Bolt

Rated G
Starring John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Malcolm McDowell, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Diedrich Bader

Disney's latest animated holiday flick is about a dog named Bolt and his owner Penny. Bolt can save the world with his lazer vision, super strength fast speed, high jumps, and loud bark while rescuing Penny. What he doesn't know is that he's the star of a popular tv show and all his powers are just special effects. In an attempt to boost ratings, they end in the latest episode in a cliffhanger, with Penny being kidnapped. Bolt is desperate to save her and so he escapes, out in to the real world, where he starts to realize, with the help of a stray cat and a hamster in a ball, that the world he thought he knew wasn't reality.

It was really cute - kids will love it, as will anyone who's an animal lover. It does get a little sad, but as with all Disney movies, it does have a happy ending, so nightmares here!

Transporter 3

Rated PG13 for violence, mild language and brief sexuality

Starring Jason Statham, Natalya Rudakova, Francois Berleand

Jason Statham reprises his role as ex-marine turned Transporter Frank Martin in this 3rd installment of the Transporter series. After an apprentice crashes into Frank's home while in the middle of a delivery and dies, Frank gets roped into finishing the job - transporting a Ukranian woman across Europe. If either of them step more than 50 feet away from his signature black Audi, the sensor on their metal bracelets will trigger, blowing up both the person and the car. But being this Frank Martin, no job is simple. He must outrun thugs who try to prevent him from making the delivery, as well as the man who hired him, who wants him dead after the delivery is made.

Fists and feet fly, Statham shows off his martial arts skills yet again all while wearing a suit, and there's some pretty crazy car stunts as well, including one with a moving train.

Yes, the plot is nearly identical to the first Transporter, but there is so much Jason Statham eye candy in this one! I'll admit, I was a giddy little girl the entire movie. It seems like they finally figured out who their target audience is for these movies - girls who like Jason Statham and their dates who like mindless fist fights, explosions and car chases. I think Statham fighting with his shirt either completely off or unbuttoned is now a staple in any film he does - I can't complain about that!

Role Models

Rated R for language, adult humor and sexuality

Starring Paul Rudd, Sean William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Elizabeth Banks, Jane Lynch

Danny (Rudd) and Wheeler (Scott) work for an energy drink company and send their days speaking to kids about staying off drugs. After his girlfriend (Banks) dumps him and he realizes he's been in the same dead-end job for over a decade, Danny freaks out while on the job and gets him and pal Wheeler sentenced to 150 hours of community service working as Big Brothers to a pair of misfit kids, in order to avoid jail time. Danny is paired up with teenage Augie (Mintz-Plasse), who prefers to spend his time LARPing (live action role-playing) with others in a game called LAIR at the park, much to his jock stepdad's disapproval. Wheeler is paired up with young Ronnie (Thompson), who was raised without a father and has learned a lot of his behavior from MTV, video games, and rappers. As you can imagine, hilarity ensues.

The kids learn to embrace what they love and the adults learn to be adults. It was really pretty funny and a smart comedy. Paul Rudd wrote this one and did a great job!

Twilight

Rated PG13 for mild violence

Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson

High school junior Bella Swan has just moved from Arizona to Forks, Washington in the middle of the school year to live with her dad, the town police chief, while her mother is off traveling with her baseball player boyfriend. At first she thinks she'll have miserable time, as all the kids at school treat her like a new toy, being the new girl - the girls envy her looks and the guys can't stop trying to get her to go out with them, when she's really not interested in getting to attached to Forks.

That is, until she sees them - the Cullens - and more specifically, him - Edward Cullen.

Being lab partners, and after getting over his inital disgust of her, they start to form a bit of an odd friendship. Then she learns that *gasp* he's a vampire, only his clan has learned to live off the blood of animals and not humans in an attempt to co-exist and not have to move around so much. They take many hunting trips to keep their thirst from starving. The more she learns about him, the more intrigued she becomes and her fascination of him grows. But then some non-human friendly vampires show up and drastic measures must be taken in order to ensure Bella is safe once they start to come after her.

Granted the book was never terrific and the 4th one has epic fail written all over it, but still... It was so bad! In this case, I much prefer the book over the movie just because it's all in my imagination how things appear.

The scenes with him 'running' fast and where it looks like he's flying are horribly done. A friend had to write a paper for her class on a movie with bad cinematography and she said Twilight is the perfect example for her to use. You would think with as much of a following these books have and all the hype that was built up for this movie they could have put a little more into the budget when it came to filming and effects, plus it seemed to drag on a little in some parts.

If you read the books, you'll either love it or hate it. I will admit though, it was a pretty good adaption of the books, despite a few minor changes. If you haven't the read books but like teenage dramas and romances, as well as vampires, you'll probably like it.

