Join Jerry and Mike (Jack Black and Mos Def) in Be Kind Rewind as they “swede” some of the most iconic movies of all time to raise the appropriate amount of money and save their aged video store from being torn down.

What is sweding, one might ask? Sweding is when you remake a film from scratch using whatever you can get your hands on. In this case, Jerry accidentally erases every video tape from the store and Mike comes up with the simple idea of remaking the VHS tapes using themselves as actors. The two end up becoming stars and people from around the country start to seek the sweded work of Jerry and Mike.

The idea is unique and the characters are charming. Jerry is an over-the-top character with sensitive feelings and believes that he is perfect for every role and Mike is a very simple-minded, soft-spoken character who just doesn’t want to disappoint the store owner and father figure Elroy Fletcher, passively played by Danny Glover.

Although the tone of the film is much different from that of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, there is still a lot of thought put into this picture. And this takes of a whole lot effort from Jack Black and Mos Def if you consider the many different roles they had to cover in the time span of 102 minutes. Let’s not forget about Danny Glover, who has a distinctive slur to his voice and gives an unobtrusive performance that brings some dignity to his character. There are a few funny moments to be found, but the film seemed more interested in capturing the hearts of its viewers, rather piling on the laughs.

A definitive style and imagination is a requirement for a solid concept like this. Michel Gondry proved that he has everything needed to direct films with such an offbeat pitch to it when he put his signature style on films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep. This one’s a true crowd pleaser.

Unlike Son of Rambow (a film that was also trying to grasp the essence of film and failed on multiple levels), this film has a tender spot for movie lovers and pleases without being disorganized and erratically uneven. A solid script, great cast, and an amusing premise guide this homage to movies, friendship, and the power of numbers to its warm finale. Be sure to take the time to cherish each clever scene and the outer limits of Michel Gondry’s imagination. The ending will either be a touching, heartfelt one or an insipid, whimsical one (depending on one’s perspective). For me, it was entirely endearing.  4/5 stars

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Writer/director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, A Scanner Darkly) takes the audience on a psychedelic mind-trip into the world of dreaming. A man wanders around in his own dream meeting various people who preach the meaning and purpose of life and has multiple false awakenings in the process. He begins to question what is real and what is fictional and soon wonders if this is the result of death. The cast includes Wiley Wiggins, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg, Steven Soderbergh, and Richard Linklater himself.

It all comes down to what Linklater was trying to accomplish. Whether it’s due to an abundant flow of ideas and theories or just proof that he handled every drug known to man during his college days, Linklater has a way of drawing his audience into his dream world of distorting illusion and conventional conversations pertaining to evolution, the media, and isolation. The majority of these conversations are contrived and just don’t make much sense. But when the occasional well thought out theory is explained thoroughly, one can’t help but dwell on these perspectives and immediately become enmeshed in Linklater’s world of hypothetical analysis.

The animation is trippy. Objects move when they should be stationary and the characters change shape and colors, even becoming transparent at times. It’s an ambitious work of art with an imaginative glance into the world of surrealism, an hypnotic way of explaining one’s perception of dreams and reality. It’s a film for the thinking crowd, the type of movie that will test your knowledge and proclaim its existence into your memory.

It’s absurd in the fact that the entire film is unpredictable and that random thoughts become rationed out though different perspectives. However, this absurdity is what keeps the film interesting. There’s quite a bit to look at here (a gift to the eyes) and enough to intrigue and bring out inner thoughts about life (a treat to the ears and mind). I can’t say that the film will be completely engaging, but I found most of these principles associated with life to be utterly fascinating.

Linklater has many thoughts crowding his head and this seems like the best way of displaying his loopy mindset and ultimately activating the gears in the viewer’s brain. What Richard Linklater does here is provide a way of dealing with dreams; he put a new brand of animation on the map in the process. In the end, Linklater does justice to the mind and brings something distinctive and new to the table. A standing ovation is required.  4/5 stars

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Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
Written by Guillermo Del Toro
Starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones

Four years after the original, Hellboy is back, and although there wasn’t a lot of demand for a sequel, it proves to be a welcome addition to the list of summer 2008 blockbusters. This time around, “Red” has to stop an ancient mythical prince from summoning The Golden Army, an indestructible force of 70 times 70 mechanical warriors to take back the world that was once his. Whatever, the plot isn’t really important. It just works as a vessel for visionary director Guillermo Del Toro to work his remarkable imagination. And he does.

