Movie Bits

DVD Review: Little Fockers

2011-06-02T02:17:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for innuendo, brief violence, some language

Starring Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Robert DeNiro, Barbara Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Alba, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner

5 years have passed, story-wise, since we last had an encounter with Greg Focker. Not only is Greg a loving husband to his wife Pam, but he is also a doting dad to their almost 5 year old twins Samantha and Henry and he is the head nurse at the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

After learning that Dr. Bob - the husband of Pam's sister Debbie - has been having an ongoing affair for quite some time, Greg's father-in-law Jack says that in the event of his passing, it is now Greg's duty to carry the family through hard times, referring to him as "The God-Focker."

In an effort to impress Jack, Greg attempts to send his kids to the elite Early Human School, however it is quite expensive and in order to help cover the expense, Greg gives in to a pretty, peppy young pharmaceutical rep named Andi and agrees to help promote a new erectile dysfunction drug for older men with a heart condition. However, he is a bit embarrassed by the product and the more he keeps hush about it, along with him spending quite a bit of time with Andi, the ex-CIA agent in Jack get suspicious and begins thinking that Greg is cheating on Pam.

Everything boils down the week of the twin's 5th birthday party, which Greg's eccentric and free-spirited parents are also in town for.

Little Fockers is filled with much of the same humor as the previous installment of this series, Meet the Fockers. Honestly though, while there where some laughs and it did have it's moments (not to mention the kids are pretty cute too!), this film wasn't really necessary. See it if you liked the rest of the franchise, otherwise feel free to skip it - you're not missing much.

DVD Review: Salt

2011-06-02T02:03:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for brief language, action, violence, brief torture, brief nudity

Starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber

Evelyn Salt is a CIA agent, first accused of being an American spy by the North Koreans and later accused of being a Russian spy by her fellow Americans after a strange Russian man is brought in for interrogation and requests to speak to Salt, claiming he knows who she is and that it is her who is to assassinate the vice president.

It's hard to review this one without giving too much away, as there were quite a bit of twists in the film. The Russian claims Salt was trained by the Russians as a child shortly after her parents died in a car accident to be a Russian sleeper agent, blending in and working her way up in America to be in position when the time comes for their ultimate plan to be carried out.

Of course Salt claims to know none of this, but does she really? And will she really carry out her supposed role in their plan?

Throughout most of the movie we are left guessing where Salt's loyalties really lie - with the Russians or with the Americans?

It's definitely an interesting flick to watch though, full of lots of action and suspense. Worth a rental.

Fast Five

2011-06-02T01:52:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for action, violence, some sexuality, brief language

Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris

Picking up exactly where the 4th installment left off, Dom is sentence for his crimes and being bussed off to prison when his sister Mia and her boyfriend - the former FBI agent and fellow street racer Brian O'Connor - speed up alongside the bus, tipping it over and busting just Dom out. Now fugitives, the trio flees to Rio in hopes of waiting things out until the whole mess blows over.

Desperate for funds, Mia and Brian meet up with Vince (from the 1st movie) and agree to a quick and easy job he's found out about which includes jacking 3 cars off a train. Dom gets involved as well, however the plan doesn't go as planned as it turns out the guys that set up the job have ulterior motives. After Dom sends Mia off in the car the others had the most interest in, all hell breaks out and several DEA officers on the train get shot and killed in the process.

Curious as to why they were so interested in that one particular car, Dom and Brian strip it down and discover a microchip that contains all the safehouses for Rio's main druglord.

Not only do they have the local druglord's henchmen after them, but now, because of the dead DEA officers, they also have tough as nails US DSS agent Luke Hobbs hot on their trail, wanting to recapture our trio.

Tired and wanting to live a normal life (not to mention Mia is pregnant with Brian's child), with the help of friends from all the previous installments, they decide to rob the druglord and go into hiding in a country where they can't be extradited.

Not only do we have the car chases with flashy cars we've come to expect from this series, but now there's the "impossible heist" element (reminiscent of Ocean's 11 or The Italian Job) added to it as well.

Gotta admit, this franchise works much better with Vin Diesel in it than it did without him in the 2nd installment (and technically the 3rd, although in the timeline that one takes place at the end of the series). Having The Rock hot on his tail also adds to the fun and it's a battle of brawn when the 2 have a bit of a hand to hand showdown.

If you liked the original The Fast and the Furious as well as the series' 4th installment Fast and Furious, you'll definitely enjoy Fast Five as it's much of the same fun adrenaline rush we've come to expect from these films.

DVD Review: Old Dogs

2011-06-02T01:33:00.000-05:00

Rated PG

Starring Robin Williams, John Travolta, Seth Green, Rita Wilson, Kelly Preston

Dan and Charlie have been best friends forever and are co-owners of a successful sports marketing firm, living the high life. In the midst to closing the biggest deal of their lives, Dan's ex-wife Vicki (whom he married on a whim 7 years prior while on vacation, their nuptials not even lasting 24 hours) shows up, desperately needing someone to watch her 2 kids while she spends 2 weeks in jail for activist shenanigans. Dan quickly realizes, the children are his - the result of their brief nuptials 7 years ago.

Reluctant at first, Dan evenutally agrees, wanting to get to know the kids a bit (not to mention he never got over Vicki either). However as Dan struggles with figuring out fatherhood, him and Charlie continue to attempt to close their business deal.

In the end, they learn what's important in life (and it's not living the high life) and grow as people as well.

Much like Travolta's previous Disney family flick Wild Hogs, Old Dogs is geared towards the same audience catering more towards adults although kids will enjoy the youngsters meddling in their father's (and "Uncle Charlie's") life. It's definitely a feel good movie.

Thor

2011-06-01T05:17:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for superhero action violence

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Dennings, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Jaimie Alexander

While researching some strange disturbances in the weather in New Mexico, Jane Foster, assistant Darcy and her mentor Erik come across a distraught and confused strong man in the middle of the desert.

Turns out, that strongman is Thor - son of Odin and heir to the throne of Asgard. However, Thor wasn't quite coronated as king yet. During his coronation ceremony Frost Giants break into the vault of the palace in hopes of retrieving the source of their power - the casket of ancient winters. Quick to react, Thor wants revenge and justice for the Frost Giants coming there and breaking the peace between Asgard and Jotunheim. Knowing how to press his buttons, Loki talks Thor into attacking the Frost Giants himself despite Odin's warning to leave them be. Taking Loki and his friends, Thor and crew travel the Rainbow Bridge and inadvertently start a war. Upset at his failure to heed his words, Odin banishes Thor from Asgard and exiles him on Earth. He also makes it so that Thor cannot use his infamous hammer until he is worthy of it.

Lost and confused and wanting to go home, Jane eventually gives in and helps Thor, giving him a lift to the site of where his hammer is rumored to be.

However, with Thor gone and Odin suffering a heart attack, Loki is left in charge of Asgard, much to the dismay of Thor's friends, and is running a muck, refusing to undo Thor's exile. Taking matters into their own hands, Thor's friends venture to Earth in search of him, however Loki sends a Destroyer to put an end to his brother once and for all.

Will Thor be able to regain his strength and obtain his hammer in time to save Earth and the Frost Giants and put a stop to Loki's evil plans?

As the first big superhero film of this summer, Thor was an excellent fun family thrill ride. Despite being based on Norse mythology, the film plays it off without shoving it so much in your face. Basically, the "gods" are just really strong with an advanced form of technology - only when they came to Earth were they deemed "gods" at the time.

Be sure to take the whole family to this fun flick this summer!

DVD Review: The Social Network

2011-06-01T05:01:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for some language, some sexuality

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rashida Jones, Armie Hammer

After being dumped by his unofficial girlfriend, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg has a night of binge drinking and posts on his Livejournal throughout the night as he creates a Hot or Not type website database of most of the girls at school, getting their pictures by hacking through the school's network. By 3am, his site has gone live and the link is out. Thousands of students flock to the site to check it out and rate their fellow co-eds. The site gets so much traffic so quickly that the network crashes.

It's eventually traced back to Zuckerberg and after hearing what he did, he is soon approached by the Winklevoss twins to create a Harvard social network site so the students can connect and hook-up, sort of like a dating site. Seeing the potential of a social networking site for college students, Zuckerberg puts the Winklevoss project on hold and starts his own social networking site - The Facebook.

This film primarily shows the early haydays of the Facebook social networking site and the first of several lawsuits Zuckerberg has had to dealt with since the site was created. In this film, the main case is the Winklevoss's claiming Facebook was their idea while Zuckerberg claims that their site was more of a dating/hook-up site whereas Facebook is something different.

It was interesting to see the evolution of the now very popular site (which is no longer just for college students - anyone with a valid email address can be on Facebook). It was also interesting to see the part that Napster founder Sean Parker played in Facebook.

One thing to note though, while the film at first glace seems to be autobiographical, it is anything but. Several sources have coming saying that the real Mark Zuckerberg is nothing like the character that portrays him in the film.

If you like docu-dramas be sure to check this one out as it was definitely worth seeing. Also, the movie's score by Trent Rezner and Atticus Ross was excellent as well!

DVD Review: The Other Guys

2011-06-01T04:49:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for action violence, slapstick violence, brief language, some sexuality

Starring Will Ferrell, Mark Whalberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson

In every police force there are guys like detective Chris Dansen and PK Highsmith - the cool guys who chase after the bad guys much like the crime-fighting duos you see in all the action movies. And then there are the other guys like Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz, the pencil pusher who sit at the desks and do all the research.

After a freak accident where Dansen and Highsmith are killed, all the guys in the office are looking to become the next action crime-fighting duo. That is, all the guys except for Gamble who is quite content working a safe deskjob, much to the dismay of his partner Hoitz. Hoitz longs for being in on the action but ever since accidentally shooting Derek Jeter (he thought he was a trespasser) he hasn't been given much of a chance to redeem himself.

Gamble begins an investigation into a scaffolding permit violation though which as it would be turns out to lead to something much much bigger than him and Hoitz could ever imagine. And clearly they're on the right trail as someone with power and henchmen don't want them snooping around.

Will the other guys prevail and get their moment of glory out from behind the desk?

While it's supposed to be a comedy, the laughs were few and far between. Sure it had it's moments, but it went a little over the top when Will Ferrell's Gamble shares his backstory.

Definitely a forgettable film and not worth the time to watch.

DVD Review: Dinner for Schmucks

2011-06-01T04:37:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for crude humor, language, sexuality

Starring Paul Rudd, Steve Carell

Tim is a financial consultant who hopes to be promoted among the executives after a spot opens up at his firm. After impressing his bosses and potentially landing a huge client, they are quick to consider him for the job however they say he must attend a "special" dinner. He soon learns that at this dinner, the execs bring the craziest, wackiest idiot they can find and whoever brings the best one wins!

At first Tim is turned off to the idea of making a fool out of some poor schmuck and his live-in girlfriend reminds him how wrong it is and tells him not to do it. But after running into Barry - the perfect schmuck to bring to the dinner - Tim can't resist the chance at a promotion and so he invites Barry to the dinner. Inadvertently he invites Barry into his life as well, popping up at all the wrong moments and making Barry's situation with his girlfriend and his potential new clients only worse! Basically, Barry is a walking disaster.

Will Tim ultimately decide to attend the dinner, with Barry in tow? Or will he do the noble thing and tell Barry the truth, saving him from humiliation?

Honestly, with funny men Paul Rudd and Steve Carell starring together, this movie wasn't as funny as it could have been. It had potential alright, and some laughs, but it just seemed a bit mean-spirited and in the end it didn't deliver.

Feel free to skip this dinner!

DVD Review: Easy A

2011-06-01T04:29:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for sexuality, brief language, teenage drinking

Starring Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Hayden Church

What started as an innocent fib to get a best friend to shut up became the rumor heard 'round the school.

Not wanting to join her best friend Rhi and her kooky family on a weekend camping trip, Olive lies and says she has a date with college guy. On Monday, Rhi begs her for details, insisting that Olive must have slept with this college beau when in fact Olive spent all weekend at home, rocking out to the song "Pocket Full of Sunshine." Tired of Rhi pestering her, Olive gives in and tells her she slept with the guy, unbeknownst that one of the school's gossips is in the bathroom with them and overhears everything. Quickly the word spreads that Olive is sleeping around.

Having never been on the social map at school, Olive admits to initially liking all the attention she was getting from both the girls (who called her a slut) and the guys (who suddenly had an interest in her).

She learns that one of her best guy pals is gay, but hates being made fun of for it by the other kids at school. After Olive gives him the advice to just make up something up and spread around, like what happened with her, he suggests they go to a party together and fake have sex, that way Olive's reputation lives on and people will think he's straight. She decides to go along with it, however after that encounter, all the "loser" guys at school catch on to the trick and start offering Olive giftcards to various places in exchange for her to agree that she did something sexual with them.

Eventually it spirals out of control, and she decides she no longer likes having the slutty reputation, as it seems no guys in school actually have respect for her or want to date her - they just want to say they did things with her. Needless to say, Olive learns a very important lesson about how big one little lie can get and the importance of a reputation!

With the witty dialogue and just the right amount of sexuality, this film is almost like a 2010 version of Mean Girls as both have the same type of humor and clever dialogue, with the story being told by the main character and how they met their downfall and how they redeemed themselves.

If you liked Mean Girls, or even just funny teenage come-of-age flicks (with John Hughes references to boot!) be sure to check out Easy A! It's probably better than what you're expecting!

DVD Review: The Proposal

2011-06-01T04:14:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for some language, some sexuality, obscure nudity

Starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Betty White, Craig T. Nelson, Mary Steenburgen

Margaret Tate is a very successful editor in chief of a book publishing company in New York, however when she learns from her board that her legal visa has expired (she's from Canada) and she will be deported she quickly and foolishly tells them that her and her assistant Andrew are engaged and will be married soon. Andrew, while fully aware that his boss is a demanding witch of a woman, plays along as she promises him she'll run his articles if he plays along long enough. With a long weekend coming up, Andrew has already made plans to go home and visit his family in Alaska, and in order to fool their co-workers, Margaret must tag along.

What she didn't plan on was meeting a family who genuine cares and accepts each other regardless. We learn she never really had much of a family life growing up, which is why she's so cold of a person. She quickly begins to fall in love with Andrew's family and begins to realize it's not fair to drag him into a marriage of convience.

But what will Andrew's family think once the truth comes out? Will Margaret eventually be deported? Or will Andrew still play along with her scheme?

If you like romantic comedies, be sure not to miss this one as the performances by the cast were all quite fun!

DVD Review: The Runaways

2011-06-01T04:06:00.000-05:00

Rated R for language, sexuality, drug and alcohol use

Starring Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon, Scout Taylor-Compton

It's the 1970s and a late teenage Joan Jett is a rockin' female guitarist wanting to be in a band. 15 year old Cherie Currie is into the glam rock of David Bowie.

After a chance meeting a teenage hangout, music producer Kim Fowley likes Joan's idea of an all girl rock group and puts her in touch with drummer Sandy West, telling them to put something together. Liking what he hears, Fowley decides to audition a bombshells for a singer and spies Cherie in one of the teen hangouts. Despite her hesitation to sing suggestive lyrics, she gives in to Fowley's demand and lands the gig.

The girls head out on the road for a tour that summer, with Cherie quickly losing her good girl looks and innocence on the road. It's a time the girls - Cherice, Joan, Sandy and Lita Ford will never forget and for some of them a launching pad to even bigger careers.

While this film is based somewhat on the autobiography put out by Currie, it is to be noted that a good bit of the film is fiction, as they cut out certain parts of the band's history and condensed the timeline as well. It was definitely an interesting film to watch, despite it not entirely being an accurate documentary.

Also, even though it is Fanning's movie (and boy does she play jailbait well!) with Stewart backing her as Joan Jett, I do wish they gave a little more screentime to Scout Taylor-Compton's Lita Ford, as she went on to have a bit of a well-known career as well. Lita and Sandy were just background characters, having very little dialogue or screentime in the film.

If you like autobiographical films (regardless of accuracy) or The Runaways, Joan Jett and/or Cherie Currie you might be interested in checking out The Runaways, however put the kiddies to bed first as there's quite a bit of sexual content in this one!

DVD Review: Saw VII - The Final Chapter

2011-06-01T03:53:00.000-05:00

Rated R for graphic violence, torture, language

Starring Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Sean Patrick Flannery, Cary Elwes

Leaving off where the the previous film ended, Hoffman is still alive and furious with Jigsaw's widow Jill for setting him in the reverse-beartrap headpiece and leaving him to die (only he managed to escape by mutilating his face instead), he spends most of the film chasing after Jill and trying to get to her for revenge despite her being in police custody.

Meanwhile, another Jigsaw game is being played, this time with a self-help guru named Bobby Dagen who has made his living off pretending to be a Jigsaw survivor and traveling all over speaking about how he overcame his fears and fought for his survival. While his story is inspiring, none of it is true - him and a few friends, who are now his PR publicist and manager, came up with the idea after hearing a Jigsaw survivor share their story on the local news. In his game he has to overcome several traps in order to save his friends and eventually his wife as well as himself - the final test being the so-called trap he claimed to have survived previously (which was made to his claimed specifications).

Will Bobby be able to really survive Jigsaw's game? Will Hoffman get to Jill before he is ultimately stopped?

Despite this being the supposed last chapter of the Saw franchise, the ending was pretty lame, as it wasn't completely resolved and felt open ended in case they ever wanted to revisit the franchise. They did keep to their word though - as it was originally stated there would be 7 Saw films in the series. Just many like myself wish we were given more closure for sticking it out and enduring all 7 of them!

If you've seen all the Saw films up to this point you might want to check it out just to say you saw the whole series and see how they finally ended things. If you never got into the series or gave up watching several movies, feel free to skip this one!

The Mechanic

2011-06-01T03:39:00.000-05:00

Rated R for language, violence, action, some sexuality

Starring Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland

When someone needs "a job" done just right, they hire "a mechanic." And Arthur Bishop is one of the best mechanics around.

After finishing a job, Bishop goes home and learns that his next contract is to kill his mentor, Harry McKenna. After confirming that the hit is in fact correct, Bishop learns that McKenna was part of an operation where all the men involved in carrying it out were killed and that only 2 people - McKenna and his partner (who put the hit out on him) knew about the mission and the details. Bishop sadly follows through with the contract, making McKenna's death look like a carjacking.

At the funeral, Bishop meets McKenna's wayward 20-something son Steve. After witnessing Steve take his anger of his father's death out on a random carjacker, Bishop decides to take the kid under his wing (kinda like a younger brother, as McKenna was more of a father figure to him) and teach him how to be a mechanic as well.

The question though, is how well will Steve take Bishop's training? And will he ever find out that it was in fact Bishop who killed his father and not some random carjacker?

While I never saw the original 1972 film, I've heard that the plot is similar but the missions are different.

Either way, this film is standard Jason Statham fare, with Ben Foster pulling his weight and joining in on the ass-kicking fun! It's got everything you would expect - guns, action, explosions, things breaking, etc.

While a bit predictable, it was still a fun action flick worth seeing if you like Statham films!

DVD Review: Sex and the City 2

2011-06-01T03:27:00.000-05:00

Rated R for language, nudity, sexuality

Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Chris Noth, John Corbett, Evan Handler, David Eigenberg

The girls are back and at it again!

In this next chapter of the Sex and the City franchise Samantha is dealing with menopause and her keeping her libido, Miranda has recently quit her job at the firm after being disrespected for being a woman one too many times, Charlotte is struggling with jealously over her daughters' nanny fearing her husband may be having an affair with the nanny and that her girls might like their nanny better than their mommy, and Carrie is having marriage blues as Big never seems to want to go out to social events any more and would rather always stay in.

Each needing a break, when Samantha scores an all inclusive trip to Abu Dahbi thanks to a new business connection, she invites the girls along. Charlotte and Miranda bond over their struggles and frustrations of being mothers; Samantha has a hard time being modest and almost gets in big, big trouble jeopardizing them all; Carrie runs into an also married Aiden and has trouble resisting temptation!

Whatever will they do? One thing's for sure, they each have each other to count on!

While this movie was fun and didn't seem as long as it actually was, it was also unnecessary. Sure it's nice to see a "where are they now" type movie, but we had that with the first one and another one 2 years later was just too soon and didn't need to happen. One is enough, two is overdoing it.

If you love the series you'll probably enjoy watching this one, however if you were never into the show just an average fan you can definitely do without!

DVD Review: Machete

2011-06-01T03:15:00.000-05:00

Rated R for graphic violence, language, nudity, intense action, sexuality

Starring Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan, Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin, Steven Segal, Don Johnson

On a mission to save a kidnapped girl, Mexican Federale Machete runs into complications when he crosses a corrupt chief and a drug lord who in turn kill his wife and child and leave him for dead.

Three years later, Machete shows up in Texas as an illegal immigrant looking for work. Desperate for cash, Machete accepts an offer of $150,000 cash to assassinate a senator who plans on sending illegals out of the country, no exceptions made. He doesn't get to carry through though as one of the man's henchmen shoots him and frames him for an attempt on the senator as a way to gain support for the senator's illegals campaign. Injured, Machete is taken in by an underground Mexican hospital network who quickly fix him up and send him on his way.

He's determined to set out and get his revenge on those that set him up as well as the senator himself no matter how bloody or violent the task gets!

Originally a faux trailer for the middle of 2006's Robert Rodriguez's & Quentin Tarentino's Grindhouse double feature, the response was so good that Rodriguez knew he had to make it into a feature film.

If you like over the top action B-movies, and don't mind some bloody, graphic violence don't miss Machete! It has lots of action, and some quite hilarious B-movie moments! Danny Trejo doesn't disappointment in this role that he was made to play!

DVD Review: Shrek Forever After

2011-06-01T03:03:00.000-05:00

Rated PG

Starring Mike Meyers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Walt Dohm

The Final Chapter, or so they say. In this 4th installment of the Shrek series Shrek, now both a father and a husband to 3 ogre babies finds himself tired of the same old day to day routine - his life isn't nearly as exciting as it once was. People are no longer afraid of ogres either. Just for one day would Shrek like things to go back to how they once were.

As it is, Rumpelstiltskin has a bone to pick with Shrek - it just so happens that as Fiona's parents were about to sign away their kingdom to Rumpel in exchange to undo Fiona's ogre curse, they received word that Shrek had rescued Fiona from her tower and called the whole deal off. Upon overhearing Shrek's frustration, Rumpel offers Shrek to have his day, the only catch is Rumple gets to choose what day Shrek is to lose.

He just so happens to choose the day Shrek was born, thus altering the franchise's timeline, putting things into an alternate universe where Rumpel is in charge and ogres are an outlawed rebel force, led by Fiona (who is now a Xena-type warrior chick) who take shelter in the woods, hiding from Rumpel's witchy guards. The only way to set things right and get out of his contract is for Shrek to get Fiona to fall in love with him again, however that is not an easy task as she's much too busy planning an upcoming attack on Rumpel's palace. Oh and he only has 1 day to do it too otherwise he is to fade from existence!

This one did have it's funny moments and elements, with Rumpelstiltskin and his witchy crew adding some fresh laughs, however unlike many critics and reviews, this installment was not as good as the original. While the story was more of a cautionary tale of "be careful what you wish for" and "you don't know how good you have it until it's gone" a 4th installment in this series really wasn't needed. Worth a rental if you're a fan of the franchise, otherwise skip it!

DVD Review: Babies

2011-01-26T13:19:00.000-06:00

Rated PG

This documentary by French filmmaker Thomas Balmes follows 4 young babies from 4 different cultures as they grow from birth through their first year. With little dialogue and no subtitles, we witness as the 4 youngsters experience their first year of life, reaching important milestones and discover the world around them.

