The Lucky Ones

When three very different U.S. soldiers find themselves on an unplanned road trip across America, they form a deep bond that may be the closest thing any of them has to real family. T.K. Poole (Michael Peña), Colee Dunn (Rachel McAdams) and Fred Cheever (Tim Robbins) arrive in New York from Germany only to find their connecting flights canceled due to a power outage. Anxious to get to their respective destinations, they agree to share a rented minivan to suburban St. Louis where Cheever is to reunite with his wife and teenage son. From there, the other two plan to fly to Las Vegas where the macho T.K. wants to make an important stop before seeing his fiancée and the tough yet naïve Colee plans to pay a visit to a fallen fellow-soldier's family.But when Cheever's homecoming turns out to be a far cry from what he anticipated, the trio's one-day drive expands into an impromptu cross-country marathon. Along the way, they experience a string of surprising adventures ranging from the hilarious to the heartbreaking. As their interstate journey takes them from a barroom brawl to a high society dance to a bizarre Sunday morning church service, T.K., Colee and Cheever discover that home is not quite what they remembered and the unlikely companionship they’ve found in one another might be what matters most of all.

This was a watchable movie. I liked all three of the characters and was actually able to buy in to them becoming so close so fast. I also really enjoyed how they conveyed the knocks that I always make against our country/society as a whole. There was one scene that had me cracking up because the three vets go in to a bar where everyone in the bar is gawking at an American Idol type show. The only knock against this movie is that about half way through you start wondering where this movie is ultimately going and starting to dread that it will eventually go nowhere. And then it does.

I wouldn't really recommend that anyone rent this. Its not that its a horribly bad movie, its just not worth the money for it. I would say you can just wait for cable.

Open Season 2

Boog and Elliot are back for more crazy adventures. After falling head over hooves in love with Giselle, Elliot's road to the altar takes a slight detour when Mr. Weenie is kidnapped by a group of pampered pets determined to return him to his owners. Boog, Elliot, McSquizzy, Buddy and the rest of ?the woodland creatures launch a full-scale rescue mission for their sausage-shaped friend and soon find themselves in enemy camp: the world of the pets. Led by a toy poodle named Fifi, the pets do not plan to let Mr. Weenie go without a fight.

This is your textbook direct to DVD sequel. The only thing I can say though is that this is better than most of the trainwrecks that Disney throws out there. If you enjoyed the first movie, this is somewhat enjoyable. Its totally different voices, but its the same characters and the kids will definitely like this. It has that same kind of adult enjoyable humor as well.

I would recommend people renting this if they have kids. It will definitely buy you 1 and 1/2 hours to get stuff done and its not that painful to watch if you are actually interested in spending time with them as well.

RocknRolla

When a Russian mobster orchestrates a crooked land deal, millions of dollars are up for grabs, and all of London's criminal underworld wants in on the action. Everyone from a dangerous crime lord to a sexy accountant, a corrupt politician and down-on-their-luck petty thieves conspire, collude and collide with one another in an effort to get rich quick.

There were a lot of really great characters in this movie. It was a massive collection of quirky gangsters. Unfortunately, the movie was too choppy and all over the place for me to really enjoy it as much as I wanted to. There was really no reason at all for this movie to be two hours long. The crazy back and forth really took a lot away from the movie as a whole even though parts of it were awesome and the characters really kept your interests piqued. While its a decent watch, its not really on par with Guy Ritchie's other great movies.

I'd lukewarmly recommend this movie to people. Its wasn't really worth a trip to theaters but might make a decent rental.

The Rocker

The Rocker tells the story of a failed, over-the-hill drummer who gets a second chance at fame. Robert "Fish" Fishman is the extremely dedicated and astoundingly passionate drummer for the eighties hair band Vesuvius who is living the rock 'n' roll dream until he is unceremoniously kicked out of the group. Unfortunately for Fish, this happens right before Vesuvius becomes one of the biggest bands in the world. Fish is then forced to get a 'real' job and abandon his dream until an unlikely opportunity arises. Twenty years after getting booted out of the band he helped create, just when Fish has finally given up hope, all of his wildest fantasies come true.

