02/12/2009
Fanboys 
In the current early year climate of movies, quality comedies are in short supply. Fanboys wouldn't knock it out of the park in the dog days of summer, but is worth a look at this time of the year. For fans of saga, this film really honors its source material. Also, there's enough cameos to fill the holes in the gaps. Not a bad effort, although perhaps not worth the 2 year wait. -Mike
01/31/2009
Taken Liam Neeson kicking ass. That's the best way to describe Taken. Setting aside the ludicrous plot, Neeson did manage to inject a strain of humanity into the film as an estranged father. I'm not even going to elaborate on how interesting it was to see Maggie Grace off-island. -Mike
01/17/2009
The Wrestler After a long wait and much hullabaloo, I finally had an opportunity to witness the resurrection of Mickey Rourke in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. Make no mistake, this movie is gritty and depressing. Rourke becomes The Ram body and soul, and also absorbs about 95% of the screen time. Although it explores some relatively untraveled subject matter, The Wrestler follows the classical story of a man who can't give up a dying dream and in that respect the movie didn't feel as innovative as potential 5 star Oscar winner. Still, the acting and direction was superb and Rourke's battered visage will surely haunt your dreams. -Mike
01/09/2009
Revolutionary Road Revolutionary Road was a well-acted but extremely dour film that I would recommend seeing only if you've been complaining about being too happy. RR had echoes (tone, music) of his earlier work, American Beauty but lacked its originality and humor. It also had a dash of Mad Men. Perhaps Kate & Leo will team up for a watchable movie at some future point... -Mike
12/27/2008
Yes Man Jim Carrey returns with a straight humor piece in Yes Man, which also featured the always charming Zooey Deschanel. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It had a lot of purely comedic moments and a minimal amount of sitcom-esque main character learns a lesson. Even when the protagonist did learn his lesson, it was pretty damn ridiculous. In this laugh-starved winter, this movie is worth a look. -Mike
12/26/2008
Valkyrie I enjoyed this big Hollywood stab at historical drama. For a Based On A True Story of which we all know the ultimate outcome, the movie was still engaging and gripping and moved a long at a good pace: before I knew it, Operation Valkyrie was under way. Still, this movie raises a more profound question: Do we need actors to use a German accent if they are playing Germans? The only way the movie would really make sense would be if it was in German and subtitled. But who would want to see that when it features acting heavyweights like Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terence Stamp, and Tom Wilkinson... oh yeah, and that Cruise guy. Even so, it still feels unnatural. -Mike
The Spirit
Although The Spirit was bathed in the cinemagraphic vision of Sin City, it distinguished itself with a more creative and cartoony plot and set of characters. The script plodded along however, and the voice over was just draining. Still, hard to find anything wrong with Eva Mendes and the assets she brings to any movie that's willing to costume her so revealingly. -Mike
Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood kicks a bunch of Hmong gangstas off his lawn while scowling like nobody has ever scowled before! This movie was hard to describe... it was both dire and humorous. I'm not sure exactly what bucket it fits into but I know that the character of Walt Kowalski was pretty damn memorable. -Mike
Bedtime Stories
Adam sandler and his usual accompanying players delivered a mildly amusing kids movie in Bedtime Stories. Still, I think this movie fell into the too often seen trap of being too cheesy for adults but not enough fart jokes for kids. No idea why I saw this. -Mike
12/06/2008
Bolt Disney's Bolt wasn't a bad little family film...the characters were charming and lovable enough that the Bolt/Penny (the Dog's owner) reunion at the end was kinda touching. John Travolta was also fun and energetic in what I believe was his first animated performance. Finally though, this movie made me wonder...is Disney ever going to do a traditionally animated movie again? I mean they own Pixar now, so isn't that overkill? -Justin
11/30/2008
