Apollo 18

Rating: 3.4 out of 5 stars

Movie: Apollo 18 (2011)

Studio : Dimension Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 87 min

Website : apollo18movie.net

Rating : PG-13

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Two astronauts (Warren Christie and Lloyd Owen) are sent on a secret mission to the moon to determine why NASA had deemed the lunar surface unsafe and cancelled all future missions. In the real world, this was due to funding issues which shut down the program in 1972, but this revisionist look at the space program shows that there was something far more sinister afoot than a lack of coin. And the Department of Defense wanted to know what it was. The filmmakers then supposedly found 80 hours of footage, which was classified but leaked out for the world to know in what I guess is a shout out to Wikileaks.

The company releasing this film has gone through some great lengths to pretend that this is actual footage of a real life event that was hidden away from the public. Even the two stars of the film are listed with no credit in the Internet Movie Database. It contends that they are not real actors at all, but real astronauts that had to endure their terrible journey. To me, what the producers are trying to do just insults the movie going audience’s intelligence. This isn’t like Area 51 where things happened on a secret base somewhere that no outsider could get to. This is space we are talking about. And to get to space is not just a hop into your personal spacecraft and off you go. Rockets being hauled out onto the pad and the days of preparations can not be done in shadow. As someone who lived close to Cape Canaveral, any launch is big news and would have been back in 1973, when the space race was in full force. At the very least, people would have remembered it. If you are going to push the conspiracy idea, it works better if the facts are at least somewhat believable. This footage gimmick may have worked in Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, but only because people could relate to not knowing what goes on inside every house or deep in the dark woods. Finding a tape would be almost believable. But using low budget camera tricks and pawning it off as some sort of real footage is stupid.

But in all fairness, that really doesn’t have anything to do with the movie itself except that it sets the tone of the film from the very start with the opening written narration. From there, the story plays in three acts using what looks like 40 year old video tape. It’s grainy. It flickers out a lot, having been supposedly damaged over time, and has that hand held queasiness factor that is only kept in check by some still camera work such as when they are in the capsule. This can get a bit annoying after a bit, but thankfully the shorter running time doesn’t make it too much of a strain on the eyes and in some parts these low budget visual effects actually work in the movie’s favor. At the very least, they do make you feel as though this is the 1970’s you are watching, thankfully without the leisure suits.

The story is far more character driven than other entries into the hand held thriller genre. There is a great dynamic between the two men as the danger gets more and more real. And their fear comes across very well. The close quarters, what lies outside, are all phobias that can be attributed to the human condition and the movie plays on that. It also does well delving in the conspiracy theory that the movie tries to imply. My only minor fault here is that a little more information about what happened prior would have been helpful in understanding and relating to their predicament. We don’t know anything about them and why they are there.

If this was a pseudo documentary into a false conspiracy, it might have been okay, but this being billed as a horror movie. So it has to be reviewed as one. And in this case, it failed pretty badly on the scare factor. Like Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark that we just reviewed, it relies on suspense to fuel the few gotcha moments in the film. But it does not do this successfully. While there are some pretty disturbing moments, the anxiety is never really that heightened that the jumps are off the chart. And once we see the enemy, the film becomes even more anti-climatic. The trailer promised that the last 10 minutes would go down in movie history. Not sure what history they were referring to. The end doesn’t seem to justify the journey making one walk out of the theater really scratching their heads. I guess the sequel will help.

For a low budget film, director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego did his best to try to stretch every dollar and there are parts that are better than some big budget action movies, especially in the acting, but it wasn’t enough to pull the film out of mediocrity. I give this film a 3.2/5, a little better than some, but not able to scare, which was the point.

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Dont Be Afraid of Dark

Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars

Movie: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)

Studio : Miramax

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 99 min

Website : dontbeafraidofthedark.com

Rating : R

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Sally (Bailee Madison) is a young girl, who was sent to her father Alex (Guy Pearce) when she didn’t want her anymore. But Alex has a new girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) that isn’t fond of the idea of suddenly being saddled with a child. But Kim has little choice and the family settles back down in a gothic mansion that Alex is remodeling. But Blackwood Manor has a horrific past and when Sally goes exploring, she finds that they are not alone. That there are voices coming up through the vent, voices that try to convince her that they are friends and they need to be let out of their prison. The moppet tries to tell her father, but he’s too busy in his work to pay any attention and Kim doesn’t believe her. And so she finds comfort from the isolation in these odd whispers that come from below, so much comfort that she lets them out, bringing horrible results to the family.

I can see why this got some bad press by a more contemporary audience that is used to movies like Friday the 13th and Saw, where horror is defined by the number of shock moments and horrible bloody messes with chainsaws and axes. But back in my day, the genre also included suspense. Alfred Hitchcock never showed the blood of the woman Norman Bates chopped up in the shower in Psycho, but we knew it was there. Suspense was something that was built up, starting as an uneasy feeling and getting progressively more eerie as it went along. And that is what this and its predecessor, the 1973 classic by the same name did. It provided less gore and less gotcha moments, but a slow building that made one sufficiently unsettled by the end.

A lot of that buildup had to do with the house itself, the set design created the mood for the film. It starts off in the initial scene that earned the movie its R rating, of Edward Blackwood a hundred years earlier, trying to extract the teeth of his maid in the most painful way possible. Every detail of the house from it’s interior to his drawings, to the art on the walls, everything screamed gothic and creepy. The house reeked of the horrible things that had happened there in the past, and even when the remodeling began, the lighting kept the tone of the dark spirits that inhabited the dwelling.

