Michael Jackson's This Is It

Michael Jackson's This Is It will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London's O2 Arena. Chronicling the months from April through June, 2009, the film is produced with the full support of the Estate of Michael Jackson and drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs for the show. Audiences will be given a privileged and private look at Jackson as he has never been seen before.


I have always been and will always be a huge Michael Jackson fan. As big of a freak as he became in his later years - he will always be one of - if not the number one - best entertainers of all time. That being said, I dreaded seeing this movie. I figured it would be the biggest sham and just a way for his estate to milk as much money out of the movie going public as possible. And that is exactly what it is. In terms of movies or documentaries or concerts - this is horrible. Its all rehearsal footage so Michael only gets in to the performances or parts of them featured in the movie to a certain extent. The scenes in between the songs show both the musical genius that was Michael Jackson and the nutjob that he had unfortunately become. There were times where I think they put in footage that just made him seem silly and nonsensical with his inability to function properly. All of that being said - I still managed to enjoy this movie. I bopped in my seat and I sang along. I think that if these concerts were to have taken place, they probably would have been the greatest shows ever put on. The crowd that was in the theater I saw it in was dead though. That was unfortunate. If you could see this movie in a full crowd of real Michael Jackson fans instead of a bunch of lumps watching a movie (which again - this is not!), this would probably be a really good time.


I would only recommend this movie to the die hard Michael Jackson fans. Even then, please be warned that its just a mix and match of rehearsals. The concerts never sadly took place so there is no culminating scene.

Saw VI

Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw's grand scheme is finally understood.

Why are they still making these movies? Why am I still watching them? I like the first three of this series. I cared about the pretty clever story line. However, the story line has now become so convoluted that they have to keep showing you flashbacks to random scenes in the first 5 movies in the franchise to refresh your memory. And even though they are showing you the flashback - I still don't remember it ever happening much less mattering. I mean someone is really writing parts in to Saw VI based on a random scene from Saw III from three years ago!?! That's just plain silly. And don't even get me started on how Jigsaw has now been dead for three movies. Would we still be watching Friday the 13th movies if Jason wasn't in them? Seriously! This franchise really needs to be put down.

I wouldn't recommend anyone checking this out. Avoiding this really is the only way to stop them from churning them out year after year.

Surrogates

People are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic surrogates—sexy, physically perfect mechanical representations of themselves. It's an ideal world where crime, pain, fear and consequences don't exist. When the first murder in years jolts this utopia, FBI agent Greer (Bruce Willis) discovers a vast conspiracy behind the surrogate phenomenon and must abandon his own surrogate, risking his life to unravel the mystery.


I was actually surprised that I enjoyed this movie. I thought that it looked ridiculously stupid from the trailer. I think that what saved this movie was the fact that it was less than 90 minutes long. The fact that it was so condensed prevented this movie from becoming craptastic. If this would have been a full 2 hours or so, I probably would have been miserable. The action, while cheesy, was enjoyable because of the sci-fi world that they took us to in the movie.


I would actually recommend people checking this movie out. Its not by any means a must see, but its surprisingly worth the 90 minute escape.

Whip It

Whip It stars Ellen Page as Bliss, a rebellious Texas teen who throws in her small town beauty pageant crown for the rowdy world of roller derby. Marcia Gay Harden plays Bliss' disapproving mother, while Kristen Wiig and Juliette Lewis play roller-derby stars.


I never imagined that I would enjoy this movie as much as I did. It was just plain fun. The movie is beyond formula and cliche in every way, but I was hooked by the characters. This movie was just plain fun and when you take in to account that it was directed by Drew Barrymore it made the movie that much better. She deserves credit for directing a fun and down to earth movie with good characters and an underdog story that sucks you in.


Again - I never thought I would say this - but I strongly recommend that people check this bad boy out. It really is a lot of fun.

The Boys Are Back

In the adaptation of Simon Carr's serio-comic novel "The Boys Are Back in Town," Owen plays a widower struggling to raise his two sons.


This movie is just kind of there. Its not necessarily bad. Its not too good. Its just there. I wasn't really hooked by either the story or the characters. Its a blatant heartstrings movie. The wife gets sick and passes away and the dad now has to raise his sons while having no prior practice at this because all he used to do is work. He adopts this "just say yes" philosophy which is actually pretty enjoyable at first, but that wears out pretty fast.