Slumdog Millionaire Just an original and fresh piece of film making from Trainspotting's Danny Boyle. He seamlessly weaved storylines from 3 different time periods in "lucky" Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? contestant Jamal's life. It had laughs, it had some heartbreak, it had surprises, and finally it had plenty of heart! I was on the edge of my seat cheering for him and Latika by the end (not out loud, in the inside my head sense)! In fact I was so absorbed with the story, I didn't even notice there were no musical numbers! -Justin
Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Boyle tells the story of an Indian street rat whose destiny becomes realized on Who Wants to be a Millionaire in Slumdog Millionaire. This movie was touching in both its sadness and its humor and was wrapped up in a pretty clever concept. I also couldn't help noticing the striking artistry of the photography that really helped set the mood and tone of this unique movie. Oh yeah, there is a dance number but you're going to have to wait till the credits. -Mike
11/28/2008
Four Christmases If you enjoy hearing Vince Vaughan going off on tangents then you will love the first half of this movie! It started out ok, black humor and Reese Witherspoon beating the crap out of a bunch of little kids inside a moonbounce... then shortly after Vaughan's character Brad performs as Jospeh on stage in church and just delivers an over the top, completely hilarious, almost Dennis in It's Always Sunny performance....the movie suddenly thinks it has a heart and goes completely mushy. Maybe thats how it was supposed to be. I don't know, but I do know the sudden change in tone was jarring. It kind of redeemed itself with a nice ending that fit the characters, but the last 20 minutes before that were pretty brutal. And thats saying something on a film that runs less than 90 minutes. -Justin
Four Christmases
This movie started out great: a lot of Vince Vaughnisms, some great physical comedy... but it descended into some low-grade Christmas family mush. For a good x-mas movie, please see: Die Hard, Surviving Christmas. -Mike
11/26/2008
The Transporter 3 Jason Statham IS Frank Martin The Transporter in this third go around. A few leaps and bounds better than the last time out as he didn't have a little kid to pull him down. I like Frank because he sticks to his rules, but he also likes kicking ass. Hes really a throw back to the 80's and 90's beat em up films without the blood. Ultimately though I think the best thing The Transporter films have going for it is the Odd Couple-like friendship Frank has with Police Inspector Tarconi. The Transporter is always a great way to munch popcorn for 90 minutes, and I'm sure there will probably be a few more of them. -Justin
The Transporter 3
The Transporter series gets back on track after that ridiculous second movie with this third offering in the series. It had some good action scenes, both in car and out of car. It also featured the most freckled girl I've ever seen on screen as the love interest. There's not a lot of good action out right now, so you might want to check it out if you need a fix. -Mike
Soul Men
Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson brought plenty of humor in Mac's final major film role...although I've read that the film also had some major re-writes and edits to tone down the seriousness after Mac and co-star Isaac Hayes died a few months ago. That probably affected it somewhat, but maybe its not so bad, because the film was good fun. Who doesn't love a road trip buddy comedy? And look out for Jennifer Coolidge's HILARIOUS cameo offering Bernie Mac a Velveteen Rub...I wonder if its better than a Dutch Rudder. -Justin
Soul Men
Bernie Mac reminded me why I loved Bernie Mac as he played his usual Bernie Mac character. Soul Men was a pretty typical buddy-road comedy affair but Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson played off each other well and there were a few unexpected turns that had me chuckling. Lightly. -Mike
11/24/2008
JCVD So yeah...Jean Claude Van-Damme takes himself a little too seriously evidently. What was up with that bizarre in head monologue he had? And that non-sensical ending? And the completely strange plotting of the movie with various flashbacks to things we saw already? Why? Why, I ask, why? Anyways this movie went so far the other way from Bruce Campbell's similar but completely different take on playing himself (in My Name Is Bruce). If some actor could play it up the middle they might have a real hit on their hands though....I'm thinking this is a job for Ben Affleck. -Justin
JCVD