Ponijao is from a tribe in Opuwo, Namibia Africa. We see him spend his days nursing with mom and eventually playing with a slightly older sibling outside and in the dirt.

Bayar is from Mongolia and like Ponijao, he too has a slightly older sibling whom he has a bit of a rivalry with. His parents seem to be farmers as Bayar often comes in contact with the livestock.

Mari is from Tokyo and she spends her days being immersed in the Japanese culture as we see her in daycare when she is only a few months old. She also has a bit of a frustration when playing with some of her toys later on.

Hattie is from San Fransisco and like Mari, she is immersed in the local culture as well by joining her parents in family-friendly yoga classes. She also seems to be in a pretty sterile world, compared to Ponijao and Bayer who are often getting dirty outside.

This 80 minute documentary was cute and interesting as the viewer learns and sees how various cultures around the world can shape the people that live there at such a young age and affect who they are. It was also cute during the end credits to see each of the 4 babies several years later (around the age of 3 it seemed).

Think National Geographic but with a focus on babies and this is what you get!

Should note though, while it isn't portrayed as explicit or wrong, there is some nudity, as we see mothers freely breastfeed their babies in front of the camera and at times Ponijao and Bayer aren't wearing pants or diapers, revealing themselves as well (at one point, Ponijao curiously lifts up the front of his brother's loincloth before "discovering" that he too has a penis).

DVD Review: Predators

2011-01-26T12:55:00.001-06:00

Rated R for language, strong violence, some gore

Starring Adrian Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga with appearances by Danny Trejo and Laurence Fishbourne

8 individuals - a former Black-Ops turned mercenary, an Israeli sniper and CIA Black-Ops assassin, a Spetsnaz, a Yakuza, a death row inmate, a Sierra Leone fighter, a drug cartel enforcer, and a doctor - come to consciousness while being parachuted into a strange, foreign jungle. They begin to wonder what they have been selected for, however none are exactly sure how a doctor fits in with the rest of the trained fighters.

As they wander around in the jungle, trying to figure where in the world they are, they come to realize that they are no longer on Earth but on some strange planet. They also come to the realization that they are being hunted by something much larger than human!

Stumbling across an alien camp, with one alien being tied to a pole, they run into Noland - a US Army solider who has been on the planet for many "seasons" and has learned how to survive the hunt. He shares with the new group that the planet serves as a game preserve and that every season humans and other alien creations are dropped onto the planet to be hunted by 3 bigger alien (Predator) creatures. Whenever one of the 3 is killed by the "game," the next season they come back stronger and more evolved, as if they are learning.

They also learn that there is a ship nearby that can get them off the planet, assuming they can get one of the smaller Predators to control it as the bigger Predators and the smaller ones have quite the blood feud going on.

Will they be able to make it off the planet or will the Predators hunt them and eliminate them one by one? And again, how does a doctor fit in with a group of trained fighters?

Written and produced by Robert Rodriguez, Predators is a straight up action flick with some mystery set in the Predator universe. It also makes mention to events in the original Predator film as well, tying this one to it. I must admit, while I wasn't a fan of the recent Alien Vs. Predator films, Predators was actually a pretty fun ride!

If you don't mind action flicks, be sure to check this one out!

Tron: Legacy

2011-01-26T12:39:00.000-06:00

Rated PG

Starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner

Picking up just a few years after the original Tron left off, in the mid-late 1980s Kevin Flynn runs his arcade by day and does secret computer programming in the cyber world by night, all while being in charge of the huge software empire ENCOM he built and taking care of his young son Sam after the death of his wife. Flynn often tells Sam stories of his times in the virtual world with his pals Tron and Clu (a digital copy of himself to run things when he's not around).

One day though, Flynn doesn't come home and it seems he's gone missing for good. ENCOM is left to young Sam, in which Flynn's good friend Alan is in charge until Sam is old enough and Alan also steps in as a surrogate father for young Sam. When Sam is of age though, he has no interest in his father's company, only visiting about once a year to stir things up and so the company is mainly run by the board of directors who don't have the same vision as Flynn did, only caring about making a profit.

Alan approaches Sam one night saying he got a page from the disconnected number at Flynn's old arcade and encourages Sam to go check it out. Refusing at first, Sam gives into curiosity at the idea that his father might still be alive and goes down to the arcade. There, he gets accidentally gets transported into the virtual world that his father used to tell him so much about when he was a kid.

Mistaken for a "program" at first, Sam has to compete in gladiator-esque games in order to survive. Upon learning he is a "user" named Sam Flynn, he is quickly summoned into a meeting with the man in charge, who at first glance, appears to be his father, having never aged. We soon learn though that it is Clu and not Flynn who runs things around here, however Flynn is still very much alive but in hiding and that it was Clu who paged Alan in an attempt that someone from outside would come in order to lure Flynn out one last time.

Sam eventually escapes from Clu, with the help of a young woman named Quorra who has been Flynn's companion and apprentice all these years. She takes him to his father, however they have a bigger problem on their hands - when Sam arrived in the virtual world, the portal to the outside world was opened. While the portal is only open for a short period of time, they believe that Clu is trying to crossover in order to perfect a new world as he sees fit. Together, the 3 must race Clu to the portal before it closes so that they can escape and close it before it's too late!

While nearly 30 years after the original was released, Tron: Legacy is a smart and fun sequel. I must say, I enjoyed this one much better than I had the original as it much easier to follow without nearly as much computer programming speak as the original had. The visuals are stunning and make the virtual world fun and thrilling. The plot, unlike the original, is simple enough for even kids to grasp and follow what is going on. The music - done solely by electronic/techno gurus Daft Punk - is brilliant and upbeat, really conveying the perfect emotions. Michael Sheen is also amusing in a small role stylized after the likes of Ziggy Stardust. And if you've never seen the original Tron or it's been years since, no worries - they nicely bring the viewer up to speed with a montage of newsreels and such describing the events at the end of the original and Flynn's bedtime stories to young Sam about the virtual world give you insight as to what happened as well.

This is a great, visual film that the whole family can watch together and enjoy!

Black Swan

2011-01-06T02:03:00.002-06:00

Rated R for graphic sexuality, some tense violence

Starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder

Nina is an innocent yet very talented and dedicated ballet dancer, part of a New York City ballet troupe. It is announced that lead featured dancer Beth, who is quite older than the rest, will be retiring soon and that a new lead dancer will be picked to replace her as the Swan Queen in ballet conductor Thomas Leroy's new adaption of Swan Lake.

While saddened to see Beth go, Nina is eager at the shot of a lead featured role and auditions for the part. Thomas tells her that if he were only casting for The White Swan, the part would easily be Nina's, but he's looking for a dancer who can perform and embody both The White Swan and her evil, seductive twin The Black Swan, which he doesn't feel the innocent Nina can pull off. After forcing himself on her, Nina bites Thomas' tongue and he feels he's seen a sliver of The Black Swan in her and decides to cast her in the part, but in rehearsals he constantly berates her not being seductive enough or losing herself in the part enough. To add to matters, an equally talented feisty new dancer named Lily has just transferred to the troupe from San Fransisco and Nina fears Lily is out to get her role as Lily seems to be the opposite of innocent Nina - the Black Swan to her White Swan.

As Nina struggles to tap into the Black Swan of the role and the days of opening night approach, Nina begins to hallicunate and lose her sanity. Her overprotective and overbearing mother (whom we learn is a former ballerina who gave up her career when she got pregnant at 28 with Nina and is now living vicariously through her) worries about her so much that it only pushes Nina further into her madness. Soon the Black Swan persona begins to take over Nina - will she be able to fight it or will the dual role of nice vs. naughty get the best of her in the end?

Black Swan is an interesting look into the darkside of ballet and how striving too hard for perfection in a role can drive one mad. As one person put it, it's reminescint of what Heath Ledger might have gone through while getting into and emboding the role of The Joker for The Dark Knight - a role that he strived to perfect so much that it drove him over the edge and killed him in the end. Natalie Portman gives a stunning and believable performance though, as she worked hard physically to get into the role - for her role here, she deserves any award she's nominated for this award season.

While it's a bit of a psychological thriller and drama (we see Nina downward spiral and lose control of her sanity), it's definitely rated R for a reason as there's some pretty graphic sexual scenes in this film that are not appropriate for kids to see. I wouldn't say it's my favorite film of 2010, but it's definitely worth seeing!

DVD Review: The Blindside

2011-01-06T02:01:00.001-06:00

Rated PG13 for some language, mild violence

Starring Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron, Tim McGraw, Jae Head, Kathy Bates

Teenage Mike Oher has lived a rough life, having grown up in the projects with a drug abusing mother and has recently been crashing on his friend's couch. His friend's father is a janitor at a Memphis Christian school and pleads with admissions to allow his son and "Big Mike" to attend due to their ability in sports. Impressed by "Big Mike's" size, the school let's him under the condition he gets his grades up so he can play football the next year. Mike has trouble in school though and we soon learn that he often spends his nights at the school's gym where it's warm and his only spare clothes are t-shirt he carries with him in a bag.

One night, Leigh Anne Tuohy (whose children attend school with Big Mike) and her family spy him walking in the rain and offer him a ride and a place to stay. Realizing he has nowhere to go, they decide to extend his stay and get him the help he needs to succeed in school (also helping is the school's science teacher who learns that Mike, who may appear dumb, has been paying attention all semester and while he can't pass written tests, he excells when given the chance to take them orally). Soon Mike becomes part of the Tuohy family, with the Tuohy's requesting for guardianship of him from the state and Mike qualifies for football - with the help of the Tuohy's he is able to become a star linebacker, gaining the attention of major state colleges.

While the movie comes off at first as a football film, it really is more of an autobiographical film about the life NFL linebacker Michael Oher who was a first round draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens in 2009. While Michael's story of rising up against the odds and succeeding is inspirational in itself, the Tuohy's also serve as a fine example of what we as people should strive to be, providing help and love to those in need regardless of their background.

Tangled

2011-01-06T02:00:00.002-06:00

Rated PG for some animated violence

Starring Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy

An old witch named Gothel finds a flower with magical power and by being near it and singing to it she is able to make herself young. When the local queen, who's pregnant, falls deathly ill the King's men search for a cure, coming across the magic flower. After making a broth from the flower, the queen gets healthy and gives birth to a baby girl with shining blonde. Gothel quickly realizes that the baby girl's hair has the same magical powers as the flower and decides to kidnap her and raise her as her own daughter in a hidden tower in order to stay looking young forever.

In rememberance of their lost daughter, every year on her birthday the king and queen light thousands of magical lanterns. The girl, Rapunzel, has seen these glowing lights from her tower and dreams of the day Gothel will let her out so she can see them in person - in fact, it's the only thing she wants for her upcoming 18th birthday. But of course Gothel says no, out of fear of losing her key to looking young.

That all changes though when the handsome young Flynn hides out in Rapunzel's tower after stealing a tiara from the kingdom and abandoning his co-conspirators. Rapunzel makes a deal with him - escort her to see the magical lights and she'll tell him where she hid his loot. Of course, in true fairytale fashion, the two begin to fall for each other as Flynn begins to drop his charming bad-boy persona. Meanwhile Gothel, furious at Rapunzel's rebellion of leaving the tower plots to get her to return.

Disney has done it again, creating a vibrant, colorful film with a cute spin on a classic fairytale much in the way they did over 20 years ago with The Little Mermaid. Another great animated film of 2010 for the whole family!

Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2011-01-06T01:58:00.001-06:00

Rated PG for fantasy violence

Starring Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Will Poulter, Ben Barnes, Liam Neeson, Simon Pegg

Set a year after the previous film, Lucy and Edmund are stuck in Cambridge staying with their annoying stuck-up and self-centered cousin Eustace. Older siblings Susan and Peter are off traveling in America with the family but make mention of the family being reunited once World War II is over.

Bored one day, Lucy notices a painting of a ship that looks very Narnian. Soon her and Edmund get locked in the room with Eustance, water begins pooring out of the painting, seeming to drown them, however when they break for air they are rescued in the middle of the see by former Prince and now King Caspian and brought about his magestic ship The Dawn Treader. Caspian explains it has been 3 years in Narnia-time since they had last met and that he is on a journey find 7 missing Lords that were banished during his evil uncle's reign. Lucy and Edmund are up for the adventure and thrilled to tag along while Eustace does nothing but complain and act as an annoying nusciance.

After visiting the Lone Islands, where the 7 Lords were last believed to have been, Caspian, Lucy, Edmund and Eustace are all captured by the slave traders who run the island and learn that some of the slaves are sent by boatloads into the ocean and sacrificed by a mysterious green mist. Our heros are rescused by the remaining crew and set off to find the 7 magic swords of the Lords as it's believed that by combining them that the evil green mist can be stopped and that the 7 Lords had set out to do so but were unable to complete the task.

On their journey each of our main characters are tested - Lucy struggles with insecurity and desperately wants to be just like her beautiful sister Susan; Caspian struggles with living up to being the king his father was; Edmund struggles with having to answer to leadership and follow orders from Caspian; Eustace struggles to just be a nice person in general. Each one will have to overcome their struggles within and make sacrifics in order to defeat to the evil mysterious green mist.

While the previous Narnia film - Prince Caspian - was a bit action-packed and violent while straying quite a bit from the books and received many mixed reviews, Dawn Treader brings back the fun of the first film. It's got fantasy and magical talking creatures (Simon Pegg does an excellent job as Reepicheep - Caspian's talking, fighting mouse sidekick - this time around).

Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is good fantasy fun on the high seas for the whole family to enjoy!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1

2011-01-06T01:56:00.001-06:00

Rated PG13 for fantasy violence, some scary images, brief sensuality

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter

Taking place very shortly after the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Order of the Phoenix prepares to move Harry from his aunt and uncle's home to the magical realm on the eve of his 17th birthday. They must act quickly though as Voldemort and his Death Eater followers are hoping to intercept and bring Harry to Voldemort so that he may finish him off.

Rather than return to Hogwarts for their final year, Harry, Ron and Herimoine decide it is of upmost importance for Harry to finish what Dumbledore had started - finding and destroying the Horcruxes that Voldemort had hidden fragments of his soul into in order to make himself immortal. Similar to Frodo and Sam's journey in Lord of the Rings, this search wears our trio thick and thin, often testing their loyality not only to the task set before them but their loyalty to each other. It doesn't help that the Death Eaters are after Harry and will stop at nothing to capture him for Lord Voldemort.

As I'm sure parents have by now realized, this series is not for young children as the movies (and the books) have gotten darker and darker with each one, this being the darkest of them yet. Also, not in the book, is a brief scene of sensuality that is used when Ron and Harry try to destroy a Horcruxe. I understand the reason behind it, as it was supposed to distract Ron, but regardless, parents who let their kids read the book might be a bit surprised by this particular change in the script.

Compared to previous film adaptions of this beloved series, this one sticks pretty close to the book. The book itself was very dark and the movie captures that very well. At the start of both the film and book, a beloved character is killed off the bat, setting the tone of what's to come. I also recall in certain parts of the book, the way the "new" magical government is being run (under a puppet of Lord Voldemort's), "mudbloods" (those wizards who are "muggle born") are being sentenced and tried and treated like Jews in the holocust - a very scary subject to read about. While it's touched on to a certain degree in the movie, they did a good job of keeping it family-friendly while not going quite so far as the book did - Herimoine gets the worst of it in the movie.

I, for one, can't wait to see the conclusion in July!

Due Date

2010-11-09T23:54:00.002-06:00

Rated R for language, sexual innuendo and adult humor

Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Jamie Foxx, and Megan Monaghan with Juliette Lewis and Danny McBride

Peter is about to head home from a business trip in Atlanta to be with his wife in Los Angeles who is scheduled to give birth to their firstborn on Friday via C-section. However things quickly go downhill the moment he gets to the airport and has a chance encounter with a man named Ethan. Through a series of mishaps, Peter and Ethan both get grounded and put on the "no fly" list. Desperate to get home in time for his child's birth but without his luggage or wallet (as they got left on the plane when Peter was pulled off), Peter unwillingly accepts to travel cross country with Ethan.

The odd couple (Peter is very uptight and business-like while Ethan is a naive, means well but accident prone aspiring actor coping with the react loss of his father) have a whole disaster of unfortunate events occur to them on their 3 day trek cross country - from cars getting totaled, to being shot, and a run in with border control near Mexico to name a few.

Due Date is a road trip movie mixed with a bit of a bromance as near the end Peter and Ethan begin to bond. It's also a bit of an updated "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", with Zach Galifianakis in the classic John Candy role and Robert Downey, Jr. in the Steve Martin role.

While it was funny and amusing, and brought to us by the director of Galifianakis' other hit film The Hangover, it wasn't nearly as funny as expected - The Hangover brought us many more laughs.

If you're fan of adult humor and like either actor, be sure to set a due date to see this one!

DVD Review: Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time

2010-11-09T23:35:00.000-06:00

Rated PG13 for action violence, some innuendo

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, and Ben Kingsley

Taking place in Ancient Persia, we witness a young boy courageously standing up to the King's guards at they attempt to punish another young boy. After a chase in the streets, the King sees the boy's worth and courage and after learning he has no family, decides to take the boy in as his 3rd son.

Flash forward maybe 10 years later, the boy is now young adult Prince Dastan who is quick to battle with the gifts of strength and agility. The 3 Persian princes lead an attack on neighboring sacred city Alamut as they are led to believe the city is supplying weapons to enemies of Persia, however none are found. Dastan does come into possession of a pretty cool looking dagger though while Alamut Princess Tamina has agreed to marry one of the Princes as a way of bringing peace between the 2 cities.

At the ceremony after the Alamut attack, the king is mysterious poisoned and Dastan is framed. He flees the city with the help of the Princess who learns that Dastan possesses her city's sacred dagger. Eventually, as they learn to work together, she comes to tell him why the dagger is so important - with special sand only found in Alamut it can turn back time. Realizing this could prove his innocence, Dastan is determined to plead his case to his uncle, however he learns of more betrayal and deception.

Based on the popular Prince of Persia video game series that has been around since the late 80s, this one actually wasn't that bad and was a decent stand-alone action adventure movie, like a live action Aladdin. The cast and characters were likable, the relationship between Dastan and Tamina was amusing (think Han Solo and Princess Leia where they can't stand each other at first but grow to like one another) and the story/plot was fun and kept a good pace once it got going. It was extremely predictable though.

While a bit dark and violence at times for younger kids, families with somewhat older kids will enjoy watching this one together.

DVD Review: Date Night

2010-10-20T15:23:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for some sexual humor and innuendo, mild violence

Starring: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Common, Ray Liotta, William Fichtner, with appearances by James Franco, Mila Kunis, Kristen Wiig, and Mark Ruffalo

Phil and Claire Foster are your typical working parents - every morning their 2 young kids wake them up at the crack of dawn, they get them off to school before running off to their own jobs. In the afternoons, Claire chauffers their kids around to and from various practices and activities before making dinner and eventually crashing in bed. They do however make time for a weekly date night, but even that has become routine and bland as every week they go to the same steakhouse and order the same thing.

Learning that a couple they're close with is separating, Phil and Claire decide maybe they should change things up a bit for a feeling of something, fresh, new and exciting. The following date night, Claire decides to get all dressed up, prompting Phil to do the same when he gets home. He also insists on taking her to dinner in Manhattan (they live in Jersey) at some expensive new seafood joint Claire had mentioned previously.

Arriving at the restaurant however on a busy night with no reservations, they learn that it is full and will be forever before they can get a table. Waiting in the bar, figuring out what to do, after hearing the hostess call "Tripplehorn, party of 2" several times with no response, Phil acts quickly and claims they are the Tripplehorns. Soon after they are seated though, a couple of tough guys confront Phil and Claire, requesting to speak with them outside. Thinking these men work for the restaurant and that they're in trouble for claiming a reservation that wasn't theirs, they comply, however they quickly learn the Tripplehorns didn't show for a reason - turns out, these men work for some well-known mobster and the Tripplehorns stole a flashdrive from him with incriminating evidence on it and have been black mailing him for weeks.

Trying to explain what happened and that they're really the Fosters, not the Tripplehorns, the thugs believe Tripplehorn is just their alias and insist they take them to where the flashdrive is hidden. Scared for their lives, Phil and Claire use their wits together to try and outsmart the baddies, stay a few steps ahead of them, and find help in the big city as they also try to locate the real Tripplehorns and make them give back the flashdrive so they can go home safely.

Directed and produced by Shawn Levy (who also did the Night at the Museum films), unlike most romantic comedies that tend to be more of a chick flick, Date Night is a fun romantic comedy that both men and women can enjoy together. It's got a lot of laugh out loud comedic moments (due largely in part to the comedian genius pairing of stars Steve Carell and Tina Fey), some amusing action sequences, and a little bit of romance as we see Phil and Claire discuss and work out the issues they have in their marriage during this hectic night and try and rekindle the flame.

Be sure to make a date with your spouse or significant other to watch Date Night!

DVD Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

2010-09-29T00:15:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for adult themes, some sexuality, brief nudity

Starring Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston

Henry has a bit of a strange genetic disorder - he can come and go through time, popping into the past, present or the future. Unsure of what triggers it and unable to stop it from happening, Henry make his first "jump" when is just a young boy riding in a car with his mother - he jumps to 2 weeks prior and is confused at seeing events that already happened and then suddenly he's on the side of the road as his mother is killed in a car accident. Right then, an older version of himself shows up, assuring him that he'll be alright.

Flash forward to the mid-90s, Henry is grown and working a job in a library when a woman named Clare approaches him and says she knows him. Confused, he agrees to meet her for dinner later so that she can explain, as she says she's known him all her life. Turns out, an older version of Henry once "jumped" and showed up in the meadow where a young Clare was playing. Something drew him the young girl and he regularly started popping up in her life from time to time. Now, present day has caught up with both of them and Clare wants to try and make things work with them.

Albeit a strange and hard relationship, with Henry unable to control when he "jumps," they try to make it work and eventually get married. One day, in their new home together, they witness a later version of Henry, cold, naked and bleeding from a gunshot on the floor before he quickly disappears just as he came. Worried and scared that he dies young, Henry and Clare decide to seek out help from a genetics doctor for advice on how to control it. They also struggle trying to conceive a child, as Clare keeps miscarrying and Henry fears the baby has inherited his genetic disorder, causing it to time travel out of her womb.

This was an interesting take on a love story, as it has the sci-fi, time travel twist thrown in to complicate Clare and Henry's relationship. It is neat to see though how they keep to their vows, for better or for worse, as Clare is understanding that Henry can't control his time traveling despite how hard it is for her to deal with him randomly coming and going for periods of a time - at one point it seemed he had been gone for several weeks and possibly months before returning to the right time period.

If you're looking for a bit of a romantic tale with a sci-fi twist to it and are able to keep up with a non-linear storyline, be sure to check this one out - but make sure you keep a box of tissues nearby!

Resident Evil: Afterlife

2010-09-21T03:14:00.000-05:00

Rated R for violence, some gore, language

Starring Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, Shawn Roberts

Taking place shortly after the 3rd film, we see an Alice invasion of the Umbrella Corp headquarters in Tokyo. While Wesker tries to make his getaway, the real Alice is stowed away on his escape helicopter and confronts him, however he injects with an agent that neutralizes the T-virus that has bonded with her DNA, taking away her super human strength, healing and other abilities. They crash land however, and while Alice crawls out of the wreckage, Wesker is believed to be dead.

The next few months Alice flies around in a 2 person plane, searching for Arcadia - the place Claire's convey of survivors from the previous film and Alice had heard about on the emergency broadcast channel, claiming to have shelter free of infection with plenty of food. Claire and her convey were headed that way, towards the location in Alaska, last we had seen of them, however when Alice reaches the coordinates they were given, there's nothing but an abandoned air field along a beach. While trying to piece things together, she is attacked by a crazed Claire who has some strange metallic device hooked to her chest affecting her behavior and memory, as once she comes to, she doesn't know who Alice is, let alone her own name or where her convey has gone.