Sally represents the little kid in all of us, who slept with the light on after seeing our first horror film, who wondered if there were things under the bed or in the closet, who visited haunted houses on Halloween and screamed in terror. And newcomer Bailee Madison did well playing both the jilted child scorned by her parents and her father’s girlfriend and the scared little girl who just wants to leave this horrid place. And I think Madison should have a bright future ahead of her in films.

Guy Pearce was equally as good, even if we hated his character, at playing the father who is too busy to care what his daughter is doing or scared of. Katie Holmes is just so so as the girlfriend turned mother. As her character progressed, I actually found her more annoying and flat than when she started out as the hesitant mom.

There were two parts of the film though that drags down the score. The first was the creatures. The CGI goblins that looked a bit like a cross between Quasimodo and the dog from Taco Bell were not suspenseful, but a bit funny at places where they shouldn’t have been. The big reveal seemed to get more guffaws than it did frights. Del Toro would have done better keeping them in the dark and not be so open about what they were doing. That would have certainly added to the creepiness.

The other problem was the insane way that some of the characters dealt with the horror that surrounded them, which is a staple of horror films I know, but this one could have rose above that. I mean if you had these creepy things in your house, wouldn’t you leave or at least call an exterminator or something? It wasn’t like the house was keeping them there as in Amityville Horror.

Still even despite these two things, we still found the film a fun way to spend an afternoon and the movie will appeal to the ones who like their horror less on the Saw side and more on the Psycho side. And so we give it a 3.8/5. Newer and more jaded audiences might not get it, but those that can relate to Sally as a mirror of their own childhood should enjoy it.

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Colombiana

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Movie: Colombiana (2011)

Studio : EuropaCorp

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 107 min

Website : www.colombiana-movie.com

Rating : PG-13

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

When a mob boss in Bogota, Columbia feels that her family has betrayed him, he orders everyone killed and believes that is what happened. But what he doesn’t know is that the young daughter Cataleya (Amandla Stenberg) survived. Taken in by her uncle, she learns the ways of being a professional killer and by the time she’s an adult (Zoe Saldana), she is very good at what she does. But there is only one target she’s interested in, and that’s the one that murdered her parents. In order to root him out, she leaves clues that catch the attention of not only him, but of the FBI as well.

The movie is not an original concept. It takes cues from Luc Besson’s previous works such as The Professional which brought Natalie Portman to the public eye as the little girl who sees her family murdered and decides to take up with an assassin for protection and training. Colombiana doesn’t end when she is still a child however, but follows Catalaya into adulthood as a ruthless killer, much like in Besson’s other film Nikita. But even though these two film plots combined into one, the movie is no where near the level in terms of plot and complex characterizations that portrayed the brutal side of the psyche scorned in the other ones, even in someone so young.

But that is not what Besson obviously intended here, but to provide action over the path of enlightened portrayals. And in that respect, he did okay. The movie is filled with all sorts of action scenes, one right after the other, leading audiences on an exhausting, but somewhat exhilarating pace. And that is what most b-rated action movies do, but the lack of any sort of plot and generic characters and villains that were laughable got in the way of even the scenes that were decent.

The one lone star in the movie was Zoe Saldana herself. She portrayed Cataleya with a focus that was unparalleled. Every step she took, every action, even though she had limited dialog, was in character and made the assassin come alive. There was no time that we didn’t believe who she was and that takes a good deal of talent. I can’t think of anyone who could have handled it better. These type of films don’t usually get recognized at the awards, but she really does deserve one for the ruthless persona she brought to Cataleya.

It’s just a shame that she received no support from those around her or the script itself. The acting was generic at best, in some parts even horrible, and the plot that did exist was just there to move the action along.

Colombiana is a recent example of what used to be called a b-rated film. It has a lot of action and not much else. And so we give it a 3.0/5 stars and the only reason we are really going that high is because of Saldana’s performance.

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Spy Kids 4

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Movie: Spy Kids 4 (2011)

Studio : Dimension Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 89 min

Website : spykidsmovie.net

Rating : PG

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

The Spy Kids are back in a new adventure, only it’s the next generation courtesy of Marissa Wilson (Jessica Alba), who is sister to Antonio Banderas’ character in the original. She’s a top spy who while pregnant even took down the arch villain Tik Tok. But having a baby with husband Wilbur (Joel McHale) gives her reason to quit the spy biz and settle down. But a year later, Tik Tok, now with an accomplice Timekeeper (Jeremy Piven), decides to take ‘time’ away from the world and Marissa must return to stop him. This time, though, she gets her whole family involved including her two step kids Rebecca (Rowan Blanchard) and Cecil (Mason Cook), her baby daughter, their guard dog Argonaut (voiced by Ricky Gervais) and a blast from the past, the original Spy Kids (Daryl Sabara and Alexa Vega) to save the world once again.

As an adult, movies meant for kids are often difficult to see from a kids’ perspective. I took my niece with me to see the film and from her and other kids’ reactions to the numerous sight gags and poop/fart/puke jokes, it was obvious the target audience was a very young age. Although writer and director Robert Rodriguez did try his hardest to include those over 6, most of those moments were either few and far between, or fell flat against the backdrop. The previous endeavors, especially the first two, were much better at entertaining those parents who would be forced to sit there with their kids, but to me, it was a long 83 minutes.