I really wanted this movie to be better than it was, mostly for Van Damme's sake... I mean, the guy's gotta eat. I loved the concept, but JCVD was executed with way too much seriousness and the strange gold-tinted photography was most bizarre. Still, I bet you've never seen anything quite like Van Damme's 9 minute monologue directly addressing the audience. -Mike
11/21/2008
Role Models Role Models was a surprisingly hilarious and uplifting movie, but I guess I should expect no less from the one and only Paul Rudd. Although I never had strong feelings either way about Seann William Scott, I've heard many people say that this is the first role they've found him to be tolerable in. Also, if you're looking for more McLovin, you've come to the right place. Enjoy! -Mike
11/15/2008
Quantum Of Solace After getting his feet wet in the 007 pool last time around in Casino Royale, Daniel Craig stops acting like a pussy and kicks it in to high gear right off the bat. James Bond is out for revenge over the death of his beloved Vesper Lynd back in the last film, and he is taking his Licence To Kill seriously. I greatly enjoyed the ride that Quantum took me for (including the very neat 4 elements theme invoking action sequences), even if the ultimate villainous plot was kind of goofy, but I was also greatly confused with how Bond didn't bang the Bond girl (mega hotty Olga Kurylenko). I also get the feeling that this Bond movie is the middle part of an over arching story that will deal more with Quantum next time out...and hopefully bring Q and/or Moneypenny with it. Shaken, not stirred. -Justin
Quantum of Solace
Critics probably don't like this movie because as much as Casino Royale because 1) it's more violent, 2) it's shorter, 3) there's less poker, 4) there's less plot twists, and 5) Bond is less human. These are the exact reasons I thought it was better. -Mike
11/14/2008
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa This sequel to the computer animated juggernaut Madagascard was not nearly as good as the first...which was to be expected. There were some funny parts, and it was great hearing Alec Baldwin's voice coming out of a cartoon Lion, but I don't know, something was just missing. Ultimately I think I'd much more enjoy a spin off of the Penguin characters (which is possible, given the ending), then another go around with Ben Stiller and Chris Rock as Alex the Lion and his best buddy Marty the Zebra. Unfortunately with the big money returns, I fear a third movie in this series...run children! A Lion's on the loose! -Justin
11/08/2008
Role Models I loved this movie! LAIR looks like a lot of fun, and Paul Rudd is a most lovable man. In as much as one can love a man that is. The KISS costumes at the end were riotous! -Justin
11/07/2008
Zack and Miri Make a Porno Tough to give a rating to this movie because there were some hilarious parts (thanks for introducing me to the concept of the 'dutch rudder') but the plot in general was so lame and cookie cutter it almost made the concept of making a porno seem boring. Kevin Smith needs to stop trying to shoehorn everything into a romantic comedy and take some risks, dammit! -Mike
Rocknrolla
Can any of you plonkers explain the plot of rocknrolla to me?? Well, I get it, but after the first 45 minutes it took to decode what everybody was talking about it just didn't seem worth the mental energy I had just expended to process all this jingo jango. Maybe if the final standoff had been better... -Mike
Rockn'Rolla
Guy Ritchie makes some of the worst and most unintelligible movies this side of the year 1900. So basically ever. Seems like such a waste of Gerard Butler and the rest of the cool ensemble cast assembled here. I guess Guy was distracted by his wife banging A-Rod at the time he made the movie though...does that make it excusable? You go see it and tell me. -Justin
11/05/2008
My Name Is Bruce It was pretty awesome talking to Bruce Campbell during the Q&A after his passion piece...even if he didn't really answer the question on how this movie ended. I'm still not sure. If you take this movie for what it is though (a movie with its tongue planted so firmly in its cheek you would need a crowbar to remove it), then you will probably enjoy it. Possibly the most low budget film I've ever seen in a theater. Funny stuff. -Justin
My Name is Bruce
My Name is Bruce was way campier and way jokier than I expected, definitely to a fault. I was expecting something with a similar tone to Shaun of the Dead but with more camp, but Bruce didn't deliver much in the way of gore or monsters (lowest budget monster ever). However, I can't fault this movie too much because Bruce Campbell really put it out there and it did deliver a few big laughs. -Mike