I would still like to hope that New Moon, the 2nd book in the saga slated to be released in theaters Thanksgiving 2009, is much better.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Rated R, for language, nudity and sexual situations

Starring Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson with cameos by Justin Long and Brandon Routh

Seth Rogan and Elizabeth Banks star in the latest Kevin Smith film as two best friends and roommates who are strapped for cash. When they come home from their 10 year high school reunion, their power has been shut off and the bills just keep piling up! At the end of the rope as to what to do, they get the "brilliant idea" to make a porno, casting locals in the roles. One thing after another goes wrong, and Zach and Miri's friendship is tested.

This film brings up the debate as to whether two friends can just have casual sex without it meaning anything or if it will have an affect on their relationship. Zach and Miri find out the hard way.

It's a typical Kevin Smith film with some familiar faces, where it starts out hilarious but ends up turning a bit sappy.

If you like or don't mind Kevin Smith's previous works or raunchy, but funny sex comedies then you're the target audience for Zack and Miri.

Saw V

Rated R for language, graphic violence, gore and scenes of torture

Starring Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson

A continuation of the previous 4 films, this one appears to take place simultaneously with the events of #4, picking up right at the very end of the 3rd one with them finding Jigsaw and Amanda's dead bodies. Like the third installment, in this one, we learn more about Jigsaw's other apprentice, Agent Hoffman and his relationship with Jigsaw as well as how he had been involved throughout the entire series, revisiting scenes from the previous films.

Hoffman is struggling to cover his tracks with his involvement in the Jigsaw murders, however, as Agent Strahm is hot on his heels, all while another set of vicitims, all connected somehow, play one of Jigsaw's last deadly games, only in this one, they must work together to solve each puzzle if they want to live.

If you've seen the series up to this point, might as well go see this one to continue the storyline. If you stopped watching early on, don't bother as it's just more of the same, with more of a detective angle on the story. I will admit though, as up the anty as they've been in the last few films with the gore factor, this one shockingly seemed a little tame!

Max Payne

Rated PG13 for violence, drug use and brief language

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Chris O'Donnell, Ludacris, Beau Bridges, Donal Logue

I never played the video game, so I have no clue how it compares, but this movie, while visually appealing, was a bit disappointing.

Max Payne works for the police, trying to solve cold case murders, in part of his obsession with finding his wife's killer. While following a lead, he stumbles across a conspiracy based off the legends of the Valkyrie in building a super solider army. Mila Kunis is his sidekick, as the drug they used to infect addicts killed her sister and she's out for revenge.

If you like dark action films or are a fan of the video game, feel free to check it out.

RocknRolla

Rated R for language, violence, some sexuality

Starring Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton, Jeremy Piven, Tom Wilkinson

This is Guy Richie's latest London thriller and the first of a rumored trilogy.

In London, a real-estate scam puts millions of pounds up for grabs, attracting some of the city's scrappiest tough guys and its more established underworld types, all of whom are looking to get rich quick. While the city's seasoned criminals vie for the cash, an unexpected player -- a drugged out rock 'n' roller presumed to be dead but very much alive -- has a multi-million dollar prize fall into his hands.

There's several plot twists here in this movie dealing with the mob, as you're trying to figure out who's screwing over who. A lot of dialogue before the action picks up, although the chase scene is very amusing!

If you like smart action movies check it out!

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Rated PG13 for mild language, underage drinking and brief sexuality

Starring Michael Cera, Kat Dennings

Norah's dad is some big shot music producer in New York, so she has access to all the clubs in town and her and her best friend regularly go out and listen to the bands. Nick, who's in a band with an upcoming major gig, just recently got dumped by his girlfriend, one of the hottest girls in school, who hangs around with Norah's best friend. While she simply tosses his playlist mixes in the trash, Norah recovers them, as she things they're great. Their paths all cross one night, while in search of their favorite band Fluffy, who is playing a show at an undisclosed location sometime that night.

This is your typical teen flick with teenage sex and underage drinking. It's very predictable and seriously? Aren't these nightclubs worried about getting their liquor licenses revoked?

Death Race

Rated R for graphic violence and language
Starring Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane, Natalie Martinez

Jason Statham stars as a former race car driver Jensen Ames who was framed for the death of his wife. The warden (Allen) tells him she'll cut him a break if he helps her out - the masked favorite of the televised super event Death Race (which is said to have more viewers than the Super Bowl) died and they need someone to put on the mask and be him for the upcoming race. If he wins, she'll give him his freedom back, allowing him to return to his infant daughter. If he doesn't help, she'll see to it that his daughter is placed in a foster family, never to know of her father, and he will serve out his sentence in jail. He reluctantly agrees to participate.

While it is a remake of 1975's "Death Race 2000," this movie is all about Statham, cars, carnage and fast paced action with supped up race cars. It was highly amusing and fun to watch though!

Pineapple Express

Rated R for language, drug use, violence
Starring Seth Rogan, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Gary Cole

Seth Rogan and James Franco star as two stoners who are on the run after one of them witnesses a cop and a drug lord commit murder. Being stoners, you can imagine some of the hilarious situations they get themselves into.