The first Hellboy seemed impressive in 2004, but it pales in comparison to The Golden Army. From start to finish there are dozens of breathtaking creatures that raise the bar of fantasy. The sequel is a lot more rooted in fantasy/fairy tale territory than typical superhero stuff. Which is a good thing because Del Toro knows a few things about fantasy and fairy tales, he directed the masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth. For example, in a brilliant early scene, Hellboy and his team encounter hundreds of little “tooth fairies”, vicious little killers who have habit of stealing their victim’s teeth. Or when the team infiltrate the “Troll Market”, a place for the things that go bump in the night to shop, which may actually top the Tatooine bar scene in the first Star Wars film. A couple delightful surprises wait there, and I wont spoil them. Or when the prince throws a harmless looking green jumping bean at Hellboy, that once it finds water, becomes something rather spectacular, maybe even beautiful. Like Pan’s Labyrinth, the film has a way of balancing makeup/costume effects with CGI. The result is authentic looking creatures that completely engross you into the movie’s reality. Why other directors don’t instate such style is quite the mystery to me.

The characters are all back, aside from Myers, which admittedly disappointed me…Until the Seth McFarlane (Family Guy) voiced Johan Krauss was introduced. A brilliant addition to the team, he seems to be a gas-like entity contained in some strange suit. His ability? He can possess inanimate objects, a power that will ultimately be underused because it’s way too useful. Hellboy is up to his old smoking cigars/petting kittens/pissing off authority antics, as well as some new ones as well (a duet of Barry Manilow between Red and Abe Sapien may occur). Ron Perlman enthusiastically continues his great performance with just the right mix of brawn and sensitivity, making Hellboy very endearing. Del Toro regular Doug Jones (played multiple creature parts in Pan’s Labyrinth) does triple duty as the more interesting this time around Abe Sapien as well as the film’s two best creatures, The Chamberlain and The Angel of Death. Selma Blair again fails to impress as Liz, but the writing for her character isn’t necessarily very strong. Jeffrey Tambor of Arrested Development gets more screen time but not more to do. He’s still grouchy and only there for minor conflict and a couple weak laughs.

The characters are fun, and certainly are a big part of the experience, but it’s the visuals that make this really worth seeing. Del Toro goes no holds-barred this time around, ad it’s sure to get any Lord of the Rings geek excited for his upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit. The plot is a bit trivial and the storytelling isn’t up to the par of Del Toro’s work. The Hellboy films feel more like a mix of Pan’s Labyrinth and Men In Black than a typical superhero movies. I wouldn’t rank them amongst Iron Man, the Spiderman films (well, maybe #3) or the new Batman movies but it really isn’t cut from the same cloth anyhow. So, striking visually, a bit weak story-wise, but a fun summer movie I highly recommend.

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Journey to the Center of the Earth starring Brendan Fraser and Josh Hutchison will take you for a ride, literally. This 3-D movie is packed with adventure and great fun for anyone!

The story begins when a professor has to watch his nephew who just lost his father. Brendan takes Josh to Iceland so they can do some field lab work, but when they meet a woman who guides them into the mountain for a little research, they get more than a bargain. Soon, the group find themselves stuck in cave and needing to get out with the little time they have left. Along the way, the trio sees things that are out of the ordinary and make exciting finds and also might I add get into a little trouble and romance.

The 3-D effects were really cool. I liked how things flew at me and made the movie more fascinating. The 3-D affects made you want to go back and re-read the book. The 3-D effects also had some fun surprises in them! The coolest part of the movie was seeing the center of the earth itself, is that how it really looks like, Jules Verne had quite an imagination.

However, the beginning was a bit confusing, leading into the story itself took a while. Things eventually picked up when the uncle and nephew follow the guide into exciting heights. In the beginning, the scenes made you a little sick for it it was going too fast. The rest of the movie was fun to watch and you felt like you were going on a rollercoaster the entire movie.

Overall, this action packed adventure will take you on a ride to the center of the Earth. It makes you wonder if you can go to the center of the earth and survive!

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Rated PG and running two hours and twenty minutes this movie stars Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell and Sergio Castellitto.

Following the same characters from the earlier Narnia movie this movie begins a year later.  The children are all on their way to school when Narnia comes for them.  They find themselves on a beach in a land that they once knew that has changed drastically.  There a new ruler has found himself in the position to take control and he has desires to be king.  Which is why Prince Caspian must run for his life and search for help from those sons and daughters of olde.  When Susan, Peter, Edmond and Lucy find themselves in Narnia they are startled that so much has changed, and they find that many of the Narnians has disappeared or gone into hiding to save themselves.  A war is on the way, a war for the lives of the Narnians and the control of an empire.  Prince Caspian must make a choice and his biggest adversary might just be himself, or Peter.

Visually this movie follows along the tracks of the first movie.  Most of the characters are digitally animated or added to, and it does take away from the fun of the movie.  At times it can be distracting enough that the viewer is taken out of the movie and pays more attention to the characters visually than what they are saying.  The plot of this movie is lacking and there is way too much going on.  There are too many characters and to be honest the plot seems to suffer, as well as the story.