While it was good to see Jessica Alba using her martial arts training once again that we haven’t seen since Dark Angel, she really is wasted in this film as an actress. It was obvious, although a good sport about the predicaments she found herself in, that she was doing this perhaps only to show daughter Honor what her mommy did for a living later on. Although I don’t know what kind of mother would bring her one year old child on a potentially dangerous mission. I kept thinking that if this was real life, she’d probably have CPS take her children away for endangerment. But it’s just a movie, so all is good I guess.

All the adults in this movie were as they are in most aimed at kid’s movies, flat and used as a bumper for the kids to defy. I have to admit though that Jeremy Piven was actually pretty good as the over the top villain Timekeeper, his scenes being some of the best.

Blanchard and Cook did quite well for their age and were very believable without being overly cute or obnoxious, which kids in these films often are. They handled the scenes well and dare I say almost better than their older veterans. Having Vega and Sabara return was inspired to not only serve as a continuity conduit but also they had some of the same vibe as their screen parents did in the original movies, which helped with the nostalgia and kept the film from slipping all the way into the abyss.

An appearance by Danny Trejo was also a welcome sight as the gadget creating Machete.

The 3D was very well done in this one, much better than previous outings. Of course, in this one, the 3D is the real deal, and shot in native 3D format, which makes some of the scenes incredible to watch. It’s definitely worth seeing this one in the 3D theater for nothing else but the jawdropping effects. Ships and even some of the characters actually fly out of the screen at you, which I have to say was very impressive.

Less impressive was the Aroma-Scope, which is basically a card with numbered areas. When the appropriate number comes on the screen, you scratch the surface and sniff, like back when we were kids. It’s not very potent and you could smell some of the odors to some extent. This really only works for the kids as parents are too jaded to really get the effect. Actually I found the whole thing rather bothersome while trying to watch the action that I gave up after the first couple.

In the end, the kids liked it and the movie left the parents and uncles basically groaning and so we give this movie a 2.5/5. The 3D was great, the movie not so much, especially at the price of 3D films, but it’s an okay family time film if you have some cash and afternoon to blow with the young-ins.

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30 Minutes or Less

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Movie: 30 Minutes or Less (2011)

Studio : Columbia Pictures

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 83 min

Website : 30minutesorless.com

Rating : R

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Travis (Nick Swardson) and Dwayne (Danny McBride) have an idea. They want to kill Dwayne’s father, but murder is serious business and expensive too. So where can they get that kind of cash to handle it properly. From a bank of course, but they don’t want to do the job themselves. Instead, they hijack a down on his luck pizza delivery guy (Jesse Eisenberg) and to force him to do the crime, slap a bomb on him and give him ten hours before it explodes. If he returns the money, he’s good. If not, well.

It’s obvious that there is no longer any adults in comedy writing anymore, because what seems to fuel what passes as comedy in this day and age is jokes that were probably snickered at in a middle school bathroom. Sure, there are bound to be a few laughs. If you spend 83 minutes telling one joke after the other, one is bound to stick to the ribs. But a constant barrage of sex jokes or bodily function humor, like in McBride’s other “comedy” Your Highness, gets very old and a bit offensive, very quickly. I, for one, was glad that the movie wasn’t two hours long because there is only so much one can take. Although, a longer running time may have allowed the director to focus more on plot and time the jokes out to be more effective, which would have provided better balance.

Pacing is the biggest problem in this film, but it also suffers from another issue. Because the jokes were obviously top priority, it seems like the characterizations were not very important. Several of the cast seemed to completely change personalities during the course of the film. I’m not talking about the usual gradual attitude change as the person develops throughout the story, I’m talking about literally changing personalities as if the actor was suddenly playing a different character with the same name. This basically showed that the cast was more interested in a paycheck then keeping to their parts. Given the material, it’s hard to blame them I guess. Clearly this movie will probably be left off their resumes. I will say, however, that Aziz Anzari, who is making his movie debut, wasn’t bad and actually of all the cast, was probably the best in holding his character to one line, which stood out here.

Of all the juvenile comedies, this one is really at the top of list, which isn’t a good thing. It’s vulgar, flat and the laughs just fall by the wayside one by one because of the horrific pacing. We give this movie a 2.5/5. It has some funny moments because of the sheer number of attempts, but all in all, is just a contender for this year’s Razzies.

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Glee 3D

Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars

Movie: Glee: The 3D Concert Movie (2011)

Studio : 20th Century Fox

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 100 min

Website : facebook.com

Rating : PG

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

The Fox sensation Glee had a summer tour in 2011 and producers filmed the concerts in 3D adding in clips of fans and the stars themselves in a concert/documentary about the hit show that tells the lives of a bunch of high school glee club members.

What can I say? If you enjoy Glee on a regular basis, then you will most likely love this, but then if you were a huge fan, you probably saw the live concert. But it’s full of amazing music and an energy that you would expect from a Broadway production, which is a good thing. The director did an excellent job to capture the high power and emotional songs sung wonderfully by the cast, showing they really can sing live and not just pre-recorded.

