It has been a long time since ive had this much fun at a movie. Iron Man kicks off the blockbuster season with an exiting, funny and very entertaining ride. Its the best superhero movie to come out in years and everything from the effects to the cast are right on. Even from a geek who grew up reading Avengers, and seeing Iron Man in the comics kicking ass, I can say this transition to the big screen was done with the intention of giving the audience a great time.

Iron Man stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, this is the best casting Ive seen in a comic movie…..ever. Tony Stark is a playboy party animal with a stripper pole in his private jet and living the life every normal guy dreams of. He drinks too much, takes everything for granted and if it wasnt for the fact that he is a weapon engineering genius, he wouldnt get too far. His beautiful assistant (Gwen Paltrow) and Airforce Col buddy (Terrence Howard, also a great casting move to you Iron Man die hards) are the only people in his life that actually care about him.  When Stark’s convoy gets ambushed and he’s captured during a weapons demo, he has to forge a super suit to escape. After the ordeal Tony wakes up and decides to use his talents to help the world instead of just making a buck.

I know Downey’s past habits arent exactly model citizen behaivior, but he’s not Captain America. Iron Man does drink too much, he is a jerk, and hard to work with. Downey was born to play this role, the goatee, his mannerisms even the cadence of his voice is exactly what Iron man should be and he is what makes this movie work. Actor/Director Jon Favreau knows what to do with a big budget, the effects are sharp and not too overdone. The sound is the best I’ve heard in a long while and metal hitting metal in this sounds alot better than last summer’s transformers. The rest of the cast is great and does a great job (especially Leslie Bibb, wow!), the humor is funny not corny and I could just keep going on.

I had a small problem with the movie’s score, and other nit picky details that are mostly nerdy comic book gripes that the average person watching wont even notice. I’ve always been okay with straying from the literature to deliver a good movie and thats exactly what Iron Man does.

This is the best movie to kick off a summer since the first Matrix back in 99′ and that is saying alot. I would only put it below Batman Begins and the first Spiderman movie as far as superhero movies are concerned period……this is a movie for everyone and stay after the credits, you’ll get a sneak peek of what might be next.

 Iron Man: A-

I hate to blame writers. To me its one the hardest parts of the movie making process, inventing something original that can capture the attention of an audience for at least an hour and a half. “We Own The Night” is a picture that fails to keep its talent busy and also fails to develop characters we can care about. It looks good and you know the talent is there but its an overall shallow experience.

 We own the night stars Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Walberg, Eva Mendez and Robert Duvall, but don’t let all those names fool you, this is a Phoenix vehicle. He plays Bobby Green a big shot night club manager who gets mixed into the wrong crew.  Walberg and Duvall play his Cop Brother and Chief Father who try to get him to infiltrate a major Russian drug ring (Russian mobsters are the scariest aren’t they?). Anyways Bobby is stuck with the moral dilemma of snitching on his boys or following his family. You don’t have to own a crystal ball to figure out where things go…

 The movie looks good, With the story taking place in the 80s the costumes are right on and sets and locations give the movie a great feel. Director James Gray does a great job contrasting the nightclub party life of Bobby’s friends and the much more honest and humble cop lifestyle of his family. The limited action sequences are entertaining and give the film a much needed shot of action to keep you from nodding off.

The right vs. wrong gangster informant concept has been done so many times before, and there isn’t a likeable character in the whole movie. Phoenix and Walhberg spend lot of time shouting at each other without really providing an excuse why you should give a damn about either of them. Eva Mendez literally has nothing to do but stand around and look pretty, it was probably the easiest payday she’s had since Training Day. Now I’m sure these people can act….I’ve seen them do it (and get the statues for doing it) but with a paper thin plot on an old concept there is only so much you can do.

I expected “We Own The Night” to be alot better. The marketing department definitely earned there pay day making the movie seem more suspenseful and less predictable then it really was. Well lets go back to the formula of a successful film, talent-check, directing-check, Writing-………?