I wouldn't really recommend that anyone rush to check this out. Honestly, you probably don't have a choice anyhow seeing as how the movie is barely released in theaters. I'd just wait for this to be on cable and watch it in passing.

I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell

My name is Tucker Max. And, I am an *sshole. It's impossible to keep me away from what I want. My creed is to indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead. I can't be accountable for all that comes out of my mouth especially when I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregarding social norms. I do contribute to humanity in one very important way though -- I share my adventures with the world -- and offer the best advice I know to friends faced with tough questions. "What would Tucker do? And you go out and do it," that's what I say. So that's me in a nutshell.

I had heard so much about how awesome this book was that I actually kind of got excited for this movie even though the trailer made it look like yet another massively disappointing over the top sex comedy. I would say that the movie landed somewhere in the middle. It was slightly better than the flash flood of crap sex comedies to come out over the last couple of years, but it was nowhere near as good as I had heard the book was. There were some big laughs but it was mostly just a bunch of really raunchy conversations with a happy ending about how important friendship was.

I wouldn't all out recommend seeing this movie. Its not great, but its not bad. Be warned that there is quite possibly the nastiest scene I've ever seen in a movie in this film. Actual diarrhea happening. Seriously. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Gamer

Gamer is a high-concept action thriller set in a near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid. Humans control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online games: people play people... for keeps. Mind-control technology is widespread, and at the heart of the controversial games is its creator, reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall). His latest brainchild, the first-person shooter game "Slayers," allows millions to act out their most savage fantasies online in front of a global audience, using real prisoners as avatars with whom they fight to the death. Kable (Gerard Butler) is the superstar and cult hero of the ultraviolent "Slayers." Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with rock star status who continues to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week. Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, the modern day gladiator must survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity and to save mankind from Castle's ruthless technology.


This movie is a prime example of why going to the movies in September can be so painful. This movie was advertised as a crazy adrenaline action movie. It seemed like it would be a simple enough watch. Basically like Death Race but in a video game form instead of car racing. I really didn't think that they could screw up something so basic. Needless to say, they did. The script and acting was cheesy as expected, but the main bad guy played my Michael C. Hall (usually a great actor) was absolutey horrible. It was just annoying every time he was on the screen. The camera work was also some of the worst I've ever seen. The editing was choppy as hell as it was and then the director decided to start getting creative with camera angles and moving them around and it was just nauseating.


I wouldn't recommend that anyone bother checking this movie out. Its not even good as an adrenaline action movie. The went and porked the simplest movie formula possible here.

The Invention Of Lying

From Ricky Gervais comes the new romantic comedy The Invention of Lying, which takes place in an alternate reality where lying--even the concept of a lie--does not exist. Everyone--from politicians to advertisers to the man and woman on the street--speaks the truth and nothing but the truth with no thought of the consequences. But when a down-on-his-luck loser named Mark suddenly develops the ability to lie, he finds that dishonesty has its rewards. In a world where every word is assumed to be the absolute truth, Mark easily lies his way to fame and fortune. But lies have a way of spreading, and Mark begins to realize that things are getting a little out of control when some of his tallest tales are being taken as, well, gospel. With the entire world now hanging on his every word, there is only one thing Mark has not been able to lie his way into: the heart of the woman he loves.


This movie started out awesome. Watching everyone tell the truth as blunt as possible had me laughing my a$$ off. Unfortunately, it didn't last long enough. The movie was still great when Ricky Gervais realized the power of lying. Lots of huge laughs. Unfortunately, it didn't last long enough. Then the movie tailed in to a blah drama about Ricky Gervais becoming a prophet who is pining for Jennifer Garner's unbiased love. Unfortunately, this part of the movie lasted too long. Its really unfortunate that this movie kind of ended up falling flat because it started brilliantly. I think they could have either shaved 20-30 minutes off and made it much better or they could have expanded the truth telling and discovery of lying parts while cutting down the drama stuff that didn't really work and this movie would have been awesome.


I would lukewarmly recommend that people check this movie out. The first half of the movie is the same comedic brilliance that you've come to expect from Ricky Gervais but the movie doesn't end nearly as good as it starts.

Whiteout

Carrie Stetko, the lone U.S. Marshal assigned to Antarctica, is investigating the continent's first murder, which draws her into a shocking mystery. Now, with only three days until winter, Carrie must solve the crime before Antarctica is plunged into darkness and she is stranded with the killer.


