Fast & Furious

Rated PG13 for violence, mild language, some sexuality, high speed car races

Starring: Vin Disel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster

Picking up 5 years after the original film took place (after 2 Fast 2 Furious, but before Tokyo Drift), Dom and Letty have fled to the Dominican Republic and have assembled a new crew and are now robbing gas tankers, rather than truckers with electronics, much in the same fashion as they did in the first film. Because of this, they are now international criminals. Once word is spread that the feds are after Dom, he picks up and leaves Letty in the middle of the night, thinking it would be safer for her if she were not with him in the event he gets caught.

Dom and Brian's paths cross yet again, when Brian, now an FBI agent, is hot on the case of a drug lord and Dom returns to avenge a close friend's death. Dom, not caring about Brian just doing his job, continues to get in the way of the case, as they both need a spot on a driving team that is linked to the drug lord.

Twists and turns come and go; there's plenty of car chases, races, explosions and scantily clad women much in the same way of the previous installments. We are given a little more insight as to why certain things happened in the first film.

I was a little upset over the death of a main supporting character so quick into the film, but it did serve a purpose to the plot.

If you liked the first film, you'll enjoy watching this sequel to it, as it's got all the "original parts" back in the cast, and shows a brief background to one of the main characters in Tokyo Drift.

I Love You, Man

Rated: R for language, adult humor

Starring: Paul Rudd, Jason Segal, Rashida Jones, J.K. Simmons, Jane Curtin, Jamie Pressley, Andy Samberg

Peter's only known Zooey for 8 months, but is convinced she is The One and proposes to her. She willingly accepts. At a gathering with her girlfriends, Peter overhears them wondering who he's going to ask to be the best man, as he really doesn't have any close male friends and that could make for a lopsided wedding party.

Realizing the sad truth that they're right (he always tends to make friends easier with the women in his life) Peter desperately goes on a hunt to meet a guy who could have potential to be his best friend and best man. After being set up by his gay brother and his mom on various "man dates", as well as trying to hang with Zooey's friend's spouses and failing miserably, Peter has about given up.

Then he meets Sydney who shows up at his open house (Peter is a struggling realtor) to eat the free food Peter has left out for vistors and to meet rich divorcees. They have a brief conversation and trade business cards. A few days later, Peter calls Sydney to meet up and talk business over drinks, only they talk about everything but and end up having dinner together. Realizing they have more in common, such as their love for the band Rush, the 2 start hanging out all the time. Sydney is thrilled to have a friend to hang out with, since all his are married with kids and lives of their own now, and Peter loves how real and honest Sydney is and how he can be himself around him. Only as the wedding draws near, the more time they spend together, the more Sydney's honesty and lifestyle starts to jeopardize Peter's relationship with Zooey.

This was a cute comedy about on par with more recent stuff Rudd and Segal have starred in. Getting in on the "bromance" craze spawned by MTV, it shows just how important it is for a guy to have that 1 great male friendship with another guy.

If you like the humor of Rudd and Segal movies, be sure to check this one out with a good friend! It's worth the laughs!

Watchmen

Rated: R for language, gratuitous violence, nudity, sex

Starring: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson

Based of the highly recommended 1986-87 graphic novel of the same name, Watchmen takes place in an alternate 1985 America. Nixon just won his 5th term, costumed vigilantes have been outlawed and the US is on the brink of nuclear war with Russia.

The film starts out, we see a man, after being beat up in his high-rise penthouse, get thrown out through the glass window. People wonder, was this a random murder? A political killing perhaps, since the man had connections to the government? Rorschach, a man doning a trenchcoat, brimmed hat and a mask with inkblots that move around, believes someone is killing off former superheros. We soon learn that the man thrown through the window was The Comedian - a man who was part of the original 1940's Minutemen, fought in Vietnam and was part of the next generation of Minutemen, known as the Watchmen.

While we follow Rorschach and the rest of the remaining Watchmen (which includes Dr. Manhattan, The 2nd Nite Owl, The 2nd Silk Spectre and Ozymandias) avoid assassination and get to the bottom of what's going on, we have flash backs into each of their lives. We see that The Comedian wasn't exactly a nice funny guy, but rather had a more sadistic sarcastic sense of humor. We see how Dr. Manhattan became the big blue glowy dude that he is now and how his condition has affected all his relationships and in turn the effect it's had on him, we see how 2nd Silk Spectre's mother and relationship have effective her and so on. We also see the affects that the superheros have had on on major historical events throughout the decades.

