Wanted features a cast made up of Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, and James McAvoy from last year’s Atonement. Now while this might not exactly sound like the recipe for a successful action film it works rather well in the end. James McAvoy plays a cubicle driven common place worker who of course hates his job, his boss, and even his girlfriend who is cheating on him with his best friend. He often thinks to himself of what he’d like to do to these people or what he’d like to happen and for the first twenty or so minutes I feel like I’m watching a blatant rip off of Fight Club and Edward Norton’s character only used with much less style and about half as much kick ass properties. All this aside though the droll annoyed characteristic works with McAvoy in the role and he leads us along this movie until Angelina Jolie shows up to inform him that his father was murdered that day on the top of a rooftop by one kick ass sniper, who just happens to be right behind him at the time… BOOM…

Now let me take a quick moment to discuss my feelings on Miss Angelina Jolie… While I haven’t quite jumped on the bandwagon that she’s insanely hot and the best thing since sliced bread I will say that like it or not this woman has some acting talent and while she doesn’t fully use it here she’s no pain on the eyes either. Moving on.

After that little encounter in the supermarket which turns into a full blown Grand Theft Auto car chase complete with flying (and curving) bullets McAvoy’s character is taken to Angelina Jolie’s headquarters where Morgan Freeman explains that they are a Fraternity of brothers, aptly named THE FRATERNITY, and that they carry out assassinations assigned to them by some cloth that knows binary code. For those of you who aren’t geeks and don’t know what Binary code is… think back to the days when you watched the matrix and saw all of those 1’s and 0’s floating up and down on the screen. Well that’s binary code, only in reality it looks half as cool. Anyways, this magical cloth provides names for people who need to be assassinated because the cloth is sent by… … Fate…. Or something and it is to prevent further bad things from happening… you know… like assassinations…

But in the end they follow the philosophy, Kill One, Save a thousand, or at least Angelina Jolie does, I never heard it out of anyone else’s mouth, but I’ll take her word for it.

Well the movie progresses with McAvoy training to be this super assassin so that he can avenge his father while Morgan Freeman tries to teach him that he can indeed bend bullets as well as everyone else. He struggles at first, but if he didn’t we wouldn’t get that sudden shock and relief when he finally accomplishes his goal. After this new talent he hesitates on his first kill, but only for a second after which he curves the bullat like it’s nothing and proceeds from then on to shoot anyone that the cloth deems worty of death all under the guise of “trying to get to his father’s murderer.”

The film goes on in a big bang with it’s twists and turns and Morgan Freeman says some words that you normally would never expect Morgan Freeman to say, and then the movie’s over. After leaving this film I felt a familiar experience that I had felt before after watching the movie Speed Racer and I realized that this movie has the same redeeming qualities as that one. While the acting, story line, and movie overall are average or only slightly above, it’s the visuals that give it its big push towards Better than most. Yes the movie has it’s own feel and I was really into it. Even though they show that bullet’s point of view type of shot over sixty times it never really felt old and I was into it the entire time.

This film reminded me a bit of last year’s Shoot Em Up,which admittedly I did enjoy, and while it’s not as exaggerated as that movie, Wanted’s not as funny so they balance out in terms of which one is better. Overall though Wanted is fun flick, great for the teenagers who will flock to see it in theaters and a possible worthy addition to any DVD collection when it comes out… I give wanted a 3.5 out of five,counted down mainly because it reminded me of too many other movies and didn’t too anything to spectacular, but I still feel that it is worth the full price ticket… so go see it, it’s worth it.

P.S. I wanted some obscure photo from the film that didn’t have Jolie on it… … but apparently those don’t exist…

Kevin Smith’s original Clerks is now considered a cult classic and gave the idea that anyone with a handheld camera could make a movie. Clerks was well acted, smart, and just straight out hilarious. The sequel not only keeps many of these elements that worked so well in Clerks but in some cases actually improves on them. The film reunites Brian O Halloran and Jeff Anderson who played Dante and Randal in the first film and their still on top of their game here in this film.

The movie starts off with the fames Quick Stop burning down leaving Dante and Randal at the end of an era which Dante remembers as the worst of his life and Randal as his best. The film then cuts to around a year later and we find out that the two are now working at Mooby’s, a fast food restaurant, and it is Dante’ very last day in New Jersey since he is moving to Florida to get married to his fiancée who is played by Jennifer Smith. We are then introduced to Mooby’s owner played by Rosario Dawson, their impossibly geeky co worker Elias played by Trevor Fehrman, and of course the immortal Jay and Silent Bob played by Jason Mewes and director Kevin Smith.

Now this sequel was completely unnecessary seeing as how the first one ended perfectly, and we knew everything that we needed to know, but thankfully Kevin Smith does us right with this movie and gives us an interesting believable story that still makes us care for these characters which we haven’t seen in twelve years. Kevin Smith direction truly shines here in which he is able to give us a movie with a musical number, references to racism, sexual activities, lord of the ring and star wars debates, and even a damn donkey show. I may be wrong but I can’t think of another director who could pull that off and have me laughing for almost the entire runtime.

