Thor

Rated PG13 for superhero action violence

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Dennings, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Jaimie Alexander

While researching some strange disturbances in the weather in New Mexico, Jane Foster, assistant Darcy and her mentor Erik come across a distraught and confused strong man in the middle of the desert.

Turns out, that strongman is Thor - son of Odin and heir to the throne of Asgard. However, Thor wasn't quite coronated as king yet. During his coronation ceremony Frost Giants break into the vault of the palace in hopes of retrieving the source of their power - the casket of ancient winters. Quick to react, Thor wants revenge and justice for the Frost Giants coming there and breaking the peace between Asgard and Jotunheim. Knowing how to press his buttons, Loki talks Thor into attacking the Frost Giants himself despite Odin's warning to leave them be. Taking Loki and his friends, Thor and crew travel the Rainbow Bridge and inadvertently start a war. Upset at his failure to heed his words, Odin banishes Thor from Asgard and exiles him on Earth. He also makes it so that Thor cannot use his infamous hammer until he is worthy of it.

Lost and confused and wanting to go home, Jane eventually gives in and helps Thor, giving him a lift to the site of where his hammer is rumored to be.

However, with Thor gone and Odin suffering a heart attack, Loki is left in charge of Asgard, much to the dismay of Thor's friends, and is running a muck, refusing to undo Thor's exile. Taking matters into their own hands, Thor's friends venture to Earth in search of him, however Loki sends a Destroyer to put an end to his brother once and for all.

Will Thor be able to regain his strength and obtain his hammer in time to save Earth and the Frost Giants and put a stop to Loki's evil plans?

As the first big superhero film of this summer, Thor was an excellent fun family thrill ride. Despite being based on Norse mythology, the film plays it off without shoving it so much in your face. Basically, the "gods" are just really strong with an advanced form of technology - only when they came to Earth were they deemed "gods" at the time.

Be sure to take the whole family to this fun flick this summer!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1

Rated PG13 for fantasy violence, some scary images, brief sensuality

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter

Taking place very shortly after the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Order of the Phoenix prepares to move Harry from his aunt and uncle's home to the magical realm on the eve of his 17th birthday. They must act quickly though as Voldemort and his Death Eater followers are hoping to intercept and bring Harry to Voldemort so that he may finish him off.

Rather than return to Hogwarts for their final year, Harry, Ron and Herimoine decide it is of upmost importance for Harry to finish what Dumbledore had started - finding and destroying the Horcruxes that Voldemort had hidden fragments of his soul into in order to make himself immortal. Similar to Frodo and Sam's journey in Lord of the Rings, this search wears our trio thick and thin, often testing their loyality not only to the task set before them but their loyalty to each other. It doesn't help that the Death Eaters are after Harry and will stop at nothing to capture him for Lord Voldemort.

As I'm sure parents have by now realized, this series is not for young children as the movies (and the books) have gotten darker and darker with each one, this being the darkest of them yet. Also, not in the book, is a brief scene of sensuality that is used when Ron and Harry try to destroy a Horcruxe. I understand the reason behind it, as it was supposed to distract Ron, but regardless, parents who let their kids read the book might be a bit surprised by this particular change in the script.

Compared to previous film adaptions of this beloved series, this one sticks pretty close to the book. The book itself was very dark and the movie captures that very well. At the start of both the film and book, a beloved character is killed off the bat, setting the tone of what's to come. I also recall in certain parts of the book, the way the "new" magical government is being run (under a puppet of Lord Voldemort's), "mudbloods" (those wizards who are "muggle born") are being sentenced and tried and treated like Jews in the holocust - a very scary subject to read about. While it's touched on to a certain degree in the movie, they did a good job of keeping it family-friendly while not going quite so far as the book did - Herimoine gets the worst of it in the movie.

I, for one, can't wait to see the conclusion in July!

Due Date

Rated R for language, sexual innuendo and adult humor

Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Jamie Foxx, and Megan Monaghan with Juliette Lewis and Danny McBride

Peter is about to head home from a business trip in Atlanta to be with his wife in Los Angeles who is scheduled to give birth to their firstborn on Friday via C-section. However things quickly go downhill the moment he gets to the airport and has a chance encounter with a man named Ethan. Through a series of mishaps, Peter and Ethan both get grounded and put on the "no fly" list. Desperate to get home in time for his child's birth but without his luggage or wallet (as they got left on the plane when Peter was pulled off), Peter unwillingly accepts to travel cross country with Ethan.