We Own The Night:C-

Wow, I have absolutely no idea where to start. What can you say about a film that manages to get so much talent aboard and still becomes a resoundingly unfunny and predictable? They are plenty of funny actors in this film and they still don’t manage to save a crappy script filled with every gay joke in the book and a story that plays it so safe as not to offend anyone that is homosexual at the cost of producing a quality movie. This is the first movie I’ve seen this year that made me want to boo in the theater. Well let me get this out of the way…

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry stars Adam Sandler and Kevin James as Chuck Levine and Larry Valentine. Two New York firefighters that are best friends while constantly risking their lives for one another in the line of duty. They work in a firehouse with the usual suspects that have made themselves comfortable riding on Adam Sandler’s coat tails, playing fellow firefighters. When widower Larry realizes that his two kids won’t receive any benefits if he dies, he looks to the only person he trusts enough to help him..his womanizing best friend Chuck. The two get hitched during a romantic getaway to Niagara falls and all seems well, However when their union is challenged by the city, the two best friends must kick their act into high gear to avoid going to jail for fraud. Its not long before Chuck and Larry’s lives are turned inside out, they get discriminated against at work and Chuck can’t tell the lady lawyer defending him (the amazingly sexy Jessica Biel) he’s falling for her.

Its hard to find the silver lining in this cloud of fecal matter, but Sandler and James do a good job in portraying how strong their friendship is. After ducking the onslaught of gay jokes and uncomfortable moments, the two display moments of friendship that come across very genuine. The supporting cast does an okay job at being terrified, Dan Akroyd (who apparently owed someone a favor) does fine as the fire chief who knows the whole thing is a sham. I know a lot of guys would agree that Jessica Biel gliding across the screen in close to nothing is a nice touch

What makes me angry about Chuck and Larry is all the wasted talent involved, and how a concept which looks good on paper can fall so flat. If you haven’t seen this movie I have an experiment for you…..at any part of the movie, walk out and wait ten minutes…..buy a soda or whatever, before you walk back into the theater guess where the plot will be and when you sit back down your going to think your psychic. The whole arsenal of gay jokes are all old and stale, and the twists that are flung at the audience aren’t anything we haven’t seen before. Another awful part is that the script is  so careful not to offend, that it comes off preachy and staunch.

It’s getting late here in 07′ and I don’t watch the low budgets or Indies as much as other critics, but Chuck and Larry is bad….. I will say it is the worst movie I’ve seen this year (although, judging by the previews it might not be that way for long). Its hard for me to write this review because I enjoy all of the actors involved, but if you want your Sandler/James fix, watch Happy Gilmore or a King Of Queens rerun (especially the one when Raymond and Deborah come to visit!) and save yourself the pain of having to watch this turd.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry: F+

In this day and age with comedies you’ve got your Superbads, your wedding crashers etc…..raunchy type comedies and then you’ve got the family friendly play it safe comedies like License To Wed starring the champion of the family comedy Robin Williams. It seems the changes to the comedy genre have finally taken its toll on the movie going public. Comedies like Mrs. Doubtfire, Wild Hogs, and your Dr. Dolittles don’t pack enough of a comedic punch anymore and unless your writing for the Simpsons chances are your not sharp enough to successfully make an audience laugh without going down the campy, darker, body fluid area of comedy. This is exactly the problem with License to Wed.

License To Wed also stars the beautiful Mandy Moore and the Office’s John Krasinski as Sadie Jones and Ben Murphy, a charming couple who have a storybook relationship and decided to take the plunge. However when Sadie decides she wants to tie the knot in her family’s church where her mother and her sister got married, they meet Reverend Frank (Williams) and his special brand of religion. Reverend Frank will marry Sadie and Ben on one condition….they pass his required pre-marital course which consists of everything from belly dancing lessons to spying on their pillow talk to robotic babies which spew simulated vomit and diarrhea. The couple do what they can to get through the crazy Reverend’s course all the while trying not to strangle each other in the progress. I know, I know it sounds great on paper and the trailer looked good, but it just doesn’t deliver.

The dialogue seems forced at times and isn’t very funny to begin with. Williams as Reverend Frank seems like he could be a very funny character but the script doesn’t have enough strength behind it to make it so. The film misses its window of opportunity to be hilarious several times, and sure its slightly amusing at parts but I was left at every corner of the story, including the ending….. asking………was that it? The movie never picks up any speed, and with the talent involved that seems almost inexcusable. 