The biggest drawback of this movie for me was that it seemed like one giant fight scene.  There was no further development of the characters and it seemed as if the scenes of the movie were more thought out as a fight scene than as character storyline.  Even Prince Caspian was lacking.  I didn’t feel like there was enough development of him to care about if he lived or died or became king or whatever.  I really thought that his character and the character of the bad guy and many others should have been expanded a little more.  The character I found myself disliking the most was not of the main bad guy but of Peter.  I was offended by him and thought that he was played a little strongly. 

This movie was a great disappointment to me.  Having read all of the books several times since I was a child I was hoping that this movie would be as well done and fun as the movie before it.  Also I wondered why they creator of the movies didn’t do the first or the third books?  Why skip and do the second and fourth books? 

If you are a fan of the Narnia books I don’t recommend seeing this movie.  If you like fighting then you might like this movie because there are a lot of fight scenes in this movie.  If you want a plot driven movie don’t see this one.

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After stumbling upon a book in the basement on their new home, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, become pulled into a world of faeries and goblins. This book, known as The Spiderwick Field Guide, was written by a man named Arthur Spiderwick, who was abducted by faeries. It tells them everything they need to know about how to kill goblins and call upon mythical birds for help. Now they must protect the book from these creatures and find Arthur Spiderwick to put an end to the mayhem.

There really isn’t much good to say about this noisy and frantic fantasy that lacks all but a single good actor. Lazy CGI effects bombard the screen, along with screaming faeries that are about as annoying as nails on a chalk board. It is as if they took the cheapest computer technology available, enhanced it ever so slightly, then decided to add some impaired voices into the mix. Nick Nolte, Martin Short, and Seth Rogen are some of the loud, unfamiliar voices that crowd the screen. It really irks me that these characters are so pesky, yet they are voiced by some rather talented people.

It’s an irritating fantasy that seems rushed and deserved a release to the rental shelves rather than to the silver screen with such poor CGI work. Freddy Highmore plays dual roles comfortably, but the supporting cast of live actors (including Mary-Louise Parker who has shown some serious acting skills in the Showtime series Weeds) were unconvincing and the CGI beasties are about as irritating as an itch you can’t reach.

It starts off with dark, atmospheric set pieces that look really good and quickly turns into a ridiculous story gorged with silly moments. The film’s intentions were to take the audience into a world of fantasy (where ridiculous is acceptable to some extent). Instead, the film goes beyond preposterous and ends up being completely far-fetched.

So we have one good actor, several sub-par actors, an overuse of undernourished CGI effects, and a line of uninteresting characters. It’s a putrid mess, a film that doesn’t have a clue as to what defines entertainment and ends up being obnoxious. It is sad that none of this is quality entertainment and all of it is a nuisance to eyes and ears.

The entire film was a waste of time I could’ve spent watching some sort of solid entertainment, and a waste of money the filmmakers could’ve spent making a better film. The bottom line is it was nothing more than a noisy monstrosity and a eulogy to poorly executed family flicks. 1.5/5 stars

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The Spiderwick Chronicles is a Mark Waters directed movie based off of a book series and marketed towards a younger audience. However, some of the CGI creatures involved in the peril of the film may be too scary for your youngster. Then again, it could be a great way to break them into loving horror cinema, if they can handle a screaming orge there is no reason why Freddy Krueger should spook them!

The story follows a family as they move into a new home, with the kid count being at three two win brothers and an older sister. One of the brothers finds a book along with a brownie within the walls of the home, and the book ends up being the source of their troubles and adventure. It is a field guide to the world unknown to most, the magical world of fairies and goblins that are invisible unless you know how to look for them. An evil orge wants to get his hands on this book and thanks to the meddling of the kids he gets his chance once again. Can he be stopped?

The cast includes Freddie Highmore playing both of the boys and Mary Louise Parker takes on the role of their mother and Sarah Bolger is the sister. Other celebrities bring their voice talents to magical creatures, talents such as: Seth Rogan, Martin Short, and Nick Nolte. David Strathairn is another recognizable actor within the flick, playing the role of the Spiderwick who created the book to begin with.

If I were to compare this to other popular fantasy movies such as the Harry Potter movies I would have to give Spiderwick credit for not being as boring. In fact it is the darker, scary elements and intense action moments that kept my attention. Whereas Harry Potter, even during action tends to be stuffy and slow. As is usual for fantasy movie adaptations of books however, lots of information is lost and logical errors and plotholes pop up every few minutes.

The ending for Spiderwick ends up being relatively humorous, before it turns into sappy creepiness. (ask me about that if you’ve seen it and are confused) Overall it is an okay run-of-the-mill movie. In other words: years from now I will vividly recall the work Pan’s Labyrinth and not recall a thing about The Spiderwick Chronicles. If you enjoy fantasy movies though, geared towards kids in story though not fully in execution: worthy rental.