There’s not really much else to say about this movie. The story is tightly written and incredibly creative, the acting isn’t great but it fits well with the movie, and while it takes us back and forth from random jokes that are drop dead hilarious the movie never loses it’s main focus on it being Dante’s last day and Randal wanting to do something special for him. It’s even so perfectly executed later on in the movie when Dante and Randal are in a jail cell that they finally reveal what they’re feeling. It’s an enclosed space and it’s sort of the perfect setting for the revelation, there’s no where for either of them to run to or hide.   All of this in only around 95 minutes makes up for one of my favorite comedies of the past decade and I give it a well deserved 4/5.

After the atrocity that was Ang Lee’s Hulk it was almost impossible to sink lower with this newer adaptation. People were a bit concerned at first when they heard that the Hulk movie was being given another shot but when it was announced that Edward Norton was on board as the big green fighting machine everyone’s concern seemed to begin dying down. This installment confuses me a bit, not with the movie itself but on where it stands as far as connection to Ang Lee’s version. It seems to have no correlation at all but then again we do seem do drop right into the movie and it looks similar to where Ang Lee’s version left off. Apart from that though I am going to treat this film as if it had no connection what so ever.

The film starts us off with Bruce Banner, who is played by Edward Norton of course, attempting to live his life in hiding. He is working in a factory, trying to control his anger and emotions through meditation and yoga classes, and also seems to be talking with a strange man named Dr. Blue who is helping Bruce search for a possible cure to his condition. It’s a strange point to start us off from but it serves it’s purpose well. The movie starts picking up when the General of the Army tracks Bruce down and sends in a team, led by Tim Roth, to capture him. He views Bruce’s entire body as property of the United States government. Well, the team arrives and tries to sneak attack Bruce but it doesn’t work at all in their favor  We finally catch our first glimpse of the hulk and the movie progresses as he runs away and tries to keep himself as far away from the General as he can. Along the way he runs into his old girlfriend played by Liv Tyler and she tries to help him out along the way. Bruce is in love with Tyler’s character and she seems to be the only one who can subdue him while he’s in Hulk Form.

The visual effects work fine here where they are needed and the fights scenes are welcome indeed but what truly makes the movie for me are the great performances given by Liv Tyler and especially Edward Norton. There’s no question that he was the absolute perfect choice for this role and he gives us an incredible Hulk. The villain played by Tim Roth also checks in a strong performance which makes the film a real tight package as far as casting is concerned. Everyone plays their parts extremely well and I found myself really involved in the performances.

While the performances are extremely solid I still found something off with this movie. With it being just over two hours long the movie feels a bit slow and oddly paced. While the action scenes are great it feels like there are too few and strangely enough it felt as if the movie kept repeating itself in a way. Hulk fights army and Tim Roth gets angry. Hulk fights the army and a stronger Tim Roth. Hulk fights army and a much stronger and angrier Tim Roth. And finally Hulk fights a pissed off Abomination Tim Roth who is now fighting the Army. It’s all very formulaic and while it works well a part of me wishes that there had been more variety in it all.

But what can I say. The movie may have felt a little strange but overall it was a good film and a huge improvement from the Ang Lee version. Edward Norton was excellent as the Hulk and the visuals weren’t bad at all. The film may stutter at times but overall it was a good film and, while not as good as Iron Man, I do recommend it to any marvel fans definitely, and to all movie goers in general. 3.5/5

America has grown fond of remaking Japanese horror movies a mere years after their release in their own country and if there’s one thing I can say for them it’s that they’re not getting worse. Off the top of my head I’m going to start the trend with The Ring and after that became a huge success you started getting The Grudge, The Grudge 2, The Ring 2, One Missed Call, and Shutter. I’m sure I’m missing many but the ones named will serve my point. Now after The Ring which I absolutely adored, the movies shot downhill. The Grudge was horrible and after that none of the movies raised the bar. None of them ever really got worse than the last but the only reason for that is that all of them have followed the exact same formula as the last. They all must have a scary Japanese girl with long black hair, they all must have some foreboding imagery (photographs, telephone calls, VCR’s), and disturbing scenes. Shutter does not break this tradition.

The film stars Joshua Jackson and Rachel Taylor who previously had starred in Transformers and tells the story of their life as newlyweds who start being followed by a mysterious spirit that begins appearing in all of their photographs. This girl appears to be the same girl that they ran over a while after their wedding and she seems to want revenge. Now the plot is very thin, even for one of ‘these’ movies, and the acting for the most part falls flat. However, what really gets me about this movie is how completely they seem to rip off The Ring.

Now I’ve mentioned before that all of these movies follow a similar… ok an exact formula, but this just takes it to a whole other level. The actress is made to look almost exactly like Naomi Watts in the Ring but that can be passed as coincidental, what can’t be passed is this; Remember the scene in The Ring where Rachel walks up to the dead guy in the chair after Samara has killed him? His back is turned to Rachel, there’s a huge puddle of water on the floor near him, and she slowly walks up to him and reaches for his shoulder. Well it’s as if the director felt he could pull this off as well by placing everything in the exact same place in Shutter and just switching the actors. The scene was such a rip off that you could somehow consider it an homage as a defense, but not a good one.