If your a John Krasinski fan your in for a treat, this is his vehicle, with Williams given first billing to put asses in the seats. Like the rest of the cast he does a good job with what he has to work with, his timing is good and its a very refreshing change to see him actually getting rattled as oppose to all of his “Officemates” from his hit television show, several of which make cameos.  Mandy Moore does fine playing the stressed out bride and the ensamble playing her conceited drunken family and in-laws to be….. manage to be endearing at the right times.

Its hard to write a “clean” family comedy these days, its like hunting with a sharp stick while your buddies are using automatic weapons.  I can understand that a lot of the jokes and antics that you’ll see from License To Wed, would be a lot funnier coming from characters in a Disney/pixar movie. Who do you blame for a dull family comedy? I know you can’t blame the cast, it does’nt matter…ultimately the victims are us the viewers.

License to Wed: D+

When one sees the trailer to 1408, its not exactly bone chilling. I mean, it looks entertaining and it makes you want to see the film, but it doesn’t look like its going to scare anyone. So, you chalk it off to it being more of a suspense flick than a horror. So we’ll go ahead and call 1408 a thriller….to bad it doesn’t thrill. What you get with 1408 is a well made film with likeable actors and dialogue but if it sets out to scare, or excuse me…thrill. It falls short.

1408 stars John Cusack (don’t we always give him the benefit of the doubt) as Michael Enslin. A bored author of the supernatural who has seen it all, except anything supernatural, he travels the country exploring and spending the night in scary lighthouses and bed and breakfast joints where horrible events have taken place. He drives away uninspired with another disappointing chapter of his next book written. He goes through the motions living his surfer, California lifestyle, when he receives a post card from the Dolphin hotel in N.Y. with one sentence written on back……”Don’t enter room 1408″. Enslin decides he is going to bite and has his publisher book him a night in the infamous room. After arriving at the Dolphin, he meets the hotel manager, Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson). Olin does everything he can to keep Enslin from staying in the room from horror stories and death statistics to bribes, but in the end he can’t shake the writer from staying in the room where so many horrible events occurred.  Eventually our skeptical writer gets his wish and the keys and checks in to the room that won’t let you check out. Not long after he gets there he realizes that this is the real deal where he experiences everything from poltergeist and moving paintings (ala Harry Potter) to freak accidents and the appearance of his young daughter which he lost years ago.

Cusack excels in what is basically a one man show surrounded by special effects. He finds a way to make the audience connect with his arrogant character by hitting the mark on the right emotions at the right times. This is the kind of acting that has made him a sentimental favorite with directors and fans alike. Samuel L. Jackson does a fine job with the little screen time he has and plays off of Cusack’s character very well, the two seem to be having a good time and add a little bit of levity to an otherwise depressing film.

I guess the problem I have with 1408 is that it doesn’t accomplish what it sets out to do and that is to thrill or scare. The effects aren’t anything we haven’t seen before and the cards the movie decides to play at various times makes it hard to really fear anything that is going to happen. Certain elements of the plot are predictable and what the film makers consider scary are hardly enough to make the audience in a shrek 3 screening flinch. Come to think of it……Shrek 3 was more frightening than 1408!

Overall 1408 isn’t a dreadful film and Cusack fans will be satisfied as he puts out another good performance, however this film markets itself as a thriller/horror and whenever you slap on that PG-13 rating to earn a few bucks, you put a limit on how much of your message you can get across to your audience. I guess you could call 1408 a “Thriller for people that are afraid to be well……afraid”

1408: C

I grew up reading the Fantastic Four Comics , So it was no surprise when I heard the gripes over the first fantastic four movie being silly, goofy, and lightweight. Many viewers don’t realize how on the spot those characters were and little fanboy details aside, the first movie was pretty right on. I think with the right frame of mind, alot more viewers will enjoy Rise of the Silver Surfer more than the first movie, and they should…I think its a better movie.