The odd couple (Peter is very uptight and business-like while Ethan is a naive, means well but accident prone aspiring actor coping with the react loss of his father) have a whole disaster of unfortunate events occur to them on their 3 day trek cross country - from cars getting totaled, to being shot, and a run in with border control near Mexico to name a few.

Due Date is a road trip movie mixed with a bit of a bromance as near the end Peter and Ethan begin to bond. It's also a bit of an updated "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", with Zach Galifianakis in the classic John Candy role and Robert Downey, Jr. in the Steve Martin role.

While it was funny and amusing, and brought to us by the director of Galifianakis' other hit film The Hangover, it wasn't nearly as funny as expected - The Hangover brought us many more laughs.

If you're fan of adult humor and like either actor, be sure to set a due date to see this one!

DVD Review: Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time

Rated PG13 for action violence, some innuendo

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, and Ben Kingsley

Taking place in Ancient Persia, we witness a young boy courageously standing up to the King's guards at they attempt to punish another young boy. After a chase in the streets, the King sees the boy's worth and courage and after learning he has no family, decides to take the boy in as his 3rd son.

Flash forward maybe 10 years later, the boy is now young adult Prince Dastan who is quick to battle with the gifts of strength and agility. The 3 Persian princes lead an attack on neighboring sacred city Alamut as they are led to believe the city is supplying weapons to enemies of Persia, however none are found. Dastan does come into possession of a pretty cool looking dagger though while Alamut Princess Tamina has agreed to marry one of the Princes as a way of bringing peace between the 2 cities.

At the ceremony after the Alamut attack, the king is mysterious poisoned and Dastan is framed. He flees the city with the help of the Princess who learns that Dastan possesses her city's sacred dagger. Eventually, as they learn to work together, she comes to tell him why the dagger is so important - with special sand only found in Alamut it can turn back time. Realizing this could prove his innocence, Dastan is determined to plead his case to his uncle, however he learns of more betrayal and deception.

Based on the popular Prince of Persia video game series that has been around since the late 80s, this one actually wasn't that bad and was a decent stand-alone action adventure movie, like a live action Aladdin. The cast and characters were likable, the relationship between Dastan and Tamina was amusing (think Han Solo and Princess Leia where they can't stand each other at first but grow to like one another) and the story/plot was fun and kept a good pace once it got going. It was extremely predictable though.

While a bit dark and violence at times for younger kids, families with somewhat older kids will enjoy watching this one together.

Inception

Rated PG13 for violence

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy

In our minds we can lock away anything - secrets, codes, plans, information and more. But what if it were possible for someone to break into your mind and steal all that? In Inception, Dom Cobb and his pointman Arthur have a top notch team that makes it possible for Cobb to go into people's dreams (which is when your mind is pretty unguarded) and do just that - steal information, secrets, codes and anything else someone could want, for a price.

At first, Cobb and Arthur try to extract information from a top businessman named Saito, but as the dream crumbles due to a massive mob riot happening in the real world, they wake up and take a more forceful approach with Saito... however, due to a glitch on the Architect's part, Saito realizes they're still in a dream world - a dream within a dream. With him about to wake up (for real) they use a "kick" to wake themselves up early and scram as they were unable to retrieve the information from Saito's mind - we see that all along they were sitting on a train, asleep in the same cabin.

About to go their separate ways, Cobb and Arthur are taken by Saito and his men and informed that he was testing them. He then presents them with a new job, different from any they've done - instead of extracting information from someone's dream, why not implant an idea in the person's dream? Inception.

Saito wants them to enter the mind of his dying business rival's heir and implant the idea that he should disassemble his father's empire, citing that if he doesn't do so, it will create a monopoly in their business and that it's important the heir do this for the good of the world. Arthur claims it can't be done, however Cobb states he's done it before. Having been framed for his wife's death, Cobb can no longer return to his home and children in the US without being arrested the moment he sets foot on ground - Saito knows of this and tells Cobb that if he does this job, with one phonecall he can give him his life back and he'll get to go home and see his children, all charges dropped.

While Arthur is hesitant, Cobb is tempted and the 2 set out to assemble a team in France, including a new architect - a young grad student who is studying under Cobb's father-in-law and mentor. Cobb trains her quickly in the ways of the dream world, explaining to her how if you manipulate the laws of physics too much, bad things will happen (she gets a little too excited experimenting in the dream world). She also grows close to Cobb, having shared dreams with him now, and soon learns that instead of holding dear to the memories he has of his deceased wife Mal, he instead is haunted by her Shade in the dream world and it only begins to get worse. For this reason, he cannot design the dream worlds anymore, as when he does know them, she tends to pop up and mess things up for the team.