They set off in Alice's plane, flying along the coast looking for life when they come to L.A. where they see some survivors flagging them down on a rooftop of a prison - the only way in and out is by the roof as the outside area is covered by zombies wanting to get inside. The survivors are let down to learn that Alice isn't from Arcadia, sent to get them, as they say the broadcasts stopped just days prior and they had been sending off flares in hope that someone from Arcadia will see them and send assistance. Confused, Alice points out that Arcadia is in Alaska, that she just came from there and there's nothing - there's no way they could see flares from there. They hand her binoculars and point out a huge cargo tanker just off the nearby coast with Arcadia painted on the side - she realizes it's been moving up and down the western coast picking up survivors which explains why there was nothing in Alaska.

Realizing her plane is unfortunately a 2-seater and that going back and forth would be near impossible given the small space for landing on their roof, Alice says there has to be another way for them all to get out and to the sea. They introduce her to a man held prisoner in the basement of the prison, who claims he was a solider in fighting the outbreak but when the prison got out of control prisoners thought it would be funny to lock him up. The survivors aren't sure if they can trust what he says though as they found him locked up but he claims there's another way out. Alice convinces them to release him, in he which shares there's a strong armored military vehicle locked away on the premises they can just ride out on, crushing anything in their path. Turns out, he was right, but the vehicle's engine has been pulled out and it will take nearly a week for the mechanic there to install it correctly. He also claims to be Claire's brother Chris, however she is still having memory loss and can't confirm she knows him or not.

On top of their problems, a giant executioner figure wielding a mean looking axe/hammer has just showed up at the prison entrance, trying to break open the gate that's keeping all the zombies out. In a hurry to escape before the executioner giant and zombies break in (a few have even learned how to tunnel in!), they seek to find another way out, which includes a dark, scary tunneling route to the sewers with a risk of running into zombies trying to come in.

Will they make it out of the prison before it's too late? Will they make it to Arcadia? And is Arcadia all it's really cracked up to be?

This is the first Resident Evil movie to be filmed in 3D, however we saw it in 2D and you could tell that certain scenes and elements were only there for 3D purposes, such as the extensive use of "bullet time" in the action scenes (made popular by the Wachowski Brothers in the Matrix) and Alice shooting off quarters in different scenes.

The series went from a decent horror/zombie storyline to an action series with Alice and crew vs Umbrella Corp with zombies thrown in making their task more difficult. I don't mind it, but it is starting to get redundant. It would have been nice to know what the point of the executioner was too, as this giant, masked character with nails stuck in his head and torso and carrying a 1 ton axe/hammer weapon just kinda shows up out of nowhere with no rhyme or reason. Also, for Alice not having her super human abilities anymore, she still seems to be abnormally fast and strong - it's like they sort of forgot they took that away from her at the beginning of the movie. The story only progressed slightly in this film (how many headquarters does Umbrella Corp have?!) and it's clear that a 5th film of this saga is in the works. Be sure to stay during the first part of the credits, as there's a brief appearance by Jill Valentine from the 2nd film.

If you like the Resident Evil films, you know what to expect and probably wouldn't mind seeing this one, however if you haven't seen the others, you really should as there's not much of a recap of the previous films unless you're just there for the girl power action.

DVD Review: Midnight Meat Train

2010-09-21T02:25:00.001-05:00

Rated R for graphic violence, gore, brief nudity and some language

Starring Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones, Leslie Bibb

The movie opens with a well dressed man sitting on a late night subway car along with a few other passengers. Out of nowhere, he slaughters them with a combo meat cleaver/pounder tool.

Next we are introduced to Leon, a photographer trying to get his work noticed by a well-known art dealer in hopes that his work will make it into her show and gallery and start to sell. She tells him that she doesn't feel his images are strong enough for her shows and gallery yet and so he decides to go out and shoot some stuff late at night. He ventures into the subway with his camera and after taking several shots of a gang harassing and about to mug an attractive woman who's alone, he points out to them the security camera capturing everything and they scram. The woman thanks him and quickly enters the last subway car to come through that night; Leon, amazed by her beauty, continues to snap photos before she's gone. His girlfriend spies his work as he develops it in their apartment and comments that it seems to be his best yet. He also learns that the woman he saved last night was a well-known model, however she appears to be suddenly missing. Believing he may be the last person to have seen her, he quickly goes to the police station, but they blow him off!

The next night Leon goes out again for more shots and spies a mysterious, well-dressed man, in a hurry to catch the subway, however he gets a little too close and the man scares him off. Leon notices that the man is wearing a ring that can be seen in one of the photos where the model from the previous night had gotten on the subway train, holding the door open for her... Leon goes again to the police station to point out the similarities, but they don't give him much thought.

Looking into it himself, Leon learns about the Subway Butcher whom he believes is the man he saw the previous night. He decides to spend the next day following him, from a hotel to a butchering plant to the subway again before backing off for the night. Leon gets ballsy one night and decides to follow him onto the subway train, where he sees him butcher, slaughter and then pick apart his victims. He soon catches Leon though, but instead of killing him, he wakes up the next day at the butchering plant with carvings in his skin. His girlfriend tries to figure out what's wrong, and eventually sees the strange marking carved into his chest and insists on taking him to the hospital, but all he wants to do is sleep. Having seen his photographs, she decides to head to the hotel with her friend and do a little digging, as Leon's camera has gone missing and he claims he has shots that prove that the mysterious man is the Subway Butcher.

Both her and Leon end up on the train later, attempting to save her friend and put a stop to the Butcher, but will they make it off the train alive?

Brought to us by legendary horror writer/director Clive Barker, Midnight Meat Train is based on a short story of the same name that Barker included in his Books of Blood collection he wrote in 1984. It's clear that Barker's a bit of a visual artist as he uses some interesting, artsy techniques in this gorefest, however some of the effects come off a bit comical and over the top.

It's an interesting premise - a man is killing people on the subway every night and no one seems to care, including the police and subway conductor. What exactly is going on and why? Through Leon's curiosity we learn the truth which is quite the twist as it definitely isn't what you would expect!

If you enjoy horror movies with strange twists and don't mind the gore, be sure to check out Midnight Meat Train.

DVD Review: Saw VI

2010-09-15T01:18:00.000-05:00

Rated R for graphic violence, gore, torture, language

Starring Costas Mandylor, Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Betsy Russell, Peter Outerbridge

Picking up where the 5th installment left off, Lt. Mark Hoffman works quickly to cover his tracks after the death of Agent Strahm who died because he got to close to the truth and learned that Hoffman was another apprentice of Jigsaw's and was carrying out Jigsaw's work despite his death. Hoffman tries to pin the evidence of the latest game (the one in #5) on Strahm using his fingerprints, while still working on the inside.

Meanwhile, we learn that Jigsaw left his ex-wife Jill a box with items in it, which included instructions for Hoffman for the next game in his master plan. Hoffman quickly does what he can to get it all set up and before he gets caught - turns out, using audio equipment, the Jigsaw audio tape that was found at the scene of the events in #5 can be descrambled and it proves that it isn't Jigsaw, but someone else - Hoffman.

In the new game, we see a mother and her son trapped in one boiler room with a tank of acid in the corner connected to a switch box where one setting says "live" while the other says "die" and clock is counting down the time. The mother declares, "We're here because of your father." In similar boiler room (sans acid tank) is reporter Pamela Jenkins, who was nosing around, trying to find out what was in the box Jigsaw left for his wife. Playing the game is health insurance executive William Easton.

See, when Jigsaw first learned he was dying of cancer, he went and did some research for himself and found a doctor in Europe who was looking to take on new patients for his experimental tests that had a high success rate. Jigsaw approached William about having his insurance cover the high cost of this, but William, who runs the company using a formula that determines who should get the health benefits (usually those in good health instead of those that are sick and could actually benefit from treatment), denies him because it is merely experimental, despite the evidence of a high success rate.

Starting the game, William has 4 devices attached to each of his limbs - one on each wrist, another on each foot. He must survive through 4 series of tests to keep himself intact - failure to complete a test will either blow off a limb or kill him if he doesn't make it through the test. Also, failure to complete the game will result in him never seeing his family again. At the end of each test, he receives a key to remove one of the devices. Making the game even harder is that his employees are the pawns!

In one test he has to decide which of 2 employees will be hanged - the middle aged mother with an illness, or the healthy young go-getter who doesn't have a family. According to his company's formula, the woman should die, but which choice will he make? In the next test, he has to help a female employee in a steam room get through a maze below him within a certain time or else the device around her neck will pierce her skull - in order to make it easier for her though, he has to direct some of the steam onto himself, creating a safe passageway for her. There is a twist though, as the key to unlock the device around her neck is just under William's skin on the side of his torso. In the final test, William finds 6 of his top staff members strapped to a spinning carousel with a rifle pointed towards it. He is told that by slipping his hands into a device attached to the gun, he can choose to save 2 of them by letting it pierce his hands and divert the gun upwards, however it is automatic so when the carousel stops spinning he has only seconds to make his choice. Some of his employees begin to tell sob stories - one girl claims to be pregnant, another with young kids at home... another claims she has sick parents who need her to take of them but then another employee calls out her lie saying he knows for a fact her parents disowned her and that she's always talking about how she hates them. Who's telling the truth and who's lying just to save themself?

This was an interesting installment to the Jigsaw franchise as it had several unexpected but welcomed twists to it.

It also featured some new flashback scenes which explained some of the things from the previous movies (such the letter Amanda receives in 3 that causes her to go off the edge and mess things up a bit). There was also a contest in late 2008, where the wining actress of the VH1 reality competition show Scream Queens would win a breakout role in the film. The winner of the first season, Tanedra Howard, was featured in the opening segment (which was also probably the goriest of the whole movie).

Since Saw 3D (aka Saw VII) is the last of the franchise, it'll be interesting to see how it all ties up!

If you're a fan of the Saw franchise, it wouldn't hurt to see this one (which was one of the better ones), however if you haven't gotten into them or past the first one, there really is no point jumping in at this one.

DVD Review: The Bounty Hunter

2010-09-01T23:39:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for some violence, some sexuality, brief language

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Peter Greene, Jeff Garlin, Christine Baranski, Jason Sudeikis, Dorian Missick, Cathy Moriarty

Nicole is a journalist with a haunch - she has a strange feeling that a case that was ruled as suicide is really a homocide and requests her snitch friend find out some information on a possible lead. She also has some trouble of her own with the law, as she innocently assaulted a police officer landing her with a court date. Right as she's approaching the courthouse, she gets a call from snitch friend, saying that if she wants the information he has she needs to meet him in 30 minutes before he sells it someone else. In a jam, Nicole decides it's more important to get the information and misses her court hearing.

Milo is a former police officer turned bounty hunter with a bit of a gambling debt of his own that he's trying to pay off. Hours after Nicole skips court, a warrant is out for her with a bounty of $5,000 to whoever brings her in. Milo more than jumps at the opportunity as Nicole is his ex-wife!

He quickly tracks her down later that afternoon and attempts to bring her in in a hilarious but forceful way.

However they both have people on their tails - Milo's bookie has sent men out to collect on his debt and Nicole's snitch and lead have gotten her a little too close to uncovering the truth and the men responsible want her gone. They also begin to rekindle the flame of their former romance.

Will they be able to stay ahead of the people who are after them?
And will Milo ultimately still turn in Nicole despite their reconnection?

This one has an interesting premise with the potential to be really funny as it's a bit of a tale of revenge - a bounty hunter having the chance to bring in his ex-wife whom he despises - however with the subplots it starts to drag on. While the subplot about the people coming after Nicole for getting to close to uncovering the truth makes sense and fits, the other just seems unnecessary. Okay, so Milo has a huge gambling debt and that's why he does bounty hunting, I get that, but the whole subplot about his bookie trying to collect just gets too out of hand - the bookie's crones mistake Nicole's creepy lovestruck co-worker who's trying to follow her for Milo and instead torture him. That whole part just seemed a bit pointless. Also, we get it, they start to rekindle their romance and rethink their divorce. The bit when they need to hideout and revisit the bed and breakfast they spent their honeymoon at just started to drag on.

This movie felt at least 20 minutes too long and honestly, I got bored after the first hour.

Good premise, bad attempt.

Skip this one unless you're really really bored.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

2010-08-24T14:20:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for comic book/video game violence, some sexuality, brief language

Starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Ellen Wong, Aubrey Plaza, Anna Kendrick with appearances by Jason Schwartzman, Chris Evans and Brandon Routh

Scott Pilgrim is a 22 year old bassist in the hopeful indie rock band Sex Bob-Omb and shares a studio apartment and bed in Toronto with his gay roommate Wallace Wells. Scott has also started dating a 17 year old high school girl named Knives Chau, much to the disapproval of his roommate, sister, bandmates and well, everyone he knows - they all refer to Knives as Scott's "fake high school girlfriend" and tell him to get a real girlfriend, one that's his own age.

One night while sleeping, Scott sees an attractive girl with pink dyed hair comes skating through his dreams and he can't get her out of his head. The next day, he sees her in person, delivering a package to the library and later runs into her at a party where he learns her name is Ramona Flowers and that she is new town from New York after a rough breakup with her ex, he makes a complete fool of himself. Desperate for a second chance, the next morning Scott orders a package from Amazon.ca in hopes that Ramona will be the one to deliver it to him. Fortunately, she does and she agrees to meet up with him later in exchange for him signing for his package already.

The two go out for the evening and end up spending the night snuggling together at Ramona's place. The morning after Scott invites Ramona to his band's upcoming Battle of the Bands gig, completely forgetting that he also invited Knives and that he's technically still dating her! Both girls show, creating an awkwardness for everyone, however his friends and sister both approve of the much more age appropriate Ramona. Right as Sex Bob-Omb takes the stage, Knives faints due to excitement, and suddenly a man named Matthew Patel comes crashing into the venue, challenging Scott to a duel.

Scott is confused at first until Patel askes "Didn't you get my e-mail... about the League of Evil Exes controlling the fate of Ramona's love life?"

"I skimmed it..." Scott slowly responds, but in video-game like fashion, Scott and Patel begin fighting and throwing punches (much to the dismay and astonishment of everyone in the club), with Patel summoning "demon hipster chicks" before Scott delivers the final blow and Patel turns into a handful of coins.

Him and Ramona quickly flee the scene and hop on a bus where Ramona explains that if her and Scott are to date, he must defeat each of her 7 evil exes (which includes a famous hot shot skater turned actor, a telekinetic vegan musician, a goth girl half ninja, a pair of Japanese techno pop star twins and the infamous powerful music producer Gideon Graves). Scott doesn't seem to have a problem with that, however, all his friends remind him, he needs to break-up with Knives if he is going to continue to see Ramona.

This movie is based on a series of 6 graphic novels written by Bryan Lee O'Malley and it really is a great adaption of a comic book brought to life on the big screen. It combines young adult romance with comedy and video game action, as when Scott defeats each one of the exes he gains coins, skill points, level ups, free lives, and even swords. The soundtrack is pretty fun too with music that helps drive the movie.

While the plot overview may seem more for teenagers, it really is more than just that - it's a geeky/gamer affair with some awesome visuals. I cannot stress how well this movie is when it comes to bringing a comic book to life - thanks to technology of today, it really does feel like the images, characters and fight scenes from the books have come to life on the big screen. If video games were real life, this is what the result would probably look like. While I won't say it's the best movie I've ever seen, it definitely was fun and some of the scenes really do deserve to be seen on the big screen to get the full effect of awesomeness!

This film doesn't deserve to be doing as poorly as it is at the box office (it barely made the top 5 its first week, and last week it barely placed in the top 10). In an age of remakes, spoofs, and unoriginal movies, this is one that is very unique both in it's style and portrayal.

If you like comedies, go see it.
If you like action movies, go see it.
If you like comic books and/or video games, go see it.
If you like movies that are just plain fun and clever, go see it.

Just do yourself a favor and go see it!

The Expendables

2010-08-18T18:18:00.001-05:00

Rated R for language and violence

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Eric Roberts, Gisele Itie with appearances by Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger

Who does you call when you want some bad guys taken out but don't want it traced back to you? Why The Expendables of course!

Barney Ross leads an elite group of some of the best mercenaries that can be found on dangerous missions all over the world.

After finishing up a hostage situation with pirates in Somalia, Mr. Church approaches him and his rival Trench about a job in Vilena - a fictional country in South America. Since Trench is busy, Ross accepts and heads down with his right-hand man Lee Christmas to gather information about the country and the mission. While there, they come in contact with their contact, who turns out to be the stunning Sandra who is also the General Garza's daughter. They learn that awhile ago some greedy American's, including ex-CIA agent James Monroe, came into the country, forcing Garza to work with them as they grow and harvest cocaine in an attempt to make the country profitable; the results though have left the people scared, feeling betrayed by their leader. Having a bad feeling about the job (which is to kill Garza), Ross decides to abort the mission and him and Christmass leave on the plane they flew in on, taking out some of Monroe's men in the process.

Back in the states, Christmas learns his girlfriend of over a year has moved on, only that her new beau beats her. Ross feels guilty about leaving Sandra in Vilena, as she refused to leave with them, wanting to help her homeland. Ross decides to go back for her, telling Christmas and Yang that he's going alone, but first Yang and Ross get ambushed while driving, as former Expendable Gunnar Jensen, who was let go for getting a little too into their work, has led some of Monroe's baddies to their hideout and they want revenge.

Not letting him go alone, the rest of the Expendables join Ross as he goes back to Vilena to save Sandra, who has been capture by Monroe and his bad guys torture her to get Garza to do their bidding. With Gunnar's help, they are able to easily infiltrate the palace and find her, however getting out alive proves to be quite the ordeal.

The Expendables really is your typical action movie - a mediocre simple plot (kill the bad guys, get out alive) filled with action and explosions and some corny silly banter between the characters (the scene with Stallone, Willis and Schwarzenegger is pretty amusing). The main difference between this one and other action films though is the cast. Like the trailer for the film says "In every movie, there's a hero... this movie has them all."

With a cast filled with action stars newer and older and led, written and directed by Sly Stallone, The Expendables proves to be a fun summer action flick. As with their previous films, the majority of the film's stars all do their own stunts and there is no CGI in this movie - the explosions and gunfire on screen are all real - talk about old school! It really is refreshing though!

If you like fun, mindless action movies or any of the stars that are in this film be sure not to miss this throwback to older, pre-CGI action movies!

DVD Review: Valentine's Day

2010-08-18T17:49:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for brief language, brief sexuality

Starring Julia Roberts, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Kathy Bates, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Taylor Swift, Anne Hathaway, Carter Jenkins, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts

Like 2009's "He's Just Not That Into You," "Valentine's Day" also features an all-star cast with different storylines weaving in and out of each other.

It's Valentine's Day and love is in the air! Reed Bennett (Kutcher) is having a great morning as his beautiful girlfriend (Alba) said "yes" to his wedding proposal (something that most of his friends and co-workers are shocked to hear, as they expected her to say "no") and owning a floral shop that delivers, today is the busiest day for business.

We are also introduced to Reed's platonic best friend Julia (Garner), who is convinced she's met the man of her dreams (Dempsey)... only when he comes into Reed's shop to order flowers to be delivered to both his wife and Julia, Reed is faced with the dilemma of whether or not to her that her divorced doctor who flew to San Fransisco for the night for work is really still in town and well, not divorced! It doesn't help matters that Julia is planning on flying over to San Fransisco later that day to surprise him so the 2 of them can grab dinner together and celebrate the holiday.

Also stopping in the flower shop that day is a young boy named Edison (Robinson), who lives with his grandparents (MacLaine and Elizondo) and is in Julia's class she teaches, and he wants to buy flowers for a special someone and requests they be delivered during recess. However, after getting in a fender bender with sports star Sean Jackson (Dane), florist deliver and Reed's right-hand man Alphonso (Lopez) loses a bunch of their deliveries - Edison's included.

We are also introduced to several high schoolers - track star Willy (Lautner) and his new dance team girlfriend Felicia (Swift), and their friends Grace (Emma Roberts) and Alex (Jenkins). Willy and Felicia are both over the top gushy in love and Felicia gets excited over everything Willy does for her, while Grace (who nannies Edison after school) and Alex are planning on having sex for the first time at Grace's home during their lunch period.

Rounding out the cast is Sean Jackson's publicist and Julia's friend Kara (Biel) who organizes a yearly "I Hate Valentine's Day" party, although she has a growing attraction to local sports reporter Kelvin (Foxx). Paula (Queen Latifah) is Sean Jackson's agent who has temp Liz (Hathaway) working as a receptionist. Liz moonlights as an "adult phone entertainer" often juggling calls all throughout the day and has yet to share this bit of information with her boyfriend of 2 weeks (Topher Grace). We also meet Kate (Julia Roberts) and Holden (Cooper), who are sitting next to each other on a long flight to LA. Holden states he is recently single and is not really in the mood of the holiday, while we learn Kate is a US Army Captain, on a 1-day leave hoping to get home in time to spend just a few hours with someone she loves very much before she has to head back to duty.

Some of the stories that intertwine in "Valentine's Day" will make you laugh, while some of the others will bring you to tears. Older people, middle-aged people, young adults and teens, as well as those that are married, single, in a new relationship or a long-term committed one - this film has something for everyone.

If you don't mind following multiple plots or just like the star studded cast, get together with some of your girlfriends or cuddle up with your significant other and pop in this cute romantic chick flick comedy.

DVD Review: Kick-Ass

2010-08-18T17:19:00.000-05:00

Rated R for language, bloody violence, brief sexuality

Starring Aaron Johnson, Nicholas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Grace Moretz, Mark Strong

"How come no one has ever tried to be a superhero?" geeky comic book lovin' teenage Dave wonders to his friends. He says that really all it is is helping others and doing right, stopping the bad guys. His friends think him nuts, but after being bullied for the last time, Dave done an outfit and wonders out, looking to put a stop to it.

His first attempt, against the same bullies that inspired him to take action, does not fare well, as he ends up with quite the wound and gets hit by a car, causing damage to his nervous system so he can no longer feel pain and metal is placed under his skin to help support his bones. Not giving up so quickly, after his recovery, Dave sets out again, this time saving a lone man from a group of attackers in a parking lot outside a dinner - several customers look out the window, with their cell phone video cameras rolling, catching the whole thing. Dave is quite the internet sensation as super hero Kick-Ass.

While on a mission for a girl he loves, he gets into a bit more of a mess than expected when it turns out to be a drug dealers headquarters and when it seems all is lost, a young girl with a penchant for knives and other sharp objects comes in through the window, also donned in a costume as well as a wig, saves him from a grisly fate. He comes to learn later that girl, known as Hit-Girl, and her father, Big Daddy, are also masked vigilantes, however they have very specific plans - turns out Big Daddy was once a cop but was framed by Frank D'Amico - a drug lord and crime boss who disguises his hideout as a lumber company. Because of this, Big Daddy's wife killed herself, while pregnant with their daughter Mindy who was able to be saved, but given over to custody of his partner. He got out of jail and got her back, training her to become the vigilante Hit Girl with his Big Daddy persona and they plan to take down D'Amico.

Unaware that other superhero's are out there, D'Amico seems to think that it is Kick-Ass taking out his men and causing problem for the family business and wants him dead.

We are also introduced to D'Amico's son Chris, who is also a classmate of Dave's and decides to become costumed character called Red Mist.

Kick-Ass is definitely not a kid's movie, despite being about superheros like you see in the comics. There's a reason this movie is rated R - the violence is very bloody and despite one of the main characters being a preteen girl, the language is very adult and R-rated, as you wouldn't want your young daughters quoting her!