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Written by: Andrew Stanton
Directed by: Andrew Stanton
Starring: Ben Burtt, Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Garlin

Pixar has one again delivered a classic, which really, is not a surprise. This, however, does not mean Wall-E isn’t surprising. The film pushes the boundaries of Western mainstream animation with an admirable amount of gusto. What we have here may be the greatest animated film in American history (I, as a critic, can’t help but remain partial to Ratatouille). I’m not certain that by the end of 2008, Wall-E will stand as the best movie of the year, but I’ll bet it’s the most special, and maybe even most important. This is a family movie that doesn’t know it’s a family movie. Yes, it’s rated “G” in the USA and Canada but so was 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I have no problem naming the two films in the same sentence, which in my opinion, is the largest of compliments. It doesn’t need swearing or adult-only themes to work. We have a science fiction story that has a lot to say about where were going, and please do not just write it off as another global warming movie. Yes, global warming and how we treat our planet is the main concern here, but the film is remarkably effective then when you leave the theater, you will notice the first tree or plant you see and be filled with regret. I believe Wall-E to first and foremost be a science fiction film, but that’s certainly not all.

It is roughly 700 years in the future, we left earth some time ago when it became a barren wasteland. The first time we see Wall-E, the one robot left behind to pick up our trash, he is compressing garbage and making gigantic junk piles that resemble skyscrapers. The first time we are presented with the image of earth in this way, Wall-E working away on one of many piles, the title of the film fills the screen. We quickly realize this isn’t the standard kid’s flick. The image is so unexpectedly haunting, definitely one of the most effective visions of our planet’s future. Wall-E appears to be alone on earth except for a cockroach that tends to follow him around. Wall-E should stick to his task, but he has developed a personality, and a winning one at that. He collects objects that peak his interest, such as a Rubik’s cube and a light bulb. The item that has captured his artificial imagination most effectively is a VHS copy of Hello Dolly which he routinely watches. As he watches, two characters on screen hold hands, Wall-E simultaneously interlocks his own robotic hands. He has developed longing. Soon, his simple life is interrupted by the arrival of a spaceship bearing a female robot, EVE, sent to locate some sign of life. Wall-E is at once obsessed and does not leave EVE alone. The unlikeliest of romances begins, and what a memorable one it is. By the end, the strength of the romance is enough to love the picture. Once EVE finds what she needs, she blasts into orbit, Wall-E tags along.

They end up at Axiom, a space station, our advanced civilization. People, it seems, have changed. Everyone is obese and exerts little to no effort in their daily lives. Computers and robots control everything. Even the human man leading the people ultimately answers to a robot (a robot with an ominous red eye much like HAL from 2001, an homage to a great inspiration but perhaps even an equal) No one walks anymore, they float around in chairs with a projected TV screen. They have forgotten how to live. The poignancy only increases. I could keep going on about the brilliant vision of the future but to be surprised is better.

I mentioned that Wall-E primarily works as Sci-Fi, and secondly as a romance, thirdly comes comedy. I don’t know if I could go as far as to actually call it a comedy, but there are hearty laughs abound. Wall-E’s curiosity is charming and often leads to a pleasantly hard to predict and hilarious result. The gags should please the young, old, and in between alike, but I’m not quite sure how young kids will react to this movie as a whole.

The opening 30 minutes is practically dialog free. We eventually gain some minor human characters who speak a little, but speech is very minimal nonetheless. The visuals are stunning and captivating, and in the right mood, a young child may be engrossed. I wouldn’t be surprised though, if a child might fidget and lose interest, at least for part of it. The more patient, thoughtful viewer will be in paradise the entire time.

Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) has crafted a masterpiece. An animated film that is not afraid to please adults first. Filled with dark undertones as well as a large dose of hope, one can experience a range of emotions during Wall-E. I was moved and haunted to an extent few movies can accomplish. Pixar has really outdone themselves by bringing us an American animated movie as thoughtful as a Miyazaki film (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke), to me that is the highest of accolades. Wall-E is, without a doubt, one of the greatest animated films of all time and perhaps one of the best Sci-Fi films as well. Go see Wall-E, it’s flawless.

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Starring John Goodman, Christina Ricci, and Emile Hirsch.  It is rated PG, and I don’t think I need to say why, intense scenes mostly.  It is two hours and fifteen minutes long.

Based on a popular 1960’s cartoon entitled, duh, Speed Racer, this is a real life intense racing movie.  Emile stars as Speed Racer, yes folks that is his name.  He has been raised around racing, can’t get enough, dreams about it when he is in school, and finally becomes what he always knew he would become, a racer.  Following in his brothers tainted footsteps, Speed has big shoes to fill, and parents who love and want what is best for him.  Racing is his life, and he wants to be the best.  A giant company decides they want to buy him, bring him into their fold, and crush his spirit, but Speed has too much integrity to fall for that.  With the help of his family, Mr. X, Trixie, and a cast of characters he passes through trial after trial until finally the end is reached.  Yet, does the evil doing company fall, or do they survive to coma again in a sequel?