I am a huge fan of Raiin Wilson from The Office. The character of Dwight that he plays is one of the best, if not the number one, character on television. If you aren't watching - you REALLY should be. I was somewhat excited about this movie even though it looked so stupid from the trailers just because I wanted to see what he could do without the rest of the awesome Office cast around him. I didn't have super high expectations because the movie did look absolutely absurd. However, I ended up being pleasantly surprised. This was by no means a good movie. Its actually a pretty bad one. That being said - I enjoyed it. It was totally formula and ridiculous but I found myself rooting for Fish and his new band to make it big. There was some big laughs and I found Fish's insane amount of sweating hilarious because I have the same problem. This is probably what you could call a guilty pleasure movie.

Even though I liked the movie - I can't say that I would all out recommend it to everyone. If you are looking for some laughs and don't have high expectations - go and check it out. Honesty, you'd probably be better off waiting for rental though.

Pride & Glory

A gritty and emotional portrait of the New York City Police Department, the film follows a multi-generational police family whose moral code is tested when one of two sons on the force investigates an incendiary case involving his older brother and brother-in-law. The case forces the family to choose between their loyalties to one another and their loyalties to the department.
This is another one of those movies that is basically just a two hour special episode of a really good cop show like The Shield. It was very entertaining and watchable. It had good textbook performances by Edward Norton, Colin Farrel and Jon Voight. It just seemed to be lacking that oh my god adrenaline kick throughout the movie. There were numerous parts that got you to be watching open mouthed, but then it would dull down a bit and lose that awesome dialed in feeling.

I would still recommend people checking this out. Its definitely an entertaining movie, but they could have put more effort in to driving that adrenaline home.

Lakeview Terrace

In Lakeview Terrace, a young couple (Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington) has just moved into their California dream home when they become the target of their next-door neighbor, who disapproves of their interracial relationship. A stern, single father, this tightly wound LAPD officer (Samuel L. Jackson) has appointed himself the watchdog of the neighborhood. His nightly foot patrols and overly watchful eyes bring comfort to some, but he becomes increasingly harassing to the newlyweds. These persistent intrusions into their lives ultimately turn tragic when the couple decides to fight back.

This movie was just plain stupid. I totally get neighbors squabbling and what not, but this was beyond over the top and a completely pointless movie. When will Samuel Jackson stop making such pieces of crap? At no point - did you not know what was going to happen in this "suspense" movie, hence . . . . no suspense. At no point are you able to be afraid of scary cop next door guy. I actually found myself laughing - A LOT - at this movie even though it was in no way supposed to be funny.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone. Not in theaters. Not on rental. This pile of dung would even be a tough sell on cable.

College

A new outrageous comedy, College is the story of three high school seniors (Drake Bell, Andrew Caldwell and Kevin Covais) who visit a local college campus as prospective freshman anticipating the best weekend of their lives. Once there, the rowdiest fraternity on campus (featuring Nick Zano, Gary Owen and Zach Cregger) decides to recruit the boys as pledges, subjecting them to endless humiliations, in return for granting them access to the no-holds-barred college party scene. But once the boys catch the eye of some of the older sorority girls (Haley Bennett, Camille Mana and Natalie Walker), the threatened Frat-boys increase the pre-frosh humiliation and blackmail them by threatening to expose their age. The boys decide to fight back, retaliating with a major revenge scheme that lands them on top.

I watched exactly four minutes of this movie and made the decision that I will NEVER be watching the remaining 86 minutes of it. The only reason that I bothered watching the 4 minutes is because I had exactly that amount of time to kill between stringing up movies in the projection booth. Yes - I can watch this thing for free and will under no circumstances do so. In the four minutes I watched - I saw really lame textbook "college movie" acting, projectile vomit all over a windshield, and a random three way happening on a mattress in the middle of the lawn in front of a building in the background while two of the characters were having a conversation. Seriously. Any time that a movie has to rely on the most over the top sight gags that have absolutely nothing to do with what you are actually supposed to be watching - they simply should have never bothered making the movie at all.

I would never recommend this movie to anyone. Crap like this is makes me hate being a movie addict.

