Cowboys and Aliens:

My nephew roped me into seeing this one, and I'm glad I was corralled into it.  I don't want to put down any spoilers, but the improbable scenario envisioned in this movie comes to an entertaining conclusion where the Nineteenth Century Earthers with sixguns and an odd ET weapon put up one heck of a fight against alien '49ers. 

Harrison Ford in a supporting role is cast as a cowboy, that ironically makes you think of his Indiana Jones character because of the hat, and as his alien kick-butt Han Solo character when he's pitted in battle.  Daniel Craig stars and does fine in that capacity, but the subplots involving Ford and other secondary characters make this movie work a lot better for me.  If you like westerns and you like scifi, this is the must-see movie of the summer.  I give it 4.5 stars.

The Hunger Games

I haven't read the book this is based on, but my nephew, like many other young adults, has and really wanted to see the movie.  He made it sound interesting enough to look at by the political satire and allegory that was contained therein.  This was one of those movies that I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but I will say it takes place in a dystopian future where there exists twelve relatively poor districts in a future American setting, plus a thirteenth of exceeding splendor and decadence that exists on the backs of the other twelve.  The teen heroine comes from one of these backward districts, and is effectively picked in a lottery system along with a boy, just like all other districts, to participate in a defining bit of reality TV, where they fight to the death with the remaining survivor getting personal glory and recognition for their district.  The film is a bit of an allegory, part social satire, and I was pleased with the way that the heroine gets through the various conflicts in the movie by her choices.  I actually got some ideas I could work with for dealing with problems in my own district.  Good movie, PG-13, violence.  4.5 Stars.

The Judge

The film's synopsis says:  "A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder. He sets out to discover the truth and along the way reconnects with the family he walked away from years before."

For some reason, this brought to mind attorney Craig Cooper and his father Judge Richard I. Cooper in our local setting, but the judge in the film (Robert Duvall) is a lot more dedicated to law and justice than our old curmudgeon, and the attorney in the film, played by Robert Downey (aka Ironman and Sherlock Holmes) has a lot more hair and charisma than Craig, but less connection to his dad.

Downey and Duvall give great performances to lift this film from mediocrity to good, making their parts almost believable, and Bill Bob Thornton's Prosecutor Dwight Dickem (a great name for a PA), in a limited role, also is memorable.  If you like courtroom dramas, this isn't the best, since most of the action happens outside the court, action which is often formulaic, but driven into tolerance by the stars.  Not a great date flick, it left my date sad, but 3.5 Stars.