The 3D does enhance the experience quite a bit. You feel like you are actually watching the real concert and not just images on a flat screen. It’s probably the closest thing you can get to actually having been there during their tour. The process of bringing these concerts together in 3D has really come along nicely since Disney did it with Hannah Montana a few years ago.

I have to say there was one thing that really bugged me and that was the documentary elements that were sprinkled in. There are clips with fan comments and talking appearances by the cast about their experiences on tour, but were these necessary? Back in the old days, when concerts were taped to put on DVD or VHS even, this was the way it was generally done. But back then, the movies were really targeted at people watching at home. And no one on their small screens (even at 60”) with no 3D were fooled in the slightest that they were actually at a concert. The whole point of the 3D is to give you the impression that are really there and so having these clips thrown in really takes away from that “fantasy” that the movie is designed around. Perhaps they do that so people won’t wait until the film instead of seeing the live concert. Who knows?

Notably absent was Jane Lynch, whose scenes were deleted out of the film for some reason or another. Adults that enjoy the show find great humor in her character and I was sorry to see her omitted from the presentation. But beyond that, pretty much all of the singing cast were there including guest Gwyneth Paltrow.

Glee has not yet done well at the box office. This is probably because Glee appeals as much to an older audience who is likely to not be interested in the 3D or to pay extra to see it in 3D. After all, adults are usually much more money conscience about paying $20 for a film, versus $7. Its 3D only format also limited it to only those theaters so equipped, so you couldn’t just catch it at any theater. There will most likely be a 2D version released on DVD later on and people figure that they’ll catch it then. This and a lot of stiff competition from surprise hit The Help, the Smurfs and of course the boy who lived Harry Potter really served to be the demise of the film on the big screen. But on other hand, it didn’t cost that much to make, so they are bound to get their money back and then some.

All in all, if you like Glee as I said earlier, than you should see it. It’s fun, exciting with a touch of Broadway. If you don’t like that sort of thing, you will probably hate it. We give it a 3.8/5. It’s a great performance by the cast, but the documentary portion is distracting and its appeal as a whole limited.

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The Help

Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars

Movie: The Help (2011)

Studio : Dreamworks SKG

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 137 min

Website : thehelpmovie.com

Rating : PG-13

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

On the brink of the civil rights movement in the south, a young college socialite named Skeeter (Emma Stone) asks Aibileen (Viola Davis), her friend’s African American maid, to share her life story after seeing her mistreated by the family. At first Aibileen is hesitant as the black culture frowned upon such association and speaking up at the time, but she bravely defies their advice and tells her tale. As her life unfolds before Skeeter, who transcribes it as she speaks, they become friends. And the revelations that are revealed by this woman and her outspoken friend (Octavia Spencer) ruffle the small Mississippi town’s perceptions on race and the treatment of humankind.

This period piece set in the South of the 60’s pulls no punches in describing what life was like back then, the racial divide between the white folk and the black folk. Even though slavery had been abolished one hundred years before, the prejudices are clearly defined in this film. But this is not a film that is meant to depress or look down on anyone, but to show the strength, the optimism, the power of these gracious women. Despite being mistreated, they were able to triumph against incredible odds and Aibileen’s story inspires not only the town, but the audience as well.

I can’t help but think back to Color Purple and how much of a groundbreaking film it was and this, I believe, this is the Color Purple of this generation. The talent of the African American women in defining just how it was back then, complete with the attitudes, the fears, the joys and the issues that abounded, is just spectacular. I could see Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer being up for an Academy Award for their portrayals. Bryce Dallas Howard proved her acting chops in playing Hilly, who starts out prejudice, but mellows as time goes on. Her conversion is handled quite well throughout. And Emma Stone is excellent as the socialite who wants to change perceptions as a writer and journalist.

It’s unfortunate that this film will be drowned out by other blockbusters that are out, but this is definitely a movie to see, especially if you like your films smart, subtle, dramatic, and even a bit lighthearted at times. It’s certainly a step away from the current fare that has ruled the box office as of late.

We give this movie a 4.9/5 and recommend it to everyone. All those in our group came out inspired and even a bit more educated, and that is really something. See it now and definitely look for it at this year’s Oscars.

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Final Destination 5

Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars

Movie: Final Destination 5 (2011)

Studio : New Line Cinema

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 105 min

Website : finaldestinationmovie.com

Rating : R

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Death is back with a new twist as a bunch of strangers riding a bus escape the tragedy after one of their fellow passengers warns them to get off before the bridge the bus is on collapses. And as in the previous films, they are then targeted by the grim reaper one by one. But this time, there is a new rule. If they kill someone else, that person will take their place and they will no longer be on the list. But will they be able to take someone’s life to save their own?

I had my doubts about this film. After all, we’ve seen it all before over and over and this is the fifth time out. And given that the third and fourth were not very exciting, the hope for this one was that it at least didn’t suck too badly. But this one actually exceeded expectations to be one of the best in the series. It’s resurgence of the main element, which is the characters themselves, are what raises this to new heights.

One of the things missing in the last two was that I didn’t really care about who lived or who died. It was all the same to me. I didn’t get to know them and as a result, they wound up just becoming part of a mindless kill fest, despite how unique the scenarios might have been. That is not the case here. The characters are designed to be just like the audience, regular people that are now faced with an impossible decision, leaving me wondering what I would do in that situation. The excellent acting puts me in their shoes and when one dies, it’s almost like a part of myself died with them. That’s a pretty powerful feeling that creates a, pardon the pun, new dimension in the series.