This was probably one of the brightest and most colorful movie that I have ever seen.  Stimulating to my brain and stimulating for my eyes, this was a cornucopia of fun, and fast cars.  Most of the scenes were some sort of computer animation, or cartooning, but it didn’t matter.  It was a fabulously brilliant movie to view.  The scenes were so colorful that at times I wasn’t even paying attention to the action that was taking place on the screen.  The characters were all well played, especially since they were all based on a cartoon, and while at times they seemed a little cartoonish it never went over the edge to too much cartoonish behavior. 

I didn’t like that there didn’t seem to be enough background on the brother and I found myself a little confused at times by what exactly happened.  I wasn’t sure what had really happened with the brother to cause him to do the things that he did.  It didn’t all make sense to me.  Plus there could have been just a little more depth to some of the characters like Speed’s mom and some of the background characters that held important parts in the film.

You don’t have to have seen the cartoon to be visually stimulated by this movie.  Even if you go see it just for that it is well worth it.  This movie does remind me a little bit of Tron, not so much that I want to make a comparison, but enough that I said something about it after watching the movie.  I pretty much will recommend this movie to everyone who wants to see something with a lot of colors and some really great visual effects.

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Starring Tilda Swinton, Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Skandar Keynes and Rupert Everett, this movie is two hours and fifteen minutes long.  It is rated PG and is okay for everyone althoug some of the scenes might be too intense for children under the age of 6.

The Chronicles of Narnia is based on the series of books written by CS Lewis.  This is the first in the series of the books.  It is about a group of children who are sent to the safe haven of a professor to wait out the end of the war, and hopefully stay safe.  The movie begins with planes bombing the children and the homes around them so their mother sends them off, like many other children into the homes of strangers who are willing to give war torn children refuge.  Lucy, the youngest, discovers a wardrobe that leads to a magical land.  The land of Narnia is torn between the evil tyrrany of the white witch or the snow queen, and the protective warmth of of Aslan, the heroic lion.  All of the children enter the wardrobe, Peter (the oldest), Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, to find that they are the answer to a prophecy, a prophecy to end the reigh of the queen.  After trechory, traitors, worry, sadness, forgiveness and war things come to a head and the real winner and hero is revealed, is it Aslan, the children or the White Witch?  Well, you have to watch the movie for those answers.

This movie has a lot of computer generated scenes, and some which were not computer generated.  There are many talking animals and it is obvious that they are not really there, but this rarely takes away from the beauty and the scenery of the movie.  The action is well plotted out, even when most of those fighting are not human, and not really there.  Some of the computer generated people/animals are really well done, and sometimes surprisingly so, as was the case of the lion, Aslan.  He was well created and I wondered at one point if there was a real lion involved. 

Issues I had with the movie were that one scene was not as well done as the rest.  It involved Ice and an unfreezing river.  The water was so blue that it was obvious to be that it was fake and in a tub, that scene was not as realistic as I would have hoped and made me laugh a little.  Another problem I had was the character of Lucy, the girl that played her acted quite well, but everytime she cried there were no real tears, which made it seem, well, like acting, and very insincere.  If you are going to have a character cry, at least place a few drops of water on their face so that it looks like they were actually crying.  Geez.

I reccommend this movie to a lot of people.  Children will enjoy it because it has a lot of action and animals and they can see it.  Adults will enjoy it because it is some good clean fun without swear words, plus if you read the books you might enjoy this version of the book, it is better than the cartoon version I watched when I was in grade school, and much more fun. 

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To watch a film once is to enjoy it. Take in the story and the main effects. When you walk into a theater and sit to watch a 2 hour long flick, or rent a DVD to enjoy with a few friends, you are always expecting to get your moneys worth. As we all know nothing in this world comes for free.  Yet in the case of some movies their should be a law stating satisfaction guaranteed or money back, seeing as how the majority of us must spend anywhere from 6 to 10 dollars on 2 hours worth of entertainment. As there is no such law as precedented yet, let me be the first to save you some hard earned cash. If you are looking for a movie that has a well thought out plot, entertainment value worth your money, and an all round memorable experience SEEK elsewhere. The Seeker is based on a novel, that i must admit i have not had the pleasure of reading. Yet one can only assume that if it was good enough to be noticed by the public, and famous enough to intrigue the great producers of Hollywood; than one can only wonder what happened between the creative process from novel to screenplay to the hour and a half of foggy drivel flickering on the screen before me.The young Alexander Ludwig plays our preteen hero Will Stanton.  Set in England, in a gloomy little town, this movie is as bland as it’s setting. Alexander’s over all acting was well done, he actually help bring the movie up at times. The problems withthis movie have very little to do with the acting and everything to do with the writing and overall set-up of the movie. Brad and Angie couldn’t have pulled this one off. Lost societies, deviling demons, black magic, and jumping through time and space at some very unusual points, is about the only captivating effect on screen. but don’t worry it wares off soon enough.   

