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"Parental Guidance" is meant to be a comedy on the generational gap in parenting techniques but Billy Crystal completely steals the movie with his smooth and silky talking. Billy Crystal, acknowledging that he is the attraction of the senior crowd, embodies the fuddled grandpa trying to understand the softness of the suburban life but at the same time vying for his youth. As clichéd as "use your words" has become of modern parenting, Billy Crystal is the one who uses his words expertly and elevates the movie from being another generic family movie.

In regards to the modern methods of parenting techniques, there are two opposites of parenting presented: first, the red haired Russian shrieking "practice, practice, practice" method; and second, the soft version of baseball where no-one given out method intended so that there is no ugly competition and just good clean fun. The first type is deemed to produce uptight children and the second type deemed to produce stuttering, diffident children or children with imaginary friends. So, it is up to the grandparents to come in to the picture and sort this out. The solution of course, you might have guessed, fun in its various forms; feel good but not a real answer or revelation.

Without Billy Crystal, this movie would probably end up like every other movie in the same mold; the shrieking screaming kids running around in a McMansion with busy stressed out parents with one hand managing the kids and with the other hand managing their jobs; the parents desperately in need a change to solve their problems. Throughout the movie, Billy Crystal is relaxed and smooth talking and first provides the calmness to the dizzying hyperactivity of the family and then sparkle with his comedy to take us through the predictable second half.

Overall, it's a generic family movie but elevated by Billy Crystal. However, it's still a movie bogged down by its uninspired family dynamics.

"Jack Reacher" is all about the introduction of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher; he is presented here as a superman who can out-wit, out-fight, out-run and out-shoot anyone and everyone. While Tom Cruise does a decent job with Reacher, the main problem with the movie is that the overly elaborate plot setup at the beginning can only offer a minuscule payoff at the end. The plot splutters and whittles out to nothing in the end making the whole movie feel anti-climactic and pointless.

The trailers for the movie are misleading. My first impression from the teaser was a Punisher sort of movie. My second impression, from the roars of the muscle car in the trailer, was one that of one of those Nic Cage action movies. It is neither. It's a stuffy cop/crime show movie at first and then a punch out, shoot out and car chase kind of action movie next (though its humble budget only allows for moderately wrecking of three cars with none exploding). Think "Alex Cross" kind of movie.

Jack Reacher is presented here as a sort of GI batman who is great at detective work, combat work and not bad at quick talking either; always there with a heavy punch or a witty comeback. The entire movie, plot and the characters just serve as the canvas to show off Jack Reacher's virtues. As Reacher says, "he has nothing to lose or gain", and so the Reacher we meet at the beginning of the movie is the same Reacher at the end of the movie and so the whole movie feels like one long introduction to the amazing Mr. Reacher. In fact, Reacher is vastly over-developed; things like being off the grid and unable to be contacted, or being an ex-military investigator where his every suspect was a trained killer, are superfluous to the movie plot at hand and just there for the sake of making Reacher look more awesome.

There is a passable low-budget detective action movie underneath all this. This detective story has the feel of an 80s action cop movie mixed in with the style of modern TV crime and legal drama but without any of the Mission Impossible style high budget action sequences. It's a pity the plot can't fully rise up to challenge Jack Reacher which might have made for a good movie. Although, there is engrossing half an hour in the middle of the movie when Reacher is searching for his assailants and the girl Sandy that shows a glimpse of what the movie could have been if the plot had been better.

Overall, "Jack Reacher" doesn't feel like a big action movie; the plot is small and riddled with logic holes and the story is driven by actions because it's the only way for the plot to move forward. But, the charisma of the stars pull this into something watchable. The cynic in me feels like this is a low-budget, low-risk test to see if "Jack Reacher" can be made to a Mission Impossible like franchise rather than a real movie that stands on its own two feet.

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" takes us back to middle earth and this trip back is even better than what I remember of it. The scenes and locations are more detailed and nuanced, the characters presented with more depth and subtlety and the action more frenetic and grander. The movie is an amazing technical as well artistic achievement in all aspects and absolutely a must see movie.

"The Hobbit" book is a simpler and shorter story than "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Being stretched out into three movies was expected to make it less epic and more mundane of a movie but that is absolutely not the case. Through sheer skill and artistry of movie storytelling, the plot feels absolutely epic and grand. While perhaps there is less at stake on middle earth than in "Lord of the Rings", there are more dimensions to the characters: doubt, guilt, frailty and a little extra space for humor and wit, which all paints a more colorful story.

At every turn, middle earth brims with overflowing wonder, magic and excitement. The technical wizardry and artistry to create the breath-taking visuals and actions are indescribably amazing and everything is given an extra little more than last time around for us to soak in the intricate details and designs. The dwarf city inside the mountain with its blustering industriousness and craftsmanship, the serene Rivendale, the rickety goblin kingdom all are presented with so much more substance and detail that even though they resemble previous "Lord of the Rings" set-pieces, they feel completely new and refreshing. The technical prowess and skills of the visual effects department have gotten so much better and that indescribable feeling of awe I felt we had when I first experienced "Lord of the Rings" set pieces like Moria and Gondor is still evoked watching these new set pieces. Plus, they have also vastly improved their handling of differences in heights of the characters and the interactions feel more natural and fluid. Everything feels like it has multiple layers and depth: from Bilbo's house and pantry to the dwarf and goblin kingdoms to all the skirmishes and battles. Middle earth as is presented here is as close to the perfect fantasy backdrop as it gets.

The new cast seamlessly blend into the middle earth world. Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and Richard Armitage as Thorin make the characters their own. Freeman's initial bumbling English demeanor and then the growth to an adventurer is skillfully done. Armitage wonderfully projects royalty and authority while still being constrained of being a dwarf. Ian McKellen's return as the wizard Gandalf is a more playful and comedic return while Andy Serkis's Gollum is more vicious and expressive than I remember him to be (this possibly is also due to some animation improvements in Gollum as well). The rest of the dwarf company are too many to keep track of individually but as a group they provide for the expected dwarfian physical humor but also the gravity when needed of a people who have lost their home. This generation of middle earthians are all around as wonderful a group to get to know as the generation from the "Lord of the Rings" movies.

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" is simply amazing and is one the best movies ever made. With great storytelling, amazing visuals and very skillful acting, the movie grips you in a multiple of levels and never lets go. It is a movie to be seen as soon as humanly possible.