We catch up with our 4 heroes (Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Ioan Gruffud) on the eve of the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman. We deal with the little imperfections of each of our heroes, like the Thing being unable to get intimate, and the Human Torch’s inability to commit. We get a funny bachelor party with the guys before the government approaches the groom with an assignment…to investigate a series of phenomenon going on in several areas of the Earth’s atmosphere.  This leads to the biggest imperfection of all…..Fantastic’s inability to leave work for the women he loves. Enter the Silver Surfer who has been causing these events as a part of scouting the planet for his boss the planet eater, Galactus. Throw in the re-emergence of Doctor Doom (Smooth Talking Julian Mcmahon) and the 4 have all they can handle.

I always thought the Silver Surfer would be the hardest character to translate in a motion picture. How do you make him look? How much does he have to say? How can you explain his story without taking up too much of the viewer’s time? I have to say its all done beautifully. He looks great, he kicks ass and you get just enough of his story to keep things rolling and keep the audience interested. Unfortunately he is only the second best looking thing in the movie….the first is Jessica Alba in a spandex costume. That aside the chemistry between the cast is still there, the goofy jokes are amusing and the most important thing is that this movie does not take itself too seriously.

I think the problems viewers will have with this movie is exactly what they would think the problem was with the first movie. Its not intense enough, its not graphic, it doesn’t kick you in the stomach hard enough, those are all correct but this isn’t what the movie is trying to be. This is not as intense as any of the X-men films or even the third Spiderman movie. You fear for the heroes, but the make-up of the characters makes them harder to take seriously.

I liked this movie, its better than the first and when people ask me about it I tell them almost word for word what was in the last paragraph. Its funny, light and not very intense. Throw in that its not a very long film and you have a safe summer movie that will entertain the entire family. Its not a roller coaster ride……..its more like the tea cups.

Fantastic Four: B

In a Summer where big blockbusters and three-quels are king, its a shame that one of the better films ended up slipping through the cracks. I admit I was’nt planning on seeing Mr. Brooks until a buddy of mine (one of the five remaining Costner fans) urged me to see it…..I’m glad he did. Mr. Brooks might be one of the overlooked winners in the busiest summer the movie industry has seen in Year.

Kevin Costner stars as Earl Brooks, a soft spoken man who owns a highly successful box company, he has a beautiful family and is Man of the year in his community. It really doesnt get any better for Earl Brooks, but I suppose as a lot of us do..we get bored and harbor addictions. While some of us take up smoking or drinking or Thursday night TV. Mr. Brooks prefers killing, and he does so with the aid of his imaginary friend Marshall (played perfectly by William Hurt). Earl and Marshall plan each killing out with the careful planning that he uses in every other aspect of his perfect life, leaving no traces and leaving the cops clueless. After taking a long break from killing, the hunger comes back and Marshall talks Earl into having a little taste of the old hobby he misses so much. This time Earl makes a mistake not noticing the open curtains while he disposes of a young couple  in their apartment. This mistake of-course comes back to haunt Mr. Brooks when a young photographer (Dane Cook) shows up in his office the next day wanting to feel the rush of the kill. Throw in an obsessive detective played by Demi Moore (remember her?!) and her nightmare divorce and little Jane Brook’s college problems and all the sudden Mr. Brooks and his imaginary friend have their plates pretty full. Wooo….is there enough going on there for you?

It all rolls together very well and the story doesn’t stall in one area very long. This is the kind of role that Kevin Costner is very good in, the soft spoken, stoic, good guy. While yes it sounds bizarre, Mr. Brooks is a good guy who knows he has an awful problem, he goes to AA meetings for crying out loud. William Hurt is a scene stealer giving us a little more of that darker character that so many loved in “A History Of Violence” and the chemistry between the two extremes was my favorite part of the movie. They draw off of each other very well. The supporting cast all does very well in holding up their ends of the story and seeing Dane Cook in “Serious” mode is an entertaining change, even though he still needs some work.

I think its Ironic that Marg Helgenberger play Earl’s wife because a CSI unit will have a field day with Brook’s antics. We often have to look the other way when logic creeps into the picture when concerning the plot, but its a small flaw in a film that overachieves in alot of other ways.

I’m not gonna say Kevin Costner is back…..some would argue if he’d ever arrived to began with, but Mr. Brooks is a good film and its a welcome change from the countless huge blockbuster’s that is the summer of 07. The concept is sharp, the acting is on target and any script that could have you caring for the welfare of a demented killer has something going for it. I think if a lot of people would have seen this instead of some of the other junk that came out this summer, there would be more happy people leaving the theater.