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets comes back to fight an evil doing in school. The trio Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have another adventure in Hogwarts. This fantasy movie will take you on a wild ride.

An evil has plagued the school of its students. It is up to Harry and his friends to find out who is plotting these evil schemes. Harry finds himself facing the idiotic but handsome Gilderoy Lockhart, Defense Aganist the Dark Arts teacher. Snape has yet to prove that he is still watching Harry for the “good” against Lord Voldemort. The funniest scenes are where Ron says, “Why follow the spiders, why not foloow the butterflies.” Harry and Ron without Hermione’s help get themselves into a mess when they take Hagrid’s advice. Harry soon finds the meaning of the Chamber of Secrets when he learns of his ability to speak Parseltounge (snake language) to open the Chamber. Harry finds himself in a position where his friends are for him.

The director made it flow all together. The scenes were not choppy and went into parts. For example, the movie followed the books overall in the beginning where Harry is in his aunts and uncles house and then he gets svaed by his friend Ron Weasley. Overall, the scenes had a great flow through them.

If this movie was not great I would not have watched it 500 times. Yes I counted, I wasted my freshman summer watching Harry Potter and having my mom yell at me to get off. This movie had twists and turns and you can follow Harry through his adventures. I think Daniel Radcliffe will continue to grow more and more.

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Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian stars William Moseley and Ben Barnes in another fantasy sequel to the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  This fantasy film takes you on a ride of your life.

The story starts out in Narnia when a child is born and Prince Caspian leaves before he is killed by his greedy uncle who wants to take over the throne. His mentore gives him a horn in which he blows before going into darkness. The four Pensieve children are waiting to go to their new home in England when the train roles by and explodes leaving them to enter the world of Narnia. Little do they know a war is stirring in Narnia against Narnians and Telmarines.

The direction of the film had a funny aspect to it. For example, jokes were made when Caspian encounters a talking badger. The badger replies, “What you’ve never seena  badger before?” Caspian is shocked to find that badgers could talk.

The movie itself was had the two actors competing against each other. For example, hot headed Peter wanted to lead everyone into battle while Caspian suggested that they wait to strategize. Peter looses his cool and draws his sword out. When all goes wrong for Peter; he tries to blame Caspian and the two end up sword fighting. Aslan (the Lion) was meant to represent Jesus Christ. The bibliogical aspect made it seem a tad boring but was picked up when the fighting scenes came on.

Overall, this movie is funny and dark and quite exciting when you have two hot actors battling it out for the attention. The four small children no longer small will be the next big hit after Harry Potter series.

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In perhaps Disney’s most original and unorthodox animated release, Lilo and Stitch is at once a wonderfully entertaining, humerous and touching film. The film focuses on a small Alien creation known as “Experiment 626″, later named “Stitch” (voiced by creator, writer and co-director Chris Sanders) when adopted by troubled little Lilo (voiced by the adorable Daveigh Chase) on the island of Hawaii.

The film opens with 626 and his creator, Dr. Jumbah (voiced by David Ogden Stiers), on trial for Jumbah illegally creating him. The alien government concludes that 626 is a threat and is to be exiled to a distant asteroid or lifeless planet. However, 626 escapes in a red shuttlecraft and randomly punches in coordinates on its hyperdrive. The government tracks his course and realizes he will land on the small Hawaiian islands on Earth. In a delightful spin on Men in Black and other UFO tales, the aliens are unable to go to Earth in force to retrieve 626, because it is a “protected wildlife preserve” for mysquitos, which sets up a well-paid off explanation in the films final scenes. Jumbah is offered a parole for his crimes in exchange for tracking down his creation, and he immediately sets out for Earth along with Agent Pleakley (voiced by Kevin McDonald).

In the tradition of The Little Mermaid, the film finally goes to a wonderful opening titles sequence (about 10 minutes in), as we meet adorable little Lilo, who is running late for her hola-dancing class after swimming. She inadvertingly screws up the routine for everyone, and after being made fun of by a classmate, she unexpectedly jumps onto her and begins wailing on her. This is a unique Disney heroine, and we begin to realize that this isn’t your typical disney animated feature. After being repremanded, Lilo is told by her dance instructor to wait for her older sister, Nani (voiced by Tia Carrere) to pick her up. After being ignored and again made fun of by her classmates, Lilo begins walking home. Her sister comes running home looking for her, but is unable to get in, as Lilo has nailed the doors shut while she listens to depressing Elvis Presley music. When Nani yells for Lilo to let her in, she answers (in another unique disney moment) “Just leave me alone to die!”

