadn’t seen all the nominees. Let’s just say I spoke too soon. The Counterfeiters is the true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, a famous Jewish-German counterfeiter who was forced by the Nazis to lead a team of concentration camp prisoners ordered to produce fraudulent British currency to finance Hitler’s war effort. There have been tons of World War II movies, but this is a fresh, interesting story that we’ve never seen played out on film. Karl Markovics is excellent as Sorowitsch and director Stefan Ruzowitzky shows some serious skill behind the camera. If you at all enjoy foreign films, The Counterfeiters comes highly recommended.
The Incredible Hulk
As I mentioned in my review of Pride and Glory, I’m a huge Edward Norton fan and will see just about anything he’s in. After being disappointed by Pride and Glory, however, I was prepared for Hulk not to be very good. Thankfully, I was proven wrong. Hulk isn’t an Oscar caliber film, but it’s still a pretty good time. Norton gives a characteristically strong performance and the story is fast paced and action packed. I didn’t see Ang Lee’s 2003 version, but from what I’ve gathered Lee tried to take the franchise in the King Kong / Frankenstein sensitive beast tragedy direction, and it just didn’t click with viewers (it was a giant box office flop for those of you who didn’t know). It appears that writer Zak Penn and director Louis Leterrier took the criticisms of the last Hulk to heart and went out to address them one by one. If you’re in the mood for an entertaining big budget blockbuster, you could do much worse than The Incredible Hulk.
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