With arrangements made and things ready to go, the team sets into The Mark's dream world (in which they try something new - a dream within a dream within a dream and eventually even into a 4th level!). Things seem smooth at first, however they quickly learn that The Mark has been taught how to guard his mind against extraction in the dream world and his mind's guards are quickly in pursuit of the team, trying to stop them at all costs!

With only 10 hours in the real world to get the job done and The Mark's mind guards causing more problems for them than they anticipated, will the team be able to implant the idea and make it stick? Will they all make it out of the dream world alive? (in most cased, if you die in the dream world, you just wake up, however if you get killed by one of the guard's, then you get stuck in limbo where you can get stuck for years and years, never realizing it's still just a dream world) Will Cobb be able to fight off the Shade of Mal or will she once again interfere?

Inception was a very interesting movie.

Director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) had the idea of this movie and wrote out an 80 page script nearly 10 years ago for it, but wanted to wait until he had more experience with big budget movies and it really shows! While the new Batman films are dark, Inception is more along the lines of his earlier hit film, Memento, as it's important to actually watch the movie and pay attention to what is happening. Like Memento, it's pretty easy to follow, but if you weren't paying attention, you'll miss things (not to mention, why are you spending money on a movie that you're not actually watching?). Like Memento, he also leaves the film open ended and hanging for you the viewer to decide and debate what's really real (I don't want to give it away).

It's one of those films where visually it's really neat, as several scenes in the dream world seem to defy the laws of physics and gravity, it's also very thought-provoking and makes you think the entire movie about what is happening. He also explains the dream world pretty well - in one scene, when at least 1 person is awake in a different dream level, we see that seconds in the first level translates into about 3 minutes in the second level, and about 20 minutes in the third level; what feels like an hour in the dream world is really about 5 minutes in the real world.

Leonardo DiCaprio has really come into his own this past decade from being the cute Romeo all the girls gushed over in the mid-90s to a pretty good serious drama/suspense actor and Joseph Gordon-Levitt has really grown up from the goofy awkward kid he played on 3rd Rock for the Sun - he too has really become a good, solid serious actor in the past few years.

If you like movies that make you think with a bit of a sci-fi/action take to it, don't miss Inception! It really is a great movie and despite being nearly 2 and a half hours long, it definitely doesn't feel like it, as the last 2/3rds of the film really draw you into it.

DVD Review: Tron

Rated PG for adult themes, tense moments

Starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor, David Warner

Video arcade owner Kevin Flynn is a former ENCOM software engineer who has created several video games that became popular after another ENCOM employee, Ed Dillinger, stole them from him. Knowing the files have his name on it, Flynn continues to hack into the ENCOM system and find them to prove he is the rightful creator of the games. After Flynn's most recent hack attempt, Dillinger and his Master Control Program (which has a mind of its own) decide to shut down access to the level group Flynn had access to, thus locking out fellow software engineer Alan Bradley who was working on a program called Tron which would serve as a watchdog program and keep even the Master Control Program in check.

Frustrated, Alan and Flynn come together, with the help of ENCOM employee Laura. They sneak Flynn into the building so he can distract the MCP and hack in long enough to grant them all level 6 access so Alan can get his Tron program up and running, which would help find the files proof that Flynn created the games and not Dillinger.

MCP does not like though and decides to physically trap Flynn into the the world of Bytes and Bits. Having to band together with other "user controlled" programs, including Tron, Flynn must fight for his survival and work with Tron to defeat the MCP from the inside in order to escape back to his world.

Released in 1982, I'm sure this sci-fi action adventure film was groundbreaking and in a lot of ways it reminded me of Bladerunner or The Running Man. Viewing it almost 20 years later though, it's extremely dated and the graphics and special effects are just laughable. We can only hope that the upcoming Tron: Legacy film has much better, updated graphics than the original.

I have to admit, while this is a Disney film and was marketed towards families, if I had watched this in the 80s as a little kid, I would have been extremely bored and confused as to what was going on. This is definitely not a movie meant for kids, as they most likely won't understand much of what's going on.

If you like classic sci-fi films from the 80s, this is one you might be interested in.

