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.