The film has very few scares scattered throughout it’s runtime and I found myself checking my watch constantly and groaning that I had only sat through forty five minutes when it felt like two hours had passed, even for a remake this is a horrible sign. The film drags forever and moves at a glacial pace to lead up to a dull, predictable, and laughable ending. Of course we get some deaths along the way but nothing really interesting, and nothing that hasn’t been done before. I found myself bored to death the entire time and found nearly no enjoyment in watching this movie. In fact if anything it made me want to go home and watch The Ring. This movie was a complete disappointment just like all the other movies of it’s kind and I give it a resounding 1.5/5

In many ways this following review is unlike any I’ve ever written before. For many years now I have considered myself an avid film enthusiast and pride myself in having seen some of the greatest cinematic achievements that have ever graced our planet. However, I recently found myself trying to once and for all clear up my mind and make my decision on what I believed was the best film company that had ever existed. Immediately large corporations such as Paramount and Universal came to mind, but while they had enormous shining gems within their basket I found that I had to think through heaps of what can sometimes be considered complete garbage before I found them. Such is not the case though with the wonderful minds at Pixar. Since 1995 when they made their first feature film in complete computer animation Toy Story, Pixar has enchanted the minds of movie goers of all ages with each new release. From Monster’s Inc. to Finding Nemo, Pixar has been living the high life no doubt as one of the most successful companies in the world right now. They have made a total of eight films and all have dazzled both critically and commercially, however it was thought highly improbable that they could keep this winning streak up forever. They came close to breaking their incredible record with the movie Cars and this year they have released a small film by the name Wall E.

Wall E follows the life of a small robot that was left on Earth for the purpose of solving the planet’s garbage problem; a problem that had gotten so big that humans have had to leave the Earth and are now flying in a ship in space as their home. Wall E is the last remaining robot of the cleaning crew and we know this because we are shown several other Wall Es broken down amongst the heaps of garbage that now cover the Earth. After 700 years of cleaning with nothing but a small cockroach by his side a spaceship arrives on Earth and deploys another small little robot that Wall E grows incredibly fond of. Further discussion surrounding the movie’s plot could ruin the very essence of the experience for you so I will speak of it no more. I will leave the plot to be discovered by your very own eyes as you marvel at the incredible creation that is happening before your eyes while you sit in the theaters.

The movie, as all previous Pixar movies have been, looks incredible and amazingly detailed. This is animation that not even Walt Disney himself could have imagined, and animation that I doubt any other company could ever achieve. The movie is gorgeous and the character design as well is flawless. Wall E fits perfectly in our minds as a retro robot especially when beside the obviously futuristic technology that is Eve, the robot scout. The movie has very little dialogue, with I’m sure no more than ten minutes worth of actual vocals in the entire movie, and yet we learn so much about the characters through their actions and we care for them more in this way. Adding actual dialogue in between the romance of Wall E and Eve would have completely broken the marvelous wonder that was the barrier in between their communications.

With hardly any dialogue and being all visual one would most likely expect the movie to be a slow paced movie that doesn’t really go anywhere and while it’s true that the movie doesn’t always rush itself, the first forty five minutes of the film before we get to outer space truly qualifies, I believe, as some of the best work Pixar has done. They created a post apocalyptic type Earth so incredibly that I Am Legend’s opening sequences seemed laughable at in some ways.

However, while being a G rated film, the movie does have its dark undertones. It serves its purpose well as a film that’s telling the story of a young robot but it also chilled me to my very core to see a very realistic portrayal of what could very be our nearby future. I won’t spoil anymore but when you see it with your own eyes you will feel it in your gut. The movie hardly goes into an environmental or preachy tone but strikes a balance so perfectly that you may sometimes hardly even notice that it is trying to send the world a message and it does this so well without ever diverting from the story. What helps the dark undertone even more is the incredible score composed by Thomas Newman. At the beginning of the film as we see Wall E from a distance walking through the vacant garbage infested Earth I was feeling millions of emotions flowing through me as the music entered my ears. The emotions ranged from intrigue and anticipation to depression and fear. If even for those few opening scenes, the movie easily deserves an Oscar nod for its deliciously emotional score.

Usually I find myself basking in the negatives of a movie, blaringly and sometimes hurtfully pointing out every single flaw while occasionally hinting at some good, but in this rare case I find myself having no complaints. I have finally found a movie that I can name no faults in. Is this the greatest movie Pixar has ever made? Possibly. Is it the greatest animated movie? It could be. One thing is certain though, with Nine incredible movies Pixar has certainly earned it’s title as the greatest Film Company ever, and I don’t expect it to be giving up it’s title in my mind any time soon.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

All I’ve been hearing from my friends is “Wasn’t Prince Caspian good?” or “Wasn’t Prince Caspian Excellent?” or even “Didn’t you just love that mouse?!” And my answer is a resounding “NO!”. Well at least for one of those questions, that mouse annoyed me one two many times with his Puss ~N~ Boots like nature, for the other two questions I answer with an unsure yet deliberate… “it was ok…”