Alice in Wonderland

Rated PG for some scary moments, fantasy violence

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Michael Sheen and Stephen Fry

In this Alice story, Alice is now 19 years old and her father has recently passed. For the past 10 years, she has been having the same "nightmare" where she visits a strange place. She thinks she is going crazy, however her father always told her that "the best people tend to be a little bit!" Her mother accompanies her to a formal outdoor party, which Alice soon learns is to be her engagement party to a boy named Hamish, who's father was partners with her father and now is the sole owner of their trading firm. When Hamish pops the big question in front of all the guests, Alice panics and is distracted by a strange white rabbit she had noticed several times throughout the gathering. She excuses herself and chases after the rabbit and ends up at a rabbit hole and falls in.

Arriving in a strange room, she must figure out the puzzle of how to squeeze through a tiny locked door. Once on the other side, she is greeted by The White Rabbit, a dormouse, a dodo bird, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Despite them acting like they know her, she don't recall ever meeting any of them. Confused as to whether The White Rabbit brought them the "right" Alice, they take her to Absolem the Caterpillar to let him decide. See, in this version of Wonderland (or Underland as they say it's called), the evil Red Queen has overthrown her younger sister, the White Queen and has been ruling with an iron fist, offing people's heads for reason or another. And well, Frabjous Day is coming soon and it is told that a hero named Alice will slay the Red Queen's wicked beast - the Jabberwocky, and free everyone from her rule.

"I'm not that Alice! And even if I were, I can't kill anything and I won't!" Alice cries. She also seems convinced that this just her having another one of her nightmares, as the people and place are exactly the same.

Believing that Alice is back, the Queen sends her right hand man - The Knave of Hearts - with the Bandersnatch, Jubjub Bird and solider-like playing cards to retrieve her and stop her. While they capture most of Alice's group, the Cheshire Cat shows up and helps her escape, taking her to the Mad Hatter and March Hare and rejoining her with the dormouse. The Mad Hatter is able to explain to her what went wrong, trying to get her to remember her previous time in Underland ("You were so young back then... you even kept calling this place Wonderland!"). But soon enough, it seems that everyone who comes in contact with Alice gets capture by the Red Queen's lackeys. Before being captured, the Mad Hatter gives her directions to get to the White Queen who can assist her in preparing to fight the Jabberwocky. But Alice would rather rescue the Mad Hatter and innocent beings the Red Queen has captured.

Is this Alice indeed the "right" Alice? Will she end up fighting the Jabberwocky? Will she stay in Underland?

Now some have complained that Tim Burton took the classic Alice stories and turned them upside down. Others have criticized it for being nothing like the original Disney version. What you must understand going into this one is that no, it is not a remake of the classic story nor an adaption. You could almost consider it to be "the next chapter" in the Alice story, as it takes place years after the events of the original stories (which we see in a flashback segment). The characters are all still there, however Wonderland is a much darker place than now than we may recall.

I personally loved it. The story was great, the characters were amusing and the scenery and details were definitely works of art! Oh and there's lessons for everyone that you shouldn't make choices for yourself based on what others think is best. Be responsible and make your choices for you.

Now this film is being offered in both 2D and 3D formats. We saw it in 3D IMAX and while I can't really say if the 3D enhanced it any, the IMAX was well worth it, as it really made you feel like you were in the movie, and this one of those movies where that effect really works great!

Little kids might be a little scared by the Jabberwocky and Bandersnatch, but other than that, this is a great film for a family outing!

Daybreakers

Rated R for violence, language, brief nudity

Starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Claudia Karvan, Sam Neill

In the year 2019, most of the world's population has been turned into vampires due to a pandemic disease. Fortunately though, they have been able to carry out their day to day lives due to working the 9pm-5am shifts and using blackout glass for houses and cars. While pharmaceutical company Bromley Marks harvests the humans that are found for their blood, due to the growing number of vampires though, they are beginning to run short on blood supply, creating a lesser sub-specie - the aggressive bat-like sub-siders. Several Bromley Marks scientists are hematologists and have been trying to create a suitable blood substitute, one of whom is Edward Dalton. Dalton, we learn, was unwillingly turned and would much rather try and find a cure, as he much preferred his human life and has a compassion for humans (he won't drink human blood). After a chance encounter with a small group of humans, he learns one of them used to a vampire but was cured. He disappears with them, in order to replicate the cure and bring it to Bromley Marks, however not everyone is as excited for a cure as he is.

Daybreakers has an interesting plot and while it has a message, it's not quite as "in your face" as Avatar's was. The concept is simple - over indulgence can lead to a downfall in society. And while there might be a solution to revert back to how things were before, those that profit now while the rest suffer might not be in favor of giving up their current lifestyle for the better of mankind. It was also an interesting take on the vampire lore - something popular today blended with a situation we can certainly identify with! (Think of our current economic state and housing crisis and how some big businesses are doing okay, while the rest of us are not).