Henry Poole Is Here

Henry Poole (Wilson) just wants to disappear. Shattered by circumstances beyond his control, he offers full price on a cookie cutter house in a drab, middle-class, L.A. neighborhood through his perky realtor Meg (Cheryl Hines). But just as he settles in to his indulgent isolation with a case of vodka and all the junk food he can eat, his neighbor, a well-meaning busybody named Esperanza (Adriana Barraza), drops by with a plate of homemade tamales and a whole lot of questions.Despite his desire for solitude, Henry can't help noticing Dawn (Radha Mitchell), the beautiful young divorcée next door and her daughter Millie (Lily), an eight-year-old amateur spy who hasn't spoken a word since her parents' break-up. Henry's self-imposed exile is shattered when Esperanza discovers a mysterious stain on Henry's stucco wall that is seen to have miraculous powers. She begins leading pilgrimages to the "holy site" and invites church officials, including her pastor, Father Salizar (George Lopez), to inspect the apparition.Although Henry remains skeptical, he finds himself gradually drawn back towards life, especially after his silent friendship with Millie brings him closer to Dawn. As news of the apparition spreads throughout the neighborhood and his feelings for Dawn grow, Henry realizes his plan to live out his days in quiet desperation is going to be much harder than he ever imagined.

This is one of those quietly released, artsy movies that I had somewhat of a desire to see but there wasn't really any rush to it. Its also one of those artsy movies that I can't remotely explain why but I loved it. I have always been a huge fan of Luke Wilson. His straight faced one liners are great and I find him to be light years funnier than his brother Owen. He was great in this movie and really got you hooked in to the character. I tend to find those religious holy site type things to be absurd but this movie was done in a way that it got even me to get involved and caring.

I would recommend people checking this out. It is definitely worth the rental fee.

Saw V

In the fifth installment of the "Saw" franchise, Hoffman is seemingly the last person alive to carry on the Jigsaw legacy. But when his secret is threatened, Hoffman must go on the hunt to eliminate all loose ends.

Holy disappointment, Saw franchise!!! What the hell was the deal with this giant turd. I don't want to sound like the biggest Saw franchise fan. The movies are so disgustingly gory and the writers have to have psychopath files in some behavioral analysis unit at the FBI. However, the ups and downs of the scripts and the story line tie ups at the end of the previous 4 Saw movies were awesome. This one not only toned down on the gore, but it also had the most predictable ending. In all of the other four Saw movies, you have that "Oooooohhhh" moment at the end as it all plays out just before the credits hit. I had this one figured out twenty minutes in to the movie. I kept thinking that it was too obvious and there would be a big swerve. When it played out just the way that we saw it going - I was totally disappointed.

I wouldn't recommend anyone checking this one out. It was a big pile of disappointing poop. This one is by far and away the worst movie of the franchise.

Igor

In a land of mad scientists and diabolical inventions, what do you do when you're born with a hunch on your back? You become an Igor. A hilarious twist on the classic monster movie, Igor tells the story of one Igor who's sick of being a lowly lab assistant with a Yes Master's degree and dreams of becoming a scientist. When his cruel master kicks the bucket a week before the annual Evil Science Fair, Igor finally gets his chance. With the help of two of his experimental creations - Brain, a brain in a jar who's a little light on brains, and Scamper, a cynical bunny brought back from being road kill, Igor embarks on building the most evil invention of all time, a huge, ferocious monster. Unfortunately, instead of turning out evil, the monster turns out as Eva, a giant aspiring actress who wouldn't hurt a fly. Just when the load on his back can't get any heavier, Igor and his band of monstrous misfits uncover an evil plot that threatens their world. Now, they must fight to save it and prove that heroes come in all shapes and sizes.

I really enjoyed this movie. I wasn't quite sure what to think because low profile animated movies tend to fall on the crap pile and the animation in this one definitely looked pretty quirky (those pointy Madonna boobs on the bad female?). However, the voice talents of John Cusack, Ricky Gervais, Steve Buscemi and Sean Hayes really carried this movie through any rough spots that I had expected. Sean Hayes as Brian/Brain especially had me laughing out loud numerous times. I also really liked that the movie didn't drag at all. It was a simple premise and quickly moved along at a 1 hour 25 minutes length.

I'd fully recommend this movie to everyone. Its a very enjoyable animated movie that the adults can like just as much (if not more) than the kids.

Max Payne

Maverick cop Max Payne (Wahlberg) is hell-bent on revenge against those responsible for the brutal murder of his family and partner. His obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmarish journey into a dark underworld. As the mystery deepens, Max is forced to battle enemies beyond the natural world and face an unthinkable betrayal.

This movie was just a big giant turd. I never played the video game so I don't know how accurate it was to the game and can't really comment on the movie along those lines. Regardless of how closely it modeled the game - it was still poop. The movie was so beyond blah for an action movie. All of the "acting" in this movie was atrocious. The worst part of it all is that this is yet another actor who has seemingly fallen in love with slow motion action scenes. When done well - they can add to a scene. They weren't remotely done well in this movie. At one point - I think it took Mark Wahlberg 20 minutes to shoot a guy bending over backwards with a shotgun. It was by far and away the most annoying shooting I've ever witnessed.