It is also this twist that gives each death scene the possibility of turning out much differently then what you’d expect, giving it a very strong sense of suspense before each killing begins, which only serves to heighten the experience even more. You never know what is really going to happen and that will keep you glued to the story and at the edge of your seat.

Filmed in true 3D from the ground up, the effects are very scary and very real looking. Much better than they were in the previous edition. In fact, some effects were so real, I actually found myself ducking or moving as if the items were really coming out at me. And I’m pretty jaded by now on the whole 3D thing, but this one really portrays the process in its best, if not freakiest, light. And despite the darkness of the subject matter, things were very easy to see.

Nicholas D’Agosto and Emma Bell lead a relatively obscure cast, but that works in the movie’s favor because it gives each one more chance to be seen as a regular person and not a celebrity. If they had really pushed the top names, it would not have had half of the impact it does. All do a superb job portraying their individual characters as we said above, so it was excellent casting in our opinion.

Final Destination 5 is an awesome film and if you only see one horror movie this year, this is the one you should check out. But a word of warning. It is not for the squeamish. Along with improvements in 3D and characterization, it is also much sicker with the gory than the previous ones. One scene in particular, which I won’t get into as to spoil it, will most likely even shake the most unshakable. I give this movie a 4.6/5. It’s a bit more blood and guts than I really like in my horror movies, but the suspense and well thought out death scenarios, along with the added twist definitely give me reason to forgive that.

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Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars

Movie: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Studio : 20th Century Fox

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 105 min

Website : apeswillrise.com

Rating : PG-13

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the prequel to Planet of the Apes, this film endeavors to reveal how man gave up it’s supremacy in the future to the intelligent apes that it created. In modern day San Francisco, Will Rodman (James Franco) is doing experiments on genetic engineering for the good of Alzheimer’s patients, which his father (John Lithgow) suffers from. But the serum he thinks is the answer has profound effects on the ape they test it on, making him as smart, if not smarter than humans, and able to speak. Enthused, he believes the same will happen in humans, but the genetic differences cause it to have a terrible effect on people, making them sick and die. Determined not to give up, he continues his work for years. But at one point, has to give up the creature who has become his confidante. The ape is taken to a primate reserve, where he uses his new found intelligence to train an army of his fellow apes, with the purpose of getting revenge for how animals and apes have been treated.

It’s only fair in this review to start with Caesar, the ape. When I heard he was voiced by Andy Serkis and was CGI, my heart sunk. How will they make a movie that hinges on this character with these two things going against them? Perhaps I’m being unfair to Serkis, but Gollum is one of my least favorite characters of all time and computer graphics are usually used for Smurfs and chipmunks than for heavy dramatic creatures. But all of my fears were belayed as I sat there watching this amazing creation by Weta Digital. They were able to portray every feeling in the most realistic manner possible. You couldn’t help but believe that this ape was completely real and how he interacted with his captor for lack of a better term was simply amazing. In fact, it made the live action actors in the old movies that wore masks seem downright stuffy. And Serkis was incredibly, using his voice to really put forth the necessary tones to make you really feel for him. I no longer doubt his ability.

James Franco was another reservation I had about this film. His recent movie choices haven’t been spectacular and after the disaster that was Your Highness, I couldn’t see him playing the other side of the duo, but he turns in a performance here which I think is Academy Award quality. The way he’s able to relate to Caesar and portray the emotional rollercoaster that the intelligent script requires works very well. I’d say that he really was a good choice in the end.

We haven’t seen too much of John Lithgow lately, but he was another one that should be considered for an Oscar. His tender, yet sad portrayal of someone suffering from Alzheimer’s really showed the horrors of the disease in its purest darkness. For those who have lived with the disease first hand, the recognition of his actions in the film really hit home.

Frieda Pinto, who emerges as the love interest over her shared caring for the research, but her presense doesn’t really do anything for the story. It’s almost as if studio execs said, “But it needs a woman.” She’s good at the part, it’s just the substory just seemed an unnecessary distraction.

Tom Felton (Draco Malfroy) who is in his first blockbuster since the Potter series, doesn’t stretch at all as the son of a scumbag (Brian Cox). He plays the character just as he did in his previous job. We hope to see him mature into other roles that don’t stereotype him later on.

The film really does have something for every taste, a masterpiece that comes together in just the right way to make it a favorite even among those that hated Planet of the Apes. The heart thumping action, the sensitive drama, the light hearted moments, and the terrific casting earn this film one of our highest scores, 4.8/5. Even though this is a prequel to the rebooted Planet of the Apes which wasn’t as hot, we certainly want to see more prequels that further explore the relationships between all these characters.

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The Change-Up

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Movie: The Change-Up (2011)

Studio : Universal

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 112 min

Website : thechangeupmovie.com

Rating : R

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

In this more mature version of Freaky Friday, two best friends from long ago pee in the same fountain when reunited. But it’s not just any old fountain. It’s a wishing fountain and they both make a wish that they had the other’s lives. Of course, it comes true and Dave (Jason Bateman) and Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) switch bodies. For Mitch, it’s a terrible deal. He has always been the irresponsible care free type who is only partially employed and loving his single life. And now he’s saddled with Bateman’s wife and three kids. For Dave, on the other hand, he gets to forego all of his responsibilities and try to enjoy life as a single man. The only problem is he hasn’t been single in a long time and the world outside is not what he remembered from his younger days. And so they both find out that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fountain. They must then find a way to switch back and restore everything to normal before it’s too late.