The first half is pure comedy while the last half is more action oriented. Rogen and Franco play loveable stoners so well, one would almost wonder if they were high and just ad-libing the whole time while filming Pineapple Express, as they make it so believable. It's definitely what they call a 'buddy buddy' movie, as it's a fun one to view with friends and laugh.

Step Brothers

Rated R for language, violence, nudity
Starring Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Jenkins

Will Ferrall and John C. Reilly are at again, this time as men who, due to traumatic experiences growing up, have the mentality of preteens. Once their parents get married, they're forced to live together. At first they hate each other, but after bonding over John Stamos, become the best of friends, causing more harm to the house than they did when they were fighting. Despite their parent's efforts to make them both grow up, they learn to come to turns with adulthood and embrace being a family.

Although I'm not much of a fan of Will Ferrall slap-stick comedies, this one was pretty funny!

Mamma Mia

Rated PG13 for sexuality

Starring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgard, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski

Sophie is about to get married, but has always dreamed about having her father walk her down the aisle and give her away on the big day. Unfortunately, she grew up without a father, and while she doesn't know who her biological father is, after reading mom's diary, she has narrowed it down to 3 who could possibly be her father and invites them all to the wedding festivities, unbeknownst to her mother. When they all arrive at the same time, Sophie spends time with each of them, trying to figure out which one she takes after most, while hiding them from her mother at the resort.

I never saw the Broadway musical, but I did grow up listening to Abba songs. Meryl Streep steals the show in this fun, lighthearted romantic musical. If you're a fan of Abba or just like musics, check this one out.

The Dark Knight

Rated PG13 for violence, dark themes

Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman

This is the 2nd installment in the remake of the Batman franchise.

After the police and Batman close in on the mobs in Gotham, the Joker decides to step in, being a new class of criminal and causing death and chaos in an attempt to call out who Batman really is. New elected politician Harvey Dent, while on his crusade to lock up all criminals gets caught in the middle of it, as does Bruce Wayne's oldest friend Rachel Dawes. We see how revenge can consume some, while others "just want to watch the world burn."

While still good, I think it probably should have been cut into two movies, allowing for more elaboration of Two-Face - Harvey Dent doesn't turn into his alter ego until the last hour or so of the film and he doesn't get much face time - I recall him being much more villanious in the comics and it seemed like they just kinda crammed his story arch in with the Joker's when it could have filled a whole movie itself.

It should definitely be nominated for an Oscar though and the critics will be talking about it for awhile! Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was amazingly dark and truly creepy - he deserves an Oscar for this role... too bad he died though, as it was definitely one of his best roles and his career had a promising future.

Definitely don't miss this one this summer and I recommend seeing it twice at least!

Hancock

Rated PG13 for language and violence

Starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman

Will Smith is Hancock, a superhero who spends his time between crime-stopping out getting drunk. After saving a PR worker from death by train, the PR worker decides to return the favor by helping Hancock clean up his image and be someone people can look up to - not a superhero causing trouble and doing more damage to the city in his crimefighting techniques.

It was a fun twist on the superhero movie with several plottwists to keep viewers interested.

Wanted

Rated R for language, violence, sexuality, nudity

Starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp, Common

Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) works in small cubicle in an office, a la Office Space. He hates his job as his boss regularly abuses and humiliates him from of his coworkers, and his best friend is banging his girlfriend behind his back. While filling his a prescription at the grocery store, he meets Fox (Jolie) and gets caught in the middle of a shootout between her and a man sent to assassinate Wesley. Turns out, Wesley's father, who left him and his mother when he was just a baby, was a great assassin who was recently killed and Wesley just inherited his insane fortune. He is brought into the Fraternity his father was a part of, headed up by Sloan (Freeman) in order to help gun down his father's murderer by the rogue member Cross. During his training, Wesley is reborn and begins to take charge of his life, making something of it.

This movie is very loosely adapted from the graphic novel. While the plot starts out the same, the end result is somewhat different. In the comic, rather than a Fraternity of assassins, they're actually a Fraternity of Super Villians, living in a world void of Super Heroes since the 1980s. In the graphic novel, some of the villains and their gimmicks are amusing. Also of note, in the graphic novels, Fox was modeled after Halle Berry, while Wesley was modeled after Eminem.

If they had stuck closer to the graphic novel, it would have made for a much much cooler movie, as it's not often we have films about super villians, although if you haven't read any of the graphic novel, you'd probably say it was a really good action flick. I'll admit, it was clever and entertaining!

Get Smart

Rated PG13 for mild violence

Starring Steve Carrrell, Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin, Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson, Terance Stamp, Masi Oka

Maxwell Smart (Carrell) works for Government spy agency CONTROL in an administrative capacity. When headquarters is attacked, the Chief (Arkin) decides to assign Maxwell as a spy and partners him with Agent 99 (Hathaway), much to her dismay, to get to the bottom of things. Maxwell is a total clutz though and screws up royally - he even finds himself framed to look like a double agent, while the real culprit is still on the loose.