This movie is total crap and shouldn't be seen by anyone. Seriously, people . . . . . do yourself the favor of avoiding this movie. Forever!!!

The Express

Based on a true story, The Express follows the extraordinary life of college football hero Ernie Davis (Rob Brown), the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. His fight for equality and respect forever changed the face of American sports, and his story continues to inspire new generations. Raised in poverty in Pennsylvania coal-mining country, Davis hurdled social and economic obstacles to become one of the greatest running backs in college football history. Under the guidance of legendary Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid), he became a hero who superseded Jim Brown's achievements and set records that stand to this day. Decorated veteran Schwartzwalder was a Southerner with a single vision of a national championship and hardened ideas about how the world worked. But though he and Davis clashed mightily, he taught the player everything he knew about football, just as Davis helped him learn the true meaning of victory. As the growing civil rights movement divided the country in the '60s, Davis became a symbol for achievement that transcended race. Refusing to flinch from others' prejudices, he achieved all his goals—until he faced a challenge that would make most men crumble. He joined the ranks of black pioneers by teaching a generation tolerance, inspiring a movement that smashed barriers on and off the field.

This was a great sports movie. I am a huge sucker for sports movies. There is just something about them that always seem to get me caught up in the moment and very heavily invested on seeing what happens to the player or team. This movie was even better because it went way behind the textbook underdog storyline. They managed to do a great job addressing the racial tension during the time period of the movie and Dennis Quaid perfomance of walking the line of what was best for the team and his player during that time was awesome. This movie also went way beyond the "winning the game" portion of the typical sports movie and really made you care about Ernie Davis as he succumbed to leukemia. It was incredibly sad but excellently portrayed.

I would recommend people checking this movie out. Its very well done and more than worth your time and money.

City Of Ember

For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights. But Ember's once powerful generator is failing... and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Now, two teenagers in a race against time, must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city's existence, and help the citizens escape before the lights go out forever.

I'm usually a huge fan of fantasy world movies like this. The Dark Crystal is one of my favorite movies of all time. If you've never seen it - you shouldn't be watching anything else until you do. Unfortunately, City Of Ember fell pretty flat. It wasn't horrible - it was actually quite watchable. I just wish that they would have put a little more umph in to the movie. It lacked that inspirational heart that fantasy movies like this thrive on. I found myself not fully invested in the two main characters and their venture of trying to save Ember. These movies are also very dependent on the main villain and although I have always been a HUGE Bill Murray fan, he was completely miscast in this movie and never really got the chance to make his villainous role memorable in any way.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to check this out. Its rentable but not great and can totally wait for cable.

The Family That Preys

Wealthy socialite Charlotte Cartwright (Kathy Bates) and her dear friend Alice Pratt (Alfre Woodard), a working class woman of high ideals, have enjoyed a lasting friendship throughout many years. Suddenly, their lives become mired in turmoil as their adult children's extramarital affairs, unethical business practices and a dark paternity secret threaten to derail family fortunes and unravel the lives of all involved. Alice's self-centered newlywed daughter Andrea (Sanaa Lathan) is betraying her trusting husband Chris (Rockmond Dunbar) by engaging in a torrid affair with her boss and mother’s best friend’s son William (Cole Hauser). While cheating on his wife Jillian (Kadee Strickland) with a string of ongoing dalliances with his mistress Andrea, William's true focus is to replace the COO of his mother’s lucrative construction corporation. Meanwhile, Alice's other daughter Pam (Taraji Henson), a kind but no nonsense woman married to a hard working construction worker (Tyler Perry), tries to steer the family in a more positive direction.While paternity secrets, marital infidelity, greed and unsavory business dealings threaten to derail both families, Charlotte and Alice decide to take a breather from it all by making a cross-country road trip in which they rediscover themselves and possibly find a way to save their families from ruin.

This movie is just like Tyler Perry's other "non-Madea" movies. They are great in terms of character studies and what not and are watchable to a certain extent. For the most part, they end up just kind of being there. They are the textbook "what else could I be doing instead of watching this movie" movies. Its not that the movie is bad because if you force yourself to care, the characters are all very distinct and well developed and all the relationship issues within the movie are very realistic, but its like each one is a remake of the previous one. My advice . . . . stick to comedies with Madea. It just seems to liven them up a lot more.