This film is by the same people that did Hangover and so they tried to put that formula into the Freaky Friday storyline. This means that the film is full of sexual innuendos, gags involving poop, social bumbling and way out situations (including the main plot). It’s not for anyone who likes their comedy sophisticated or high brow. The feel of the movie is actually summed up in the first scene when Dave gets crapped on in his mouth by his infant son. Yeah, it’s like watching Jackass in a sitcom. When a movie starts out with a scene like that, you would think there was no way to go but up, but it doesn’t. Instead it lingers in the toilet bowl of comedy, floating and waiting to be flushed. The push to make it funny by shock makes it actually difficult to watch at times. There were some funny moments, but there were too many questionable scenes, some a bit sickening, that took away from those.

It’s a shame too. Because actually both Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), who usually plays the straight down to earth guy, and Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder), who often plays the wild arrogant womanizer, were actually excellent at mimicking the other’s persona. They had the mannerisms down pat and were able to do it believably. But even with that talent, they couldn’t bring it out of the mold that the script was in, but I give them points for trying.

Rounding out the cast is Olivia Wilde, who is also in Cowboys & Aliens. She is once again basically wasted as eye-candy. Now I’ll admit she’s incredibly beautiful, but they really do need to give her some substance to allow her to express her acting better. Leslie Mann is a highlight of the film as Dave’s wife and gets a good deal of the laughs. And Alan Arkin plays Mitch’s dad in his usual film persona, the tough and disappointed father figure.

All in all, if you liked Hangover, you’ll probably like this one. Or maybe not. We did like Hangover and we still found this one too intense at points. If a constant barrage of material designed to be shockingly offensive is not your cup of tea, then you should avoid this one like the plague. Since our group fell more into the latter, we are only going to give this 3.5/5 stars. It’s funny at times, but goes too far in trying to get to the laughs.

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Life In A Day

Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars

Movie: Life In A Day (2011)

Studio : National Geographic

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 90 min

Website : Facebook

Rating : PG-13

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Imagine what life is like in one day. That is what this film does through the submissions of people from around the world, all on June 24th, 2010. Produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin McDonald, this project, in cooperation with YouTube and National Geographic sets out to document 24 hours on our shining blue planet. 80,000 submissions were sent in from all areas of the globe. They even gave cameras to people who didn’t even have such technologies so that they could be included in this tribute. And in the end, they looked at 4,500 hours of video and selected 350 portions of those for just over 90 minutes of on screen film. It was quite a feat just narrowing it down.

So what did they narrow it down too? Well, basically it’s a documentary of what we in the human race go through each day. In some cases, it’s awesome. In other cases, it’s boring. In still others, it’s tragic and sad. National Geographic has never been afraid to show the darker side of humanity and this film does not shy away from what might be disturbing to some. The clips are rapid fire so that if one is not your cup of tea there will be another one along in a moment. And that’s the beauty of this experiment turned into a major film. That everyone can find their own stories, even if they aren’t one of the ones in the clips, from what is there. There is something for every person to relate to on some level. And the sheer compassion and work that went into this is surely going to be inspirational and uplifting to those who experience it.

Being citizens of the world and geeks that love to watch YouTube, we really loved this film and strongly hope that it will be released in a wider market. It seems almost a shame that its release is limited to select cities, although we certainly hope that once it reaches DVD and Netflix that more people will get to see it. We realize it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but we think that people should experience it. If for nothing else, than to remind ourselves that we are on a planet filled with a diverse set of people and not everyone lives the same way as others. That there is glory in the world and tragedy as well. That the smallest sacrifice and the biggest dreams can share this place we call Earth. At the risk of sounding like a movie promo, mixed with propaganda, it is worth the 90 minutes.

In an age where reality TV rules and YouTube viewership is commonplace, this movie is custom made to show people as they really are, even if it’s only for a day. Check out Life in a Day, hopefully playing in a theater near you. We think you’ll be glad you did. And thus, we give this movie 4.7/5 as a rating…

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Captain America

Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars

Movie: Captain America (2011)

Studio : Marvel Studios

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 125 min

Website : captainamerica.marvel.com

Rating : PG13

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the early days, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) just wanted to get into the military to fight for his country, but was deemed unfit to serve. It was then that he decided to volunteer for a program that needed a recruit for an experiment to turn an ordinary Joe into a lean, green fighting machine, one that would proudly defend the US. And so Captain America was born and his first mission is to stop the evil organization HYDRA run by the Red Skull, a menacing Nazi influenced villain. But the good captain is not alone. He has Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) at his side. Will he be able to triumph against his enemy?

The trailer did not do this movie justice. It really didn’t. What the trailer showed was a sort of lame superhero movie that looked almost as messed up as some of the others, but what we got in the theater was certainly a pleasant surprise. The movie has everything you would expect from a comic book film, but better. The action scenes were incredibly shot, full of all the power of these larger than life characters. The story was well balanced between his calling and his life, not sinking too far into either one to make the film forced. In fact, it was that delicate balance that made it obvious that there was a lot of care by Marvel to learn from the mistakes of the past and get it right this time. And they did.