I grew up watching the reruns of the original series on Nickelodeon as a kid. In my opinion, it was alright... I thought it could have been better though and the ending seemed a bit rushed - how 99 all of sudden goes from not being able to stand Maxwell to all of a sudden she's in love with him, makes no sense - there needed to be more character development between the two of them to establish their eventual romance. Steve Carrell was really good as Maxwell Smart though... and actually the entire cast was pretty good. There were tons of cameos, two of the favorites being Bill Murray as Agent 13 and Patrick Warburton as Hymie.

Wall-E

Rated G

Starring Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzemberger

In the future, earth because has become covered with trash from products sold by the Buy N Large corporation (think Walmart). In an effort to clean up it's mess, the corporation creates a space hub for earth's inhabitants to live, while hundreds of WALL-E's a garbage collecting robots, have been left to clean up the mess. Years pass, and only WALL-E remains, still working hard to clean up the mess, while collecting trinkets and treasures out of the mess. One day, another robot, named Eve shows up, on quest to find proof that life is once again sustainable. WALL-E falls in love with her and shows her all his findings.

Upon seeing a plant WALL-E's kept alive, Eve takes it and goes into standby mode, where days later she is wisked away by a giant space ship. WALL-E, thinking she is in danger, latches onto the ship and gets taken into space and the space hub, where humans have turned into obese blobs have had computers dictate their entire lives for over 700 years, never needing to leave their mobilized chairs. When the auto-pilot computer, acting on secret instructions given many years before by the corporation, tries to prevent the people from returning by stealing the plant, WALL-E, Eve, the portly captain, and a band of broken robots stage a mutiny to regain control and go home.

It was really really cute! There's not much dialogue, but with the animation and interaction of the robots, it doesn't need it. The robot relationship between Eve and Wall-E is really cute and Wall-E's way of living on a deserted earth is clever as well. Pixar goes the extra mile in a few of the space scenes just to show off how visually amazing they can be, but it's well deserved!

The satire messages of what happens when big corporations take over the world and people relying on technology too much are also pretty clever.

This definitely a good, harmless film to take the kids too, and if you're a fan of the Disney/Pixar films, you'll like this one just as much as the others.

Sex and the City

Rated R for language, nudity, sexuality

Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Catrell, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Chris Noth, Jennifer Hudson, Jason Lewis

It's been four years since we last saw our favorite New York foursome, we're brought up to date as to what's been happening with the girls: Miranda and Steve are having martial problems, as she's too busy with her career; Charlotte and Harry haven't been able to conceive so they decided to adopt a little girl from China; Samantha is now living in Malibu with Smith, still managing his career; Carrie is getting ready to move in with Big when they decide to get married. The rest of the movie mainly focuses on Carrie's wedding and the aftermath of what happens, however there are several subplots as well surrounding the rest of the girls.

Running at 2 hours and 40 min, this chick flick feels more like 4 or 5 episodes of the show just put together and labeled as a movie. While it was a fun girl movie, it would be better spent watching it on DVD with your gal friends at home, drinking martini's, although many women took this as an opportunity for a night out with the girls.

Honestly, I didn't think it was that great, but I guess if you love the tv show, you'll probably love the movie. While I never caught the series in it's original run, uncut, I do regularly watch the edited syndicated version on TBS late night and find the show and characters entertaining, I just never really got that into it. I probably won't be seeing this again until they chop it up into several episodes and air it on tv, like they've done with other syndicated shows who made a movie continuation of the series.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Rated PG13 for adventure violence and some scary imagery

Starring Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, Shia LaBeouf, John Hurt

It's been 17 years since we witnessed Indy's last adventure with his father, who is now deceased. Our story opens up, roughly 20 after the events of the previous installment, with Indy and fellow World War II veteran pal Mac (Winstone) being held captive by the Soviets and are forced to lead them to a crate stored in a warehouse on Hangar 51 in New Mexico. The crate is rumored to contain an alien corpse that was recovered from the crash at Roswell 10 years earlier. Indy manages to escape, but is placed under FBI investigation due to his ties with Mac. Soon after, he is told to take a leave of absence from his job at Marshall College due to the investigation.

While on a train out of town, Indy is approached by a greaser named Mutt (LaBeouf), who informs him that his former colleague Oxley (Hurt) disappeared after discovering a crystal skull in Peru, and he needs Indy's help to find him, his only clue being a coded letter Oxley sent. While on their adventure to find him, Indy and Mutt learn that the Soviets are also after the skull and have captured the now demented Oxley, as well as Marion (Allen), to use as leverage to get Indy to go after the artifact.

Despite mediocore reviews, this fourth installment of the classic Indy series was great. The critics and everyone had worked it up to be this great huge epic movie because it's been 17 years since the last one, when Spielberg did it with the same B-moviesque feel and corny dialogue one would expect of an Indy adventure after seeing the others. Too many people went into it expecting the greatest movie ever, holding it to such high expectations that they came out disappointed.