As an adult comicbook action superhero movie though, Kick-Ass is highly entertaining! While not as deep (or as long) as Watchmen (another adult comicbook action superhero movie that came out in 2009), adults will enjoy the humor and action as one teenager tries to prove that anyone can be a superhero.

Watch it with other adults or older teens, but put the kids to bed first!

Ramona and Beezus

2010-08-04T02:00:00.000-05:00

Rated G

Starring Joey King, Selena Gomez, John Corbett, Bridget Moynahan, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Duhamel, Sandra Oh

Ramona is a 9 year old with a very vivid and wild imagination - she pretends while crossing the monkey bars during recess that she is really climbing across a great big canyon and when construction workers break a hole in her home to build a new addition to the house she takes great fun one afternoon, with various costumes and props jumping out the hole and into the dirt, at one point imagining she's parachuting through the sky!

The movie seems to pick up somewhat where the beloved Beverly Clearly books left off, in the sense that in the last Ramona book she becomes a middle child with the birth of her baby sister Roberta. However Ramona's world is about to change even more!

Ramona has a close connection with her Aunt Bea, who can identify with her being a younger sister as she too is a younger sister, however she begins to feel that she's losing her Aunt Bea to her friend and next door neighbor Howie's Uncle Hobart, as he is Aunt Bea's former high school sweetheart who lost his chance with her and is now back in town, cleaning up his Jeep and trying to woo her one last time before he takes a 2-year journey to Alaska.

Also, the company her dad works for gets bought out and decides to down-size, laying him off in the process. Beezus and Ramona overhear their parents talk about the bank taking their house away, which scares Ramona and she quickly tries her best to help earn money to save the house. She gets another scare when a classmate informs her that when her dad lost his job her parents soon divorced - after Beezus and Ramona overhear their parents having an argument regarding the house situation one night, with dad ending up sleeping on the couch, Ramona worries even more! Eventually dad does land one of his many interviews, however the job is clear on the other end of the state, meaning the whole family will have to move. Despite her previous annoyances with younger sister Ramona, Beezus bonds with her in the sense that she too is scared of having to move and make all new friends, which she deems is hard to do by the time you're 15.

This really is a cute coming of age movie, as Ramona struggles and has to deal with a handful things kids can face as they begin to grow up - the feeling of losing a close relative who's getting married, losing the family pet, getting picked on by other kids for being different, feeling inferior to a sibling who seems to be perfect and more. The whole parent losing a job and the family worrying about keeping the house issue is also becoming more and more common these days with the current recession and we often forget that while we try to hide our own fears and worries from the kids, it still affects them and they can sense what's going on.

It also shows the bond between sisters - while they may argue and be complete opposites, with the older sister deeming the younger a pest while the younger feels everyone likes the older sister better, they do share a bond that near the last third of the film is quite clear.

Also, Ramona's dad is a great example of what a father should be - he's loving to the girls, yet strict when he needs to be, but also understanding. He does his best to provide for his family, even giving up his quest for his dream job to settle for one with good pay that allows him provide for them. When he loses that job, mom goes back to work part-time for a doctor while dad picks up the slack at home and helps take care of the girls while going from interview to interview. Ramona really inspires him, saying the she thinks he can do anything he wants when he's job hunting. He also has a really great drawing skill, which he shares with Ramona. Eventually he gets a job that allows him to do what he loves.

While Selena Gomez (of Disney Channel's Wizards of Waverly Place) stars as older sister Beezus, the film really focuses on young Joey King as Ramona, who plays the part spot on, stealing the scenes she's in. John Corbett shines as their dad Robert Quimby. Sandra Oh plays Ramona's teacher Ms. Meacham, who is strict in class but near the end of the movie shows a softer side towards Ramona once she really starts trying to take school more seriously. Ginnifer Goodwin (whom I often mistake for Maggie Gyllenhal) also shines as Aunt Bea. We see a different side of Josh Duhamel in this movie, as he's more of a goofy, uncle type.

If you grew up reading Beverly Clearly's Ramona books or have a young daughter (or even son) be sure to take them to this one, as it's fun for kids with Ramona's wild and vivid imagination and her well-meaning antics that always seem to go wrong, but it's also heart-warming for adults!

DVD Review: The Book of Eli

2010-08-01T15:36:00.001-05:00

Rated R for language and violence

Starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis

A little over 30 years ago, a war that many say was fought over the teachings of a particular book occurred and in the midst of the battle, the sky opened up and rained down fire. An older man named Eli walks the desert wasteland of what is left, headed West with a precious book in tow. It's become survival of the fittest, as a woman with her cart of items stuck in the sand asks those that pass by to help her, only for them to get ambushed by a hungry gang of looters when they actually stop to help her.

When Eli stops into a local town to get his portable battery charged up and refill his canteen with water, he runs into Carnegie's gang of bikers, slaughtering them in the process as they attack the outsider, drawing attention to himself. Carnegie realizes Eli is no average man - being older like himself, he too is literate. Carnegie wants a specific book that can no longer be found, but since most of the older generation has died off and the younger doesn't know how to read, this makes finding it that much more difficult. He invites Eli in for the night, hoping to persuade him into staying and helping him out. He soon learns though, that Eli has one of the last remaining copies of the book that he has been searching for.

Realizing that Carnegie wants to twist the book's words and use it for his own selfish needs rather than share the word of the Gospel with everyone, Eli tells him he cannot have it. Carnegie sends his gang to kill Eli, however Eli takes them all out, unscathed by their bullets, and continues on his way.

Following him, is Solara, the daughter of Carnegie's forced lover, in which he treats her and her mother as servants in his home. She met Eli the night before when Carnegie made her offer herself to Eli in an attempt to persuade him to stay and work for him - instead, after learning that Carnegie would hurt her mother if she returned before dawn, he allowed her to stay the night, sharing his dinner with her instead. Solara's mother felt that she would be safer with Eli out on the road, than stuck as a servant in Carnegie's town where he forced her to do things by threatening to hurt her mother.

Eli is not fond of his new companion at first, insisting she go back home and leave him to himself, but eventually the two form a friendship as Eli continues his journey out West with Solara tagging along and the book in tow. He tells us that soon after the sky opened and it was safe to go outside again, he heard a voice that led him to where the book was and told him to take it out West where it was needed, assuring him he would have protection so long as he had the book.

Carnegie and his men are hot on their tail though, as Carnegie is willing to go to any means necessary to get the book and agreed that his right hand man could have Solara for helping him obtain it.

Will Eli and Solara be able to make it out West with the book or will Carnegie get his hands on it after all?

This film is very religious in the sense that it takes places after many of the events fortold in the Bibilical book of Revelation have occurred and that the book Eli is carrying is indeed the last known Bible in existence as many were burned and destroyed as it was thought to be the cause of the war. He reads from it every night for 30 years straight and learns from it. He is directly on a mission from God to get the book out West where it will be put to good use. It's been said that this is the first mainstream secular film to portray religion and Christianity well since the Passion of the Christ. With that said, it is also an apocalyptic movie too, as people are now desperate for food and water, bartering items for goods (things Eli tells Solara that they took for granted, had too much of and even threw away in the previous world) and are willing to do just about anything to survive a little longer, as only the strong survive.

It's a very telling and inspirational movie, although a bit violent at times. Definitely worth checking out though!

DVD Review: Up in the Air

2010-08-01T15:05:00.000-05:00

Rated R for language, brief nudity, some sexuality

Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick

Mr. Ryan Bingham makes his living traveling from state to state, doing the firing for various companies who need to downsize. In times of a recession such as now, his job flourishes as there's plenty to do. He also moonlights as a motivational speaker, with a speech about "what's in your backpack?" talking about how we fill our lives with so much baggage we don't need. Living out of a suitcase, Bingham has grown accustomed to life on the road, spending the majority of the year away from home (which is a small 1 bedroom place he rents in Omaha). He has his routines that allow him to maneuver quickly and flawlessly through airport security and grants him access to all the exclusive airline and rental clubs. He has many many frequent flyer miles saved up, but there's a certain number he has in mind which he hasn't hit yet (10 million) - he's close, but not there yet. Hitting this mark, he would be only the 7th person to do so and gets a special exclusive card to carry with him and his name on the same of a plane.

One day, while sitting in an exclusive lounge waiting for his flight to board, he meets the lovely Alex who is a female version of himself. The 2 quickly begin comparing all their exclusive memberships they've earned, sharing traveling tricks and tips with each other, and quickly check into a hotel for a romp in the sack. They begin a casual relationship, looking over their schedules to determine when they'll be able in the same area so they can get together again.

Upon returning from his latest string of jobs, Bingham learns that pretty soon his traveling my come to a stop, as new college grad and employee Natalie has come up with a system that allows the traveling businessmen to work from the headquarters, firing people at various companies over a voicechat program like Skype with a provided script to walk people through it. Bingham can't believe this, as it would threaten his isolated secluded life and thwart his frequent flyer miles goes, and also, he feels as Natalie has no experience with the way they've been doing things and doesn't feel she's prepared to handle every possible situation that may arise when someone gets fired (we see some get very angry, some get emotional, some suicidal, etc). Complaining to his boss, and stumping Natalie in a role-play, it is decided that while they get the program ready for launch, Bingham can stay out on the road a bit longer, doing things "the old way" so long as Natalie goes with him to the learn the ropes.

Bingham, whom we're led to believe is in his 40s or early 50s, and his interactions with 23 year old Natalie are pretty amusing, as he first shows her the ropes of traveling light for quicker ease through the airport (the first day, she shows up with bulky old luggage). She later begins to challenge him and his way of isolated and secluded living, insisting he give Alex a real shot, as she seems to make him happy.

Up in the Air is an interesting movie as we see how constant traveling can affect people - in that regards, it's a bit of a cautionary tale of isolating yourself too much. We also see that firing people is never fun, but with the right tools and words you can encourage someone (in this case an older man who was close to retirement) to look at it as a positive as they'll finally have time to embrace and achieve their dreams and goals that got pushed to the side, giving them a fresh sense on life and a positive outlook. With the lack of care though and the wrong words, it can lead someone to get so down they contemplate suicide.

Be sure to check this one out, especially if you've ever done a lot of traveling or know of anyone who has.

Inception

2010-07-20T00:02:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for violence

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy

In our minds we can lock away anything - secrets, codes, plans, information and more. But what if it were possible for someone to break into your mind and steal all that? In Inception, Dom Cobb and his pointman Arthur have a top notch team that makes it possible for Cobb to go into people's dreams (which is when your mind is pretty unguarded) and do just that - steal information, secrets, codes and anything else someone could want, for a price.

At first, Cobb and Arthur try to extract information from a top businessman named Saito, but as the dream crumbles due to a massive mob riot happening in the real world, they wake up and take a more forceful approach with Saito... however, due to a glitch on the Architect's part, Saito realizes they're still in a dream world - a dream within a dream. With him about to wake up (for real) they use a "kick" to wake themselves up early and scram as they were unable to retrieve the information from Saito's mind - we see that all along they were sitting on a train, asleep in the same cabin.

About to go their separate ways, Cobb and Arthur are taken by Saito and his men and informed that he was testing them. He then presents them with a new job, different from any they've done - instead of extracting information from someone's dream, why not implant an idea in the person's dream? Inception.

Saito wants them to enter the mind of his dying business rival's heir and implant the idea that he should disassemble his father's empire, citing that if he doesn't do so, it will create a monopoly in their business and that it's important the heir do this for the good of the world. Arthur claims it can't be done, however Cobb states he's done it before. Having been framed for his wife's death, Cobb can no longer return to his home and children in the US without being arrested the moment he sets foot on ground - Saito knows of this and tells Cobb that if he does this job, with one phonecall he can give him his life back and he'll get to go home and see his children, all charges dropped.

While Arthur is hesitant, Cobb is tempted and the 2 set out to assemble a team in France, including a new architect - a young grad student who is studying under Cobb's father-in-law and mentor. Cobb trains her quickly in the ways of the dream world, explaining to her how if you manipulate the laws of physics too much, bad things will happen (she gets a little too excited experimenting in the dream world). She also grows close to Cobb, having shared dreams with him now, and soon learns that instead of holding dear to the memories he has of his deceased wife Mal, he instead is haunted by her Shade in the dream world and it only begins to get worse. For this reason, he cannot design the dream worlds anymore, as when he does know them, she tends to pop up and mess things up for the team.

With arrangements made and things ready to go, the team sets into The Mark's dream world (in which they try something new - a dream within a dream within a dream and eventually even into a 4th level!). Things seem smooth at first, however they quickly learn that The Mark has been taught how to guard his mind against extraction in the dream world and his mind's guards are quickly in pursuit of the team, trying to stop them at all costs!

With only 10 hours in the real world to get the job done and The Mark's mind guards causing more problems for them than they anticipated, will the team be able to implant the idea and make it stick? Will they all make it out of the dream world alive? (in most cased, if you die in the dream world, you just wake up, however if you get killed by one of the guard's, then you get stuck in limbo where you can get stuck for years and years, never realizing it's still just a dream world) Will Cobb be able to fight off the Shade of Mal or will she once again interfere?

Inception was a very interesting movie.

Director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) had the idea of this movie and wrote out an 80 page script nearly 10 years ago for it, but wanted to wait until he had more experience with big budget movies and it really shows! While the new Batman films are dark, Inception is more along the lines of his earlier hit film, Memento, as it's important to actually watch the movie and pay attention to what is happening. Like Memento, it's pretty easy to follow, but if you weren't paying attention, you'll miss things (not to mention, why are you spending money on a movie that you're not actually watching?). Like Memento, he also leaves the film open ended and hanging for you the viewer to decide and debate what's really real (I don't want to give it away).

It's one of those films where visually it's really neat, as several scenes in the dream world seem to defy the laws of physics and gravity, it's also very thought-provoking and makes you think the entire movie about what is happening. He also explains the dream world pretty well - in one scene, when at least 1 person is awake in a different dream level, we see that seconds in the first level translates into about 3 minutes in the second level, and about 20 minutes in the third level; what feels like an hour in the dream world is really about 5 minutes in the real world.

Leonardo DiCaprio has really come into his own this past decade from being the cute Romeo all the girls gushed over in the mid-90s to a pretty good serious drama/suspense actor and Joseph Gordon-Levitt has really grown up from the goofy awkward kid he played on 3rd Rock for the Sun - he too has really become a good, solid serious actor in the past few years.

If you like movies that make you think with a bit of a sci-fi/action take to it, don't miss Inception! It really is a great movie and despite being nearly 2 and a half hours long, it definitely doesn't feel like it, as the last 2/3rds of the film really draw you into it.

Despicable Me

2010-07-15T14:03:00.000-05:00

Rated PG for slapstick humor and mild cartoon violence

Starring Steve Carrell, Jason Segal, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Elsie Fischer, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, Julie Andrews, Kristen Wiig

Gru is the most notorious villain of all time, having stolen many famous objects, that is until a new villain in town named Vector pulls of the heist of a lifetime by stealing the Great Pyramid of Giza! In order to reclaim his title of best villain ever, Gru decides he must go into the space, shrink the moon and steal it, however, in order to pay for the materials for his minions to make his rocket, he needs to get a loan from the bank. The bank president for villains says they will not fund the project until Gru at leasts gets a shrink ray gun, which he eventually steals, however his celebration is too soon, as Vector immediately steals it from him!

When Gru spies a trio of orphaned sisters selling cookies to Vector, he hatches a plan in which he will adopt the girls and escort them back to Vector's when the cookies arrive, stealing the gun back while the girls distract him.

While Gru's plans for villainry begin to fall into place, he didn't plan for him to actually fall for the girls and begin actually caring for them. When he learns their ballet recital falls on the same day as his soon to be famous heist of the moon, Gru must decide which is more important to him!

Kids will love all the slapstick comedy and humorous antics of the girls and the minions, while parents will have their hearts warmed watching Gru go from from Super Villain to Super Dad. While the film has a strong message of family (which it seems like many animated films lately do!), it also has a message to not give up on your dreams, as we see that as a child Gru always wanted to go into space but his mother told him it would never happen - despite her, Gru still always held onto that dream.

While there is quite a bit of slapstick in the film, it's nothing more than 3 Stooges or Looney Toons type of slapstick. There are a few tense moments at the end, but nothing a kid can't handle!

Be sure to check out this cute, silly family film that both kids and adults will enjoy.

On a sidenote, Best Buy has a "Movie Mode" app for smartphones that is supposed to translate what the minions are saying during their antics in the end credits. While you're more than welcome to try it, there has been many complaints about the Android app not always working, as you're supposed to turn the app on prior the beginning of the movie (during the trailers) and it's supposed to vibrate when the credits start (it also automatically puts your phone in silent mode) - some complain it never vibrates for them and doesn't come out of the standby screen ("Enjoy the movie"), some complain it vibrates and starts translating about 20 minutes early, others have complained that it leaves your screen on the entire movie, thus draining your battery. While it says in the commercial it's for the 3D version, there have been plenty that have verified it works for the 2D version as well. User beware and good luck if you can get it to work for you (I couldn't), as I hear the translation really enhances it and it's pretty funny!

DVD Review: The Informant!

2010-07-08T01:24:00.000-05:00

Rated R for language

Starring Matt Damon, Melanie Lynskey, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Tom Papa

In the early 1990s, biochemist Mark Whitacre has been moving up the ladder at food industry giant ADM, having been brought over into the business side of things. After getting a call from a foreign competitor offering a cure to a virus that affect the company's products for the price of $7M - the exact amount that Whitacre also notes is suddenly missing from the company - he tells his boss Mick Andreas about it and the FBI soon get involved, tapping Whitacre's business home line in case the competitor calls again. While he's working with the FBI, Whitacre also informs them of unethical business practices that ADM and other international food industry giants are involved in, most notably being price fixing. Serving as the FBI's mole, Whitacre records hundreds of tapes in which company heads discuss and agree on various price fixes. Once it's learned that he was the mole though, the company fights back, digging up dirt on Whitacre that could not only cost him his job, home and luxuries, but also cause him to serve jail time as well.

Based on a true story, The Informant was quite interesting, most especially for me as it takes place in Decatur, IL (not far from me) and involves the food industry in the 90's (which was the industry my dad worked in at the time). However, presented in all the trailers as a quirky comedy, this movie was anything but. While there were some laughs, they were few and far between, as we watch a man get used by his government while he's lost in his own made up delusions.

Unless you like films based on true stories, feel free to skip this one.

DVD Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats

2010-07-02T00:51:00.002-05:00

Rated R for language, some violence, brief nudity

Starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey

Bob Wilton is a journalist who goes over seas to follow the war in Iraq after his wife leaves him for his editor, however without having a way in to cross the border, he is stuck in Kuwait, waiting for a story. While sitting around drinking at the hotel, he stumbles upon a former Special Forces operator named Lyn Cassady - he heard about Lyn earlier, when he interviewed another man who claimed to have psychic powers. Lyn confesses that he was part of a top secret military group that formed in the '70s called New Earth, in which they trained men to become Jedi Warriors, using invisibility, remote viewing, cloud bursting, walking through walls and intuition. Wanting to hear more Lyn's story and report on it, Bob follows Lyn into Iraq and into an adventure through the desert as Lyn is on a mission that he doesn't know what the objective is.

While the movie had its moments that were pretty humorous, and presented an interesting story about a supposed psychic military unit, the movie was lacking something, despite the clever Star Wars references (which you'll like not get if you're not familiar with Star Wars).

It wasn't a terrible movie, but it wasn't great either - it was just okay. If you have time, check it out, otherwise, don't worry - you aren't missing much.

DVD Review: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

2010-06-23T00:10:00.001-05:00

Rated PG13 for brief language, brief sexuality, some scary images

Starring Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield, Verne Troyer, and Tom Waits with Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell

Old Doctor Parnassus runs a traveling sideshow with his daughter Valentina, confidant Percy and aspiring apprentice Anton. We see a drunk crash onto their stage, chasing Valentina through Parnassus' magical mirror into a strange place of imagination where at the end he has to choose between a bar and enlightment; of course he choose the bars, which blows up soon after he enters.

During their travel to their next stop, we learn that Doctor Parnassus, as well as Percy, are former monks, with Doctor Parnassus being over 1000 years old. He's been able to live that long as he once made a bet with the devil, Mr. Nick, in that he could win 12 souls over to craving stories and imagination rather than addiction and desire before Mr. Nick could - Parnassus won and was granted immortality. Although he still aged, he once met a woman during this time that he fell in love with, and made another deal Mr. Nick that he would be granted youthfulness in exchange that any child born would be given over to Mr. Nick at the age of 16 - Valentina will be turning 16 in just a few days, a day in which Parnassus is dreading. He makes a new deal with Mr. Nick - the first to win over 5 souls in 3 days wins, and if Parnassus wins, he gets to keep his daughter.

Suddenly, in the midst of a storm, they come across a man hanging from a bridge and rescue him. With no recollection of how he ended up under the bridge, in addition to amnesia, the man (whom Parnassus determines is a philanthropist named Tony) tags along with the troupe and offers up suggestions on how they might improve their sideshow and appeal to more people. While Parnassus is hesitant at first to accept the change, as his show has been the same for years, after witnessing the crowd they start to draw (with the help of Tony and his charm and sex appeal), he begins to think they might have a chance at winning the bet. But then jealously grows, as Anton sees Valentina bonding and becoming close to Tony, causing problems for them all.

Will Parnassus be able to win over 5 souls before Mr. Nick and keep his daughter or will jealously and lies get in the way?

This film is classic Terry Gilliam (who also directed Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), as the imagination sequences are pretty trippy! And just like classic Gilliam, he has the worst luck with films, as it seems something ALWAYS goes wrong for him - in this case being that Heath Ledger died before they finished filming all his scenes.

Fortunately, the scenes that hadn't been shot were the ones where Ledger's character Tony goes through Parnassus' magic mirror and into various imaginations. Because the scenes took place in several different people's imaginations, they were able to use a different actor for each scene, giving Tony a different look in each imagination. It was helpful that prior to the transition into his first imagination scene, Ledger was actually channeling Johnny Depp, using quirky mannerism of his, so it only made sense to cast Depp as the first imagination Tony, making the transition from Ledger to Depp very natural - given the mask he's first wearing in the scene, unless you're listening carefully to the voice, you don't even notice it's Depp until a little ways into the scene!

If you liked Gilliam's previous works (most notably Fear and Loathing) you'll enjoy this fun fantasy film into the world of imagination. It's a shame Heath Ledger died, as he really did a great job in this film!

Toy Story 3

2010-06-22T22:53:00.001-05:00

Rated G
Starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Blake Clark, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Jeff Pidgeon, Jodi Benson, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, and Laurie Metcalf

Our story picks up shortly after the 2nd movie - Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang of Andy's toys are playing together in Andy's wild imagination adventures. Due to a montage via home video footage, we see Andy beginning to grow up and fast forward and he's now 17 and getting ready to go off to college. Stuck in the old forgotten toy chest for so long, the toys make a few last attempts to get Andy's attention, in hopes of one more rendez-vous with him, but with no such luck.

Andy's mom tells her son to go through his toys and everything else in his room and decide what he's taking to college, what can go in the attic, what can get donated to the daycare and what should be thrown out. While he decides to take his old pal Woody to college with him, the rest of the toys he puts in a trash bag to take up to the attic... however mom mistakes the bag for trash and promptly places it on the curb. In an attempt to rescue his friends, Woody dashes out to save them, in which they all wind up being donated to the local daycare.