I'd lukewarmly recommend this movie to anyone who was honestly interested in it from the commercial. Outside of that - there is no need to take the time or money to watch this and just catch it when you are flipping through the channels in a couple of months on cable.

Appaloosa

Set in the Old West territory of New Mexico, Appaloosa revolves around a pair of hired guns (Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris) who come to clean up a dangerous town run by a ruthless, powerful rancher (Jeremy Irons) and his band of outlaws. While boldly bringing new order to the town, the two fearless lawmen meet a provocative outsider (Renée Zellweger) whose unconventional ways threaten to destroy their decade-old bond.

Talk about a movie with two completely seperate halves. The first half was a textbook western and was actually pretty awesome. I thought that Harris, Mortensen, and Irons played off of each other very well and the building tension was great. However, the movie pretty much peaked halfway through and the second half (rotating mostly around the useless and overacted character of Renee Zellweger) just kind of rolled pointlessly on. It was a huge downer considering how much I enjoyed the first half. The ending managed to get back on track but that 45 minute trip off the tracks really killed this movie for me.

I'd lukewarmly recommend people checking this out. Its really not worth the rental fee though and you might be better off just waiting.

Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited tells an evocative story of forbidden love and the loss of innocence set in the pre-WWII era. In the film, Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) becomes entranced with the noble Marchmain family, first through the charming and provocative Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw), and then his sophisticated sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell). The rise and fall of Charles' infatuations reflect the decline of a decadent era in England between the wars.

This isn't one of those foofy period pieces with the silly hair and costumes. Instead its one of those overly pompous European movies showing the higher classes and what not. You know, the type that is essentially the period piece movie without all the budgeted money for the foofs. I like the word foof I think. Anywho, this movie is somewhat watchable. You pretty much know whats going to happen from the start but its tolerable if you have the time.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to rent this. You can go ahead and wait or cable on this one.

My Best Friend's Girl

A master at seducing – and offending – women, Tank is a professional "My Best Friend's Girl." When guys get dumped, they hire Tank to take their ex-girlfriends out on the worst date of their lives – an experience so horrible it sends them running gratefully back to their beaus. So when Tank's best friend, Dustin, is dumped by his new girlfriend, Tank naturally offers to help out... and ends up meeting the challenge of a lifetime. Smart, beautiful and headstrong, Alexis is the first girl who knows how to call his bluff, and Tank soon finds himself torn between his loyalty to Dustin and his love for his best friend's girl.

I lasted a total of 15 minutes in to this piece of garbage. Why do they keep making Dane Cook movies!?! This is seriously going to end up being the 9th wonder of the world in the very near future. He played his same over the top schtick and this time destroyed Jason Biggs and Kate Hudson in the process. What the hell was Kate Hudson thinking!?! They really have to ban him from starring in movies. Or at least consider using his movies as some sort of a torturing device. Do you have any idea how fast people would give up info if the consequence of not doing so was to watch something like this?

I couldn't recommend this movie less if I tried. Its another bomb in a never ending stream of Dane Cook bombs. Please make the madness stop.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Two young American women, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) come to Barcelona for a summer holiday. Vicky is sensible and engaged to be married; Cristina is emotionally and sexually adventurous. In Barcelona, they're drawn into a series of unconventional romantic entanglements with Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a charismatic painter, who is still involved with his tempestuous ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz).

For the record - I am not a big fan of Woddy Allen at all. I love his old school silly comedies, but find myself mostly bored with his recent string of character dramas. This movie was no different. As I stated in a prior posting, I decided to give this movie a twenty minute shot to see if I should bother renting the movie when it comes out to watch the rest of it. I will most definitely not be doing that. I fell asleep. I was so bored that I nodded off fifteen minutes in to this movie. Its essentially a character drama about how someone with a Spanish accent can easily get women to sleep with him.

I wouldn't recommend is movie to anyone. Although to be fair - I am not one of those Woody Allen junkies. I'm sure that those of you that are will love this movie but I fell asleep easier watching this than if I would have taken sleeping pills.

Swing Vote

Swing Vote follows the story of Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner), an apathetic, beer-slinging, lovable loser, who is coasting through a life that has passed him by. The one bright spot is his precocious, over-achieving twelve-year-old daughter Molly. She takes care of both of them, until one mischievous moment on Election Day, when she accidentally sets off a chain of events which culminates in the election coming down to one vote... her dad's.