This movie is poop. Straight up poop. Its like a really boring episode of CSI: Antartica. I have seen better suspense while watching paint dry compared to this movie. The story was absolutely horrible. She get duped by her partner, kills her in self defense and . . . . . . goes to Antartica to be the marshal there!?! Seriously? And the continuity in the freezing cold was the funniest stuff ever. They did this whole scene with the "new guys" showing them how cold it is there and then every time that she was out in this blisteringly cold snow, from her nose down was exposed. She lost two fingers to frostbite yet her lips, cheeks and chin never even got red much less frozen. It was absurd. Absolutely absurd.


I wouldn't recommend seeing this movie. Ever. Its a big steaming turd that should never be watched by anyone.

Pandorum

Two astronauts awaken in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft. It's pitch black, they are disoriented, and the only sound is a low rumble and creak from the belly of the spacecraft. They can't remember anything - who are they, what is their mission? The only way out of the chamber is a dark and narrow airshaft. Corporal Bower (Foster), the younger of the two, crawls inside, while the other, Lt. Payton (Quaid), stays behind for guidance on a radio transmitter. As Bower ventures deeper and deeper into the ship, he begins to uncover a terrifying reality. Slowly the spacecraft's shocking and deadly secrets come unraveled, and the astronauts realize that the survival of mankind hinges on their actions.


This movie was garbage. It had all the potential in the world. It could have been a really good, creepy sci-fi/horror movie but it ended up screwing the pooch. They made it to cerebral and all of the crazy action scenes were so dark you could barely make out what was happening. It ended up being a giant waste of time.


I wouldn't really recommend anyone checking this out. Its just another reason why going to the movies in the month of September is downright painful.

The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is a suspenseful portrait of the courage under fire of the military's unrecognized heroes: the technicians of a bomb squad who volunteer to challenge the odds and save lives doing one of the world's most dangerous jobs. Three members of the Army's elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad battle insurgents and one another as they search for and disarm a wave of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad—in order to try and make the city a safer place for Iraqis and Americans alike. Their mission is clear—protect and save—but it's anything but easy, as the margin of error when defusing a war-zone bomb is zero. This thrilling and heart-pounding look at the psychology of bomb technicians and the effects of risk and danger on the human psyche is a fictional tale inspired by real events by journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with a special bomb unit in Iraq. In Iraq, it is soldier vernacular to speak of explosions as sending you to "the hurt locker."


This was a great movie. Unfortunately, we will probably never get the chance to see it in theaters since its opening very limited. The movie really took you there with the soldiers. It reminded me a lot of a tv series on FX a few years back called Over There. The characters were well acted and real. The bomb diffusing scenes had you sitting on the edge of your seat. This is one of those movies that made me feel like I was actually seeing what its like over there instead of the mindless drivel that the news pushes on us.


I'd recommend people checking this one out if they have the chance. If not, be sure to rent it when it comes out.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself

When Madea, catches sixteen-year-old Jennifer and her two younger brothers looting her home, she decides to take matters into her own hands and delivers the young delinquents to the only relative they have: their aunt April. A heavy-drinking nightclub singer who lives off of Raymond, her married boyfriend, April wants nothing to do with the kids. But her attitude begins to change when Sandino, a handsome Mexican immigrant looking for work, moves into April's basement room. Making amends for his own troubled past, Sandino challenges April to open her heart. And April soon realizes she must make the biggest choice of her life: between her old ways with Raymond and the new possibilities of family, faith... and even true love.


Which one is this? 6? 7? Why do they bother giving these movies titles? Its should just be called Tyler Perry 6. You know thats what even the biggest fans of his movies think of them as by this point. This movie is just like the others. Madea is hilarious. I'm sorry. I happen to be one of those people who find the character to be hysterical. The other part of the movie is depressing and drags on but this one made you care a little bit more than usual because it was about kids instead of poor me adults.


Recommending this really depends on if you like Tyler Perry's movies. If you would say yes to that - you should be enjoying this one. If you don't like them - why would you start now when you could wait for Tyler Perry 7? Or will the next one be 8?

Halloween II

It's that time of year again, and Michael Myers has returned home to sleepy Haddonfield, Illinois to take care of some unfinished family business. Unleashing a trail of terror that only horror master Rob Zombie can, Myers will stop at nothing to bring closure to the secrets of his twisted past. But the town's got an unlikely new hero, if they can only stay alive long enough to stop the unstoppable.