I personally thought it fit in just fine with the previous films in the series. If you liked and enjoyed the fun and adventure of the previous Indy movies, you'll like this one as well. And be sure not to miss all the subtle references to the previous films this one makes as well - seeing little things, like Ark of the Covenant from "Raiders" made this one all the more special.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Rated PG for adventure violence

Starring Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Sergio Castellitto and Eddie Izzard

Following where the previous book left off, it's been a year since Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy have visited Narnia. However, for Narnia, it's been about 1300 years. The land has been overtaken by the Telmarines and General Miraz; the Narnians, who fled to the woods, are thought to be extincted. That is, until Prince Caspian, the 10th, flees from the castle, upon learning that Uncle King Miraz and his wife have finally bore their own male heir and that, like his father, he'll be dead soon if he doesn't run.

While fleeing, he runs into Narnians, who he's heard old stories of, and blows Susan's magical horn, bringing the kids back to Narnia. Working together, wondering where Aslan is, they make several attempts to bring down Miraz's troops, so Caspian can rightfully take the throne and make it so the Narnians and Telmarines can leave in peace.

It was a lot of fun and the battle sequences were really neat too. Plus, who doesn't love talking animals - especially a knight mouse who thinks he can do anything? If you enjoyed the first one, you'll like this installment as well.

Speed Racer

Rated PG with mild language and adventure violence

Stars Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Japanese pop star Rain, Matthew Fox, Susan Sarandon and John Goodman

If you've ever seen the classic anime cartoon you know exactly what to expect. If not...

Speed and his family are all part of Racer Autos. Despite a tragic racing incident that killed his older brother Rex, Speed and the family continue to race for the fun of it. Royalton Autos notices Speed's talent and tries to recuit him, to which he declines, and then goes on to blackmail him, telling him that racing has been fixed for 50 years - he'll never win any of the bigtime races. With some help from his family - Mom and Pop Racer, annoying kid brother Sprittle and family pet monkey Chim Chim - fellow mechanic Sparky, girlfriend Trixxie and Racer X, Speed's determine to prove Royalton wrong.

My only complaint about this film was that it was a little too long.

Visually, it's amazing and stunning and, well, fun! The Wachowski Brothers (the guys who brought us The Matrix trilogy) did an awesome job with this one and the 24/7 360 bullet time effect looks amazing as well. Plus, who doesn't love ninjas?

Don't listen to the critics on this one - unless you're prone to epilepsy, go see it!

Iron Man

Rated PG13 for violence

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrance Howard, and Jeff Bridges.

Tony Stark is a playboy weapons engineer and owner of Stark Enterprises. After a demonstration of his latest weapons project, the Jericho, terrorists attack the convoy and kidnap Stark, forcing him to recreate the Jericho. Stark has other plans though and creates an iron suit to bust out of captivity. Upon returning home, he decides it's best not to make weapons anymore and, after tweaking his iron suit, decides to track down all his weapons that have fallen into terrorist hands, while discovering that someone inside his company has been dealing weapons to terrorists under the table and has their own plans for the Iron Man suit.

Iron Man was incredibly fun and a great kick off to the summer season. Robert Downey Jr. was born to play Tony Stark.

If you like fun action movies, even if you've never seen or heard much of the comics, check this one out

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Rated R for language, sexuality, nudity

Starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Paul Rudd, Bill Nader and Russell Brand

Judd Apatow produces another hit, written by fellow Freaks and Geeks alum Jason Segel. After being dumped by his CSI-type actress girlfriend, musician Peter sets off to Hawaii to try and get over her, only to learn that her and her new rockstar beau are vacationing at the same resort. Befriended by the resort staff, he does his best to make due of the situation. Russell Brand steals every scene he's in.

21

Based on the true story of a few MIT students who learned how to count cards and make millions in Vegas, I found it to be a highly entertaining and fun movie and being semi-biographical, made it all the more interesting. Starring Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth and Laurence Fishburne. Rated PG13

Harold & Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Rated R for nudity, drug use, language, innuendo

Starring John Cho, Kal Pen, Rob Corrdry, Neil Patrick Harris and a cameo by Beverly D'Angelo

Alright so this one was funny, but it was soooo bad at the same time. If you liked the first installment where these stoner buddies have an adventure trying to get to White Castle, you'll like this one just as well. Yes, the racial stereotypes were wrong, but funny. After being mistaken for terrorists on their flight to Amsterdam, Harold and Kumar end up in Guantanamo Bay, where it takes less than an hour to escape. The rest of the film is them trekking across the southern portion of our nation to get to Kumar's ex's wedding in Texas, where her congress-bound fiance might be able to get their names cleared. Along the way, they bump into a 'bottomless' party in Miami, some inbred southern hicks and their mutant child, the KKK, a southern whorehouse and of course, Neil Patrick Harris himself.

Street Kings

Rated R for language and violence

Starring Keanu Reeves, Forrest Whitaker, Chris Evans, Common, The Game, Hugh Laurie

Keanu Reeves stars as an LAPD detective who, after his former partner gets killed, stars digging a little too deep into the case and uncovers more than he should, learning just how crooked one department can be and how far some will go to keep it that way. Basically, think Training Day with Denzel Washington and you have the same type of movie, it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't great either.