This movie was a really well done satire on the whole electoral process here in the United States. Ironically, the whole underlying thing about Bud (and the vast majority of our nations population) not caring enough about voting ultimately makes you end up not really caring about this movie. Even though it was actually a pretty good movie and there were decent performances by all (except Costner who was his usual awful self), I found myself just kind of wanting it to end the whole time. Again - not because it was bad but more because I was bored and totally knew how it was going to end before even walking in to the theater.

I would recommend this movie for rental. It does end up being a pretty decent feel good movie, but takes too long to get there and drags a lot along the way.

Mirrors

Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) has seen better days. It's been nearly a year since the volatile detective was suspended from the NYPD for fatally shooting another undercover officer, an accident that not only cost him his job, but fueled the alcoholism and anger that has alienated his wife and kids and left him crashing on his sister's couch in Queens. Desperate to pull his life together and reconnect with his family, Carson takes a job as a night watchman at the burned-out ruins of the Mayflower department store. What once was a symbol of prosperity and grandeur now sits decaying in the darkness like a rotting ghost ship, destroyed by a massive fire that devoured numerous innocent lives. As Carson patrols the eerie, charred remains of the store, he begins to notice something sinister about the ornate mirrors that adorn the Mayflower walls. Reflected in the gigantic shimmering glass are horrific images that stun Carson. Beyond projecting gruesome images of the past, the mirrors appear to be manipulating reality as well. When Carson sees his own reflection being tortured, he suffers the physical effects of his fractured visions. Suddenly the troubled ex-cop finds himself battling his personal demons and the ones that have hijacked his reflection, tormenting him with convulsions, spontaneous bleeding and near suffocation.

This is another one of the Japanese horror remakes like The Ring, The Grudge, One Missed Call and Shutter. This is one of the crappier ones. Its crappier for a couple of reasons. First of all - it has a legitimate actor in Jack Bauer . . . . uh, I mean Kiefer Sutherland. You would expect something more based on higher caliber of actors. You don't get it. Secondly, the good Japanese horror movies tend to rely on those shock moments to scare the crap out of you. This one doesn't really have to much of that. Instead, they dial up the gore level 20 notches and there really is no need for that kind of gross out crap. Finally, there are the just plain silly storyline moments. If you are a night watchmen who has to portray this broken down place every hour and something totally insane happens on the initial walk through do you investigate further or do you get the hell out of there and never return? Yeah - going back again and again and again is just plain silly. Secondly, whats the deal with being able to pull people through the reflection of layer of water on a hard wood floor? Its not a pool in the middle of the hallway. There still is a floor underneath that puddle, right? That's just plain dumb.

Needless to say, I was not a big fan of this movie at all. I really wouldn't recommend anyone checking this out. Even the die hard horror fans could go ahead and rent it but the rest of you should just wait for cable.

The Duchess

Long before the concept existed, the Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley), was the original "It Girl." Like her direct descendant Princess Diana, she was ravishing, glamorous and adored by an entire country. Determined to be a player in the wider affairs of the world, she proved that she could out-gamble, out-drink and outwit most of the aristocratic men who surrounded her. She helped usher in sweeping changes to England as a leader of the forward-thinking Whig Party. But even as her power and popularity grew, she was haunted by the fact that the only man in England she seemingly could not seduce was her very own husband, the Duke (Ralph Fiennes). And when she tried to find her own way to be true to her heart and loyal to her duty, the resulting controversies and convoluted liaisons would leave all of London talking.

I've never really been a fan of period pieces like this. I can't help but find the foofy dresses and ridiculous hair to be the stupidest things I've ever seen. I can't possibly imagine how anyone could function like that way back in the day. I tend to either write them off as intolerable or give them a nod of watchable. This one would fall under watchable. Its not a must see. The performances aren't that great. But if you are in to these kinds of movies that are basically made just to get consideration for a Best Costumes oscar - then you would enjoy it.

I would recommend this movie to period piece movie fans for rental. It will definitely be worth it. As far as the rest of you are concerned - just wait for cable.