My only complaint was that I thought the last 10 minutes or so of the film were dumb. They spend a good portion of the film developing the cure and coming up with a clever way to get into Bromley Marks unharmed and spread it, and in a matter of minutes we're back to where we were 20-30 minutes ago in the film. The rest of the film, I thought, was pretty good though - Sam Neill (remember him from Jurassic Park?) makes a good villain, and both Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe did some really good acting!

If you like vampire films, this might be one you'd like to check out. But be careful, as it may make you think!

Avatar

Rated PG13 for brief language, violence

Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Michelle Rodriguez, CCH Pounder

The year is 2154 and we send troops and scientists to Pandora - a moon of the planet Polyphemus - to study and hope to capture the rare substance Unobtainum which lies underneath the inhabitants home base. In order to walk on the planet and interact with the Na'vi inhabitants, we have developed avatars, that are tailored to it's crew member who plugs into it via brainwaves. After getting lost and separated from his team on the planet, paraplegic former Marine Jake Sully is taken in by the Na'vi and told that he will learn their ways. The administrator of the crew tells Jake that he has 3 months to learn and gain the Na'vi's trust, as bulldozers will be coming to mine the Unobtainum and the Na'vi will need to peacefully leave or face war.

Jake grows fond of the Na'vi though and feels more at home among their world.

This film by James Cameron took 15 years to make and visually it is amazing, as Pandora is a CGI world, yet seems real. While the story isn't the absolute greatest ever, the characters are likable and despite its run time of nearly 3 hours, it doesn't feel long at all. While it does have a message built into it, it doesn't come off as preachy - basically it comes down to good guys vs greedy guys.

If you're looking for a good sci-fi action film that the whole family can enjoy look plug into Avatar this holiday season.

DVD Review: Public Enemies

Rated R for violence, brief language, brief sexuality

Starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cottilard, Billy Crudup, Stephen Graham

Taking place in the 1930s, and mostly in Chicago, "Public Enemies" is an excellent retelling of the late life of John Dillinger and his band of men who robbed various banks and escaped capture and from jail and several times, often times right under the authorities noses. It also shows the beginnings of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, as they desperately try to track Dillinger after naming him Public Enemy Number 1 in order to make a name for the Bureau, as many have their doubts about Hoover's ability to lead an investigation.

While I hadn't heard too much about Dillinger prior to this film, I did find it to be very educational. It was also amusing to see just how well organized Dillinger and his crew were when it came to breaking out of jail at various times. It's easy to see why people liked him - him and his crew only stole from the banks and never the people - he was sort of Robin Hood for that era.

Personally, I think this film should have been rated PG13, as you see more revealing sex scenes on network tv than you do here, the language was pretty tame, and the violence was to be expected, as the majority of it takes place at either the banks and the streets outside and during other shootouts.

For anyone who wants to know more about John Dillinger or wants a history lesson, be sure to check out Public Enemies.

DVD Review: Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

Rated PG for brief sexual innuendo, slapstick violence

Starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, Bill Hader

Taking place several years after the first film, Larry Daley is now a successful inventor of random household gadgets based off things he came up with to do his job in the first movie (ie: glow in the dark flashlight, unloseable keyring, etc) and hasn't visited the Museum of Natural History for some time. Upon revisiting, he learns that they are renovating the museum, replacing many of the exhibits with interactive holograms. Larry is told by Teddy Roosevelt that while he and a few select others will be staying at the museum, the rest will be moved to the Smithsonian Archives in Washington DC, and they will be going without the magical Golden Tablet Of Ahkmenrah which makes them all come alive at night.

Soon after the move to the Smithsonian, Larry receives a frantic phonecall from tiny Jedediah - apparently Dexter the monkey stole the tablet from the Museum of Natural History and everything is coming alive at the Smithsonian - including Pharaoh Ahkmenrah's not so nice older brother Kahmunrah who seeks the tablet to raise his army of the dead with the help of other classic bad guys such as Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon, and a young Al Capone. War is breaking out among the historical characters and Larry must get to Washington in time before Kahmunrah gets his hands on the tablet!

Since the one mostly takes place at the Smithsonian and it's multiple museums, we are introduced to a plethora of more historical characters than the first, one of the major ones being free-spirited Amelia Earhart.

This is a great adventure film for the whole family, as kids will learn about more history and adults will appreciate the humor and maybe even learn some history even they didn't know! If you enjoyed the first one, don't miss this one!