I couldn't even make it through the first hour of this movie. It is just plain crap. And this is coming from someone that growing up found Halloween to be my favorite horror series by far and would get pumped for every reincarnation of Michael Myers even though it was just the same movie over and over again. The "original" Halloween II scared the hell out of me. I absolutely loved it. This one is poop. Its just like the first Rob Zombie take on Halloween. Its just a whole lot more gore and bone crunching sounds while the attacks are happening. He is also completely in love with characters yelling "f#ck". I'm not going to pretend that I'm not a potty mouth at numerous times, but words do no justice to how many times this was the only word that characters were saying or yelling repeatedly. Rob Zombie has made a complete mess out of what was my favorite horror franchise.


I wouldn't recommend anyone checking this movie out ever. Its a complete and total waste of time and even a die hard Halloween franchise fan like me couldn't make it through this whole movie.

Post Grad

Ryden Malby (Bledel) had a plan. Do well in high school, thereby receiving a great college scholarship. Now that she's finally graduated, it's time for her to find a gorgeous loft apartment and land her dream job at the city's best publishing house. But when Jessica Bard (Reitman), Ryden's college nemesis steals her perfect job, Ryden is forced to move back to her childhood home. Stuck with her eccentric family – a stubborn do-it-yourself dad (Keaton), an overly thrifty mom (Lynch), a politically incorrect grandma (Burnett), a very odd little brother (Coleman) – and a growing stack of rejected job applications, Ryden starts to feel like she’s going nowhere. The only upside is spending time with her best friend, Adam (Zach Gilford) – and running into her hot next-door neighbor, David (Santoro). But if Ryden's going to survive life as a post grad, it may be time to come up with a new plan...


This movie is great . . . . . . . . . . . for teenage girls ages 11 - 17 or those of you that have the mentality of teenage girls ages 11 - 17. I went to see this with Stinka (and because I have a movie seeing addiction) and she liked it. I would go ahead and essentially tell you that this movie was Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 3 except Alexis Bledel's family really made this movie more watchable than that. Her mother, grandmother, and brother were all very weird and provided enough laughs that it wasn't a downright painful experience. The movie itself is beyond predictable and formula. You know everything just by watching the commercial and its your textbook teeny bopper movie. The one rant I have to make is how hard it is to watch Michael Keaton now playing these corny dad roles. It is just downright painful how Michael Keaton (as well as Matthew Broderick) were icons to me when I was growing up. This guy was downright hilarious and he was Batman, people!!! Now he has fallen so far that he is the dad in Post Grad!?! Its just sad and it cuts real deep.


I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone unless you are the aforementioned 11 - 17 year old or have the mentality of someone that age and gender. If you fall under those categories - go check it out!

Fame

Fame follows a talented group of dancers, singers, actors, and artists over four years at the New York City High School of Performing Arts, a diverse, creative powerhouse where students from all walks of life are given a chance to live out their dreams and achieve real and lasting fame...the kind that comes only from talent, dedication, and hard work. In an incredibly competitive atmosphere, plagued by self-doubt, each student's passion will be put to the test. In addition to their artistic goals, they have to deal with everything else that goes along with high school, a tumultuous time full of schoolwork, deep friendships, budding romance, and self-discovery. As each student strives for his or her moment in the spotlight, they’ll discover who among them has the innate talent and necessary discipline to succeed. With the love and support of their friends and fellow artists, they’ll find out who amongst them will achieve Fame...


This movie was crap. It was really crap. I didn't expect much from this, but I did expect a "movie". This movie was just a million performing arts vignettes thrown together with pretty much no ryhme or reason whatsoever. There was seriously no story at all. I don't understand. They could have basically just made another "Step Up" type movie but decided that having an actual script to follow was unnecessary.


I would never recommend that anyone watch this. Its 2 hours of random singing, playing instruments, dancing, and acting. You'll never be able to get that time back, people!