Bangkok Dangerous

The life of an anonymous assassin takes an unexpected turn when he travels to Thailand to complete a series of contract killings. Joe (Nicolas Cage), a remorseless hitman, is in Bangkok to execute four enemies of a ruthless crime boss named Surat. He hires Kong (Shahkrit Yamnarm), a street punk and pickpocket, to run errands for him with the intention of covering his tracks by killing him at the end of the assignment. Strangely, Joe, the ultimate lone wolf, instead finds himself mentoring the young man while simultaneously being drawn into a tentative romance with a local shop girl. As he falls further under the sway of Bangkok's intoxicating beauty, Joe begins to question his isolated existence and let down his guard... just as Surat decides it's time to clean house.

Nicolas Cage is firmly entrenched in the same boat as Samuel Jackson. He really needs to just take a year off because he simply makes waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many movies. This movie wasn't necessarily horrible. It sure as hell wasn't good though. It was just kind of there. It was another pointless movie in a never ending stream of pointless Nicolas Cage movies. The action couldn't even really save it because you simply can't believe him in the role whatsoever.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone paying to rent this. You can pretty much go ahead and wait for cable.

The Wackness

It's the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with hip-hop and wafting with the sweet aroma of marijuana--but change is in the air. The newly-inaugurated mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against "crimes" like noisy portable radios, graffiti and public drunkenness. Set against this backdrop, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends his last summer before college selling dope throughout New York City, trading it with his shrink (Ben Kingsley) for therapy, while crushing on his step-daughter (Olivia Thirlby).

This is one of those movies that is blatantly trying to be hip. I enjoyed the portions of it that referenced the 90s pop culture, but not much else. I thought that Josh Peck and Ben Kingsley did a lot of overacting and I found myself wondering if I ever sounded as silly as they did talking and walking that way in the 90s.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to rent this movie. You can just wait for it to end up on cable.

Righteous Kill

A pair of veteran New York City police detectives (Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino) are on the trail of a vigilante serial killer. After 30 years as partners in the pressure cooker environment of the NYPD, highly decorated Detectives David Fisk and Thomas Cowan should be ready for retirement, but aren't. Before they can hang up their badges, they are called in to investigate the murder of a notorious pimp, which appears to have ties to a case they solved years before. Like the original murder, the victim is a suspected criminal whose body is found accompanied by a four line poem justifying the killing. When additional crimes take place, it becomes clear the detectives are looking for a serial killer, one who targets criminals that have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. His mission is to do what the cops can't do on their own--take the culprits off the streets for good.

It would pretty much be impossible for me to not enjoy a movie with Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in it. They played off each other exceptionally well. I thoroughly enjoyed the first hour and a half of this movie even though it was so beyond predictable where it was going. The movie kind of fell flat at the end though because apparantly the filmmakers thought that they had duped all of us and needed to completely drag out the end by explaining everything. The whole theater knew two minutes in to the movie how it was going to turn out, yet the script included a play by play replay. It would be like at the end of The Sixth Sense if they decided to spend twenty minutes going over how Bruce Willis was one of the dead people that the kid was seeing. It kind of ruins the holy $hit moment that makes the movie so good . . . . . and there wasn't even that kind of moment at the end of Righteous Kill yet they still found it necessary to talk about the swerve ending for twenty minutes. There - the rant is out of my system. Sorry about that. Even with all the negativity that I spewed towards this movie - I still actually found myself enjoying it.

I don't know whether to recommend this or not. I enjoyed it because like I said before - its Pacino and DeNiro, but it does pull up pretty lame.

Pineapple Express

Lazy stoner Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) has only one reason to visit his equally lazy dealer Saul Silver (James Franco): to purchase weed, specifically, a rare new strain called Pineapple Express. But when Dale becomes the only witness to a murder by a crooked cop (Rosie Perez) and the city's most dangerous drug lord (Gary Cole), he panics and dumps his roach of Pineapple Express at the scene. Dale now has another reason to visit Saul: to find out if the weed is so rare that it can be traced back to him. And it is. As Dale and Saul run for their lives, they quickly discover that they're not suffering from weed-fueled paranoia; incredibly, the bad guys really are hot on their trail and trying to figure out the fastest way to kill them both. All aboard the Pineapple Express.