As Nani tries to reprimand Lilo, a social servies worker named Cobra Bubbles (voiced by Ving Rhames) arrives to evaluate the troubled siblings home life. A series of humerous disasters ensues as the inspection occurs, complete with Lilo attempting voo-doo on her classmates. We quickly begin to discover the two sisters aren’t doing well at all living on there own since there parents death a short time ago. Bubbles leaves and informs Nani she has a few days to convince him she can look after her younger sister responsibly. Later on, as the two sisters share a tender moment (and where we learn of Lilo’s obsession with taking pictures of obese people), they see a green light and then hear an explosion. We cut to the crash site to see 626 running down to crater’s side and onto the road where he quickly draws four laser guns on a frog and then is hilariously startled when it starts to rain, and attempts to blast the rain drops. Moments later he is hit by a semi truck and brought to an animal shelter, and tries to disguise himself as a dog. Lilo ends up adopting him, and the two begin to form a unique, but special bond as 626 (now officially named Stitch) begins to ignore his programming and learn what it means to be in a family.

The remainder of the film never disappoints and is easily the most unique of Disney’s films. One delightful surprise after another occurs, leading to one of the most thrilling finales you could ever expect from a simple animated movie. It is a simple and adorable story about a troubled, lonesome little girl who befriends this creature, who learns to care for her as well. The overriding theme of the movie is family, and the Ohana phrase gets repeated about a half-dozen times. The characters are all unique and each scene has you trying to guess what will happen next. Probably the thing I love the most is that it is 2-D (aka hand-drawn animation) and didn’t overdue it with computer effects. As a result it looks like a wonderful children’s story brought to life, and one you want to revisit again and again and again.

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It seems strange in the era of a successfully rebooted Batman, Spiderman and Superman that the first really hugely-anticipated movie of the summer is Iron Man, a comparatively minor superhero. Although part of Marvel’s The Avengers series (super-rich Tony Stark bankrolls the project in certain incarnations) Iron Man’s appeal seems to hover somewhere around the cult level of a popular indie (say Spawn for comparisons sake). Whilst distinctly more popular in the U.S, over here in Blightly it seems that Iron Man’s meteoric box office success has been more down to film fans than comic fans. What then is its appeal? Why, other than a typically saturated media-onslaught from, in particular, Robert Downey Junior, has Iron Man been such a success? 

The reasons for this, I am sure, are extremely varied and multiple but one becomes clear about an hour or so into the film. Terrence Howard watches Downey Junior fly off in the Mark 3 suit before turning and looking at the Mark 2 and, with a wry smile, mouthing ‘next time’. It is here that Howard sums up the feeling of everybody sitting in the cinema, and I don’t just mean the fan boys. This is the flying suit you dreamed of as a kid, the fighting suit you dreamed of as a kid, the do-anything, go-anywhere suit you still dream of as an adult! It’s the ultimate boys (and girls) toy! 

Of course, terrific source material and the nous to bring it to the screen in such an appealing way isn’t the only reason Iron Man works so well. Director Jon Favreau brings a light, humour to proceedings ensuring the film is never afraid to poke a bit of fun at its own fictionality. Stark, for example, fights a running battle with his own robots who aren’t quite technologically advanced enough to clearly understand his own voice commands. Elsewhere there’s the barely controlled bubbling romance of Stark and his secretary, Pepper Potts, played here by Gwyneth Paltrow who obviously wasn’t willing to let Renee Zellwegger walk off with the award for most impossibly named, alliterative, love interest (Lexie Littleton in Leatherheads). Even though the two actors are ostensibly not doing anything they haven’t before, they do have an on-screen chemistry that bubbles between shy giggles and moody glances. 

There’s plenty here for the fan-boy in you to. The appearance of Agent Coulson and his agency which isn’t quite sure what to call itself runs along nicely parallel to the main event and comic devotees won’t be particularly surprised to find out just who it is that makes a post-credits cameo (stay in your seats, it’s well worth a watch). There are apparently plenty more of these little ‘Easter eggs’ subtly hidden within the make-up of the picture and whether this is just wishful thinking by people who have too much time on their hands or not it certainly makes repeat viewing a tad more interesting. 

Despite the fact that you can’t help but leave the cinema on a wave of euphoria, the type of which will transform your mundane Ford into the Batmobile, Iron Man isn’t quite an 100% success. The inevitable final battle between Jeff Bridges’ thinly disguised villain and Stark’s Iron Man doesn’t quite have the punch one expects after the film has built up to it so impressively. It’s a real disappointment, especially considering how tactfully Favreau handles the ‘damsel-in-distress’ element of the tale, managing to (just) avoid superhero cliché. Personally I find origin tales enthralling and I would have liked to have seen a bit more of Iron Man’s personal and physical development whereas the studio obviously worried that this could turn it into another X-Men and therefore quickly paces through the use of the Mark 2 suit. 