For the comic book reader who loves Captain America, you are going to be thrilled. There are many, many references to the comic books and the director and writer were very aware of the legacy of the character bringing to life what was on the pages, not just using the name as a stepping stone to some sort of reboot. And even beyond that, the understanding that Captain America doesn’t live in a bubble in the Marvel Universe and these guys make their appearance as well. Howard Stark, for example, who founded Stark Industries and was the father of Tony Stark, which may sound familiar from Iron Man, has quite an appearance here in this prequel to that movie.

The acting is also very good. Evans, who played the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four, had tones down his usual sarcastic playboy rhetoric to portray Steve Rogers as he is, rather than how superheros are supposed to be. Hugo Weaving, who is known as Agent Smith in Matrix and from Lord of the Rings, gives a convincing and pretty menacing performance as the German bent on domination. Bucky is a bit older and wiser than he was in the comics, I guess to balance out the age of the characters in the movie, but still recognizable in the part as the character he’s meant to portray. And we always love Tommy Lee Jones who is the grumpy, but hard edged Colonel Chester Phillips, a character he’s played extremely well through the years.

An interesting thing about this film was that for those of us know a bit about WW2 history, especially in the cinema’s portrayal, this really does an amazing job of recreating that time period, to the point where you might think you were watching a propaganda film from the time. It is chock full of patriotism and good old fashioned flag waving. By the time you leave the theater, you might feel like joining the military yourself or running for public office. But then what else would there be from a comic book character who’s purpose is to honor the ideals of America?

All in all, we really liked this movie and recommend seeing it. We’d almost go as far as to say it’s probably one of the best superhero movies around, especially if you are a fan of the comic books, but the general audience should find plenty to love. I’m not a big reader of comics myself, beyond just knowing that there is a Captain America character, but really enjoyed it. And so we give it a 4.7/5.

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Friends With Benefits

Rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars

Movie: Friends With Benefits (2011)

Studio : Castle Rock Entertainment

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 109 min

Website : fwb-movie.com/

Rating : R

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dylan (Justin Timberlake) is a graphic artist who is in need of a job, so when Jamie (Mila Kunis), an employment headhunter, gets him work at the prestigious GQ, they become the best of friends. And as friends, learn that they both have had bad relationships and hate the idea of the romantic comedy. It seems perfectly reasonable to them that friends should be able to have casual sex without it turning into anything meaningful. But when they decide to go to that level, they find that it’s not as uncomplicated as they hoped it would be. And that maybe Hollywood wasn’t as wrong as they thought.

Movies often come in pairs with the same subject, there was Volcano and Dante’s Peak, Armageddon and Deep Impact, and Friends with Benefits and No Strings Attached. They both have the same basic plot, but this one goes a lot further in terms of acting, story and sweetness over raunchy. This one is far more balanced and fun to watch for all genders rather than just for the women that the other was. It looks at both sides of the equation and finds humor in each. It is not a sex comedy as the name implies, but a poignant and funny look at the whole concept of romance and sexual encounters. It’s more subtle and in some cases even dramatic as the movie progresses, which oddly enough by the end, turns it into what a good part of the movie tries to debunk.

Kunis, of course, showed us that she is much more than Jackie in her Black Swan role, but in this one, she returned back to her comedic roots, which was a great thing to see because she can be extremely funny. In fact, it’s safe to say that she carried the movie on her shoulders for the most part. Timberlake, who can also be good at comedy, and showed his acting chops in Social Network, never seems quite comfortable in the role and thus he always appeared to be holding back. It’s not that he was terrible, but as the leading man, he did not fulfill that role, leaving more work for Kunis. Still, they both had excellent chemistry together and played well of eachother to the point you could believe their friendship was real. And so his hesitation did not distract from the film’s goal.

Special mention has to be to Woody Harrelson who wasn’t in the film too much, but provided a great amount of comedy while he was. He plays the over the top, flamboyant gay co-worker who would make Liberace blush. Harrelson didn’t pull out any stops on his portrayal, which was certainly a far cry from his previous roles.

Jenny Elfman, Patricia Clark and Richard Jenkins are just okay in their roles as Jamie’s sister Annie, her mother and her father respectively.

A little trivia for you. Mila Kunis starred with Ashton Kutcher (70’s Show) and Natalie Portman (Black Swan). No Strings Attached, which both Kutcher and Portman were in, was originally named Friends With Benefits. Coincidence? We’ll let you decide.

Anyway, this is a fun movie with some heart in it and it made us laugh and feel, which is what a good movie should do. Being a male who is more comfortable in movies like Transformers and Die Hard, even I had to admit that I had a good time with this one. I give it a 4.2/5. It’s creep into the traditional romantic drama as the film went on detracted from it’s enjoyment and Timberlake could have been a bit better, but all in all Will Gluck pulled this one off well.