While the rest of the gang is thrilled to be welcomed by the rest of the daycare toys and are thrilled to learn that there's no owners and always kids who'll play with them, Woody insists they all go back to Andy's as they're still Andy's toys and he didn't mean for them to get thrown out or donated. Wanting a second chance to get played with, the gang decides to stay so Woody sets out for home on his own. Soon after he leaves though, him and the rest of the gang learn that Sunnyside Daycare isn't all it's cracked up to be - the new toys get stuck in the Caterpillar room with the toddlers who don't know how to properly play with toys and strawberry smelling leader Lots'o Huggins Bear isn't the gentle old sweet wise bear they first thought he was!

Woody has to go back and rescue his friends before things get much worse!

Once again, Disney and Pixar have done it again - creating a wonderful family film that all can enjoy. It's got hilarious moments and pop culture references, homage to a lot of the previous Pixar films, excitement, thrills and even touching moments that really pull at you - everyone I know that's seen it has sad they teared up during the movie at one point or another (I know I did at one part in particular near the end).

Kids will love all the excitement and adventure that this one continues to offer in the same fashion as the previous installments, and parents will be laughing at all humor thrown in that kids might not get (the scenes with Ken doll are pretty hilarious, as he's very metro-sexual despite repeatedly refusing to admit and comes to terms with being a girl's toy!).

Also, keep your eyes open for all the "easter eggs" in the film - there's references GALORE (here's a link of ones just seen in the trailers)! In one scene the Pizza Planet truck makes an appearance, as well as other toys and versions of characters from other Pixar movies (there's quite a bit of toy cars resembling the vehicles from Cars). There's also a rumor going around online that one of the little girls seen in the daycare is a slightly older Boo from the upcoming Monsters Inc 2, as Pixar likes to sneak in a character from an upcoming movie as a teaser. And keep your eyes open during the scenes with the garbage men - one of them is actually the neighbor boy Sid from the first movie, all grown up but still wearing his skull t-shirt!

This was definitely a great way to tie up the Toy Story franchise and while they could have ended it on a sad, emotional note, I'm glad they didn't - like one teen sitting further down the row from us commented at the end, ending it that way could have scarred the little kids that were watching (it was pretty emotional!). Not to give away the ending, but I'm pleased with how this part of the Toy Story turned out.

Get Him to the Greek

2010-06-10T14:33:00.001-05:00

Rated R for language, drug and alcohol use, sexuality, brief nudity, crude sexual humor, slapstick violence

Starring Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Elizabeth Moss, and Rose Bryne

Russell Brand reprises his role from 2008's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" as larger than life rocker Aldous Snow - the lead singer of Infant Sorrow. Although we learn that just prior to that film, Aldous and his pop singer wife Jackie Q had split from their 7 year marriage and the past 3 years Aldous has spiraled out of control, turning into a hardcore drug addict.

Jonah Hill, who played a waiter and an over-eager fan of Aldous' in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," is a completely different character this time, playing recent college grad Aaron Green, who lives with his overworked hospital intern fiance Daphne and works at a record company and helps brainstorm ideas on how to get the company back on track. A lifetime fan of Aldous Snow and his band Infant Sorrow, Aaron points out that next month will be the 10th Anniversary of when Aldous and Infant Sorrow performed at the historic Greek Theatre in LA.

After thinking it through, his boss Sergio decides it might just work, as they can have companies sponsor and televise the event for millions and make money off the DVD and album. He tells Aaron he has 72 hours to pick up Aldous in London, get to New York for an appearance on the Today show and then bring him out to LA for the gig.

Of course things can't go that smoothly though!

When he arrives to pick up him up in London, Aldous claims they changed the date and are a month early. After a hard night of partying, Aaron finally gets him on the plane. Then he has to make sure Aldous is sober for the Today show. Then, Aldous insists they take a detour so he can he visit his father in the States.

Time is running out and Aldous is starting to rethink his life and his relationship with his former wife. Will Aaron be able to get him to the Greek on time? His job and Aldous's career is riding on it!

If you loved the Aldous Snow character in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" you won't want to miss this spin-off! Aldous is just as quirky and hilarious and clueless as he was the first time, and it features even more hilarious songs by Infant Sorrow. It also cleverly ties the 2 films together with references made to the first.

This one mixes the sweetness of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" with the craziness of "The Hangover" for a great R-rated comedy. If you enjoyed either of those, you'll definitely like this one!

DVD Review: Sherlock Holmes

2010-06-04T13:56:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for action violence, adult themes, brief sexuality, brief nudity

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong

The film opens with Holmes and Watson racing to stop Lord Blackwood from ritually murdering another young woman. Fortunately, they are just in time, as the inspector shows up to arrest Blackwood and he is sentenced to death.

As his last request, Blackwood requests to speak with Holmes, informing him that his death won't be the end of him and that several others will die in order to carry out his ultimate plan. Holmes doesn't think too much of it though, as Blackwood is soon hanged and pronounced dead by Watson.

3 days later, Holmes is visited by thief and former flame Irene Adler, who requests that he find a missing person for her. Also, Holmes and Watson are informed that a groundskeeper at the cemetery claims to have seen Blackwood alive. The go and investigate and sure enough, Blackwood's grave has been tampered with from the inside out and the body in the coffin is not Blackwood's!

Starting with clues from the grave, Holmes and Watson race to find Blackwood, figure out what his ultimate plan is and put a stop to it before time runs out.

This film was a lot darker than I was expecting it to be, as Blackwood is believed to be an agent of Satan, using dark, black magic. While Holmes is the master at observation and deductive reasoning, him and Watson know quite a bit of Martial Arts it would seem, as they get in quite a few fist fights with the bad guys - not quite the classic detective movie one would be expecting!

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law make a great Holmes and Watson duo though, as their interactions together were great!

Not quite one for the whole family, as some of the scenes are a bit dark for the young ones, but definitely ones teens and adults would enjoy.

Iron Man 2

2010-06-01T13:35:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for comic-action violence, some sexuality, brief language

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rouke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson

Picking up where the previous film left off, Ivan Vanko sees the news of Tony Stark announcing that he is Iron Man. Vanko's dying father tells him that should have been him (Ivan) as he created the arc-reactor with Stark's father, giving him the blueprint of the plans.

6 months pass, Tony Stark opens up a year long Stark Expo in order to continue the Stark legacy as the core of his arc-reactor is seeping poisonous chemicals into his blood stream and Tony feels he might be dying soon. He is also ordered to appear before a Senate Committee who declares the Iron Man suit is a weapon and should be turned over to the government. Stark points out that no one else in the world is near close to replicating it and points out that he has been able to maintain world peace.

All that changes soon in Monte Carlo, when Ivan Vanko, in a suit of his own with whips that spark lightning, shows up and takes on Iron Man, proving to be an equal, as he could have killed him, but didn't. He is captured, but soon broken out of prison, as someone else sees him as a skilled engineer and wants his help in creating an army of Iron Man suits.

Will Tony be able to save his own life and find a cure for his arc-reactor core? And as Iron Man will he be able to stop Ivan Vanko?

Iron Man 2 follows in the same footsteps as the previous installment, showing us to value life and do what's right. While it doesn't really expand much or go above and beyond the first one, it was still just as quirky and entertaining with a plot that was easy to understand.

We also see more of SHIELD leader Nick Fury in this one (his lone scene in the first one was after the end credits) and are introduced to SHIELD member Black Widow, who shows us that tiny petite females can sure kick some butt!

Don Cheadle replaces Terrance Howard as Stark's good friend Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes, however, unless you're watching the films back to back, you don't really notice the change that much. We also see the last appearance of DJ A.M. who died in Fall 2009.

And like the first one, be sure to stick around after the credits role for a sneak peak of who the next Marvel film is going to focus on!

DVD Review: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

2010-05-13T00:10:00.000-05:00

Rated PG for slapstick humor

Starring Jason Lee, Zachary Levi, Wendie Malick, and David Cross, with the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Christina Applegate, Anna Faris, and Amy Poehler

Everyone's favorite singing animated Chipmunks are back in this sequel to the 2007 movie.

After a freak onstage accident that lands Dave in the hospital for awhile, he orders Alvin, Simon and Theodore to go home, obey Aunt Jackie who will be watching them, and go to school. Well, Aunt Jackie gets injured soon after the Chipmunks meet her and her slacker grandson Toby at the airport, leaving Toby in charge.

Between playing video games, eating all the food and trashing the house, Toby makes sure the boys go to school, where they first have trouble adjusting - all the girls think they're cute and so naturally all the other guys get jealous of them. Being able to shoot baskets across the cafeteria, Alvin is quickly brought into the "jock" circle and learns how to play sports like football (where he becomes the team's secret weapon), however his increase in popularity soon goes to head and like the other jocks, he begins to pick on Simon and Theodore.

After the 3 get in trouble, they are told their punishment is to compete at a local school talent competition on behalf of the school, as the winning school will win a large money prize.

However, the Chipmunks aren't the only new students at school - ex-music mogel Ian (from the first movie) is back, this time with an innocent group of singing girl chipmunks who call themselves the Chipettes and admire and look up to the Chipmunks. Determined to get back at the top of the business, Ian manipulates the girls into thinking he was a victim of the Chipmunks and decides to have the Chipettes face-off against each them for the school's representation at the talent competition.

While this movie was pretty cute, especially with the introduction of the Chipettes, it didn't seem nearly as good or as clever as the first movie. While the lesson of family and sticking together is a good one, the jokes and the laughs just seemed like more of the same from the first movie, not really improving in quality or substance.

Kids will enjoy it, and like I said, the Chipettes were a pretty cute new addition, however unless you have kids that really want to see this one, you can probably just skip this chapter of the Chipmunks and watch the original or the classic animated episodes instead.

DVD Review: Julie and Julia

2010-04-30T17:35:00.001-05:00

Rated PG13 for brief language, brief sexuality

Starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci

In 2002, Julie Powell is an aspiring writer but works in a cubicle at a government office in New York taking calls to lend an ear for hurting 9/11 victims. All her friends having successful jobs though and as she reaches her 30th birthday, Julie feels miserable as if she hasn't really done anything with her life, and to make matters worse, her and her husband have just moved into a tiny apartment in Queens above a pizzeria to be closer to his job. After hearing a shallow friend of hers has begun writing a blog, Julie quips that she could write a blog too, afterall, she is a writer! But what to write about? Her husband points out that she enjoys cooking, so why not write a blog about cooking? Julie likes the idea and decides that she'll cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year - 524 recipes in 365 days - and blog about her experiences.

As Julie goes about the year, her story is segmented with the story of Julia Child's time living in France and how she became the cook we all know her as.

In 1949, Julia and her husband Paul move to Paris for a government assignment of his, where they'll be living there for 4 years. Not wanting to work as a clerk at another government agency, Julia decides she should find a fun but useful way to spend her time. She tries hat-making and then an attempt at French lessons before she realizes that she loves to eat. Having a hard time finding a French cookbook in English, Julia decides to take up cooking and enroll in Le Cordon Bleu. She also meets a duo of like-minded women who are working on a French cookbook for Americans and teach cooking as well - Julia teams up with them, having to revise the entire book for publication and well, the rest is pretty much history.

As Julie cooks her way through the infamous book, she learns plenty of lessons along the way from Julia.

Based on true stories, Julie and Julia is a heartwarming and inspirational film. Meryl Streep is spot on as the famous cook with her mannerisms and quirkiness and I love the pairing of Streep and Tucci (previously together in The Devil Wears Prada). Jane Lynch also makes a brief appearance as Julia's sister Dorothy, and plays the part very believably as it's a nice change from the usual characters she plays.

If you're curious about the life of Julia Child or enjoy fun inspirational movies or food, don't miss this one!

DVD Review: Tron

2010-04-25T16:51:00.000-05:00

Rated PG for adult themes, tense moments

Starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor, David Warner

Video arcade owner Kevin Flynn is a former ENCOM software engineer who has created several video games that became popular after another ENCOM employee, Ed Dillinger, stole them from him. Knowing the files have his name on it, Flynn continues to hack into the ENCOM system and find them to prove he is the rightful creator of the games. After Flynn's most recent hack attempt, Dillinger and his Master Control Program (which has a mind of its own) decide to shut down access to the level group Flynn had access to, thus locking out fellow software engineer Alan Bradley who was working on a program called Tron which would serve as a watchdog program and keep even the Master Control Program in check.

Frustrated, Alan and Flynn come together, with the help of ENCOM employee Laura. They sneak Flynn into the building so he can distract the MCP and hack in long enough to grant them all level 6 access so Alan can get his Tron program up and running, which would help find the files proof that Flynn created the games and not Dillinger.

MCP does not like though and decides to physically trap Flynn into the the world of Bytes and Bits. Having to band together with other "user controlled" programs, including Tron, Flynn must fight for his survival and work with Tron to defeat the MCP from the inside in order to escape back to his world.

Released in 1982, I'm sure this sci-fi action adventure film was groundbreaking and in a lot of ways it reminded me of Bladerunner or The Running Man. Viewing it almost 20 years later though, it's extremely dated and the graphics and special effects are just laughable. We can only hope that the upcoming Tron: Legacy film has much better, updated graphics than the original.

I have to admit, while this is a Disney film and was marketed towards families, if I had watched this in the 80s as a little kid, I would have been extremely bored and confused as to what was going on. This is definitely not a movie meant for kids, as they most likely won't understand much of what's going on.

If you like classic sci-fi films from the 80s, this is one you might be interested in.

Hot Tub Time Machine

2010-04-12T16:30:00.000-05:00

Rated R for language, drug use, slapstick violence, sexuality

Starring John Cusack, Rob Corrdry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Chevy Chase, Crispin Glover, Lizzy Caplan, Lyndsy Fonseca

In present day LA Adam's girlfriend just left him while his geeky nephew Jacob lives in his basement preferring to spend his life in the virtual world than actually go out and do something; Nick works a dead end job taking care of dogs; Lou is a party guy but comes across as the lovable jerk of the group.

When Lou ends up in the hospital after passing out in his garage due to carbon monoxide poisoning, Adam and Nick get stuck monitoring Lou, as the doctors have placed him on suicide watch, and decide to take him and Jacob to their old favorite party hot spot - Kodiak Valley Ski Resort - for a little guy time.

However, the resort is now more like a ghosttown than the hot happening place they all remember it to be. Bored, they load up on alcohol and hop into their suite's hot tub. When they wake up the next morning though, things aren't how they should be - the resort is hopping and happening again, but everyone's wearing 80s retro clothes, 80s tunes are the only songs playing, and Michael Jackson is black!

With minimal guidance from a mysterious handy-man, the guys decide they must play it safe and relive the particular weekend just as they did back in '86. Of course they run into problems though and eventually learn lessons along the way.

While many say this movie pushes the limits of the R-rated comedy even further than Apatow and Smith have, I personally thought it was much of the same, but loved it, being a sucker for 80s nostalgia.

I figured this movie would be hit or miss - either really funny or really stupid. It blends the line perfectly though, as some of the situations the characters get in are a bit ridiculous, they're tackled in such a funny way that you can't help but laugh.

Also, John Cusack was one of the producers on this film, so you know it's bound to be good, as he has yet to produce a bad film.

Another thing to note when watching - watch for references to previous Cusack films, as in the 80s, he wears clothes similar those of his character Lloyd Dobbler from the classic 80s film "Say Anything" and in one scene when they're in the hot tub, one of the characters yells out "I want my 2 dollars!" which is reference to another 80s Cusack film "Better Off Dead."

If you like R-rated comedies and the 80s, be sure to catch this one!

DVD Review: Shoot Em Up

2010-04-10T16:16:00.001-05:00

Rated R for violence, language, some sexuality

Starring Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Monica Bellucci

Sitting at a bus stop on an empty street, munching on a carrot, a drifter only known as Smith sees a pregnant woman run past him. Moments later, a man with a gun comes chasing after her. Smith decides to get involved and takes out the guy, only to learn there's more - why are hitmen chasing a pregnant lady? While fighting off her attackers, Smith helps the woman deliver her child, as she goes into labor. Trying to get mother and child to safety though, the woman gets shot and killed. Unable to leave the newborn behind, Smith takes the child with him and visits a brothel mistress named Donna, known for her milk, in hopes that she can help him take care of the kid while he tries to figure out why people were trying to kill the mother and now the baby (which they call Oliver).

They are soon in the middle of a top secret arrangement, as Oliver's mother was one of several surrogates used to produce children with a politician dying of bone marrow cancer, in hopes that one of the children will be able to work as a suitable donor. Someone has found out about this though and doesn't want the politician to get better.

With tons of stylized shootout scenes that take place in non-ideal situations with sharp witty comments provided by Giamatti, Smith and Donna try to stay ahead of the bad of guys and keep baby Oliver safe.

Shoot Em Up lives up to its name, as it basically is just a movie with a lot of action and shootout scenes to a pounding, rockin' soundtrack. If you like that combination, you'll love this movie!

DVD Review: Jennifer's Body

2010-04-03T19:41:00.000-05:00

Rated R for sexuality, partial nudity, violence and gore

Starring Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody, Johnny Simmons

Anita (aka Needy) is your average high school girl. She wears glasses and works on the newspaper staff. She also dates a cute band geek named Chip. Jennifer on the other hand, is the typical hot cheerleader who has no concern for anyone but herself and is quite the tease. What do Jennifer and Needy have in common? Not much these days, but they've been friends since the sandbox days and despite being on different ends of the social circle they still remain best friends. That is, until Needy starts to think Jennifer is evil. "And not just high school evil." Needy clarifies.

Their demise all started one night when Jennifer insisted that Needy join her to see a hot Myspace promoted band perform at a local "niteclub." However the venue catches fire and Jennifer, mesmerized by the band, barely manages to escape with Needy. They run into the band's singer, who insists they join him in his band's van for safety. Needy protests, however the singer takes Jennifer by the arm and leads her way. Later that night, Jennifer shows up at Needy's home, covered in blood, growling and vomitting something "evil" all over Needy's kitchen floor before disappearing into the night. The next day at school however, Jennifer seems completely normal. But then, as the town is mourning the lives lost at the niteclub, the school's star athlete is found dead and dismembered in the nearby woods.

A few weeks later, Needy also has another strange encounter with Jennifer, as she's driving home and almost hits Jennifer, covered again in blood and not looking "human". Frightened, she high tails it home, but is startled by Jennifer in her room. The two share a brief sexual encounter before Jennifer tells Needy what she recalls of the night of the fire. Soon after she got in the van with the band, she noticed various books on witches and the occult laying around the floor ("They were like agents of Satan, but with awesome haircuts!") and the members begin asking if she is a virgin. Scared, she tells them yes ("I don't even know how to have sex!") and that they should let her go and find some girls that do know how to have sex. Soon they arrive at their destination and tie her up, preparing to sacrifice her to Satan for fame via a ritual they found online. She remembers them stabbing her repeatedly, but after that, all she knew was she was hungry, explaining that when she's not full, she feels weak. Scared, Needy tells her to leave.

At school, Needy does some research and learns about demonic transference and that if a virginal sacrifice ritual is performed on a non-virgin, then the demon gets stuck in the victim's body and has a hunger for the flesh. The only way to kill the demon is with a knife. Scared for Chip, she tells him it's not safe for them to go to the upcoming Spring formal - "It'll be a like an all-you-can-eat boy buffet!" she tells him.

Will Needy be able to put a stop to her man-eating best friend before it's too late?

To be completely honest, this movie is more Amanda Seyfried's than Megan Fox's as, despite being hot eye-candy, Fox can't carry a movie on her own. This is one of those types of movies that was intended to be a humorous B-movie (I hope) as you really can't take it too seriously. It would most likely be one of those movies that MST3K would be making fun of or our grandkids will be looking up clips of it on Youtube and laughing at how bad it is, as that's how dumb it was.

Now don't get me wrong, Diablo Cody (who also wrote Juno) has a way with words, as the dialogue in this film is pretty clever, witty and funny (after getting impaled by a giant metal rod, leaving a hole in her stomach, Jennifer asks Needy if she has a tampon she can use!) and Jennifer tends to tell it like it is in crash terms. But that doesn't make up for the ridiculiousness of the plot and the fact that Megan Fox can't act her way out of a paper bag. This film is solely Megan Fox eye-candy with witty dialogue and a stupid plot.

Do yourself a favor and unless you have someone to sit and watch a B-movie and make fun of it with, skip it. You're not really missing much.

DVD Review: 17 Again

2010-03-25T18:39:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for brief language, some innuendo, teenage sexuality

Starring Zac Efron, Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann, Michelle Trachtenberg, Thomas Lennon

What if you could have a do-over? Would you?

And so is the question this movie poses.

In a similar tale to those of the movie Big and 13 Going on 30 where the main characters wish they were older, in this one, the main character wishes he could go back and redo the end of his senior year.

In 1989, Mike is the star basketball player and a talent scout is at the big game just to watch him. Do well and he has a college basketball scholarship. But then his girlfriend Scarlet makes an appearance during halftime. He can tell she's upset, so he goes to talk to her and learns she is pregnant with his child. At first he goes back out on the court, but then, after seeing her leave, he chases after her and proposes, telling her that they're in this together.

Fast forward 2 decades later, and Mike, having had another kid with Scarlet, has constantly regretted giving up his opportunity for her and they are on the brink of divorce, as she feels like he never could get past the past and build a future together.

After a strange encounter with the high school's janitor, Mike wakes up the next morning and he's 17 again. Realizing that maybe this is his 2nd chance to get that scholarship and make something of his life, he enrolls in the high school again, with the help of his lifelong friend geeky Ned (who is now a multi-millionaire, despite getting picked on in high school), whom he poses as his long lost son. ("Uncle Ned never mentioned having a kid..." Mike's teenage son points out to his 17 year old father. "Yeah, my mom didn't want anyone to know she had a kid with Ned - can you blame her?" he responses. He son accepts that, agreeing with him at the logic.)

After his first day though, Mike realizes that it's not his 2nd chance at a scholarship, but his 2nd chance with his kids, as his purpose for being 17 again must be to help them. His teenage son Alex is the school punching bag, despite having his father's natural talent for basketball and his teenage daughter is dating Alex's main tormentor, and despite having gotten accepted to Georgetown, she is planning on going to school nearby and moving in with her jerk boyfriend soon after graduation. By hanging out with Alex and getting on the basketball team with him, he is able to give him his moment to shine as the basketball and catch the eye of a cute, sweet cheerleader he's been crushing on but is too afraid to talk to. He is also able to teach Maggie that not all guys are horny jerks and that her and her friends should have more respect for themselves. And he also gets to reconnect with his wife (who can't get over the fact how much Uncle Ned's kid looks like her husband at that age), really learning about her interests and helping out when he can (she enjoys landscape art, something he thought was dumb before).

This was a cute twist on the classic "what if..." story, despite the awkward scenes with his daughter coming onto his teenage self (think Back to the Future) and his longing for his wife despite appearing as a minor. It also has some funny "geeky" moments in a subplot that involves geeky Ned (who's home is decked out in various sci-fi, movie and gaming memorabilia) trying to date the school's principal (the eventually realize they have a common love for Halo and Lord of the Rings and can both speak Elvish).

It also really stresses the values of marriage and family, and being involved in your family and their lives. Mike was too busy wallowing about his missed opportunity for nearly 20 years that he missed all the other opportunities he could have had with his family. He had minimal involvement in his kids' lives and always made his wife feel bad for asking her to marry him.

While not necessarily for younger kids, this is definitely one to watch together with a spouse and the older kids.

Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-20T18:13:00.002-05:00

Rated PG for some scary moments, fantasy violence

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Michael Sheen and Stephen Fry

In this Alice story, Alice is now 19 years old and her father has recently passed. For the past 10 years, she has been having the same "nightmare" where she visits a strange place. She thinks she is going crazy, however her father always told her that "the best people tend to be a little bit!" Her mother accompanies her to a formal outdoor party, which Alice soon learns is to be her engagement party to a boy named Hamish, who's father was partners with her father and now is the sole owner of their trading firm. When Hamish pops the big question in front of all the guests, Alice panics and is distracted by a strange white rabbit she had noticed several times throughout the gathering. She excuses herself and chases after the rabbit and ends up at a rabbit hole and falls in.