Despite these gripes however, Iron Man rises close to the heights of Batman Begins, without quite threatening to usurp it as probably one of, if not the, best comic book adaptation around. Rest assured however, it does provide Spiderman 3 with the trouncing it truly deserved, and it does it with a pretty wide grin on its face.

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Director Andrew Adamson returns us to the magical kingdom of Narnia where the four Pevensie siblings must once again defend the kingdom against a dark invader.

It has been one long year for the four Pevensie siblings since they accidently found themselves back in England after there magical trip to Narnia in 2005’s The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. One year for them, but 1300 years have passed in Narnia itself, and the land has come under the savage rule of the “Telmarines.” The film opens with Lord Miraz (Sergio Castellito) arranging an assasination attempt on his nephew, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), after his wife gives birth to a son. Miraz wants Caspian removed from the throne of Narnia so he can claim it for himself, and his own son would then be heir to the throne. Caspian is pursued by soldiers, but escapes into the woods of Narnia, where the Narnians have fled and hid since the human population nearly wiped them out years ago. This isn’t the same Narnia you will remember from Wardrobe a few years ago.

Before escaping, Caspian was given a mythical horn by Professor Cornelius (Vincent Grass), which turns out to be the horn used by Susan (Anna Popplewell) in the previous installment, and is told not to use the horn unless in dire need. Caspian is surrounded by his pursuers and found by two dwarves, Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage) and Nikabrik (Warwick Davis). Trumpkin rushes to distract the soldiers, and is captured. Nikabrik attempts to help Caspian, who startled at the sight of the dwarves, uses the magical horn. The film cuts to England, still involved in World War II, and we see the two brothers, Peter (William Moseley) and Edmund (Skander Keynes), in a fight with older boys in the train station. British soldiers break it up and the four siblings sit together waiting for the train. When Susan and Lucy (Georgie Henley) ask why he was fighting, Peter explains he can’t stand being treated like a child after being not only an adult, but a King in Narnia. Suddenly all four are brought back to Narnia, and find themselves on the sea shore where they find the great castle of Cair Paravel in ruins.

Meanwhile, Miraz has used the capture of Trumpkin to convince the other Lords that the Narnians have a secret army in the woods, and that they have abducted Caspian. Miraz vows to find Caspian and remove the Narnians forever. Caspian has found other Narnian creatures in the woods, and begun building an army to reclaim his throne and the world back for the Narnians. After struggling to find out what has happened to Narnia, the four Pevensie children (conviently) find there old clothes, weapons and trinkets left behind in the castle’s hidden treasure rooms. The Pevensie’s head out in search of Aslan (voiced by Liam Neesen) and answers. They stumble upon Miraz’s soldiers attempting to kill Trumpkin and save the dwarf, who then joins the children and helps them find Caspian and his hidden army. After joining forces, Peter proposes a daring and risky plan to try and defeat Miraz and his army.

The return trip to Narnia is a different, but enjoyable one. The film moves much faster than the previous film, which was burdened with setting up not only the four children’s roles, but all the mythology of Narnia as well. The action scenes are bigger, better and more frequent in this installment as well. The film is also unburdened by the heavy allegorical themes of the first movie, but I must admit it isn’t better off because of it. The first film was about the magic and wonderment of being a child, and what happens when you grow up. The themes are continued in this film, but not nearly as poignantly. Instead the film is much darker, and grittier as Narnia has fallen into a dark age since the four Pevensie’s left. Director Andrew Adamson does seem to be a lot more comfortable behind the camera, and with his four young leads. They all do an admirable job of continuing there individual character’s arc’s. Much like in the Harry Potter films, the main kids seem to be getting more comfortable as they go. Peter and Susan have the most poignant arcs in the movie, and without giving away the ending, there is a good reason for that. Edmund is sort of on the side-lines much of the movie, but does very well when he is on screen. Georgie Henley’s portrayal of Lucy stole the show in the first film, but never quite has the same look of wonder in her eyes in this film. She also spends large parts of the movie elsewhere, as the action scenes focus more on the older characters of Caspian, Peter and Susan.

The final third of the film is one big action scene after another and each gets you into it more than the last. Certain moments will no doubt conjure images of The Two Towers and other fantasy epics, but are also unqiue in there own way. For me the star of the movie was the little mouse warrior Reepicheep (voiced by Eddie Izzard) and I challenge anyone to not be tickled by every moment he is on screen. The film may not be as good as the charming first installment, but is still a fun and excting fantasy epic worth seeing, and I eagerly look forward to the next installment.

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