Watchmen shows how even superhero's struggle with their inner self and have to deal with real issues just like the rest of us. It even begs the question, is it right to sacrific a smaller majority in order to ensure that the rest of the human race will live on?

Although it was almost 3 hours long, it kept my attention the entire time and definitely gave you some interesting points to think over.

It's definitely not one for the kiddies though, as Dr. Manhattan is shown fully nude in multiple scenes, 2nd Silk Spectre gets it on with several of the male characters and not much is left to the imagination, The Comedian attempts to rape another female character, and the violence is shown full force too - take some of the more graphic violent scenes from Zack Snyder's previous films Sin City and 300 and then multiply it several times. People get stabbed and shot with a close camera on them, limbs get hacked off in plain graphic site... there's a reason it's rated R.

He's Just Not That Into You

Rated: PG13 for adult situations, sex

Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin, Justin Long, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper.

Every girl likes to think her date went well and that there was a connection, even if there wasn't. Some tend to blow their interpretation of the date way out of porportion and believe there's something more than there really is. If he's not calling you back after the first date - he's just not that into you!

And so the premise of this movie, based off the best selling self-help book.

Our story follows several couples who's lives all intertwine at some point or another. First we have Gigi who has a fabulous date with Connor, or so she thinks. Connor's not really all that interested in her though - he'd much prefer hot Anna, but she no longer enjoys sleeping with him and would rather move on with her life, putting Connor on the backburner, just in case. Anna meets Ben at a convienent store one night and she's smitten with him as he is with her, only he's married to Janine who's busy renovating their home and already starting to question her trust with Ben. Janine also works with Gigi and Beth. Beth has spent the last 7 years with Neil and when her baby sister gets engaged she starts to wonder if Neil is really serious about their relationship and why he hasn't proposed to her. And then there's Mary, Anna's good friend who has trouble keeping a guy past the first date and complains about how men keep rejecting her through various forms of technology (ie: Myspace, text messaging, voicemail, etc). In the midst of it all, after Connor blows her off, Gigi starts taking advice from bar owner Alex (also Connor's friend), who continuously tells her that if a guy isn't doing A, then he's just not that interested and to move along.

It was interesting to see how all the characters lives intertwined with each other and everyone can relate to at least 1 of the multiple story lines - the girl wondering if she's wasting her time on a guy who won't propose, a woman who finds out her spouse is having an affair, never hearing from someone after the first date, reading too much into a situation, and so on.

Even though it's more of a chick flick, the men in the theater were nodding their heads and sharing the occasional laugh, as there's so much truth to what's being said. A good choice for a girl's night out or a romantic date night.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Rated: PG

Starring: Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Krysten Ritter, Kristin Scott Thomas, John Goodman, John Lithgow, Joan Cusack

Gardening journalist Rebecca Bloomwood has been into fashion and shopping ever since she was a little girl, so when a position opens up at high fashion magazine Allette, she jumps at the chance to interview for it. When she arrives for the interview, she learns the position has already been filled internally, so she reluctantly agrees to interview for Successful Saving, a fiance magazine who shares the same publisher as Allette and is located in the same building, to use as a sort of stepping stone to work up to Allette.

Eventually, despite an amusing misunderstanding on her part, she lands the job for Successul Saving. While writing for the finace magazine, she realizes she can explain fiance and debt, from her own shopping experiences, for the average joe reader to understand it, which makes her column and the magazine a huge success. But little do they realize, she's living a lie, having over $16,000 in credit card debt while she continues to shop.

While hiding from her credit collector and lying to others about him (at one point she tells her coworkers he's an ex boyfriend who keeps stalking her), she also attends Shopaholics Anonymous, which her outings with them are quite amusing.

In the end she learns the hard way that her relationships and friendships with others are what really matters and it's better to be honest than live a lie. Money and material things can only make you happy for so long, but it's the friendships and relationships that last.

Isla Fisher, known mostly to movie-goers for her supporting roles in "Wedding Crashers" and "Definitely, Maybe," shows that she can she hold a movie on her own as the leading lady in this romantic girly comedy.

Girls like to shop and her rationale for spending as much as she does is one that every girl can relate to. It was a cute and amusing movie - definitely one worth seeing for a Girls Night Out.

81st Annual Oscar Awards

Last night, the Oscars aired on ABC.

"The Dark Knight" won 2 awards, "Slumdog Millionaire" won most of the awards (8 total), and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" picked up pretty much everything Slumdog didn't (3 total).