Drillbit Taylor

Rated PG13 for sexual innuendo, language and high school violence

Starring Owen Wilson and Leslie Mann

Not one of the better Apatow produced films... while it wasn't terrible, it wasn't great either. Thank God Owen Wilson didn't succeed in his suicide attempt - would have been a bummer if this was his last film. Owen stars as Drillbit Taylor, a homeless MIA war vet who gets hired out to a few high school freshman that keep getting picked on by the high school bully. While it tries to be heartwarming, it doesn't really succeed that well.

If you liked underdog tale of The Benchwarmers, you might like this one as well, but wait for the DVD.

Made of Honor

Rated PG13 for sexual innuendo, homosexual jokes, and some language

Starring Patrick Dempsey

Getting married in September, I can't refuse seeing a movie about weddings. This one had potential - a playboy male being his best friend's maid of honor and tackling all the duties that a MoH has. However, they chose instead to make him fall for his best friend and try to break up the wedding from the inside so he can win her over. Hm... where have we seen this before? Oh yeah, back in the 90s with Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend's Wedding.

Don't waste your time on this one and go rent the Roberts/Diaz version - you'll save money and it's a better version of the same story.

Doomsday

Rated R for violence, language, cannibalism, gore

Starring Rhona Mitra, Bob Haskins

In 2008, a virus, known as the Reaper virus, spread throughout Scotland, in causing Britian to put up a wall to keep all the infected in, as to not plague the rest of the UK. No one knows how it was started or why it chose to infect those it did - the virus just happened. Fast forward 27 years into the future, to the year 2035 and the virus is back, this time plaguing London. Turns out, the survilance that was set on the other side of the wall, has been picking up signs of surviors over the last 3 years. Could one of the skilled doctors left on the otherside of the wall have discovered the cure to the virus? The Dept of Domestic Security has 48 hrs to find the doctor and get the cure before the plague takes over the city.

This movie was sooo bad it was good!

It’s a little bit Escape from New York meets LOTR crossed with Gladiator and a trip to Medeval Times plus a visit from the Black Knight and cannablistic Scottish skinheads in the setting of an apocolypse movie. Think of cheesy bad 80s action movies with Frankie Goes to Hollywood in the background.

Aside from the cannibal scene, I’d have to say Doomsday and Bank Job are the 2 best movies of 2008, that I have seen, so far.

If you want a fun, action packed film and don’t mind a bit of over exaggerated gore, be sure to catch this one - I could easily see it becoming a cult classic much in the same fashion of as Army of Darkness.

Horton Hears a Who

Rated G

Starring Jim Carrey, Steve Carell

It’s been a long time since I read or watched the original Dr. Seuss story of Horton the elephant and the tiny speck he finds, in which Whoville is located, but I must say, I enjoyed this one much better than I enjoyed the Grinch remake (note - How the Grinch Stole Christmas was one of my favorite Christmas shows growing up and I hated how much they changed the simple story in the big screen adaption).

Jim Carrey as the voice of Horton really makes this film, as he plays the role so well. The anime-type scene in the middle was woot as well.

This definitely a good one to take the family to, as it’s geared towards kids (and kids at heart) of all ages.

Step Up 2: The Streets

Rated PG13 for teen sexuality

Like "Save the Last Dance" we're introduced to Andie who's mom died when she was a kid. Before she died she told Andie to be true to herself. Dancing was something that she used to be into with her mom, so she joined a street crew named the 4-1-0 to dance like the dancers her and mom used to watch back in the day on the streets. After a prank her crew pulls in a city subway, her foster parent (mom's best friend) gets fed up, as the news declares dancing to be dangerous (oh noes!) and threatens to ship her off to Texas to live with her aunt. As her last chance to change, Andie gets into the Maryland School of the Arts, but being a good student hinders her time with crew. Whatever will she do when they turn on her? Can she still compete and win The Streets competition?

Some of the dance scenes were kind of cool to watch - mainly the big dance off competition at the end and the subway prank they do at the very beginning - it reminded me of the Happenings/Fluxes movements that artists did in the 70s where they knew what they were doing, but the audience had no clue that they were part of the performance.

The rest of the movie... totally cliche. A typical high school teenybopper film.

The Bank Job

Rated R for language, violence, nudity, sexuality

Starring Jason Statham, Safron Burrows

Based on London's "Walkie Talkie Robbery" of 1971, this is probably the first really good movie of the 2008, if you can get past the first 20 minutes. And no, it's not just because I think Jason Statham is f'ing hot.

Before the opening credits, I felt like I was watching a porno at the amount of sex and nudity that were being shown, and then after the credits, there's quite a bit of T&A in a scene that takes place in a bar for a bachelor party and another scene that takes place with gov't officials in a whorehouse. But once you get past the 20 min, the rest of the film was great, as you make sense of everything you had seen prior.