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Salvation Boulevard

Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars

Movie: Salvation Boulevard (2011)

Studio : Mandalay Bay

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 96 min

Website : ifcfilms.com/films/salvation-boulevard

Rating : NR

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Greg Kinnear plays Carl, a mild mannered Grateful Dead fan who never thought much of religion until he snuck into a church to use the bathroom. That is when the spirit hit him and he became a wide eyed parishioner of Dan Day (Pierce Brosnan), an evangelical preacher who is flamboyant, but a bit shady. The leader is followed by the very rabid flock of people including Carl’s wife (Jennifer Connelley), who consider the man the ultimate disciple of God. When a local atheist and professor Dr. Blaylock (Ed Harris) stands in the way of Day’s plans, the pair decide to talk things out and they invite Carl to join them. But when Blaylock turns up in a coma from a gunshot to the head, Day blames Carl for the crime. Now he is forced to defend himself against not only the authorities, but the congregation as well including his wife and friend. Only Honey Foster (Marisa Tomei), a follower of Blaylock, may know the real story, but can she convince everyone and save his hide?

Now, before we start, let me say that if you are a very deeply religious person, or even a somewhat religious churchgoer, there is a lot in this film that will no doubt offend you. It takes the whole concept of evangelical religion and turns it upside down in what is designed to be a spoof, a caricature of the movement. It is filled with cheap shots and even cheaper humor that one of the faith will probably wince at, at least once. The movie doesn’t attempt to be apologetic at all in it’s portrayal of the characters or events and so it’s easy to believe that some will be upset upon leaving the theater if they choose to see this movie.

With that said, is the movie really funny? Again, it depends on your outlook, but we did find it pretty funny at times and heard a lot of laughing and chuckling throughout from others around us in the theater. The absurd plot has some moments that are so over the top that their very nature can’t help but get a laugh. There is no subtle nature here. The movie goes out of its way to bring up the laughs in the most obvious ways, and in many cases the cheapest ways they can. But sometimes that isn’t always a bad thing and if it wasn’t for the subject, we’d probably wouldn’t even mention it.

The portrayal of Dan Day is at the heart of this movie for it to work at all, and Pierce Brosnan was an inspired choice. He plays the preacher with such zest, that it’s hard not to think of him standing at the pulpit actually inspiring those that would flock around him. Marisa Tomei is also fun as the atheist who is trying to get to the truth. She has a much better chemistry onscreen with Kinnear than he does with Connelley, who is so religious in the movie that it makes her boring and annoying. Harris plays Blaylock with a bit of flamboyancy, making him a good match against his adversary.

All in all, the all star cast portrayals and an audience with an open mind can make this a fun movie and so we give it a 3.8/5, but those that are sensitive to the subject matter would be better looking elsewhere.

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Winnie the Pooh

Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars

Movie: Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Studio : Walt Disney Pictures

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 69 min

Website : disney.go.com/pooh

Rating : G

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Based on three stories from the original author of the series, AA Milne, comes a lovable classic brought back to life just the way we knew him. For Winnie the Pooh, he just wanted to find some honey, but when his friends are in trouble, he is right there to help out. In this case, Eeyore, the perpetually down donkey, has lost his tail and the others such as Owl, Piglet, Rabbit, Tigger, Kanga and Roo must help him find a suitable replacement. And if that wasn’t all for a little bear and his critter crew to handle, their beloved human friend Christopher Robin, according to Owl, needs rescuing from a rapscallion who may or may not be real.

It’s been 35 years since Disney themselves has done anything with Winnie the Pooh. There have been a few direct to DVD features by other animation studios (licensed out) such as the Tigger Movie and the CG animated TV show Pooh Corner, but not from the Walt Disney studios themselves. And Disney pulled out all the stops to bring everyone’s favorite orange bear back to the silver screen. They not only returned to the classic hand painted animation, which they headed up by top animators from the Little Mermaid/Aladdin/Lion King golden era, but they were particularly careful to recreate the charm and wonder of the original. There is no 3D and no CG, just beautiful animation that one could tell was a labor of love for it’s creators.

And they pulled it off, the 73 minute animated film is charming to a fault and is just a wonderful change from the chaotic nature of today’s movies, even those produced by Disney. It’s a calm, nice and peaceful adventure that rips at the heartstrings, making us laugh and feel for these great characters. It’s like reading to our children at night or taking them to the theme parks that you loved as a child for the first time as a parent. The joy in watching the little’s one face light up when Pooh runs from the bees or Eeyore gets fitted with different tails is a delight.

And to add to the beauty is the superb voice acting of the cast, many first timers to film, while others are old pros like John Cleese as the Narrator, Colin Ferguson as Owl, while others are voices you’ve heard elsewhere such as Tom Kenny, who plays Spongebob Squarepants, and Jim Cummings who voiced a whole lot of Disney characters through the years. Cummings did an excellent job of imitating the unique voices of Sterling Holloway (Pooh) and Paul Winchell (Tigger), which he has been doing for awhile now with some exceptions.

Unfortunately, its old world charm may actually have the opposite effect than is intended, at least in getting the people into the theaters. In a world where flashy and fast paced are more of an attraction than good old fashioned fun, there will probably be many who will choose to skip it that might actually get a kick out of it. And that would be a shame in our opinion, but marketing being the way it is, it’s really hard to push a movie like this because there is no flash, just Disney doing what it does best, producing good solid family entertainment. I guess the good news is that this should be a hot DVD when it’s released.

We give this movie a 4.8/5 stars for its wholesome goodness and nostalgia. It’s well worth packing up the family truckster with the kids to the theater to see. And if you were already a Winnie the Pooh fan from way back, we dare you not to at least have one moment that will bring a tear to their eye of joy at his return.

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