~Penelope Cruz won best supporting actress for her role in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona,"
~Heath Ledger won best supporting actor for his portrayal of the Joker in "The Dark Knight,"
~Kate Winslet won best actress for her role in "The Reader,"
~Sean Penn won best actor for his portrayal of Harvey Milk in "Milk."

A few changes that I enjoyed this year were how they announced the winners for best actor, best supporting actor, best actress, and best supporting actress. For those that didn't watch, they played a short video montage of previous winners for that category. Then they had 5 of the previous winners appear from behind the screens on stage to read this year's nominations. Each previous winner spoke about 1 of the nominees and why their role was nominated for the award.

I also liked the 'yearbook' montage they did of each film genre, highlighting scenes from all of the big movies of last year. They had video montages for Animation, Romance, Documentary, and Action films, as well as a musical number highlighting songs from previous musicals as well as the two big ones this year - "Mamma Mia!" and "High School Musical 3" with the main couple of each joining Hugh Jackman, Beyonce and the chorus on stage for the number - my only complaint is that they completely left out songs from "Repo! The Genetic Opera," which had 3 songs considered for Oscar nomination this year - I'm sure they could have had Sarah Brightman, Paul Sorvino or Alexa Vega sing part of one of the songs. Seth Rogen and James Franco also reprised their roles from "Pineapple Express" for a montage highlighting scenes from the comedy films of the 2008, which was put together by Judd Apatow. I also enjoyed the preview during the credits of upcoming films in 2009.

Hugh Jackman did a great job as host this year - he was both funny and clever, taking active parts in the song and dance numbers. Anne Hathaway also did great when Hugh dragged her out of her front-row seat to join him in a musical parody of "Frost/Nixon." His techno number of "The Reader" (where he states he didn't see "The Reader") was hilarious as well!

Other funny highlights include Tina Fey and Steve Martin presenting together with humorous monologue for Best Screenplays; Ben Stiller dressed up and acting like Joaquin Pheonix from his most recent interview on David Letterman while Natalie Portman struggles to stay focused on presenting the award for Cinematography; and James Franco butchering the name of the winning film for the Live Action Short category while his fellow presenter Seth Rogen laughs at him - the film was called Spielzeugland (Toyland), so can you blame him?

Jerry Lewis won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award; Queen Latifah sang "I'll Be Seeing You" while the In Memorium tribute to actors who died in the last 12 months played onscreen; Heath Ledger's mother, father and sister came up to accept his award on behalf of his 3 year old daughter, in which the award will be trusted to her when she turns 18.

The only thing that really bothered me was the logo this year - I'm sure the black glittery, sparkly number 8 with the Oscar statue being a 1 seemed like a good idea... but honestly, at first glance, the number looked more like an 8 instead of 81.

I don't often watch the Oscars, as for awhile they seemed to bore me, but this year's was definitely amusing and I felt worth watching.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Rated R for violence, nudity and sexuality

Starring Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra

This is a prequel to the 2003 hit Underworld, starring Kate Beckinsale, and it's sequel Underworld: Evolution. If you haven't seen either of those, you really don't have too much too worry about, as this one is mainly an elaboration of the short backstory we saw in the first film. I had only seen the first film, but not the sequel.

It starts out centuries ago and it's Viktor's turn to rule the vampire empire, as Marcus, one of 3 vampire elders, has just finished his reign and has been put into a deep sleep. The vampires and werewolves are sworn enemies and the vampires would often capture the wolves and have them put to death. Somehow, one of the wolves mated with a human and produced an offspring, thus was born the first Lycan, Lucian, being half wolf, half human. Viktor could not bring himself to kill the creature and instead had an idea that using Lucian's blood, they could change humans into these creatures and use them as slaves due to the brute strength and protectors during the daylight from the werewolves.

Flash forward several decades, Lucian is grown into an adult and highly respected among the vampire elders, despite being referred to as Viktor's pet. We learn that Lucian and Viktor's daughter Sonja have a secret romance and is imprisoned for removing his slave collar (which prevents him from turning into a werewolve) while saving her and others from the werewolves. Sick of being a slave, while imprisoned, Lucian rallies the rest of the Lycans, including newly changed Raze (from the other films), and with the help of Sonja and a councilman who wants Sonja's seat on the council, scheme a plan of escape. After the breakout, Viktor learns of his daughter's forbbiden romance with a Lycan and holds her captive, as she was supposed to meet up with Lucian, and uses her as bait to lure him back in. Thus beginning the Vampire/Lycan war and a tragic love story.