It was ok… That’s really all Prince Caspian was, now maybe I’m being biased here seeing as how I’m only one of the five in the world that didn’t smother the first movie to death and I’ve never found any interest in actually reading the books, so if that little bit of information makes you completely disregard my opinion over this movie then I suggest you stop reading right now and go lie on your Narnia sheets…

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian which, for the sake of not dying typing that title over again, we’ll call “PC” indeed starts off rather well. A son is being born in Narnia… or what used to be Narnia and is now inhabited by humans who are oh so evil, and that son that is being born belongs to a man who wishes to be King. However seeing as he’s not a direct heir his cousin PC is next in line, now that this son has been born he can rightfully claim the throne as long as PC is out of the way… I wonder what’s going to happen now… Well PC escapes after being saved by some old Professor that reminds me of Dumbledore mixed with… a normal short old man, and as he runs into the “Dark Woods” (Harry Potter again) he is saved from his attackers by what seem to be moving grass… He desperately blows a magical horn given to him by the professor and apparently this angers the Narnian animals who knock him out.

We then join the four kids from the last time, respectably Kings and
Queens of a land they haven’t visited in… well 1300 years according to the trailer though nothing is specifically said in the movie… The eldest boy is in a fight for what appears to be nothing but an anger problem over some rude teenagers. Honestly, if every fight started as easily as this one apparently did then I would fear to go outside because of all the riots. Now right from the start the three older kids feel some tension about not being in Narnia and the youngest little girl is shown in pure innocence and hope of ever returning there. Well it turns out that the magical horn summons these four back to Narnia, to help save it.

That’s pretty much how the story starts and I hope I don’t have to explain where everything goes from there. They meet up with PC, they have to fight with the animals against the Evil Humans, and there are obstacles along the way. Now I don’t want to beat this film on the head with a bat over it’s Harry Potter similarities so I’ll just pummel it down over it’s similarities with Lord of the Rings. I was honestly confused at times on whether or not the director was going to get sued for some of the scenes in this movie. Walking trees in LotR, and walking trees in PC, acceptable. Orcs marching in square formats in LotR; Bad Narnia Men walking in EXACTLY the same formation as the orcs in PC… a little odd, but probably coincidence. Then they have the nerve to bring back the entire River guardian spiel from Lord of the Rings where a wave of water comes and takes down all the people on the horses. The Narnia film takes it a step further to make a Godzilla sized replica of Jesus emerge from the water and destroy all of the evil men on the bridge.

I’m sorry if you feel that I’ve spoiled the movie for you, but this movie is so predictable that you either already know what’s going to happen or your still in your mother’s womb. If you’re out of your mother’s womb and still don’t see how this movie will end then please return from whence you came, the world doesn’t need any more of you.

As a disclaimer for parents reading this I will tell you that this movie has an increased number of deaths, much more than the first Narnia film, even though most of them occur off screen. The acting is moderate, but at least passable, and the one thing I can applaud this film for are it’s visuals and it’s cinematography. When they were showing those long shots of PC escaping the castle the landscape looked so beautiful, it reminded me so much of Lord of the Rings… oh… look at that. So overall I give this movie a minor recommendation, it’s interesting enough not to keep parents bored most of the times, (some times the movie moves at a glacial pace…), and has enough talking animals and visuals to keep the kids entertained for this overly long 2 hour movie.

Iron Man

I’m writing this review rather quickly because for next week I intend to review The Chronicles of Narnia and the week following that is Indiana Jones, I’m breaking what was going to be a weekly schedule of reviews because it’s been a long time since I’ve made any and I really enjoyed Iron Man so it’s better late than never. Enough blabbering now, let’s get on with another marvelous review.

Iron Man is the man child of Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau, director of fine films such as Elf and Zathura… yeah… Zathura… Well Zathura aside, I must say that Mr. Favreau has impressed me with all of the films he’s made, you know, all two of them, and Iron Man was no exception. Without a doubt I can easily say that Iron Man is his greatest film to date, may we all take a moment of silence to grieve for previous owner of this title, Mr. Ferrell.

Robert Downey Jr. stars as the man in Iron… or some form of Gold Alloid as Tony Stark himself puts it… and he does an incredible job. I’m serious, this is one of those movies where I can’t imagine anyone else in the titular role, Robert Downey plays this role with such finesse and wit that I’d be surprised if he didn’t act like this in real life. His jokes soared through the air and caused my gut to ache by the end of the movie and his interactions with all the other actors never seemed forced or unreal for even a second.

Joining Robert Downey Jr. in the cast are Terrence Howard as an Army General, Jeff Bridges as one of the owners of Stark Industries, and Gwyneth Paltrow as the famed assistant to Tony Stark, Pepper Pots. All give fine performances but Mrs. Paltrow above all gives, what I think, is her best performance in years. She lights up the screen with a smile, something I don’t recall seeing in a film of hers for a while, and she really delivers all of Pepper’s lines well. I’m intrigued that Mrs. Paltrow has delighted me in a film once again, and look forward to more roles from her in the possible sequels.