DVD Review: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Rated PG13 for comicbook violence

Starring Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marlon Wayans

In the near future, a weapons expert has created a nanotechnology based weapon that can destroy an entire city. After selling the warheads to NATO, troops such as Duke and Ripcord are sent to protect and deliver the goods to NATO, however they get ambushed by bad guys, which include Baroness, who also want said warheads and GI Joe troops Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Heavy Duty and Breaker step in to help out.

We learn that the GI Joe Team is a classified organization of the best troops in the world, lead by General Hawk. The story centers around the nanotechnology warheads, which do eventually get stolen from the good guys who have to put a stop to the bad guys before they destroy The Eiffel Tower, and three other monuments across the globe. There's also several plot twists, including a connection between Duke and Baroness.

With Channing Tatum in one of the main lead roles, I was not expecting much from this film, as Tatum is known for his roles in teen films such as Step Up and it's sequel. G.I. Joe actually ended up being much better than I was expecting. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is brilliant in his role as The Doctor as well as another role that is revealed in one of the twists. Marlon Wayans, while not as goofy as some of his previous work, was pretty good as the main comic relief. While the acting in general was nothing to really write home about, some of the devices used in the film are pretty neat (such as the accelerator suits, for example) and there were some really cool martial art scenes as well.

While it won't win an Oscar, if you're looking for a fun, action film based on an 80s toy that doesn't suck this year and is okay for the whole family to watch, check out G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

DVD Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Rated PG13 for comicbook action and violence, brief language

Starring Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Houston, Lynn Collins, Taylor Kitsch, Will.I.Am, Ryan Reynolds

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is just that - a film about the origins of Wolverine. We are introduced to James Howlett (aka Logan, Wolverine) and his older brother Victor Creed (aka Sabretooth) and see that at a young age, back in 1845 the brothers were forced to flee due to their strange mutations - Logan with this odd retractable claws, and Victor with his sabretooth cat like strength and agility.

The two brothers spend most of the next century and a half fighting in the American Civil War, World War I & II and the Vietnam War. During Vietnam, Victor allows his rage to take over, killing innocents in the process, while Logan does what he can to stop and save his brother.

Both are imprisoned after they were unable to executed for the crime, but offered spots in Major Stryker's Team X, composed of other humans with strange genetic mutations. Here we are introduced to John Wraith, Fred "The Blob" Dukes, Wade Wilson, Agent Zero, and Chris Bradley. While with the team, the brothers go on top secret missions, but after one that requires murdering innocent villagers, Logan has had enough and leaves, eventually leading to the collapse of Team X.

Years later, Logan is leading a simple, yet happy life as a lumberjack in Canada with his school teacher girlfriend, Kayla Silverfox. His approached by Stryker, informing him that someone is killing off the former team members and to be careful, however we learn that it is Victor doing the killings. After Victor kills Kayla in an attempt to get his younger brother's attention, Logan allows Stryker to conduct a test procedure on him, turning his entire skeletal system into hardened adamantitium, giving him metal indestructible claws capable of finishing off Victor. However once the procedure is a success, Logan overhears Stryker talking about erasing his memory, causing him to flee instead.

Knowing that Stryker is up to no good, Wolverine gets some help from his former Team X members, as well as new friend the Cajun Gambit to put an end to Stryker and his brother in the process.

If you like comic book movies, especially any of the X-Men films, you'll be sure to enjoy X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

DVD Review: Strange Wilderness

Rated R for language, comedic violence, crude humor, sexuality

Starring Steve Zahn, Allen Covert, Justin Long, Kevin Heffernan, Jonah Hill

Once upon a time, Peter's dad hosted a well-known nature show, known as Strange Wilderness, where he traveled the world and taught American about animals and nature much along the lines of what we would see on the Discovery Channel. When dear old dad passed, Peter was left with hosting duties on the show, however ratings began to decline and the show was slotted in the 3am place. With word that he and his crew have weeks to save the show before it is ultimately canceled by the tv station and replaced with a rival nature show, they set out on a journey to capture an animal on film that could turn things all around for them - Big Foot.

What I'm sure was a good idea for a film in theory - a ragtag crew who knows nothing about nature trying to save their beloved nature show - the end result feels more like a bunch of Adam Sandler's crew (afterall, this is a Happy Madison film made up of much of the production's regulars) just goofing around together on camera and calling it a movie. Some of the gags are pretty fun, but the rest of the movie is pretty much forgettable.

Feel free to skip out on this one!