Those that have seen Underworld know how it ends, as we've already seen Lucian's flashback to the events in this film.

Honestly, I liked this one better than the original. The only thing that really bothered me was one inconsistancy with the flashback - in the original, when Lucian shows a fellow Lycan what really started the war, Sonja's hair is bleached blonde. In this one though, she clearly has dark hair the whole time.

After this film and last year's Doomsday, Rhona Mitra is starting to become one of my favorite action chicks.

If you like vampire vs. werewolve movies be sure to check this one out. It was a fun film to see and I loved the love story in it.

Repo! The Genetic Opera

Rated R for language, gore and a brief scene of sexuality

Starring Alexa Vega, Paul Sorvino, Anthony Head, Sarah Brightman, Paris Hilton, Bill Moseley, Nivek Ogre, Terrance Zdunich

I LOVED IT!

If you like musicals and/or rock operas check this one out. The music is really good - a lot of well known rock musicians contributed to it.

It's like year 2050-something, a plague started causing mass organ failure, but a company, GeneCo, arose to mass supply organ transplants, however you miss your payments and they send in the Repoman to repossess the organs. But that's only part of the story. The main plot of the story focus on 17-year old Shilo (Vega) who has been locked away in her room for most her life, as she has a rare blood disease she inherited from her mother's genes - she desperately wants to go outside and see the world, but her father (Anthony Head) won't let her. She thinks her father is a doctor, set on finding a cure for her disease, but she doesn't know his dark secret. Meanwhile, Rotti Largo (Sorvino), founder of GeneCo, learns he has a fatal disease and must soon pick an heir to his fortune and legacy, however he considers his 3 offspring (Hilton, Moseley and Ogre) to be embarassments and disappointments, not worthy of his inheritance.

It's by the guy that did Saw 2, 3 and 4, but it's not much like Saw at all, other than there's a few minor 'gory' scenes, but id say the gore is on par with Sweeney Todd, imo.

I never heard much from Sarah Brightman before, but man can she sing! Yes, Paris Hilton's in it, but she has maybe 15 min of screentime, at most, and is a minor character. Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the tv series) is one of the leads and he can sing really well too, as can Alexa Vega (the girl from the Spy Kids movies, all grown up).

It was a short stage show for years, but they finally we were able to make into the film they always wanted. Lionsgate didn't really do much to promote it though and it was only limited released in 5 cities for 1 weekend back in November and is now on DVD. Universal wanted it when the writers/producers/directors were shopping for a film studio to back it, however Universal said no musical if they backed it. Now Universal's making their own similar film sans singing.

So go rent it!!!!

Bride Wars

Rated PG
Starring Anne Hathaway, Kate Hudson, Candice Bergen, Kristen Johnston

Girls start dreaming about their wedding day from the time they're very young. For Liv and Emma, it all started one afternoon when their mothers took them to a luncheon at the Plaza and they stumbled upon a lavish wedding there in the hotel. From that day forward, all they could think about was their perfect wedding days, each being the other's Maid of Honor. Flash forward 20 or so years and both girls are still close and awaiting proposals from their men any day now. While being exact opposite personalities, they compliment each other very well. They have only a few key rules about their weddings - it must be in June and it must be at the Plaza. All seems well until the girls get a call that due to a mix up, their weddings have both been booked for the same day and there are no other openings at the Plaza for 3 years. Someone will have to move their date and venue, but neither girl wants to be that someone. And so the sabatoge begins!

While the girls attempts to sabatoge each others wedding plans to get back at the other for not changing their date and venue, Emma beings to grow a backbone and stand up for what she wants for once, while Liv learns that she doesn't always have to be right and in control. Both girls realize how important it is to be themselves and how important their friendship to each really is.

Being someone who just had a wedding last fall, it was fun to see a movie about girls going crazy over the whole process - while a bit exaggerated, it was still amusing. Definitely more of a movie for the girls, although it does show guys how crazy some women get over weddings! See it with your girlfriends or grab a man who loves you for date night.

Yes Man

Rated PG-13 for some language, mild violence and brief sexuality

Starring Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, John Michael Higgins, Danny Masterson, Terence Stamp

Jim Carrey is a man that always says no to the opportunities in his life - joining his friends at the bar? no. Granting people loans at his job at the bank? no. Until an old friend drags him to a convention where he is trained to say yes to every opportunity or bad things will happen. The results are hilarious, however he learns that sometimes saying yes isn't always a good thing and that it's okay to say no sometimes.