The Movie starts off fast with Tony Stark being kidnapped after a weapons demonstration in some unnamed middle eastern country and he is kept in captivity being forced to build a missile for the ‘bad guys’. Obviously Tony has other plans as he and the doctor who has saved his life begin making a super suit to help them both escape. The movie moves at a moderate pace and once we get back to civilization, that is to say the country of technology, fast cars, and cheeseburgers, the movie begins to slow down just a tad while Mr. Stark begins going through modifications in his company and his new found hobby in his power suit.

This whole movie has jokes to the max and the actions scenes fit well into the movie, but what makes me like this more than so many of the other recent comic book hero movies, is that this film doesn’t rely on it’s special effects or huge explosions to carry the movie, but places it’s faith in all of it’s characters which pays off greatly for the movie in the end. Although I believe that effects and action sequences aren’t the director’s strong suits, he clearly makes up for it with a tight story, and polished acting, to create one of the most fun, exiting, and well rounded movies of the year thus far.

Speed Racer

… …

 I really didn’t want to do this. I was pondering this week on whether or not to review Iron Man, a movie which I absolutely adored, or this, which I was planning to avoid at all costs or I felt I would literally have to gouge my eyes out. Well I was right about the second part, I came out of Speed Racer with my eyes nearly burning and tearing but I can promise you that it wasn’t from full disappointment, that’s right I said it, not from disappointment.

This film is an adaptation of a Japanese anime that was brought to America in the 1960’s and while kids today are just eating up animes like they were double stuff oreos at the time of their release, this anime inspired movie contained none of the sleek sexy violence or ridiculously exposed and grown women that modern animes spit out like llamas. No instead of going for fights or anything like that this movie goes directly for storytelling, and character driven… Ok I couldn’t bring myself to that, this movie is all about the Races! But we’ll get to that later.

The movie stars Emile Hirsch who absolutely blew me away in last year’s Into the Wild, and co starring with him are John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci, and Matthew Fox. This movie indeed has a powerful cast to cover up the many many flaws, and in the end it works out quite well. Let’s start things off by quickly sweeping away all of those flaws. The script is incoherent, and there are so many subplots and characters at some points that X-men 3 is put to shame, the plot is entirely predictable even when it tries to throw us off, and it starts off pretty slow, and travels through the middle a little harshly as well. There the bad things have been listed now let’s get on with this and mention what I did like.

The look of this movie is mind blowing, and excuse the phrasing here seeing as how I’m trying to tone down the language but watching this movie gave my head a hint of a mental orgasm. It was seriously like I had been drunk hobo at Disneyland high on drugs and being fed marshmallow covered candy drops by Santa Claus himself and I was loving every minute of it. This movie has such a unique look and feel to it, the races are stupendous, although sometimes they move so fast that you can hardly tell what they are doing it all works out overall in your head. Even when they’re not racing the movie has a cartoon look to it that looks like a dream at first but that’s really how the Wachowski brothers decided to give it to us and I applaud them for that.

The jokes are a bit mild although there and they sometimes hit, and the acting is above average with nearly each actor perfectly capturing the characters that they are portraying, although that little snippet will be lost to non fans of the original series, and I will admit that the kid and the monkey at times made me want to throw a huge red wrench through the theater screen and watch them get thrown off a cliff, but at the same time the movie made me dream of driving the Mach 5, maybe not in real life, but in an extraordinary video game that I was really enjoying and couldn’t keep away, one that would keep me up for nights in a row like only one game has ever done before, and a movie that makes me feel that way can have as many flaws as a Uwe Boll film and I would still love it in someway. So with that I end my review, this movie is strict eye candy and a fun to watch even though the story moves slow and is sometimes confusing and is meant for children.

P.S. I take back the comment about as many flaws as a Uwe Boll film, that was wrong and I apologize. If any other film had as many flaws as Uwe Boll makes I would probably shoot myself in the head because that would signal the coming of the apocalypse and the inevitable revolution of the Bunnies.

The Bank Job

I know what you’re thinking. Jason Statham has made another movie to follow up that Uwe Boll movie that he made that nobody watch so why would I want to watch this one. Well before I answer anything for you I would like you to do one thing. Go grab a pencil very quickly. Please don’t read on to see where I’m going with this, just get a pen or a pencil. When you’ve got one, make the star trek wave with your hand (a peace sign with all four fingers instead of two) and then put the pen/pencil in between. Now squeeze with your other hand. That hurt didn’t it? Well that’s what you get. Every time Hollywood gets it right and makes a good movie that’s really enjoyable, nobody watches it. (For those who did watch the movie I apologize for the pain). This movie was great, it wasn’t the best of the year so far, but it was by far the best thing that’s been out in weeks.