DVD Review: The Island

Rated PG13 for brief language, action violence

Starring Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi, Ethan Phillips

Directed by Michael Bay, The Island takes place in 2019. Lincoln Six Echo lives in a colony of uncontamined humans who all believe something happened tot he planet to cause them to live here. Each week, a drawing is conducted to decide who will be the next inhabitant to go to The Island, the last place left on the surface of Earth that wasn't contaminated. Lincoln however becomes frustrated at the lack of individuality in the colony, as they are forced to wear plain white clothes and everyone is under strict rules by the colony leaders. Upon learning that his good friend Jordan Two Delta is next to go to The Island, Lincoln discovers, thanks to a friend in a restricted construction area of the colony a way out. However on his exploration of the world directly outside the colony, he sees 2 recent colonist, thought to have been taken to The Island, being subjected to medical procedures and organ harvesting.

Concerned for Jordan, he finds her and the 2 try to escape and get to the bottom of what is going on, after learning that there is a whole world outside the colony they thought was destroyed.

Not to give too much away, but the film is a commentary on cloning and raises some interesting questions for being a Michael Bay film. However, like most Michael Bay films, his love for explosions is shown and we are subjected to the typical elements of a Michael Bay film.

It was an interesting sci-fi film though, so it's worth a view.

District 9

Rated R for language, violence, gore

Starring Sharlto Copley

Set in 1982, an alien spaceship comes to Earth and hovers directly above Johannesburg, South Africa. Supposidly part of the ship broke off and dropped to Earth, but was unable to be found, leaving this ship stranded on our planet. After no activity from the ship for some team, an exploratory team flies up to the ship and opens it up to find a million starved and dying creatures that look like giant arthropods. In an attempt to help the creatures surivive, they brought down to Earth and placed in a slum community, named District 9, under the watch of MNU, Multinational United, who polices the district, as the inhabits, referred to derogatorily as "Prawns" are becoming more and more destructive.

It is decided that District 9 is running out of space and the Prawns will need to be relocated to the newly formed District 10. Heading up the operation is Wikus van de Merwe, who is forced to serve the Prawns with eviction notices, informing of them of the move. However, one alien, known to us as Christopher Johnson, and his young son, resist Wikus and the MNU, as Christopher seems to have a higher intellect that the others and understand his rights. While raiding Christopher's shack, Wikus discovers a strange container and takes it with him, however, not knowing what it is, Wikus tampers with it, causing it to spray him in the face.

Within the next 12 hours, Wikus falls ill and starts to change, physically, developing an arm like the aliens. After being taken into MNU custody, they begin to test Wikus' new arm, and discover that he can operate the alien's weaponry, as it is only responsive to their DNA. MNU then decides to cut open Wikus and vivisect him, however he freaks out and runs to District 9 for refuge, where he again encounters Christopher and his son. Christopher tells Wikus he can change him back eventually, but first they need to break into MNU and retrieve the canister Wikus took earlier from Christopher, as it contained just enough fuel to get the alien ship started up again and take them back to their home planet.

While a bit graphic and violent for some, District 9 deals a lot with the theme of racism. Wikus treats the Prawns poorly as he is evicting them, but then begins to see things from the other side once he begins to turn into one of them.

If you like sci-fi adventures and don't mind a bit of graphic violence, be sure to visit District 9.

Inglourious Basterds

Rated R for langauge, violence

Starring Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Melanie Laurent, Diane Kruger, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Bruhl, BJ Novak, Samm Levine, Harvey Keitel, Mike Myers

Taking place in an alternate history, Quentin Tarantino's latest, Inglourious Basterds, tells the tell of a ragtag team of Jewish American's who were a thorn in the Nazi's side. The Basterds would ambush Nazi troops and skin the scalps of the dead, while branding the survivors they let live with swastika's carved into their foreheards. After getting word that a Nazi propaganda film will be premiered at a small cinema in Paris and that all the Nazi heads, including Hitler himself, will be in attendance, The Basterds decide this would be the perfect chance to put an end to the war and the Nazi regime.

In a parallel storyline, at the beginning of the film, we are introduced to Jewish Shosanna Dreyfus, who barely escapes with her life, after her and her family are outed from hiding at a neighboring farmer's house after a visit from "The Jew Hunter" Colonel Landa. Being the only survivor of the masaccre of her family, Shosanna assumes a new identity in Paris, and tries to live a quiet life operating a small cinema with her new boyfriend and projectionist Marcel. Unfortunately, she catches the eye of Nazi warhero and actor Fredrick Zoller, who insists her cinema would be perfect for the premiere of a new Nazi propaganda film which he stars in. She is terrifed at first, as it was the Nazi who killed her family and she is afraid they'll finish the job if they learn she is really Jewish, however after thinking it over, she agrees, plotting with Marcel that it would be the perfect revenge on the Nazi's to trap them in her cinema during the film and burn it to the ground with them inside.