Michael X is a black activist with a dirty record of his own. After assaulting some guy of importance and being taken to court for it, they decide to try and press him on drug charges as well. However, as leverage, he claims to have some steamy photos of someone in the royal family on vacation, and he plans to use them to keep out of jail. In order to make sure these photos don't see the light of day, London's MI-5 comes up with a plot to pass info onto a group of former thieves that the vault which the photos are stored in will have its alarm disable for 1 weekend only, in hopes that their mole can get the photos for them.

Although the heist itself is done by the first half to 2/3rds of the movie, the aftermath of the the heist is where things really start to pick up, as the vault they broke into and stole items from stored even more pictures of public officials in compromisable situations, as well as information on crooked cops. Now the unknowning police aren't the only ones after our band of thieves!

Not one for the kiddies, but if you can sit through the first 20 min or so of random T&A (which it all makes sense in the aftermath of the heist), definately don't miss this one, as plot-wise, it really is the best film of the year so far.

And although Jason Statham does go a little bit Transporter at the end, he really does a good job actually getting to act in this film, rather than just beat bad guys senseless while looking-good.

Juno

Rated PG13 for teen sexuality, language

Starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and JK Simmons

Juno (Page) is your typical high school teen - she plays guitar, hangs out with her best friends and has a hamburger phone. Bored while hanging out with her best guy pal (Cera) one afternoon, they decide to have sex. A little while later, she finds out shes pregnant. At first she decides she'll just get an abortion and be done with it, but once she gets to the clinic, she freaks out and decides that maybe an adoption would be better, as she's much too young to raise a kid.

It's a sweet light comedy about teenage pregnancy and adoption. Her parents, while shocked at first when she tells them the news (her dad retorts he had hoped the bad news was that she was failing school or on drugs) they are very supportive and understanding about the whole ordeal.

It's directed by Arrested Developement's Jason Bateman and the Oscar-nominated screenplay is a first by former stripper Diablo Cody who's blog was what got her noticed.

Cloverfield

Rated PG13 for violence, language

What would happen if a giant monster started destroying Manhattan out of nowhere?

Well in JJ Abrams' Cloverfield it pretty much gives you an account of what it could be like.

Think Blair Witch meets Godzilla.

We're introduced at the very beginning, a la home video style, to Beth and Rob. Then fast forward the tape to a month later and we learn that Rob is leaving for job in Japan and his brother Jason and Jason's girlfriend Lily are planning a huge surprise going away party for him. Lily tells Jason his job is to spend the night documenting the party and capturing people's goodbyes to Rob on video, sort of like they do at weddings. Jason doesn't want though and suckers Rob's best friend Hud into doing the job all night.

Drama ensues at the party and then all hell breaks lose after midnight. Scrambling to find out what's going on and escape the city together, Hud captures the entire night of chaos on film.

While it's an interesting way to film a godzilla-type movie, it does feel very realistic. The dialogue reminds me of some of my friends and how we would react in that type of situation, as well as it just makes you feel like you're there as it's happening with the first person point of view. Only thing nice is that you're not running out of breath or running for your life.

If you don't like 'shakey cam' or get motion sickness easily I'd suggest skipping this one - first time I saw it i was fine, but then the 2nd time I ate a bunch of nachos at the beginning and started to feel them a bit later on...

27 Dresses

Jane (Katherine Heigl) loves being a bridesmaid. She loves all the wedding planning and assistance that goes with the job of maid of honor and does everything she can to make sure the couple's day is the happiest. Jane is also madly in love with her boss, George. But when kid sister Tess starts seeing George under false pretenses and then they get engaged, it makes things ackward for Jane. Wanting to be there for her sister and fullfill her duties as the happy bridesmaid she's supposed to be, she has a hard time sitting back and watching Tess lie to the man she loves. On top of that, she has the newspaper Commitment's reporter (James Marsden) 'stalking' her.What's a girl to do?

Written by the same crew that did "Devil Wears Prada," it was a cute girly, wedding movie. Predicatible no doubt, but cute nonetheless.

Jumper

Rated PG13 for violence

Starring Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson

In this one, Hayden Christensen learns in his early jr high/high school years that he can 'jump' from one place to another, so long as he can visual the place he's 'jumping' to. Using this ability, he's able to travel the world. Lunch in Paris, surfing in Fiji, drinking in Ireland, relaxing in the sun in Egypt. And that's not even a full day! Turns out though, he's not the only one of his kind and there are those that don't think his kind should exist.

Apparently, there's an entire backstory/prequel that explains things a bit more in the books/graphic novels, than the movie let's you know. It was a fun action/adventure movie, but only if you take it at face value. Once you start including logic, you'll find a lot of unanswered questions and things that don't quite make sense the more you think about them. But was pretty clever for being just a fun entertaining film.