The movie stars Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows in a heist movie which unlike many others only spends about the first half of the movie on the actual heist. Jason Statham’s character is a married man with two girls who gets a job from an ex (Burrows) about robbing a bank. She’s a little iffy on giving out information but what bank heist doesn’t have its risks? Just ask the Oceans crew. The movie begins with him gathering some close friends and old ones as well who all have their expertise that can be used (sound familiar still?). However what takes this movie above and beyond is its sub plot. There is corruption on the streets when several high ranking officials of the local police department and government are blackmailed by one of the most notorious people out on the town. He has photos of several of them doing… wild acts. He even has pictures of the Princess doing so as well. Of course as fate would have it, these photos are held secure in the exact bank that is going to be robbed. Now the whole movie plays out very linearly and it’s very easy to follow while at the same time being very easy to watch.

The acting here is much better than I expected. Everyone gives in well performances which, for a movie that sounds this corny on paper, are a great sight for sore eyes. Jason Statham in particular shows that he actually does have some talent that goes beyond his Transporter films. Saffron Burrows who is probably best known for her role in Boston Legal also checks in a strong performance as the ex girlfriend of Statham’s character who offers him the job.

Overall the movie plays out as one of my favorites of the year so far. Not the best, but one of my favorites. While not as funny it is a little bit above the Ocean’s franchise and it’s a very fun experience. This movie is rated R for a reason however as the movie contains several murders, nudity, and one of the characters is an ex adult movie start, a minor background point that is references a few times. I give this movie a 4/5 and give it a high recommendation to the audience of 16 and above.

Horton Hears a Who

Horton Hears a Who is the new animated Dr. Suess film. The film stars the voices of Steve Carell and Jim Carrey, however don’t worry, unlike Carrey’s last Seuss attempt, this one doesn’t leave you running for the exits. The movie is a nice family comedy about an elephant named Horton (Jim Carrey) who discovers the world of the Whos which in Horton’s world is just a small little speck on a pink clover.

Horton finds this ‘speck’ and with his great hearing is able to listen in on the whos inside. His great hearing talent however is not shared by any of the other animals and many see this poor elephant as a crazed animal. None take these thoughts to any place higher, however, than the Kangaroo, who is appropriately named Kangaroo. She hops around with her child in her pouch and spends most of the movie attempting to plot for the speck to be destroyed since she sees it as an attempt to get children to start imagining and thinking God forbid. The Whos on the other hand are on the eve of a big celebration, which I can’t remember but I’m sure starts with ‘who’ something, and everything seems fine until the Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell) begins to notice these tremors which are caused by Horton moving around to much while carrying their world. Everyone else in whoville notices the tremors as well but brush it off as…well… nothing. The Mayor is able to communicate with Horton and he attempts to tell the council and everyone else in Whoville that Horton exists, much like Horton attempts to tell everyone in his world that the Whos exist. The story revolves around no one believing either of these two characters and Horton’s journey to get the Whos to a safe and stable environment while the Kangaroo sends creatures to kill the speck.

The story in Horton Hears a Who is pretty basic and nothing is really new but I feel that the movie makes it work. You get the whole story of the two seemingly outsiders who don’t really fit in and just want everyone to understand, which is a part of the movie that I really like, and at the same time you get the story of the Mayor of Whoville and his son. His son does not want to be the heir to the Mayor chair despite his father’s assurance, but the movie falls a little short here in that it really never expands on the son’s character and we never truly get told what it is that the son wants to do.

The animation here is also pretty good. Much like it was in Bee Movie I would say that Horton is one fine looking animated film. The textures are nice and clean and sometimes even look beautiful while the characters themselves also are easy to look at without being too flashy. Another strong point of the movie is the simplicity of the jokes that it tells. Unlike many child aimed movies, Horton does not rely on fart jokes or slapstick really, except on few occasions, to get your laughs. Instead Carell and Carrey do their best to actually deliver witty or outrageously random lines that make us chuckle. Even Seth Rogen who plays Horton’s friend the mouse has some interesting lines thrown in.

Overall this movie was a pretty enjoyable experience. The story was above average and better than most animated movies out right now, except of course nearly every Pixar movie, and the animation was really nice. The movie which is just under 90 minutes doesn’t overstay it’s welcome and it doesn’t make parents want to blow their heads off or fall asleep in the theater. I give Horton Hears a Who high recommendations to anyone who has kids, and trust me, don’t let the babysitter take them, you should go as well. This is an enjoyable movie for all ages. 3.5/5

21

21 is a “heist” type film that stars Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, and Kate Bosworth. Takes place mostly at MIT College and of course in glorious Las Vegas. Unfortunately this film shoots for blackjack and it busts about halfway through.

Jim Sturgess plays Ben Campbell, an MIT student who has all the grades and requirements to get into Harvard Med but, like most adolescents who try to go to college, doesn’t have the near three hundred grand that he needs. During his days at MIT he is inventing a machine with his two friends for a science fair type situation when one day in class he manages to prove Issac Newton wrong and brand him a thief. This impresses the professor Micky Rosa who is played by Kevin Spacey. The movie then takes off when Ben is invited to a group of six people who go to Las Vegas on weekends and using their brilliant minds, count cards as a team to make as much money as they can. This is seen as Ben as a solution to his money problem and states that once he gets the three hundred grand he needs he’s out… yeah, right.