Sure the film had it's stomach turning moments, with The Basterds being ruthless and gruesome in the way they kill some of the Nazi's, however the overall story was very well done. The whole time you're routing for The Basterds and Shosanna to achieve their unknown shared goal of putting an end to Hitler and the Nazi's.

Several parts of the film also include French and German dialogue with subtitles.

While not for the kids, if you like historic films and works from this particular time period, be sure not to miss this one!

DVD Review: Paycheck

Rated PG13 for action violence, brief language

Starring Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman, Aaron Eckhart, Paul Giamatti

Michael Jennings is a reverse engineer, who for a large amount of money will analyze a client's competitor's products and come up with new, better designs on the original. After each job, he has his memory erased to protect the clients intellectual property. Usually, a typical job for Michael lasts about 2 months, however he is offered a job from former college friend and now CEO of Allcom James Rethrick to work on a project that could take 3 years, but with a huge paycheck. Michael agrees and takes up residence in Allcom.

3 years comes and goes, Jenning's memory is reset and goes to collect to his paycheck, only to learn that he signed off on it earlier, and instead of his personal possessions he was forced to leave in an envelope when he enter Allcom, he receives an envelope with an assortment of random items. Trying to figure out what is going on, he is aprehended by the FBI, which he manges to escape. Turning to an old friend as well as a biologist he fell in love with during his time at Allcom, he tries to piece together what it was he worked on during his time at Allcom and why people are after him.

Paycheck is an action adventure sci-fi film directed by John Woo. While a bit of a roller coaster ride, Paycheck delivers when it comes to fun entertainment at the movies.

DVD Review: Fanboys

Rated PG13 for language, drug content, sexuality

Starring Jay Baruchel, Dan Fogler, Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, Kristen Bell, Seth Rogen

On Halloween 1998, Eric reunites with his high school buddies Linus, Hutch, Windows and Zoe, however tension runs deeps, as Eric is the only one of the group who has moved on past high school, while the rest haven't changed one bit, however they still all share a love for Star Wars. After learning that Linus has cancer and is only given 4 months to live, while Star Wars: Episode 1 doesn't come out for another 6 months, the gang decides to drive out to Skywalker Ranch and steal a rough cut of the film, so Linus can see the next Star Wars installment before he dies.

Their trek takes them to various stops on their road trip and rekindles the friendship they once had.

If you're a geek and/or enjoy sci-fi films and Star Wars and Star Trek you'll enjoy this fun geeky adventure. While the focus of the film is Star Wars episode one, we do get to witness a bit of the Star Wars vs Star Trek rivalry among fans. This is one sci-fi comedy that you don't want to miss!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Rated PG13 for dark elements, fantasy violence

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter

Taking place directly after the events of the previous film, Voldemort is back and his loyal followers, The Deatheaters, are wreaking havoc on not only the wizard world, but the muggle world as well. Draco Malfoy has also been recruited to carry out a task for the dark lord, one that Harry tries to figure out through most of the school year.

Back at Hogwarts, Harry and Ron are taking potions class with new returning Professor Slughorn, as Snape is now the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry receives a potions textbook that appears to have belonged once to the mysterious Half Blood Prince, in which the pages of the book are covered with annotations, which Harry uses to his benefit. Harry is also kept busy by Dumbledore, who, through the use of a pensive, shows Harry various memories of a young Voldemort, known back then as Tom Riddle, and teaches him about seven Horcuxes that Voldemort has created to safeguard his soul, that they need to find and destroy in order to stop the dark lord for good.

Love is also in the air at Hogwarts, as Harry begins to fall for his friend's sister, and Ron becomes smitten with a fellow student which makes Hermoine insanely jealous.

In comparison to previous Potter films, just like the books, the films are continuing to get darker and darker, with this being the darkest installment yet.

It does make for a good adaption from the book however - sure there were some parts that were left out or slightly changed for time, but overall, it left most fans satisfied and eagerly anticipating 2-part installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - the last book in the series.

In spite of the dark and scary moments in this film, there also are some cute moments amongst our favorite wizard teens, as they continue to grow up and experience romantic love too, but in a way that is still innocent compared to other teenage films with teen romance.

While I wouldn't recommend this one for the younger kids, as some of the scenes might scare them a bit too much, the older kids, especially if they've read the book, will be just fine!