Arriving in a strange room, she must figure out the puzzle of how to squeeze through a tiny locked door. Once on the other side, she is greeted by The White Rabbit, a dormouse, a dodo bird, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Despite them acting like they know her, she don't recall ever meeting any of them. Confused as to whether The White Rabbit brought them the "right" Alice, they take her to Absolem the Caterpillar to let him decide. See, in this version of Wonderland (or Underland as they say it's called), the evil Red Queen has overthrown her younger sister, the White Queen and has been ruling with an iron fist, offing people's heads for reason or another. And well, Frabjous Day is coming soon and it is told that a hero named Alice will slay the Red Queen's wicked beast - the Jabberwocky, and free everyone from her rule.

"I'm not that Alice! And even if I were, I can't kill anything and I won't!" Alice cries. She also seems convinced that this just her having another one of her nightmares, as the people and place are exactly the same.

Believing that Alice is back, the Queen sends her right hand man - The Knave of Hearts - with the Bandersnatch, Jubjub Bird and solider-like playing cards to retrieve her and stop her. While they capture most of Alice's group, the Cheshire Cat shows up and helps her escape, taking her to the Mad Hatter and March Hare and rejoining her with the dormouse. The Mad Hatter is able to explain to her what went wrong, trying to get her to remember her previous time in Underland ("You were so young back then... you even kept calling this place Wonderland!"). But soon enough, it seems that everyone who comes in contact with Alice gets capture by the Red Queen's lackeys. Before being captured, the Mad Hatter gives her directions to get to the White Queen who can assist her in preparing to fight the Jabberwocky. But Alice would rather rescue the Mad Hatter and innocent beings the Red Queen has captured.

Is this Alice indeed the "right" Alice? Will she end up fighting the Jabberwocky? Will she stay in Underland?

Now some have complained that Tim Burton took the classic Alice stories and turned them upside down. Others have criticized it for being nothing like the original Disney version. What you must understand going into this one is that no, it is not a remake of the classic story nor an adaption. You could almost consider it to be "the next chapter" in the Alice story, as it takes place years after the events of the original stories (which we see in a flashback segment). The characters are all still there, however Wonderland is a much darker place than now than we may recall.

I personally loved it. The story was great, the characters were amusing and the scenery and details were definitely works of art! Oh and there's lessons for everyone that you shouldn't make choices for yourself based on what others think is best. Be responsible and make your choices for you.

Now this film is being offered in both 2D and 3D formats. We saw it in 3D IMAX and while I can't really say if the 3D enhanced it any, the IMAX was well worth it, as it really made you feel like you were in the movie, and this one of those movies where that effect really works great!

Little kids might be a little scared by the Jabberwocky and Bandersnatch, but other than that, this is a great film for a family outing!

DVD Review: Terminator Salvation

2010-03-18T17:59:00.000-05:00

Rated PG13 for action violence, language

Starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin

Set in 2018, the war between Skynet and humanity is in full force. The world has become nothing more but a wasteland and those that have survived thus far are constantly on the defense against the machine, banding together to find a way to put an end to them. Leading the Resistance from an army-like submarine is John Connor and General Ashdown. After developing a device that seems to shut down the machines, they stage a worldwide Resistance attack on Skynet Headquarters. Only as the day to strike approaches, John is informed by a strange man named Marcus Wright that a young Kyle Reese - that's right, John Connor's eventual father - has been taken captive by Skynet. If they strike before rescuing him odds are, John Connor will cease to exist, as the time to send Reese back in time has not yet happened. The General doesn't seem to care though - he's afraid that if they don't strike when they have the opportunity, they may never get another chance to destroy Skynet's Headquarters.

Can John get the Resistance to hold off firing long enough for him to save his future father and his existence? And can he really trust this strange mysterious Marcus Wright?

Unless you're a die hard Terminator fan, feel free to skip this installment. The first movie was a groundbreaking sci-fi action film and the sequel was just as good. The third installment showed how the machine takeover began. All this one does is introduce John's father as a teenager and explains the origins of the T-800. Unless the next installment actually shows us John sending Reese back in time and brings the franchise full-circle I most likely will be skipping out on it.

Dear John

2010-03-08T06:14:00.001-06:00

Rated PG13 for military violence, brief sexuality

Starring Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Henry Thomas, Scott Porter, Richard Jenkins, Keith Robinson

At the beginning of the film, we see Special Forces Army solider John get shot. In a voice over, we hear John read a letter about the last things he remembers as he blacks out from the shot. "I heard the sound of coins and was taken back to a time when I visited the US Mint." He goes on to say how he is like a coin, minted in the US, rough around the edges, etc "And the last thing I thought of, before I blacked out, was you."

He then takes us back to where it began - spring of 2001. He is on a brief leave of duty, staying with his dad in their home near Charleston. It is here that meets Savannah, a college student on spring break, visiting her friends, family and building a Habitat for Humanity type home for a less fortunate family who's home was destroyed in a storm. The two begin a brief romance during her last week of break. Unsure of a future together, Savannah is upset at the thought of leaving John. He tells her that he only has 1 year left on his military contract and that when the time is up, he'll return, she'll be almost done with school and then they can be together forever. "A lot can happen in a year" Savannah tells him. He promises her that he'll return and they agree to write each other as often as they can. "What is one year of waiting for a lifetime after we spent one amazing week like that together?" she says.

Several months go by and they both struggle with not being able to be together in the flesh, but they still have hope. However the September 11th attacks occur and the rest of John's Special Forces team are eager to extend their contracts to fight for our country. Their captain tells them they have 2 days off and to think about their decision, as he too has family back home to take into consideration for his choice, and that since they are a team, if any one of them decides not to extend, then neither will the rest of them. John quickly goes home to his father and Savannah to spend what little time he has left, but he is hesitant to inform Savannah that if he re-enlists, it will be another 2 years or so before he's able to come home. Naturally she is not keen on the idea, despite the fact that he is clearly torn on keeping his promise to her but being loyal to his team and serving his country.

Will Savannah stay by him and support his decision?

Like all film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks' books, this one too was a bit of a tearjerker. However, while the previews and part of the film focus on the relationship between John and Savannah, who the movie really is about is John. True, Savannah does play a large role in his life during this time, (she especially helps him to understand why his father is the way he is), but she's not the sole focus of the film - John is.

Personally, I grew to really dislike Savannah, as she tried to rationale and make things all about her, not really taking into consideration John's feelings or how her actions would affect him for years to come. And then even at the end, she still tries to justify what she did, expecting John to pick up where they left off and pretend like nothing had happened. Girls like her make me roll my eyes and want to slap them upside the head for a dose of reality.

If you've enjoyed other Nicholas Sparks' film adaptions and don't mind a bit of a tearjerker (or one that makes you want to slap some sense into the female lead), feel free to check this one out.

When in Rome

2010-02-26T05:25:00.001-06:00

Rated PG13 for brief language, slapstick violence

Starring Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard, Danny DeVito, Anjelica Huston

Beth (Bell) is a successful art curator at the Guggenheim museum and a bit of a workaholic. "When I meet someone I love as much as my job, that's when I'll get married" she says at one point, although she does become a bit frustrated at her sister's impulsive wedding in Rome when, heeding her father's advice on love, she takes a chance on Nick, the Best Man (Duhamel), only to feel devastated when she sees him kissing another woman. Drunk and feeling down on her luck, Beth climbs into the "fountain of love" and takes several of the coins that were thrown in, not aware of the local legend that if you take a coin from the fountain, you will become the object of the coin owner's affection.

Holding true to legend, once Beth is back in New York, she begins being stalked by several suitors - one is a creepy aspiring artist who paints her likeness all over the city (Arnett), another being a wacky Criss Angel type magician (Heder), one who is prestigious sausage king (De Vito), and another who is a self absorbed male model (Bell's real life fiance Shepard). Adding to her troubles, is that Nick appears to be smitten with her as well. After a few dates and noticing that some chips in his poker set match a poker chip she took from the fountain, Beth is unsure if Nick's affects are for real or if it's all because she took his coin.

For being a PG13 RomCom/chick flick, this one was actually pretty clean compared to most and has been praised for such. Myself, not being one for chick flicks that are over the top mushy, I actually enjoyed it - the humor was pretty good and the acting was enjoyable. I especially liked the brief cameo of Efren Ramirez as Heder's character's sidekick.

This is a perfect film for when you're in the mood for a cute film to enjoy with the girls!

DVD Review: Coraline

2010-02-16T05:23:00.001-06:00

Rated PG for some scary scenes

Starring Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher

Coraline Jones has just moved to the Pink Palace Apartments in Oregon from her home in Michigan. It's always rainy, making it so she can't play outside as much as she'd like (her mother detests mud), she misses her friends from back home, and her parents are both too absorbed with their work to pay her any attention (they are working from home on a garden catalog). Out of boredom, she befriends her neighbors - the man upstairs is an acrobat whom her mother deems is drunk, and the two elderly sisters downstairs who are former actresses who can read tea leaves (they tell Coraline that danger is headed her way). Out of loneliness, she also befriends the landlady's grandson, Wybie who gives her a strange doll he found that eerily looks like Coraline, but she gets frustrated that he talks too much.

One day, while exploring the house, she comes across a strange door that is sealed up. After tearing away the wallpaper and unlocking it, she learns that there is nothing but a brick wall underneath, until later that night when she follows a small mouse to the door and finds that it is a doorway to another "other" world. In this world, despite everyone having buttons for eyes, her "other" mother dotes on her and makes delicious meals, her father pays attention to her and her neighbors put on fascinating performances. And other Wybie doesn't talk at all! Coraline continues to visit this "other" world nightly, but soon, what seemed like a dream come true begins to turn into a nightmare!

Brought to us by the director of Nightmare Before Christmas (no, not Tim Burton - the other guy) and based on the novel by Neil Gaiman we are given a fantasy story that soon becomes a bit of a horror. While it starts off a little slow, by the time Coraline visits the "other" world we're on the edge of our seats to see what happens and how she gets herself out of this strange predicament!

To be honest, I had no interest in seeing this movie until I learned it was based on a novel by Gaiman, and now I'm glad I did! Being an adult, and a fan of Gaiman's other full feature film Stardust, I hope to someday read the novel, as I hear it's even scarier than the film. Despite this being animated (it's the first stop-motion film filmed exclusively with 3D in mind), I would not recommend it for young children, as the film is pretty dark and the idea behind the story will definitely scare them!

DVD Review: Run Fatboy Run

2010-02-13T04:48:00.004-06:00

Rated PG13 for brief language, slapstick violence, some crude humor

Starring Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton, Hank Azaria

The film starts out with an overly nervous Dennis fleeing from his pregnant bride Libby moments before their wedding. Five years later, Dennis and Libby share custody of their son and Dennis, who works as a guard at a lingerie boutique and lives in a small studio apartment hasn't aspired to become much of anything, never having finished a thing he started, yet deep down he still loves Libby and wishes they could be a family together. One day, while picking up his son Jake, Dennis meets Libby's new beau, a go-getter American named Whit, whom we learn intends to marry Libby and whisk her and Jake off to Chicago. Hoping to win Libby back and prove that he can finish something, Dennis, upon hearing that Whit is running in the London Nike River Marathon, decides to sign up for the race as well, which is less than a month away and he is extremely out of shape. With the help of his friend Gordon and his landlord, he does his best to get in shape and sets out to prove not only to himself, Libby and their son, but to everyone that he can finish something.

Like most movies Simon Pegg is in, this one is filled with British humor, however the overall feel of the film is inspiring. You're rooting for Dennis to get in shape, change his lifestyle and beat Whit (whom learn is quite the jerk). You want him and Libby to get back together and his interaction with his son is quite admirable, as it's clear that while he might not be the best father figure to a young child, he still deeply cares for his son and enjoys the times they spend together.

This film was also the directorial debut of Friend's co-star David Schwimmer - while it might not be Oscar worthy, it was still fun and moving. If you like heartfelt comedies and the humor of Simon Pegg, be sure to run and catch this one!

Daybreakers

2010-02-06T04:26:00.003-06:00

Rated R for violence, language, brief nudity

Starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Claudia Karvan, Sam Neill

In the year 2019, most of the world's population has been turned into vampires due to a pandemic disease. Fortunately though, they have been able to carry out their day to day lives due to working the 9pm-5am shifts and using blackout glass for houses and cars. While pharmaceutical company Bromley Marks harvests the humans that are found for their blood, due to the growing number of vampires though, they are beginning to run short on blood supply, creating a lesser sub-specie - the aggressive bat-like sub-siders. Several Bromley Marks scientists are hematologists and have been trying to create a suitable blood substitute, one of whom is Edward Dalton. Dalton, we learn, was unwillingly turned and would much rather try and find a cure, as he much preferred his human life and has a compassion for humans (he won't drink human blood). After a chance encounter with a small group of humans, he learns one of them used to a vampire but was cured. He disappears with them, in order to replicate the cure and bring it to Bromley Marks, however not everyone is as excited for a cure as he is.

Daybreakers has an interesting plot and while it has a message, it's not quite as "in your face" as Avatar's was. The concept is simple - over indulgence can lead to a downfall in society. And while there might be a solution to revert back to how things were before, those that profit now while the rest suffer might not be in favor of giving up their current lifestyle for the better of mankind. It was also an interesting take on the vampire lore - something popular today blended with a situation we can certainly identify with! (Think of our current economic state and housing crisis and how some big businesses are doing okay, while the rest of us are not).

My only complaint was that I thought the last 10 minutes or so of the film were dumb. They spend a good portion of the film developing the cure and coming up with a clever way to get into Bromley Marks unharmed and spread it, and in a matter of minutes we're back to where we were 20-30 minutes ago in the film. The rest of the film, I thought, was pretty good though - Sam Neill (remember him from Jurassic Park?) makes a good villain, and both Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe did some really good acting!

If you like vampire films, this might be one you'd like to check out. But be careful, as it may make you think!

DVD Review: Extract

2010-01-24T04:09:00.003-06:00

Rated R for language, some sexuality, adult humor

Starring Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, Kristin Wiig, JK Simmons, Clifton Collins Jr.

Joel Reynolds is the owner and founder of Reynolds Extract, which is a flavor-extract company. He spends days at his factory, overseeing the incompetence of his employees and his main desire is to get home before his wife slips into her dreaded sweatpants, which is a signal for "no sex tonight."

At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to attractive con-artist Cindy, who drifts from town to town. While passing through, she reads about an incident at Reynolds Extract where a male employee was involved in an accident and could win a lot of money if he sues. Trying to gain more information about said employee, Cindy takes a job at the factory to seduce the employee, talking him into suing and getting a cut of the money.

She also catches the interest of Joel, who fantasizes about having an affair with her since he's getting no "loving" at home. He pushes the idea away however, not wanting to cheat on his wife, until his bartender friend suggests hiring a male gigolo to seduce her first, citing that if she cheats on him first, he can cheat on her, guilt-free. He agrees to it, under the influence of Special K, however quickly decides against it the next morning. But is he too late? And will Cindy get caught before the company goes under?

From director Mike Judge, who gave us the cult hit Office Space where he humorously showed us life inside a cubicle, in this one he gives us a glimpse into the life of a factory. While it is no Office Space, Extract definitely had its funny moments (I'm sure everyone can relate to the annoying next door neighbor who doesn't know how to take a clue or shut up) and the cast is likable. I'd say it's worth checking out if you like funny comedies.

DVD Review: Funny People

2010-01-18T03:49:00.003-06:00

Rated R for strong language, adult humor, some sexuality

Starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill

George Simmons is a very successful comedian who also has had a very successful film career. However he is extremely full of himself and has lived a very materialistic life. When he is diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and begins taking an experimental drug that may or may not cure him and George begins to rethink his life and get back to his roots in stand-up. It is here that meets aspiring comedic Ira, whom George decides to take under his wing by hiring Ira as his assistant, having him write his jokes and keep him company as George refuses to tell anyone else about his condition. Eventually, George takes Ira's advice and opens up with his family and former close friends about the fact that he's dying, reconnecting with them; one such person he tells is his former girlfriend Laura, whom he truly loved. Believing that George will be dead soon, she admits that her husband cheats on her and that she regrets leaving George for having done the same.

However, the experimental drug George has been taking does work. Given a second chance to live, will George revert to his own materialistic, self-absorbed ways or will he turn over a new leaf this time around? And now that he's not dying, does he actually have a chance to win Laura back, despite her already having two young daughters with her husband?

Funny People is an enjoyable film for about the first 2/3rds of it. The first part of the film, it's inspiring to see George realize the error of his ways and make things right. The cameos are hilarious and even the stand-up by up and comers as well as the very well known comics are pretty good (if you enjoy Comedy Central type stand-up routines that is). After George gets cured and begins trying to win back Laura is where things really take a turn for the 'non-funny.'

As much as I enjoy Judd Apatow's work (I thought Freaks and Geeks was brilliant and is still one of the best TV shows to ever air), it really is getting tiring seeing him plop his wife (Leslie Mann) and daughters into his films now - in this case, they're the focus of the entire last part of the film. While I understand where he was trying to go with the last part of the film, it just wasn't funny - it was actually painful to watch and we could all see where it was going from the beginning of the plot arc.

Save yourself the time it takes to watch this one and flip on Comedy Central or watch some stand-up DVDs instead, as that's really the highlight of the film that makes it funny.

DVD Review: (500) Days of Summer

2010-01-10T03:16:00.002-06:00

Rated PG13 for mild language, brief sexuality, brief nudity

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel

Day 1, boy meets girl.

Day 20-something, boy finally asks girl out.

Day 200-something, boy and girl get in a fight that begins their downfall.

Okay, so I don't remember what happened on what day number exactly, but you get the idea.

(500) Days of Summer tells the story of Tom and Summer - he's an aspiring architect who works at a firm writing greeting cards, Summer is latest assistant to Tom's boss. Tom immediately falls for Summer at first sight but is a bit hesitant to ask her out right away. Eventually, at an after work function, one of Tom's close friends and colleagues drunkenly spills the beans that Tom has a crush on Summer. The 2 begin seeing each other, however Summer straight out tells Tom she's not looking for anything serious - she doesn't believe in true love and doesn't want an actual boyfriend; Tom accepts this yet continues to see Summer romantically and sexually, albeit confused as to how to title their relationship.

Now our story jumps around a bit, as it is told in non-linear form. We are shown part of day 488 at the beginning of the film, followed by days 1-10 with a few of the others interjected. We see happy numbered days paralleled with some unhappy numbered days. While it seems like a strange way to do a movie, it actually works pretty well for this one.

Despite in every interview they did, Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel stated that this film was not a romantic comedy, it get advertised as one. What it really is, is a reality check. Things don't always end up the way you planned. Yes, it has a bit of romance to it and the chemistry between the 2 leads is fantastic (apparently they had been good friends for years and I personally find myself enjoying anything Deschanel is in, not to mention, ever since her role in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, my husband has deemed her as "that cute sci-fi chick" and will watch anything she's in as well), and yes, there are some comic elements to it and some humor thrown in to lighten the mood of the film, in actuality, it is more of a drama.

For me, indie films tend to be hit or miss - either I love em or I find myself bored. In this case, I loved this film and highly recommend it to anyone who has been in a relationship! Don't miss this one!

DVD Review: The Strangers

2010-01-02T18:06:00.001-06:00

Rated R for graphic violence, scary tense scenes, a scene of torture

Starring Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman

Young couple Kristin and James return to James' parents vacation home in a secluded area (while there are houses nearby, it's clear they're out near the country or woods) after what appears to have been a wedding. Candles are lit, flower petals have been laid out. But something is wrong. Kristin is acting distant and confused, James seems upset. We learn in flashbacks that he had proposed to her earlier in the evening, but she said no. James leaves a message for his brother to come pick him up first thing in the morning, telling Kristin she can stay for as long as she needs. When he leaves to go pick up some cigarettes, strange things begin happening. First, someone keeps pounding at the front door, someone is messing with their phones, James' car gets vandalized, etc. Pretty soon we learn that they are being terrorized by a trio of masked crazies wielding big knives.

Will they make it til morning?

The Strangers is a film with very tense moments, a lot of build up, and very little action or violence until the end. While watching it first, it wasn't as scary as all the hype made it out to be, however the aftermath will make you paranoid, causing you to over analyze noises when you're home alone or trying to sleep late at night.

Unless you really like tense horror thrillers and movies that make you paranoid, skip this one.

DVD Review: Four Christmases

2010-01-01T17:53:00.001-06:00

Rated PG13 for brief language, some sexual humor, slapstick violence

Starring Reese Witherspoon, Vince Vaughn, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Jon Voight, Jon Favreau, Dwight Yoakam, Tim McGraw, Kristin Chenoweth

Happily unmarried Brad and Kate spend their Christmas vacations traveling to warm, exotic locations all while telling their dysfunctional families (both have divorced parents, hence part of their excuse for not tying the knot themselves) that they are elsewhere around the world doing charity work just to avoid spending Christmas with them. All goes to plan until a heavy fog covers the entire city, canceling all flights and Brad and Kate get stuck being interviewed by local news crews. Next thing you know, their phones are ringing with family members saying they saw them on TV and would love to have them stop by for Christmas, since their plans are now canceled.

And so is our film, as we watch Brad and Kate visit each dysfunctional part of their family.

For a Christmas movie, while not as funny as classics such as A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation, this one ended up being a lot funnier than was expected with a pretty good cast too! While Brad and Kate loathe their families at the beginning of the film, like most Christmas films, they eventually come around and embrace the idea of family and realize what's important in life.

If you're like for a funny Christmas film you may not have seen before, be sure to check out Four Christmases.

Avatar

2009-12-31T00:40:00.001-06:00

Rated PG13 for brief language, violence

Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Michelle Rodriguez, CCH Pounder

The year is 2154 and we send troops and scientists to Pandora - a moon of the planet Polyphemus - to study and hope to capture the rare substance Unobtainum which lies underneath the inhabitants home base. In order to walk on the planet and interact with the Na'vi inhabitants, we have developed avatars, that are tailored to it's crew member who plugs into it via brainwaves. After getting lost and separated from his team on the planet, paraplegic former Marine Jake Sully is taken in by the Na'vi and told that he will learn their ways. The administrator of the crew tells Jake that he has 3 months to learn and gain the Na'vi's trust, as bulldozers will be coming to mine the Unobtainum and the Na'vi will need to peacefully leave or face war.

Jake grows fond of the Na'vi though and feels more at home among their world.

This film by James Cameron took 15 years to make and visually it is amazing, as Pandora is a CGI world, yet seems real. While the story isn't the absolute greatest ever, the characters are likable and despite its run time of nearly 3 hours, it doesn't feel long at all. While it does have a message built into it, it doesn't come off as preachy - basically it comes down to good guys vs greedy guys.

If you're looking for a good sci-fi action film that the whole family can enjoy look plug into Avatar this holiday season.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

2009-12-22T23:52:00.004-06:00

Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

Rated PG13 for violence, brief language

Picking up in the months after Twilight left off, Bella Swan is starting her senior year of high school and just turning 18. However, after an incident involving a paper cut she gets at the Cullen's house (the local vampire clan, who lives off the blood of animals rather than humans and sparkle in the sunlight rather than turn to dust), her boyfriend, vampire Edward Cullen tells her she'd be better off without them around and breaks up with her in the middle of the woods.

Bella goes into a deep depression for several months and it isn't until she starts hanging around former childhood pal Jacob that she is brought out of her funk. However, Jacob has a secret of his own and suddenly starts acting strange - lying to Bella about being sick and avoiding her.