I really liked the first half of this movie. I've never really been in to smoking pot and what not so usually this kind of stuff ends up not being that funny to me. I've also been pretty disappointed by a lot of Judd Apatow's stuff. Fellow movie fans will probably want to kill me for saying this, but I wasn't such a big fan of Knocked Up and Superbad last summer. I loved the 40 Year Old Virgin and enjoyed Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but wasn't that in to his two huge critical faves. All of that being said, Seth Rogen and James Franco were hilarious in the first half of this movie. Their conversations and on the run antics were great. Then, the movie took its eventually dramatic turn where the two of them parted ways and a lot of screen time was given to the bad guys who were so horribly overplayed (except for Daryl from The Office - he was the only non-annoying one). And they decided to throw the action credibility out the window with Danny Mc Bride getting shot over and over again but continuing to get back up. It was funny the first time, but then it was just plain silly. Luckily, the writers went back to the straight forward hilarious stuff to make you leave the theater still laughing though.

I'd recommend people seeing this if they are looking for a laugh because they were pretty big. The movie just seemed to drag out for a while there with the more actiony parts and the bad guys screen time.

Disaster Movie

Disaster Movie follows the comic misadventures of a group of twenty-somethings during one fateful night as they try to make their way to safety while every known natural disaster and catastrophic event - asteroids, twisters, earthquakes, the works – hits the city and their path as they try to solve a series of mysteries to end the rampant destruction. Taking aim at everything and everyone, from Indiana Jones and Iron Man to Amy Winehouse and High School Musical, Disaster Movie lampoons the blockbuster movie, pop culture icons and public figures along the way.

I admit that I have a problem. Anyone reading this is going to think why in the blue hell would he have even bothered to go see that. Please understand that I am a registered movie junkie who pretty much sees any movie that makes it to theaters. If I miss them, I make sure to see them as soon as they come out on video. Its also all free. In the last 10 years I've paid for maybe 6 movies. No cost + admitted addiction = seeing movies like Disaster Movie no matter how atrocious the preview makes them look. Now that I've gotten that out there, this movie was surprisingly not as tough to sit through as I expected. Granted, I had lower than the bottom of the barrel expectations for this movie so I'm sure that swayed my opinion of it a bit. It is definitely a horrible movie as are all of these overdone spoof movies. One every 3 or 4 years would be good. 3 - 4 a year is just plain out of control. But this one made me laugh out loud a couple of times. The spoofs on High School Musical, Enchanted, Step Up, and Alvin & The Chipmunks all had me going.

Even though I laughed quite a bit more than I thought I would - I can't bring myself to actually recommend this movie to anyone. It was a really bad movie, but if you tend to like spoof movies - this is one of the better ones by comparison to the recent releases. Thats really not saying much though.

Babylon A.D.

It is the not-too-distant future. Thousands of satellites scan, observe and monitor our every move. Much of the planet is a war zone; the rest, a collection of wretched way stations, teeming megalopolises, and vast wastelands punctuated by areas left radioactive from nuclear meltdowns. It is a world made for hardened warriors, one of whom, a mercenary known only as Toorop (Vin Diesel), lives by a simple survivor's code: kill... or be killed. His latest assignment has him smuggling a young woman named Aurora from a convent in Kazakhstan to New York City. Toorop, his new young charge Aurora (Melanie Thierry) and Aurora's guardian Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh) embark on a 6,000 mile journey that takes them from Eastern Europe, through a refugee camp in "New Russia," across the Bering Straight in a pilfered submarine, then through the frozen tundra of Alaska and Canada, and finally to New York. Facing obstacles at every turn, Toorop, the killer for hire, is tested like never before, in ways he could never have imagined - as he comes to understand that he is the custodian of the only hope for the future of mankind. For the first time in his life, Toorop has to make a choice: to make a difference or walk away and save himself. Too bad it came on the day he died.



This could have easily been a very good sci-fi movie. Unfortunately, it was done totally half-assed and ended up being a big pile of poop. The movie started off great. Sure, there was bound to be horrible acting throughout but they did a good job of setting up the future world and what not. The transporting of the girl started off great with mystery about what the special girl was, tension between the three parties in the group and action scenes sprinkled in. It all fell apart when the three of them were in a tent after a snowmobile scene and they were suddenly all good friends. I could tell at that point that there was a massive amount of footage edited out of the movie and it would probably be a bumpy ride for the rest of the film. Sure enough - it was. I'm going to guess that this was probably a 2 hour and 20 minute movie that the studio wanted cut down to 1 1/2 hours and the director totally screwed the pooch by randomly editing and making the movie from that point about as close to unbearable as it could have gotten.



I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone. It was really really bad. It probably would have been bad regardless of editing, but the editing made it a steaming pile of dung.