The acting for this movie is passable at best. Spacey perhaps gives the best performance of the group but that isn’t saying much. The students all play their parts under the radar except for the occasional attempt at some serious acting from Sturgess and Bosworth which never really pan out. Laurence Fishburne also stars as a casino security guard who tries furiously to capture Sturgess who he suspects is counting cards. Fishburne for the most part gave a mediocre performance except for a few times when his acting left me on the floor laughing at his horrid attempts of acting.

The story was adapted from the book Bringing Down the House which soars in comparison to this film. The film followed to take the premise of the book and then change every single detail along the way eliminating several of the book’s most exciting and interesting plot points.

Overall 21 is a movie that takes itself way too seriously. I’m not saying that the movie was horrible, by all means if you need to choose a movie this weekend between SuperHero movie and 21 then by all means go to 21, but I truly believe that I felt more realistic acting and entertainment in last week’s movie Horton Hears a Who.

2.5/5

Enchanted

If ever a movie delighted me as much as Enchanted did then I would love to remember what it was. The film stars Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, and the eccentric Amy Adams in one of the most fun and upbeat movies of the year. The film is set at first in an animation world until the young girl Giselle meets Prince Edward and he declares that they will be married at once. The evil queen, played by Susan Sarandon, sees Giselle as the one who will remove her from her thrown so she sends Giselle, on her wedding day, down a portal to a land where, as she puts it, there are no happily ever afters. That place is of course real world, New York.

Once in the real world Amy Adams desperately tries to return to her own world but of course she is unable to. In New York after a night of horrible mistreatment she meets up with Patrick Dempsey’s character and ends up going with him, him being the only person who has shown her any kindness. The film revolves around these two characters as Giselle waits for Prince Edward, who is meanwhile searching for Giselle in New York alongside a chipmunk and a henchman of the Queen who is devout in making sure Edward and Giselle never find each other.

In a role that could have been played lazily by any actress, Amy Adams beautifully shines as the princess in what is definitely her career defining role. She takes the princess in the real world to a whole new level that makes her so believable as a princess yet you notice her change as she descends further and further into reality. This performance is so well that I in fact agree with the buzz out there and believe that she is up for an Oscar nod, whether she might win or not is up for speculation.

All of the other actors play their parts well alongside Adams and the movie plays out quite well. Another note that was quite interesting in this movie was the music. Alan Menken has been a favorite of mine ever since his work on the Little Mermaid and he does not disappoint here with the few, albeit quite good, songs that are thrown in. One especially that takes place in Central Park brings Enchanted to life in a mere three minutes showing us the magic that Giselle has brought to reality and the contrast between her and Robert (Patrick Dempsey).

Enchanted is a well made movie that unfortunately suffers from an unnecessary CGI ending climax but never fails to entertain. The movie most likely would not have done as well if it weren’t for Amy Adams, who in my mind IS this movie. If it weren’t for those last scenes with the dragon and the rooftop then this movie would have been close to my favorite light-hearted movie of the year, however despite the ending it still finds a place on one of my favorite theater experiences this year. I give it a 4/5.

Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone is an excellent film starring Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, and Morgan Freeman. It is a drama movie about two detective type people (played by Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) who are hired to find a young girl that was recently kidnapped. It takes place in
Boston and it is a wonderful heart wrenching film that had me constantly thinking about what was going to happen next.

The two detectives are hired to help find the girl by the little girl’s aunt; they are hired by her because as they soon find out the mother is a drug addict who seems like she couldn’t care less about her child missing. We then learn that she had stolen some money earlier on and that the person she stole it from might have been the abductor of her child. Through several twists and turns Casey and Monaghan are paired up with Ed Harris and another officer to escort them across their investigation, although the chief, played by Morgan Freeman, does not exactly like that they are around and is not too optimistic on actually finding the child dead or alive.

The acting here is phenomenal, both Affleck and Monaghan shine in their performances although I feel that Monaghan’s character shows no true purpose until the very end of the film which is excellent so I will not spoil it here. Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman also do their respectable roles well and Freeman is so convincing that he is one of the main reasons I sat in the theater thinking about this movie at the end.

This movie was of course directed by Ben Affleck, who is Casey Affleck’s brother, and he does it very, very well. Ben Affleck might be a small eye sore when watching him on the screen but one cannot deny his artistic creativity when he’s behind the camera. Ben Affleck also helped write the screenplay to this film and I believe that this may lead to another Oscar for Ben.

Gone Baby Gone is an exceptionally well made movie with a great plot and I view it as one of the best movies I’ve seen all year. I highly recommend it to all fans of the drama genre though I must warn you that there is excessive language in the film but it’s rightfully there of course. The movie has its twists and turns, most of them are pretty good and unexpected, and overall I give this movie a perfect 5/5.

Rendition

Rendition is a movie that surprises me. It is a movie where filmmakers try to get several big
Hollywood faces to pass a message to us, at least that’s what it seems like. This movie stars the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, and Alan Arkin. Rendition can be classified as a political drama but there is much more to it than that.  It takes place when the husband of Reese Witherspoon, played by Omar Metwally, is taken into custody by the CIA as a potential terrorist.