She also learns that acting reckless and getting adrenaline rushes makes her see visions of Edward, who in these visions tells her to stop it and be careful. In addition to all this, Victoria, the redheaded "bad" vampire from the first film returns once the Cullens leave town. She is still upset over Edward killing her lover, James, in the first film and plans to kill Bella in an attempt at revenge.

Honestly, I was pretty disappointed by the first film, as the cinematography was horrible. Despite all the hype and talk about how this one was done much better than the first, I still think New Moon is pretty much just as bad as the first and I was pretty bored the entire time - keep in mind, I thought the books were alright and will admit they were a pretty entertaining, mindless read. The only entertaining and interesting part of the whole movie was the end, where we are introduced to The Volturi - who act as the governing vampire coven in the world - in which Michael Sheen plays the leader Aro (personally, I much prefer him as lycan Lucian in the Underworld vampire series). This film also clearly caters to the ladies, as Jacob and his pack run around shirtless for a good portion of the film, as does Edward at the end.

Unless you're a Twilight fangirl, save yourself your time and money and just skip this one.

DVD Review: Obsessed

2009-12-21T23:31:00.002-06:00

Rated PG13 for sexuality, brief nudity, innuendo, brief language

Starring Idris Elba, Ali Larter, Beyonce Knowles, Jerry O'Connell

Derek Charles seems to have it all - a great job, a supportive wife, a young, healthy son, and they just bought a new house. But his perfect life seems to get turned upside when he meets new office temp Lisa. His first encounter with Lisa takes place in the office elevator, as she drops her stack of files and he kindly helps her pick them up. Upon learning who Derek is, Lisa stops by his office to chat. Next thing Derek knows, she is filling in for his sick assistant. Derek, being the nice guy that he is, treats Lisa kindly like he would any of his office employees.

But Lisa takes his kindness for being something more. At the office Christmas party, Lisa attempts to seduce him and make her move on him in the bathroom. Explaining to her later that they were drunk and her behavior was wrong and that he's not interested in her like that, as a relationship with her would jeopardize his job and marriage, Lisa quits.

However it is not the last time Derek will run into her, as Lisa begins stalking him on a work retreat and creating problems for him at home.

How will he deal with this annoying temptress without his wife thinking something more is going on?

This was another movie that was a lot better than I was expecting it to be. It's a bit of a Fatal Attraction for a new generation - the only difference being that in this one, the husband didn't do anything wrong. While Beyonce gets top billing to bring in the crowd, this is really Larter and Elba's film - Larter has really got the slutty temptress role down (think back to her roles in Varsity Blues and on Heroes) and Elba is quite believable as the nice guy who gets stuck in a bad situation.

DVD Review: Paul Blart: Mall Cop

2009-12-21T23:15:00.001-06:00

Rated PG for brief violence, some crude humor and innuendo, mild language

Starring: Kevin James, Jayma Mays, Keir O'Donnell

Paul Blart is a Jersey mall cop who takes his job seriously and aspires to be on the local police force, however one thing holds him back from that dream - he is severely hypoglycemic and when it hits, if he doesn't have a candy bar nearby he instantly passes out. He lives at home with his mother and pre-teen daughter, who both try to set him up with online dating, as his wife left him soon after their daughter was born and she acquired her green card.

One day, the mall is taken over by a group planning on wiping out the credit machines to get rich and held hostage inside are Blart's daughter and his love interest Amy among a handful of others. Distracted at the time the mall was taken over, Blart is the lone man on the inside and the local force's only hope at stopping the crooks and safely getting the hostages. Is he up for the job?

This film is oddly similar to another film that came out this year that we reviewed - Observe and Report starring Seth Rogen - as both films deal with mall cops who aspire to be something more than just that as well them bothing having to defend their malls. Buth while Rogen's film is dark and depressing, James' is amusing and heartwarming. This film was actually a lot better than I was expecting it to be.

If you're looking for a fun film the whole family can laugh at and enjoy together, be sure to check this one out.

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

2009-12-14T14:55:00.002-06:00

Rated R for violence, language, brief nudity

Starring Billy Connolly, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Julie Benz, Judd Nelson, Peter Fonda

Taking place 8 years after the events in of first film, the MacManus brothers have fled to Ireland and have laid low in a farmhouse with Papa MacManus. However, news reaches them that someone in Boston has killed an innocent priest using the same stylized execution rituals that the brothers are known for, framing them - after all these years, someone is trying to bring them out of hiding, and the wrong-doers of the city are nervous that this someone may succeed in bringing The Saints back.

Detectives Dolly, Duffy, and Greenly are back on the case as well to determine if this really was the work of The Saints, or just a copycat. Special Agent Eunice Bloom, who is the protege of former Agent Paul Smecker of the first film (we are told that Smecker had passed away in recent years) also steps in to put a Smecker-esque touch on determining whodunit.

"BDS2: All Saints Day" gives the audience some insight as to why the MacManus family does what they do and how they got their start. They also made this film as a segway to a third with the way it ended, making The Boondock Saints into a trilogy or maybe even a saga.

Also, Julie Benz's Special Agent Bloom, while a character in her own right and entertaining to watch in her retellings of how it happened, just doesn't do the part as well as William Dafoe's Special Agent Smecker did in the first film.

If you enjoyed the original, you'll probably either love this one, hate it, or leave the theater curious as to how the next will play out. 10 years in the making, while it was still entertaining, this one could have been a lot better.

DVD Review: Public Enemies

2009-12-09T14:41:00.001-06:00

Rated R for violence, brief language, brief sexuality

Starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cottilard, Billy Crudup, Stephen Graham

Taking place in the 1930s, and mostly in Chicago, "Public Enemies" is an excellent retelling of the late life of John Dillinger and his band of men who robbed various banks and escaped capture and from jail and several times, often times right under the authorities noses. It also shows the beginnings of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, as they desperately try to track Dillinger after naming him Public Enemy Number 1 in order to make a name for the Bureau, as many have their doubts about Hoover's ability to lead an investigation.

While I hadn't heard too much about Dillinger prior to this film, I did find it to be very educational. It was also amusing to see just how well organized Dillinger and his crew were when it came to breaking out of jail at various times. It's easy to see why people liked him - him and his crew only stole from the banks and never the people - he was sort of Robin Hood for that era.

Personally, I think this film should have been rated PG13, as you see more revealing sex scenes on network tv than you do here, the language was pretty tame, and the violence was to be expected, as the majority of it takes place at either the banks and the streets outside and during other shootouts.

For anyone who wants to know more about John Dillinger or wants a history lesson, be sure to check out Public Enemies.

DVD Review: Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

2009-12-05T14:21:00.001-06:00

Rated PG for brief sexual innuendo, slapstick violence

Starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, Bill Hader

Taking place several years after the first film, Larry Daley is now a successful inventor of random household gadgets based off things he came up with to do his job in the first movie (ie: glow in the dark flashlight, unloseable keyring, etc) and hasn't visited the Museum of Natural History for some time. Upon revisiting, he learns that they are renovating the museum, replacing many of the exhibits with interactive holograms. Larry is told by Teddy Roosevelt that while he and a few select others will be staying at the museum, the rest will be moved to the Smithsonian Archives in Washington DC, and they will be going without the magical Golden Tablet Of Ahkmenrah which makes them all come alive at night.

Soon after the move to the Smithsonian, Larry receives a frantic phonecall from tiny Jedediah - apparently Dexter the monkey stole the tablet from the Museum of Natural History and everything is coming alive at the Smithsonian - including Pharaoh Ahkmenrah's not so nice older brother Kahmunrah who seeks the tablet to raise his army of the dead with the help of other classic bad guys such as Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon, and a young Al Capone. War is breaking out among the historical characters and Larry must get to Washington in time before Kahmunrah gets his hands on the tablet!

Since the one mostly takes place at the Smithsonian and it's multiple museums, we are introduced to a plethora of more historical characters than the first, one of the major ones being free-spirited Amelia Earhart.

This is a great adventure film for the whole family, as kids will learn about more history and adults will appreciate the humor and maybe even learn some history even they didn't know! If you enjoyed the first one, don't miss this one!

DVD Review: Trick R Treat

2009-12-05T13:54:00.001-06:00

Rated R for violence, gore, language, scary elements, brief nudity and sexuality

Starring Anna Paquin, Leslie Bibb, Brian Cox, Lauren Lee Smith, Moneca Delain, Dylan Baker, Britt McKillp, Tohmah Penikett

Trick R Treat is a film that takes place on Halloween night in a fictional town that takes their Halloween traditions very seriously. While the film is split into several different stories, they are all linked together, as you'll see characters from one story passing by in another. Also tying the stories together is the constant presence of a small trick or treater wearing a burlap costume with a giant pumpkin head known as Sam. Sam (who I thought of as "the spirit of Halloween") sort of oversees that the Halloween traditions are being kept and teaches a lesson to those that break them.

The first story, we meet a widowed school principal and his young son, however this principal is one you wouldn't want to get stuck with in detention, as he also moonlights as... something else.

Next we meet a group of teens who are collecting pumpkins. One of the girls tells us a story about a school bus driver who drove his bus and the 8 disturbed kids in it, off a nearby cliff, into an abandoned quarry, drowning in the lake. They plan on going to the bottom of the quarry and leaving the pumpkins as a tribute to the deceased, however, after playing a horrible prank a strange girl who tagged along with the group, something goes awry...

Throughout the first half of the film, we are introduced to a group of girls in their early 20s who are wearing sexy storybook character outfits and looking for dates to take with them to a Halloween party in the woods. One girl, Laurie, however, has trouble finding a date for herself and tells her friends to go ahead to the party and she'll meet them there when she finds someone. Not having much luck, she gives up and starts heading to the woods by herself. A man, dressed as a vampire, who we see bit and kill a woman in a previous scene, has noticed Laurie though and begins to stalk her... will she make it to the party alive?

And finally, we visit the next door neighbor of the principal in the first story. This story actually takes place during the time frame of the first one, as we briefly catch a glimpse of events that occur in this one happening in the first one. The cranky old man neighbor lives alone with his dog and rather than pass out candy, he scares any trick or treater that comes to the door with his dog in a scary mask. Sam however does not approve of this and decides to pay the old man a visit...

Book-ending the movie is a quick tale about a couple. After attending the Halloween parade, the woman decides it would be best to take down all their Halloween decorations tonight, rather than in the morning, as her mother is coming to visit and it won't get done until later. Her partner begs her not to break tradition by taking the decorations down early, but she talks him into letting her. As you can imagine, this is a big no-no!

If you're in for a good, original Halloween-based movie and don't mind a little gore and some frights, be sure to check this one out!

DVD Review: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

2009-11-27T13:35:00.001-06:00

Rated PG13 for comicbook violence

Starring Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marlon Wayans

In the near future, a weapons expert has created a nanotechnology based weapon that can destroy an entire city. After selling the warheads to NATO, troops such as Duke and Ripcord are sent to protect and deliver the goods to NATO, however they get ambushed by bad guys, which include Baroness, who also want said warheads and GI Joe troops Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Heavy Duty and Breaker step in to help out.

We learn that the GI Joe Team is a classified organization of the best troops in the world, lead by General Hawk. The story centers around the nanotechnology warheads, which do eventually get stolen from the good guys who have to put a stop to the bad guys before they destroy The Eiffel Tower, and three other monuments across the globe. There's also several plot twists, including a connection between Duke and Baroness.

With Channing Tatum in one of the main lead roles, I was not expecting much from this film, as Tatum is known for his roles in teen films such as Step Up and it's sequel. G.I. Joe actually ended up being much better than I was expecting. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is brilliant in his role as The Doctor as well as another role that is revealed in one of the twists. Marlon Wayans, while not as goofy as some of his previous work, was pretty good as the main comic relief. While the acting in general was nothing to really write home about, some of the devices used in the film are pretty neat (such as the accelerator suits, for example) and there were some really cool martial art scenes as well.

While it won't win an Oscar, if you're looking for a fun, action film based on an 80s toy that doesn't suck this year and is okay for the whole family to watch, check out G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

DVD Review: The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

2009-11-21T23:56:00.001-06:00

Rated R for language, crude humor, sexuality, nudity

Starring Jeremy Piven, Ving Rhames, James Brolin, David Koechner, Kathryn Hahn, Jordana Spiro, Craig Robinson, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong

When a car dealership is in trouble and needs to host a sale to make some serious cash they call in hot shot salesman Don "The Goods" Ready and his team to get the job done.

Selleck Motors has been a family business for over 40 years, however due to back payments to the bank, Selleck needs to sell as many of the 211 cars on his lot over July 4th weekend, otherwise he risks foreclosing on the lot. Ready and his team comes in using their motivation techniques and methods, rallies the rest of Selleck's sales team to sell as many cars as possible. Despite several mishaps, such as special guest Eric Bice (brother to American Idol's Bo Bice) failing to show and the crowd rioting in protest, the team presses forward to get the job done.

Throughout the weekend, Don begins to fall for Selleck's adult daughter Ivy, who is engaged to Paxton, an up and coming boy band member and the son of a rival car dealership who plans on buying the lot Selleck Motors is on once the property forecloses. Also, after noticing many similarities between himself and 22 year old Selleck sales team member Blake, Don is convinced that Blake is his son, after having unprotected sex with a woman the last time he was in Temecula 23 years ago.

Despite not being in theaters long, this film was actually pretty funny. Having work for a company that does work similar to that of Don Ready and his team (only for furniture stores instead of car dealerships), I was particularly interested in seeing this one.

Brought to you by the team of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, if you enjoyed their previous works Step Brothers and Talladega Nights, you won't be disappointed. While some of the humor is a tad crude, if you're not easily offended by such things or other films in the R-rated comedy genre, you'll most likely enjoy this one.

DVD Review: Observe and Report

2009-11-14T23:18:00.002-06:00

Rated R for language, comedic violence, crude humor, drug use

Starring Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Ray Liotta, Michael Pena, Collette Wolf

Ronnie Barnhardt is head of mall security at Forest Ridge Mall. After a flasher runs around the parking lot, scaring mall-goers, Ronnie and his ragtag team of security vow to catch the perp and put a stop to his perverted antics. But after the flasher strikes again, this time exposing himself to Brandi, a make-up counter worker and the object of Ronnie's affection, and a mass robbery at the mall, the owner decides to call in a detective to get to the bottom of things. Feeling threatened, as the mall is his turf, Ronnie decides to tag along with the detective, making things only harder.

Frustrated with just being a mall cop and not getting the respect or a gun that he feels he deserves, Ronnie decides to pursue his dream of being a real police officer and enrolls into the police academy. He also gets up the guts to asks Brandi out.

Feeling on Cloud 9 with the delusion that everything is going great for him, Ronnie is devastated when things turn out to be not so. Although it may seem like he loses everything he had going for him, Ronnie still tries to make good on his vow to protect the mall from the flasher, convinced he will strike again.

Seth Rogen films are usually pretty fun for those that are accustomed to his type of humor. Most will be quite surprised to learn that while Rogen does the best he can given the material he is provided here, the end result is not what one would expect.

Ronnie gets treated like dirt by the majority of the characters in this film, save for the lone Christian girl who works the coffee stand and befriends him; the mall owner treats him poorly, the detective and the rest of the police force play cruel jokes on him and are just mean to him in general, his mom is always drunk and relies on him to take care of her even after she tells him that she's sure he's the reason his father left them, his best friend and second in command ends up using him, and Brandi is a complete jerk to him and only uses him for his medication that she uses recreationally with alcohol.

Granted, Ronnie's not an innocent character here either and he's got problems of his own (we learn he suffers from bipolar disorder), however no one deserves to get treated as bad as he does in this film. Just when it seems like things are starting to look up for him, everything gets completely stripped out from under him.

Sure, it had it's funny moments, but those were few and far between - the rest of this film left you feeling sad for how mean everyone was. Save yourself the pain and skip this Rogen film - it's not the comedy that the trailers made it out to be.

DVD Review: Swing Vote

2009-11-07T22:54:00.001-06:00

Rated PG13 for language, frequent alcohol use

Starring Kevin Costner, Madeline Carroll, Paula Patton, Kesley Grammer, Nathan Lane, Stanley Tucci, Dennis Hopper, and George Lopez

Bud Johnson is a loveable loser from Texico, New Mexico who could really care less about politics. He can barely hold a job, let alone take care of his young daughter Molly (she does all the housework and cooking, he spends his free time guzzling down beer at home or with buddies at the bar). With the election coming up, Molly's school gets the kids all excited about it and Molly insists that her father take part and vote. After promising he'd take Molly to go see the voting process, Bud instead gets drunk and passes out in his truck, leaving Molly waiting at the polling place alone. Frustrated, she sneaks in and decides to vote for her father, however the machine malfunctions and although the ballot is registered, the vote did not count. Scared, Molly runs to go find her father and heads home.

Later that night, it is learned the election is at a standstill, as it all comes down to whoever wins the state of New Mexico and the lone vote holding everything up is Bud's, as the state is literally 50/50. Bud and Molly are awaken in the middle of the night by government officials who inform that due to the malfunction, Bud's ballot was not recorded and that he has up to 10 days to recast his ballot.

What ensues is a media circus on Bud's lawn, putting Texico on the map, as the entire nation watches and wonders who Bud will vote for. Both election candidates arrive in town as well, both changing their stances on the issues just to sway Bud's vote. A man who's only care was getting drunk and doing whatever he could to avoid losing his daughter is now faced with deciding on the next President of the USA.

While this movie came out a few months before the important election of 2008, it was an easy one to pass off as pure election propaganda. Sure, the central theme is that every vote does count, but it was actually an enjoyable movie. Madeline Carroll steals every scene she's in as young Molly who has to take care of her immature father and the rest of the cast really makes the film believable. By the end of the film when Bud realizes what he has to do to make the best decision, you really are cheering for the fact that he seems to genuinely change and have people's best interests at heart, thanks to his daughter.

This is a good one to watch - it has drama, it has comedy, it is lighthearted and also makes you feel patriotic and inspired to go vote.

DVD Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2009-11-07T22:06:00.002-06:00

Rated PG13 for comicbook action and violence, brief language

Starring Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Houston, Lynn Collins, Taylor Kitsch, Will.I.Am, Ryan Reynolds

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is just that - a film about the origins of Wolverine. We are introduced to James Howlett (aka Logan, Wolverine) and his older brother Victor Creed (aka Sabretooth) and see that at a young age, back in 1845 the brothers were forced to flee due to their strange mutations - Logan with this odd retractable claws, and Victor with his sabretooth cat like strength and agility.

The two brothers spend most of the next century and a half fighting in the American Civil War, World War I & II and the Vietnam War. During Vietnam, Victor allows his rage to take over, killing innocents in the process, while Logan does what he can to stop and save his brother.

Both are imprisoned after they were unable to executed for the crime, but offered spots in Major Stryker's Team X, composed of other humans with strange genetic mutations. Here we are introduced to John Wraith, Fred "The Blob" Dukes, Wade Wilson, Agent Zero, and Chris Bradley. While with the team, the brothers go on top secret missions, but after one that requires murdering innocent villagers, Logan has had enough and leaves, eventually leading to the collapse of Team X.

Years later, Logan is leading a simple, yet happy life as a lumberjack in Canada with his school teacher girlfriend, Kayla Silverfox. His approached by Stryker, informing him that someone is killing off the former team members and to be careful, however we learn that it is Victor doing the killings. After Victor kills Kayla in an attempt to get his younger brother's attention, Logan allows Stryker to conduct a test procedure on him, turning his entire skeletal system into hardened adamantitium, giving him metal indestructible claws capable of finishing off Victor. However once the procedure is a success, Logan overhears Stryker talking about erasing his memory, causing him to flee instead.

Knowing that Stryker is up to no good, Wolverine gets some help from his former Team X members, as well as new friend the Cajun Gambit to put an end to Stryker and his brother in the process.

If you like comic book movies, especially any of the X-Men films, you'll be sure to enjoy X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Law Abiding Citizen

2009-10-30T22:35:00.002-05:00

Rated R for language, violence, some gore and torture, tense moments

Starring Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb

Engineer Clyde Shelton witnesses his wife and daughter brutally raped murdered by several men who broke into their home one evening. When he is told that one of the criminals will not be convicted, Shelton pleads with prosecutor Nick Rice to take the case to court and let him testify, as it saw it all. Rice, who is more concerned with keep his 96% conviction rate, tells Shelton that it doesn't matter what is right, what matters is what can be proven in court, and do to a botched forensics investigation, there is not enough solid evidence for the case. Clarence Darby, the criminal who actually raped and murdered Shelton's wife and daughter, gets off on a third-degree murder charge, which will only get him a 5-10 year jailtime, while accomplice Rupert Ames gets the death penalty. Shelton later sees Rice outside the courthouse shaking hands with Darby in what appears to be them finishing a deal.

10 years goes by and it's time for Ames' execution, however someone has tampered with the execution materials and his lethal injection becomes more horrifying than normal. Darby, believed to be response for the botched execution, runs from police with the help of a stranger on a cell phone who tricks him and kidnaps him, torturing and slowing killing him on film in the process.

Rice and police have reason to believe Shelton is behind both murders and take him into custody, however he knows how to play the legal system now and even though he's behind bars, everyone involved in the case regarding his wife and daughter's murders is being killed off. It's only a matter of time before Rice and his family are next.

What would appear to be a thriller about the corruption of our legal system and one man's attempt to avenge the murders of his wife and daughter, ends up feeling more like an installment of the Saw franchise, in the aspect that both films the villain has a reason for why they cause the death of others and carry out the deaths with clever devices of torture. Play by the rules and you'll live, but continue doing what you're doing and you'll surely reap what you sow.

While not as gruesome as the Saw franchise and the fact that this film would fall more under the category of thriller than horror, if you're not expecting all the gore that you get with this one, you will be in for quite a surprise!

Zombieland

2009-10-23T21:03:00.001-05:00

Rated R for zombie violence, some gore, language, brief sexuality

Starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin

Taking place in a post-apocalyptic America, zombies roam wild and finding normal humans is hard to come by.

We are introduced to college student Columbus, who has managed to survive by following a set of rules that include always wearing a seat built, double shooting a zombie to make sure it's really dead, and staying fit, among many others. He is heading home to Columbus, OH to see if his parents are still alive. On his travels though, his car breaks down, but fortunately, a man by the name of Tallahassee pulls up and the two band together for the journey. While making a stop at a grocery store, the boys meet sister Wichita and Little Rock, who, after a few misunderstandings, join the boys on a journey west in hopes of finding a safe zombie free area rumored to be out that direction, while making a stay at Pacific Playground in L.A. so Little Rock can have one more chance at being a kid again.

Part horror zombie flick, part comedy Zombieland is a fun movie much along the lines of Shaun of the Dead. If you don't mind zombies and like fun comedy action flicks, you'll be sure to love this one!

DVD Review: Dakota Skye

2009-10-22T20:56:00.002-05:00

Rated R for language, sexuality, teen drinking and drug use

Starring Elieen Boylan, Ian Nelson, JB Ghuman Jr.

Dakota isn't your typical 17 year old girl. Why is that? Well, she has a superpower, as she calls it - she can always tell when someone is lying and what they really think when they lie. She has come to accept that everyone lies, it's unavoidable. That is until she meets Jonah, who happens to be her boyfriend's best friend who is visiting from out of town. Jonah seems to be 100% honest all the time. This confuses Dakota because how is it possible for someone to be that completely honestly? Is something wrong with her superpower? Dakota and Jonah begin falling for each other, trying to hid it from her boyfriend, until Dakota seems to have caught Jonah in a lie and then she really begins to questions herself.

While not quite what I was expecting, this small indie film was really well done and kept me intrigued the whole time as well. Be sure to check this one out for an interesting drama.