Mr. Brooks: B

Oh, Mr. Chris Tucker….to live your life! To latch on to a successful franchise almost ten years ago and to emerge every three years to play the same character in a similar movie and have a screen legend do all the work. This of course is  Rush Hour 3 starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. This mega franchise continues to chronicle the story of Det. Carter and Inspector Lee as two very different cops coming together once again to bring down the corrupt and protect the innocent. This movie reportedly took longer to make with Chris Tucker’s money demands standing in the way of production. I’m sure it will make loads of money, but box office receipts don’t always equal a good movie.

The story once again begins with Carter and Lee at odds over an ugly past experience since the second film, however fate brings them together once more when Lee’s friend, the ambassador of China is shot at a world conference trying to crack down on an dangerous Chineese triad. The trail leads them to France when the action and hijinks ensues. Along the way they befriend an American hating Frenchman (Imagine that!) and a beautiful cabaret dancer.

The chemistry with Tucker and Chan is still there but its almost as if they know each other so well after working on the two previous blockbusters that they’re just zipping through another sequel. The movie has almost a rushed (no pun intended) feeling to it as if producers were standing behind director Brett Rattner with a cattle prod ready to buzz him if this movie was’nt ready in time for this late summer release. Chris Tucker’s dialogue provides a few chuckles but alot of it is telegraphed and really just more of the same we heard in the first two of the series.

One problem that Rush Hour 3 doesn’t lack is action. The seemingly ageless Jackie Chan flips, kicks, and sword fights with the bad guys as good as he ever has. The stunts in the movie do push the envelope into cartoon land but still manage to entertain and the choreography is top notch. The car chases are exiting and Tucker can still manage to catch some laughs with his brand of slapstick thrown into the fray.

You can tell when franchises throw quality out the window in order to make a buck and Rush Hour 3 has that mentality written all over it. The original Rush Hour was a great concept and a lot of fun, this is just the same tired formula with nothing new to keep it fresh and new. Yeah, it must be great to be Chris Tucker, who know what he’ll do if there isn’t a Rush Hour 4!

 Rush Hour 3: C

I’ve been looking forward to seeing Superbad since I saw the trailer back in April. This flick could be the first genuinely ”funny” teen comedy without the word pie in the title. Well it’s funnier than any of the American Pies and a has a little more heart thrown in for good measure. It stars Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as Seth and Evan two best buddies that are about split after each of them gets into different colleges.

Superbad starts off harmlessly as just another day in Seth and Evan’s lives, as they wander through school, completely clueless about the opposite sex and pushed around by the bigger guys. All that changes when Seth gets invited to a house-party by Jules (Emma Stone), a girl he meets during a Home Economics class and his buddy Fogel (played by scene stealer Christopher Mintz Plasse) buys a fake ID. Seth and Evan armed with the theory that alcohol equals sex, start off an crazy series of events ranging from a liquor store hold up, to entertaining a group of cocaine addicts to an exploding police cruiser; all of it just to get to the party of the year.

Director Greg Mottola does a terrific job shooting a movie that feels epic, even though its only one crazy night in a small town. A lot of the turns that you think you would see coming in alot of other comedies are left behind for directions that you wont see coming and that make for a smart and funny movie. The style of the movie is almost a puzzle with the mullets and retro 80’s clothing and music, yet cellphones and shopping malls are at every turn.

 What makes Superbad great is the young cast, which do a terrific job in getting laughs. Fogel or as I’m sure the rest of the world will come to know him as……Mcluvin plays the nerdy gangsta perfectly, While Seth Rogen and Bill Hader play the insanely dangerous police officers with ease all without derailing the story of friendship and change between Seth and Evan.

Superbad is the best comedy I’ve seen in years, its funnier than the also good “Knocked Up” and got the most audience laughs I’ve heard since the 40 year old virgin. Its hard to make a teen comedy that covers new ground anymore but Superbad does’nt only cover new ground but raises the bar in genre that alot of people thought was dead. See it twice, once for yourself and once for the crowd reaction.

Superbad: A