Moon

It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth's primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live communications home. Taped messages are all Sam can send and receive.Thankfully, his time on the moon is nearly over, and Sam will be reunited with his wife, Tess, and their three-year-old daughter, Eve, in only a few short weeks. Finally, he will leave the isolation of "Sarang," the moon base that has been his home for so long, and he will finally have someone to talk to beyond "Gerty," the base's well-intentioned, but rather uncomplicated computer.Suddenly, Sam's health starts to deteriorate. Painful headaches, hallucinations and a lack of focus lead to an almost fatal accident on a routine drive on the moon in a lunar rover. While recuperating back at the base (with no memory of how he got there), Sam meets a younger, angrier version of himself, who claims to be there to fulfill the same three year contract Sam started all those years ago. Confined with what appears to be a clone of his earlier self, and with a "support crew" on its way to help put the base back into productive order, Sam is fighting the clock to discover what's going on and where he fits into company plans.

This was a very strange movie. It came across as one of those one man plays where the guy is talking to himself for a little less than two hours. I also found myself watching this very skeptically feeling that it was all going to be a hoax job on the viewer. Won't tell you whether it was or not, but I will tell you that this is worth checking out simply because Sam Rockwell is a very entertaining actor. Its not a mainstream watch by any means. This is an "artsy" science fiction movie with a really good actor playing multiple versions of himself.

I'd recommend people checking this out. Its not a must see by any means, but if you are looking for something different - check this out.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

Bill Hader will voice Flint Lockwood, a young inventor who dreams of creating something that will improve everyone's life. Anna Faris takes on the role of Sam Sparks, a weathergirl covering the phenomenon who hides her intelligence behind a perky exterior. James Caan plays Tim Lockwood, Flint's technophobic father. Andy Samberg plays Brent, the town bully who has plagued Flint since childhood. Bruce Campbell plays Mayor Shelbourne, who figures out that Flint's invention can put the town, and more importantly himself, on the map and Mr. T plays the by-the-rules town cop Earl Devereaux.

My expectations for this movie was for it to be a lame kids movie that was banking on the 3D effects. I was completely wrong. I loved the movie. It had that smart/witty humor in the script that makes animated movies just as enjoyable for the parents as it is for the kids. You really get in to the characters and their relationships. The monkey had me laughing my ass off at points. Plus - its super short. Huge bonus points on not wasting my time there.

I would definitely recommend that everyone check this one out . . . . . . . especially if you have kids. They will love it and you will too. As a co-worker of mine said "more like Cloudy With A Chance Of Awesome".

The Final Destination

On what should have been a fun-filled day at the races, Nick O'Bannon has a horrific premonition in which a bizarre sequence of events causes multiple race cars to crash, sending flaming debris into the stands, brutally killing his friends and causing the upper deck of the stands to collapse on him. When he comes out of this grisly nightmare Nick panics, persuading his girlfriend, Lori, and their friends, Janet and Hunt, to leave... escaping seconds before Nick's frightening vision becomes a terrible reality. Thinking they've cheated death, the group has a new lease on life, but unfortunately for Nick and Lori, it is only the beginning. As his premonitions continue and the crash survivors begin to die one-by-one--in increasingly gruesome ways--Nick must figure out how to cheat death once and for all before he, too, reaches his final destination.

For the record, this is an absolutely horrible movie. The acting is atrocious and its just about the worst writing/dialogue ever. That being said, seeing this movie in 3D was just plain fun. The theatre was packed. Everyone was jumping and then laughing at themselves for jumping. It was fun. That's really the only reason that you go to a movie like this. As horrible of a movie as it was it definitely met his true meaning of provinding the fun.

I would never recommend that anyone see this movie based on the quality of it. Its a fun scary movie and is even more fun in 3D. If you enjoy that type of thing - do not miss this movie. If you don't - this is one of the biggest turds out there, people.

Adam

Romance can be risky, perplexing and filled with the perils of miscommunication - and that's if you aren't Adam, for whom life itself is this way. In this heartfelt romantic comedy, Hugh Dancy stars as Adam, a handsome but intriguing young man who has all his life led a sheltered existence - until he meets his new neighbor, Beth (Rose Byrne), a beautiful, cosmopolitan young woman who pulls him into the outside world, with funny, touching and entirely unexpected results. Their implausible and enigmatic relationship reveals just how far two people from different realities can stretch in search of an extraordinary connection.

This was a very cute movie. You really get hooked by the two main characters and as the story progresses you end up feeling as if you are part of the relationship. I found myself actually getting mad at each of them at different times based on how they were acting. Both of these actors have a lot of talent and could become very big with the right casting opportunities.

I would definitely recommend people checking this movie out. It was cute, funny and involving. Its a really good, simple watch.