Definitely, Maybe

Rated PG13 for language, sexuality

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fischer

Ryan Reynolds is William Hayes who finds himself being served divorce papers. Every week he spends several days with his pre-teen daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin, who's really starting to look like she's growing up). One night, she inquires as to how her dad and mom ended up together and what went wrong. In the process, we flashback to 1992, as Will relives his 3 serious love interests, although changing the names along the way, so Maya has to guess which one ended up being her mother: his college sweetheart "Emily", the smart seductive writer "Summer", and the loyal best friend through thick and thin "April".

It's the cute clever Valentine's Day movie for 2008. If it were 10-20 years ago, John Cusack would have been playing the main character. Personally, I thought it hit a bit too close to home, especially when it came to Will and April, as she's been the loyal friend wanting to be the girlfriend for so long, etc...

I am Legend

Rated PG13 for violence and terror

Starring Will Smith

Imagine there was a cure for cancer and every cancer patient was given it. Then imagine if that cure backfired later, wiping out the majority of the human race and the only ones left were either immune to the disease or turned into zombie-like monsters.

So is the premise of I am Legend.

Robert Neville (Will Smith) was a Lt. Colonel in the military and doctor working to cure the mistakes that the cancer cure created. He appears to be the only survivor and has been living alone in New York City with his dog, Sam. Everyday at high noon he waits for other survivors and attempts to hunt the overpopulated wildlife running through the city. By night, he hordes himself up in his house with a gun, as the infected monsters only come out when the daylight is gone. He spends his free time experimenting on lab rats, and eventually on one of the infected, to try and find a cure for the cancer cure gone wrong.

We really see what it would be like to be completely isolated and how one can attempt to keep sanity.

The end was a bit cheesy and definately not the typical zombie/infected type ending we're used to (everyone is supposed to die, damnit!), but the rest of the movie was pretty good...

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Rated R for violence, overexaggerated gore, implied rape

Starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, and Sacha Baron Cohen

Originally a Broadway musical, Tim Burton's take on this dark tale is quite well done!

Barber Benjamin Barker had it all - a successul job, a beautiful wife and a gorgeous baby girl. That is, until his wife catches the eye of Judge Turpin, who has Barker sent off to an Austrialian prison for false charges, gets the missus intoxicated and takes advantage of her, having his way, which in turn, we learn, causes the poor thing to seek poision to end her pain. The judge adopts their daughter, keeping her locked up in the house to keep her from 'the dangers of the outside world', spying on her regularly.

Fast forward 15 years, Barker has escaped from prison and is heading home to London, Fleet Street to be exact, where he takes up the name of Sweeney Todd and opens shoppe above Mrs. Lovett's dirty ol' meat shoppe. Learning of what has become of his wife and daughter, he seeks revenge and his sights are set on Judge Turpin, with plans of giving him 'the closest shave he has ever had.'

It's a great tragic story of what can happen when someone focuses solely on revenge and how it can destroy them and those around them.

Mrs Lovett's idea for a secret ingredient to boost the sales of her meat pies was a bit odd... one of the more humorous numbers in the movie was when they're having a picnic on a hillside, looking completely without color. Mrs Lovett (who had a silent crush on Todd/Barker back when he was married, as she was his landlord back then as well) is completely overwhelmed with the idea of living happily ever after with Todd - imagining them at the beach, enjoying a day on a porch, getting married at a cute little chapel, strolling along on a boardwalk, etc - although we can tell he's only got one thing on his mind - Judge Turpin's revenge.

It was a bit over the top with the exaggerated bloody murders (think "Kill Bill") and especially in the number where he's slitting throats left and right and Mrs Lovett's making meat pies with their 'secret ingredient' but in this day and age, it's not that uncommon in films of this nature to have it as such (I've seen worse).

*hopefully* Johnny Depps gets an Oscar nom for this one or Pirates this year and maybe he'll finally win one, as he definately deserves it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - he's one of the greatest character actors of our time! Why the hell has he not won an Oscar yet?!

On that note, Tim Burton was recently signed on to do Disney's 3D verison of Alice in Wonderland - I can't wait! If we thought Lewis Carroll's story was trippy and messed up enough, I can't wait to see Burton's take on it! Especially if it's gonna be in 3D!

AVP-Requiem

Rated R for violence, gore and lots and lots of carnage!

I'm not too familiar with the Predator series and out of the Alien series I've only seen the first one and Ressurection, but for this one, all you need to know is that the Predator, while not exactly 'the good guy,' is solely after the Aliens - whether or not humans get in his way is a different matter.

Our characters are typical - there's the optimistic sherrif, the ex-convict just out of jail and his younger brother who is headed on the same path, the younger brother's crush, the army woman just home from duty as well lesser characters that the film don't really focus much on. Why they spent so much time in the first half of the movie setting everything up is beyond me - I was a bit bored there til the action finally kicked in.

Looking back, it sort of reminded me of Resident Evil: Apocalypse with the whole premise of the city getting quarentined after multiple residents mysteriously go missing and later turned up mutilated and the survivors trying to make it out toward safety.

Lots of blood, lots of gore. Predator was pretty cool though when fighting the Aliens. Pregnant women and babies are not safe when it comes to those two!