DVD Review: Strange Wilderness

2009-10-11T20:46:00.001-05:00

Rated R for language, comedic violence, crude humor, sexuality

Starring Steve Zahn, Allen Covert, Justin Long, Kevin Heffernan, Jonah Hill

Once upon a time, Peter's dad hosted a well-known nature show, known as Strange Wilderness, where he traveled the world and taught American about animals and nature much along the lines of what we would see on the Discovery Channel. When dear old dad passed, Peter was left with hosting duties on the show, however ratings began to decline and the show was slotted in the 3am place. With word that he and his crew have weeks to save the show before it is ultimately canceled by the tv station and replaced with a rival nature show, they set out on a journey to capture an animal on film that could turn things all around for them - Big Foot.

What I'm sure was a good idea for a film in theory - a ragtag crew who knows nothing about nature trying to save their beloved nature show - the end result feels more like a bunch of Adam Sandler's crew (afterall, this is a Happy Madison film made up of much of the production's regulars) just goofing around together on camera and calling it a movie. Some of the gags are pretty fun, but the rest of the movie is pretty much forgettable.

Feel free to skip out on this one!

All About Steve

2009-10-03T20:31:00.001-05:00

Rated PG13 for brief langauge, some sexuality, tense scenes

Starring Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, Thomas Haden Church, Ken Jeong, DJ Qualls

Mary Horowitz is a very skilled cruciverbalist, or crossword puzzle writer to you and me, and is proud of her work - crossword puzzles are her passion in life, however Mary is not like "normal" people. She wears bright red boots, and while all her coworkers talk about going out and having fun, none of which seems to faze eccentric Mary, who lives with parents, talks to her guinea pig who seems to be her best friend, and can't seem to find Mr. Right.

Her parents decide to set her up on a blind date with Steve, an attractive news cameraman who goes where the story is to capture the action with his crew. Mary is immediately attracted to Steve physically, but her aggressive and eccentric personally frightens him, saying he has to go cover a news story. He tells Mary he wishes she could join him on the road, but since she has a join it just won't work out. Leaving her with his umbrella, he quickly tries to get far far away from her.

Mary on the other hand becomes completely obsessed with Steve, which causes her to lose her job, so she decides to take him up on his offer to go on the road with him, following he all across the country to various breaking news stories. He tries to explain to her that he was just being nice when he said that, however his reporter, Hartman Hughes, decides it'd be fun to egg Mary on and encourage her obession with Steve.

After a freak accident on the road, Mary becomes breaking news in a bit of a plot twist.

The theme of the movie is finding yourself and being happy with who you are - just be yourself rather than try to fit into what society deems as "normal". As Mary says at the end of the film "Why should you have to change to be 'normal'? All you have to do is find someone who's as 'normal' as you are."

This was cute, quirky film brought to us by the same crew that brought us another Bullock hit, Miss Congeniality. If you liked that one, you'll most likely enjoy this one as well.

DVD Review: Sunshine

2009-10-02T20:09:00.001-05:00

Rated R for brief language, violence

Starring Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans

In 2057, the Icarus II is sent into space with a stellar bomb to detonate into the sun and reignite it, as the sun is slowly dying and will be no more in 50 years otherwise, leaving Earth in an unlivable solar winter. In 2050, the Icarus I was sent, but never returned. When the crew of the Icarus II gets just beyond Mercury, they no longer can have communication with Earth and receive a distress single from Icarus I. Torn to delay the mission and check help Icarus I, the crew has a decision to make. Deciding to help Icarus I and find out what happened, they change their course, but with disasterous effects that make it near impossible for the entire crew to make it to the sun and leaving them with no resources to get home if they do make it. What's the crew to do? Will they be able to make it into the sun now to carry out their intial mission? And who is slowly killing off the rest of the crew of Icarus II?

What started out as an interesting sci-fi filmed, turned into Event Horizon by films end. It's worth a rent if you enjoy sci-fi films that take place in space, however if you've seen Event Horizon you can pretty much predict the end result.

DVD Review: True Romance

2009-09-22T19:53:00.001-05:00

Rated R for language, violence, sexuality, nudity

Starring Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Gary Oldman, Val Kilmer, Christopher Walken, James Gandolfini

Clarence Worley is a comic book store clerk who lives a simple life. For lack of better things to do, he spends his birthday watching a martial arts triple theater at a Detroit theater, where he meets the attractive Alabama Whitman. The two go for coffee after the films and he shows her the comic book shop, after spending a night together, she regretfully confesses that she is a call girl who was hired by Clarence's boss as a birthday present, however she has fallen for him completely. Luckily, Clarence has fallen for her as well and the next day the two go down to the courthouse and get married.

After learning about her pimp Drexl, Clarenced decides he's going to confront him and get Alabama's things for her. The confrontation doesn't go as planned though, and gunfire breaks out, with Clarence killing Drexl in the process. He grabs what he believes to be Alabama's suitcase of belongings and heads back to her, only to learn that he took the wrong suitcase and this one contains a bunch of stolen cocaine.

The couple decides to head out west to LA to hideout and sell the drugs so that they can establish a home for themselves elsewhere, however the mob is on their tail wanting to retreive the cocaine. The police also get involved.

Clarence and Alabama are very likable characters, played memorably by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette. Written by Quentin Tarantino as his first major screenplay, this film has bit of it all - action, violence, sexuality, romance, crime, the mob, and thrills, this one classic you won't want to miss.

DVD Review: The Lookout

2009-09-07T19:32:00.001-05:00

Rated R for violence, language, sexuality

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode, Isla Fisher

The film starts out with a teenage Chris driving at night with some friends down an old country road. In an attempt impress his girlfriend, he turns off the headlights to show them the fireflies, but crashes into a combine, killing their 2 friends, leaving Chris with brain damage that affects his short term memory, and his girlfriend requiring a prosthetic leg.

As years go by, Chris has been learning to live with his disability, by keeping notes in a small notebook and living with helpful aid by blind friend Lewis. Chris holds a job as a night janitor at a small-town bank, however he has desires to become a teller someday, learning from one of the fellow bank tellers and practicing regularly.

Eventually Chris becomes the target of a gang who is planning on robbing the bank he works for. Knowing of his condition, the gang befriends Chris and uses the lovely Luvlee to seduce him and convince him he is part of their gang. Chris is confused at first, but eventually goes along with the gang, only to realize they are just using him for access to the bank. He decides to take matters into his own hands to put a stop to it.

The Lookout was a very good drama and thriller. It builds the characters very well - you symapthize with both Chris and Lewis, as they both struggle make the best of their disabilities and you hope for the best for them as well. While many may have missed this gem in the theater, be sure not to miss it on DVD, as both Levitt and Daniels give great performances.

DVD Review: Untraceable

2009-09-05T19:20:00.002-05:00

Rated R for violence, torture, language, gore

Starring Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, Joseph Cross, Mary Beth Hurt

Jennifer Marsh is widowed mother who cares for her daughter by day and heads up the FBI's cybercrime division by night, usually fighting indentity theft and the like. One night however, she comes across a webite called killwithme.com which is streaming video footage of a kitten being tortured and killed, live on camera. Not thinking too much of it, as it's only an animal, Jennifer's supervisor tells her to just shutdown the site and don't worry too much about it.

Shortly later, however, killwithme.com is active again, and this time the vicitim is a human. The more people that tune into the site, the faster the victim dies. Despite warning from Jennifer, the press holds a conference, urging people to avoid the site, however this causes more people to become curious about it and only increases the site's popularity.

Will Jennifer and the FBI be able to find out and stop the killer before he strikes again? Will they be able to do it before more and more people tune into the site, causing the victims to die even faster? As Jennifer gets closer to figuring out the case, the killer begins to come after her. In this deadly game of cat and mouse, who will come out alive?

This film, starring Diane Lane, was an interesting view into the FBI cybercrimes division. While still considered to be part of the "torture porn" genre of horror films that include flicks like Saw and Hostel, this one was a lot more toned down that its predecessors. The violence and torture, while a bit graphic at times, was necessary in order for this film to work, but fortunately, it wasn't nearly as graphic as what we've seen in recent films like Saw.

A bit too scary and graphic for the kids, this in an interesting race against time thriller for the adults to watch.

DVD Review: Teeth

2009-09-05T19:08:00.001-05:00

Rated R for language, some graphic violence, sexuality

Starring Jess Weixler, Hale Appleman, John Hensley

Dawn is a teenager who, with a small group of like-minded friends, is part of a Christian group that promotes abstinence by wearing purity rings and speaking at different schools about what it means. During one of these meetings, she is introduced to fellow abstinence pledge Tobey and developes a crush on him, fantasizing about marrying him one day. After giving in to their mutual feelings for each other, Tobey and Dawn meet at a local swimming hole, where he attempts to rape her, however we, including Tobey and Dawn quickly learn that something is not normal with Dawn - she has vaginal dentata. Horrified at what has just happened, Tobey stumbles off. Scared of what just happened, Dawn goes home to research online, trying to learn what is wrong with her and she visits a gynocologist to get checked out, however the gyno takes advantage of her and the dentata strikes again.

Dawn eventually learns how to control the dentata and by movie's end, we are left to believe she will put her 'gift' to good use when it comes to dealing with perverted men in the world.

Even though it's an indie film, it was actually done pretty well and was quite an interesting take on the subject matter. While a bit graphic at times, it was a decent story.

DVD Review: The Island

2009-09-01T18:56:00.002-05:00

Rated PG13 for brief language, action violence

Starring Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi, Ethan Phillips

Directed by Michael Bay, The Island takes place in 2019. Lincoln Six Echo lives in a colony of uncontamined humans who all believe something happened tot he planet to cause them to live here. Each week, a drawing is conducted to decide who will be the next inhabitant to go to The Island, the last place left on the surface of Earth that wasn't contaminated. Lincoln however becomes frustrated at the lack of individuality in the colony, as they are forced to wear plain white clothes and everyone is under strict rules by the colony leaders. Upon learning that his good friend Jordan Two Delta is next to go to The Island, Lincoln discovers, thanks to a friend in a restricted construction area of the colony a way out. However on his exploration of the world directly outside the colony, he sees 2 recent colonist, thought to have been taken to The Island, being subjected to medical procedures and organ harvesting.

Concerned for Jordan, he finds her and the 2 try to escape and get to the bottom of what is going on, after learning that there is a whole world outside the colony they thought was destroyed.

Not to give too much away, but the film is a commentary on cloning and raises some interesting questions for being a Michael Bay film. However, like most Michael Bay films, his love for explosions is shown and we are subjected to the typical elements of a Michael Bay film.

It was an interesting sci-fi film though, so it's worth a view.

District 9

2009-08-29T17:49:00.001-05:00

Rated R for language, violence, gore

Starring Sharlto Copley

Set in 1982, an alien spaceship comes to Earth and hovers directly above Johannesburg, South Africa. Supposidly part of the ship broke off and dropped to Earth, but was unable to be found, leaving this ship stranded on our planet. After no activity from the ship for some team, an exploratory team flies up to the ship and opens it up to find a million starved and dying creatures that look like giant arthropods. In an attempt to help the creatures surivive, they brought down to Earth and placed in a slum community, named District 9, under the watch of MNU, Multinational United, who polices the district, as the inhabits, referred to derogatorily as "Prawns" are becoming more and more destructive.

It is decided that District 9 is running out of space and the Prawns will need to be relocated to the newly formed District 10. Heading up the operation is Wikus van de Merwe, who is forced to serve the Prawns with eviction notices, informing of them of the move. However, one alien, known to us as Christopher Johnson, and his young son, resist Wikus and the MNU, as Christopher seems to have a higher intellect that the others and understand his rights. While raiding Christopher's shack, Wikus discovers a strange container and takes it with him, however, not knowing what it is, Wikus tampers with it, causing it to spray him in the face.

Within the next 12 hours, Wikus falls ill and starts to change, physically, developing an arm like the aliens. After being taken into MNU custody, they begin to test Wikus' new arm, and discover that he can operate the alien's weaponry, as it is only responsive to their DNA. MNU then decides to cut open Wikus and vivisect him, however he freaks out and runs to District 9 for refuge, where he again encounters Christopher and his son. Christopher tells Wikus he can change him back eventually, but first they need to break into MNU and retrieve the canister Wikus took earlier from Christopher, as it contained just enough fuel to get the alien ship started up again and take them back to their home planet.

While a bit graphic and violent for some, District 9 deals a lot with the theme of racism. Wikus treats the Prawns poorly as he is evicting them, but then begins to see things from the other side once he begins to turn into one of them.

If you like sci-fi adventures and don't mind a bit of graphic violence, be sure to visit District 9.

DVD Review: Run Lola Run

2009-08-24T18:43:00.001-05:00

Rated R for violence and language

Starring Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu

Run Lola Run is a German thriller with English subtitles that follows the story of Lola and her boyfriend Manni.

It starts out with Lola receiving a phonecall from a paniced Manni, who tells her he lost a bag containing 100,000 Deutsche Marks that was supposed to be dropped off to crime boss Ronnie. As it turns out, Lola was supposed to pick up Manni after he made an exchange for the money, however her scooter was stolen and she was unable to meet him, causing him to have to take the subway, where he runs into some guards and panics, accidently leaving the money behind. Manni is convinced that if he does not deliver the money to Ronnie in 20 minutes, he will be killed. He also tells Lola that he is contemplating robbing a nearby supermarket, to recoup at least some of the money he lost, however Lola tells him to just wait 20 minutes for her to get there, as she has a few ideas up her sleeve.

Lola has 20 minutes to get to the money and meet Manni. This takes her 3 different times to get it right however, as various minor events on her journey cause other things to happen in a butterfly effect sort of way. Each attempt though, Lola seems to learn until she finally gets it right. It's almost like a video game, where each failed attempt at the level, puts you back at the beginning to restart it and try again until you get it right.

It was a very interesting movie and although we're seeing the same thing happen 3 different times, it is fun to notice how 1 thing at the beginning of each attempt can affect something major later on. For example, Lola encounters a dog at the beginning of the first and second attempt, slower her down in one attempt, while giving her more time another. This becomes significant as she has to time the encounter just right to put her in the right place at the right time.

Definitely worth a view if you haven't seen this one before!

Inglourious Basterds

2009-08-23T17:31:00.001-05:00

Rated R for langauge, violence

Starring Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Melanie Laurent, Diane Kruger, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Bruhl, BJ Novak, Samm Levine, Harvey Keitel, Mike Myers

Taking place in an alternate history, Quentin Tarantino's latest, Inglourious Basterds, tells the tell of a ragtag team of Jewish American's who were a thorn in the Nazi's side. The Basterds would ambush Nazi troops and skin the scalps of the dead, while branding the survivors they let live with swastika's carved into their foreheards. After getting word that a Nazi propaganda film will be premiered at a small cinema in Paris and that all the Nazi heads, including Hitler himself, will be in attendance, The Basterds decide this would be the perfect chance to put an end to the war and the Nazi regime.

In a parallel storyline, at the beginning of the film, we are introduced to Jewish Shosanna Dreyfus, who barely escapes with her life, after her and her family are outed from hiding at a neighboring farmer's house after a visit from "The Jew Hunter" Colonel Landa. Being the only survivor of the masaccre of her family, Shosanna assumes a new identity in Paris, and tries to live a quiet life operating a small cinema with her new boyfriend and projectionist Marcel. Unfortunately, she catches the eye of Nazi warhero and actor Fredrick Zoller, who insists her cinema would be perfect for the premiere of a new Nazi propaganda film which he stars in. She is terrifed at first, as it was the Nazi who killed her family and she is afraid they'll finish the job if they learn she is really Jewish, however after thinking it over, she agrees, plotting with Marcel that it would be the perfect revenge on the Nazi's to trap them in her cinema during the film and burn it to the ground with them inside.

Sure the film had it's stomach turning moments, with The Basterds being ruthless and gruesome in the way they kill some of the Nazi's, however the overall story was very well done. The whole time you're routing for The Basterds and Shosanna to achieve their unknown shared goal of putting an end to Hitler and the Nazi's.

Several parts of the film also include French and German dialogue with subtitles.

While not for the kids, if you like historic films and works from this particular time period, be sure not to miss this one!

DVD Review: Paycheck

2009-08-21T18:33:00.002-05:00

Rated PG13 for action violence, brief language

Starring Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman, Aaron Eckhart, Paul Giamatti

Michael Jennings is a reverse engineer, who for a large amount of money will analyze a client's competitor's products and come up with new, better designs on the original. After each job, he has his memory erased to protect the clients intellectual property. Usually, a typical job for Michael lasts about 2 months, however he is offered a job from former college friend and now CEO of Allcom James Rethrick to work on a project that could take 3 years, but with a huge paycheck. Michael agrees and takes up residence in Allcom.

3 years comes and goes, Jenning's memory is reset and goes to collect to his paycheck, only to learn that he signed off on it earlier, and instead of his personal possessions he was forced to leave in an envelope when he enter Allcom, he receives an envelope with an assortment of random items. Trying to figure out what is going on, he is aprehended by the FBI, which he manges to escape. Turning to an old friend as well as a biologist he fell in love with during his time at Allcom, he tries to piece together what it was he worked on during his time at Allcom and why people are after him.

Paycheck is an action adventure sci-fi film directed by John Woo. While a bit of a roller coaster ride, Paycheck delivers when it comes to fun entertainment at the movies.

DVD Review: Fanboys

2009-08-15T18:23:00.002-05:00

Rated PG13 for language, drug content, sexuality

Starring Jay Baruchel, Dan Fogler, Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, Kristen Bell, Seth Rogen

On Halloween 1998, Eric reunites with his high school buddies Linus, Hutch, Windows and Zoe, however tension runs deeps, as Eric is the only one of the group who has moved on past high school, while the rest haven't changed one bit, however they still all share a love for Star Wars. After learning that Linus has cancer and is only given 4 months to live, while Star Wars: Episode 1 doesn't come out for another 6 months, the gang decides to drive out to Skywalker Ranch and steal a rough cut of the film, so Linus can see the next Star Wars installment before he dies.

Their trek takes them to various stops on their road trip and rekindles the friendship they once had.

If you're a geek and/or enjoy sci-fi films and Star Wars and Star Trek you'll enjoy this fun geeky adventure. While the focus of the film is Star Wars episode one, we do get to witness a bit of the Star Wars vs Star Trek rivalry among fans. This is one sci-fi comedy that you don't want to miss!

DVD Review: The Spirit

2009-08-11T18:07:00.001-05:00

Rated PG13 for comicbook violence and action, sexuality, brief nudity

Starring Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes

In Central City, the masked Spirit is a vigilante who protects the city. After a tip from the Detective that something big is going on near the docks that could include Spirit's arch-nemesis The Octopus, he rushes to the scene, where he finds the Detective dead and only 1 of 2 chests remaining. He also encounter The Octopus and the 2 duke it out for quite sometime until The Spirit is knocked unconscious, waken up a bit later at the hospital, appearing fully healthy despite being shot. Trying to find who killed the Detective and why, The Spirit finds a golden locket on the Detective's body that he recognizes as belonging to his childhood friend Sand Saref.

The Spirit, directed by Frank Miller, is reminiscent of Miller's previous work in Sin City, having the same stylized action and comicbook feel to it. The plot however, if you're not paying attention, can become a bit confusing as well.

If you enjoy comicbook films and liked Sin City, be sure to check this one out as well, as it's much of the same, but on a PG13 scale, otherwise, you're not missing much if you decided to skip this one.

DVD Review: Adventureland

2009-08-01T17:31:00.001-05:00

Rated R for language, drugs, teen drinking, sexuality

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig

It's Summer 1987 and James has just graduated from college and is looking forward to spending his summer in Europe and attending grad school at Columbia in the fall. That is, until his parents announce that due to financial problems, they won't be able to help out with the money for either as was originally planned. In an attempt to at least have some money to put towards grad school, James takes a summer job at the local amusement park, Adventureland, where he is assigned to the games area.

Throughout the summer, James spends his days at Adventureland mingling with the other staff, which include saracastic Joel, popular Lisa P., Sue, childhood friend Frigo, and repair technication Mike who is older than the rest of the kids working the park and despite being married, has a habit of picking a different girl each summer to have an affair with. There is also Em, who saves James from being knifed by a disgruntled customer. The two begin hanging out regularly outside work and James believes he is falling for Em, however she is a complete mess, and is secretly hooking up with Mike throughout the summer.

Despite not being in theaters long, Adventureland was a pretty good film about summer work and romance.

Filmed on location at historic Kennywood just outside Pittsburgh, PA, it really does feel like 1987 with the clothes, cars, music. Having just visited Kennywood weeks before I saw this film, it was really neat to watch the movie and see all the rides and locations in the park that I had just been at.

This one is definitely worth a view in case you missed it!

The Ugly Truth

2009-07-25T17:05:00.001-05:00

Rated R for language, sexuality

Starring Gerard Butler, Katherine Heigl

Abby is a Sacramento morning show producer, who's show is failing in the ratings and on the verge of being canceled. In an attempted to render the situation and save the show, the show's owner decides to bring on Mike, a man with a cynical view on love and relationship who runs a cable access show called The Ugly Truth where he shares his cynicism.

Abby is disgusted by Mike and the two get off to a rough start, however when Abby meets the man of her dreams who meets all the qualities on her list of the perfect man, Mike makes her a deal - if she follows his advice and gets the guy, she has to agree to happily work with Mike, however if she follows his advice and doesn't get the guy, he will quit and they will never have to work together again. Desperate to get rid of Mike, Abby agrees to the terms.

What follows for the remainder of the film is predictable, but there are quite a bit of adult humor and laughs along the way!

My husband surprised me by taking me to this one for a date night film, as much as he expressed he didn't want to see it, but he came out of the film admitting that he actually enjoyed it and while even though it was predictable, it was better than he was expecting.

The Ugly Truth may not be as raunchy as most Judd Apatow films of these days, but this one is still not suitable for kids! So if you enjoy fun rom-coms with a dash of raunchy sex humor, be sure to view this one with your spouse after the kids are in bed.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

2009-07-21T16:47:00.002-05:00

Rated PG13 for dark elements, fantasy violence

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter

Taking place directly after the events of the previous film, Voldemort is back and his loyal followers, The Deatheaters, are wreaking havoc on not only the wizard world, but the muggle world as well. Draco Malfoy has also been recruited to carry out a task for the dark lord, one that Harry tries to figure out through most of the school year.

Back at Hogwarts, Harry and Ron are taking potions class with new returning Professor Slughorn, as Snape is now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry receives a potions textbook that appears to have belonged once to the mysterious Half Blood Prince, in which the pages of the book are covered with annotations, which Harry uses to his benefit. Harry is also kept busy by Dumbledore, who, through the use of a pensive, shows Harry various memories of a young Voldemort, known back then as Tom Riddle, and teaches him about seven Horcuxes that Voldemort has created to safeguard his soul, that they need to find and destroy in order to stop the dark lord for good.

Love is also in the air at Hogwarts, as Harry begins to fall for his friend's sister, and Ron becomes smitten with a fellow student which makes Hermoine insanely jealous.

In comparison to previous Potter films, just like the books, the films are continuing to get darker and darker, with this being the darkest installment yet.

It does make for a good adaption from the book however - sure there were some parts that were left out or slightly changed for time, but overall, it left most fans satisfied and eagerly anticipating 2-part installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - the last book in the series.

In spite of the dark and scary moments in this film, there also are some cute moments amongst our favorite wizard teens, as they continue to grow up and experience romantic love too, but in a way that is still innocent compared to other teenage films with teen romance.

While I wouldn't recommend this one for the younger kids, as some of the scenes might scare them a bit too much, the older kids, especially if they've read the book, will be just fine!