Reese tries to get him back and at the same time we are introduced to Jake Gyllenhaal who is at a square when a bomb goes off and kills his partner. We are also introduced into a third storyline of a young girl named
Fatima who wants to be with her boyfriend even though her father is forcing her to marry someone else. The main plotline involves Jake Gyllenhaal overseeing the torture session of Reese’s husband to try and get information, while back at home Witherspoon tries to find out where her husband is.

The actors do their best in this movie and it’s actually quite good. From Reese Witherspoon to Meryl Streep who of course shines in anything she does. Jake Gyllenhaal also exceeds expectations and you can feel his pain as he watches the poor man, who he himself deems as innocent, being tortured. The man doing the torturing is the father of
Fatima who has been missing for nearly a week and we know that she is with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend however has secret meetings that she does not know about and one day while out at what seems like a party the cops arrive to arrest them all. Fatima and her boyfriend get away but his brother is unfortunately captured.

Overall however this movie just doesn’t really work for me.  It has wonderful actors but the story just seems a little weak and can’t really follow through. At the end I was nearly completely confused although I understand it but the movie just as a whole does not work I think. It is however wonderfully acted and shot, but it is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for any movie theater fun. Rendition is a serious movie but for me it’s just a slight swing and a miss. I give it a 2.5 out of 5.

The Kingdom

I recently went to watch the Kingdom which is a movie that stars the likes of Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, and my personal favorite Jason Bateman. It is an action drama that takes place after two bombs explode in Saudi Arabia on American soil. Jamie Foxx would like to get his team out to investigate but he is denied and ends up going behind his superior’s back to get permission. He and the other three go alone to Saudi Arabia where they are met by an officer played wonderfully by Ashraf Bahrom who is charged with keeping them safe throughout their five days of staying in Saudi Arabia.

The movie starts with a small background check on the history of the relation between America and Saudi Arabia which ends with the terrorist attack on the twin towers. When Jamie Foxx’s team gets there to find out the killers he and his team are outraged when they learn that they cannot interfere with the Arabs or collect any evidence at all. Foxx is determined to find out who is the bomber since his close friend died in the blast, but Farris (Bahrom) understands but refuses. They are kept locked up in a gym each night for their safety and must always wear bullet proof vests as a precaution.

The actors all get their job done, Jamie Foxx being the action man that he is portrays his character as well as he can along with the rest of his team. Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman do their best to give the movie a light feeling in their one liners and rants about the smallest things. Jennifer Garner truly is trying her best but I am afraid that I can’t break her from her Alias and chick flick stature to star in a movie like this. She is not bad, but there is definitely room for improvement.

The sets are also built especially to show the difference between the Saudi’s and the Americans. The Americans are contained within a wall. Inside this wall they have their softball field where the explosion occurred, the grass is green they have trees and real nice houses and all the people dress up like it’s a normal American summer day. Outside the wall the town looks beat up and complete sand, the people are all covered up and everyone seems to stare at Jamie Foxx as he goes by to add to the dramatic effect.

Overall this movie is a straight Americans save the world again plot with a little politics thrown into it. Nevertheless the movie works for me on many levels though the beginning is not exactly for the faint of heart. I think there was so much more that could have been done with this but for the most part director Peter Berg has pleased me with this movie. I give it a 3.5/5.

 Every once in a while, and in modern days every couple of months, there comes a movie that is horribly focused on trying to be stupid and funny that it completely deteriorates people’s respect for comedies. Balls Of Fury is such a movie. I’m all for a good comedy, give me a good one liner or a hilarious situation and I’ll sit through it, what I cannot sit through is stuff like this, Date and Epic Movie, or the Scary Movie franchise. I do not find it funny, and I don’t think anyone does, when someone slips on something and then flies insanely flipping in the air.

The whole using a sports ball as a metaphor for “something” else was fine for the movie dodge ball, which was a breath of fresh air for slapstick comedy for me, but seems like a carbon copy in BOF. The whole movie is like a spoof on sports and Asian action films; unfortunately it carries all of the problems of both of those genres and merges them together.  It tries to take some action, some slapstick, and some competitive sports; the result is a movie messier than anything I’ve ever seen.

Dan Fogler stars in this movie as the washed up used to be the best ping pong player. He now stars on stage as a small family act performing little tricks with ping pong balls.  This all changes when a secret agent played by George Lopez comes and tells him that the man who murdered his father when he was a child is a bad person, oh really, and is holding a tournament for the best ping pongers in the world. He is out of shape however and apparently must receive training from one of the best.

The whole training scenes are stupid clichés running from the master doing a slow interpretive dance like motion, and even the use of a lucky cricket. The master also has a daughter who is played by Maggie Q. I like Maggie Q in Live Free or Die Hard, but her talents seem completely wasted here. Of course Fogler makes it into the tournament and we finally get to see Christopher Walken. The movie tries too hard to be funny but it is predictable, it is stupid, and put plainly it is just not funny. I give it a 1.5/ 5 simply because Christopher Walken can always make me laugh at least once.